Medicine Clearing 2025

If you weren’t made an offer for Medicine, or you missed your grades on A Level or IB results day, you may want to enter Clearing. This guide will walk you through the process for Medicine Clearing in 2025: how does it work, which medical schools will have a place, and how can you prepare?

What is Clearing?

UCAS Clearing is the system by which students can find a place at university in the UK if they do not have an offer after results day. Universities will advertise any spaces they have available after results have come out.

Clearing opens on 5^th July 2025 (IB results day), although most students in the UK only make use of Clearing after A Level results day – in 2025, this will be on 15^th August. It stays open until September.

You are eligible to enter Clearing if any of the following apply:

• You are applying after 30th June
• You did not meet the conditions for your offers
• You did not receive any offers
• You have rejected your firm place

Clearing gives you a final chance to find UK universities and courses which will offer you a place for entry in September.

Is Medicine in Clearing?

The honest answer here is, ‘it depends’. Some years, no Medicine courses are available in Clearing. It might only be Biomedical Science, Allied Health, or other related courses which are available. As you will know if you have applied to medical school, Medicine is a highly competitive and oversubscribed course, and every medical school receives many more applications than they have places.

Some medical schools use a waiting list for applicants who have not quite met the standards to be made a conditional offer. If any of the applicants who did get an offer reject it or miss their conditions, the university will offer the place to those at the top of the waiting list, rather than entering into Clearing.

The general trend over recent years has been for fewer places to be available at medical school in Clearing.

However, all hope is not lost! In 2023 and 2024, there were Medicine places available through Clearing. That means that students who didn’t get an offer or who missed their conditions were still able to make it to medical school the same year!

Which Medical Schools are in Clearing?

We don’t yet know which universities will be in Medicine Clearing 2025. This can only be determined once results have come out and the medical schools know how many (if any) places they still have available. However, previous years may be a guide.

In 2024, the following medical schools were in Clearing:

• Edge Hill
• Kent & Medway
• Aberdeen
• Leeds
• Bangor
• Brunel
• Newcastle

In 2023, it was these:

• St George’s University of London Medical School
• King’s College Medical School
• Hull York University Medical School
• The University of Buckingham
• Queen Mary’s Malta

Note that the last two are private universities with higher fees.

What can we learn from this? Well, the first thing is that a small number of universities have had Medicine places in Clearing in the past two years, so, if you don’t have an offer yet, don’t give up hope.

The second thing to note is that it is an entirely different set of medical schools in 2023 and 2024 – this shows how difficult it is to predict which schools might have Medicine Clearing places in 2025.

Finally, some universities do offer Medicine places after results day, but not through Clearing. In the past, Sheffield and Leicester have been known to offer interviews to students who they had not previously interviewed after results day. This may be the result of an ‘internal’ waiting list used by the universities which students were not aware of.

How do you apply for Medicine through Clearing?

Clearing is designed to be as streamlined and simple a process as possible. After all, there are thousands of students looking for places on results day, and speed is of the essence.

Here are the key steps:

1. On the UCAS Clearing webpage, use the search function to search through courses which are available. You can also use Clearing Plus, which uses an algorithm to automatically match you with the courses it thinks would suit you best. However, as we are only looking for Medicine places, it is probably simpler to use the good old-fashioned search.
   Pro tip: searching with the course code A100 will ensure you only see Medicine courses, whereas using the search term ‘medicine’ might mean you see all courses with the word medicine in the title,  including some irrelevant ones.
2. If you find any suitable courses, call up the universities right away. They are likely to ask you for information like your UCAT score and GCSE and A Level results. There may also be a phone interview.
3. If the university offers you a place, you need to upload the details of the course under ‘Your choices’ and then click ‘Add a Clearing choice’ in Track. Congratulations – you’ve now got a place to study Medicine through Clearing!

How to Prepare for Medicine Clearing

We’ve covered how the Medicine Clearing process works, but how can you prepare? There are a few vital things to do to improve your chances.

Interview prep

As mentioned above, you are likely to have a phone interview before a medical school will offer you a place. While this won’t be as formal as a traditional medicine interview, you still need to prepare.

Research medical schools in advance and ensure you can give a few compelling and specific reasons for why you would like to study at each one. If there are any distinctive features of their course or facilities etc., make sure you know these!

You should also engage in some self-reflection. If you didn’t receive an offer when you first applied to medical school, or if you missed your A Level grades, you should think about why this was, as you are likely to be asked about it. You should have a strong narrative which explains any extenuating circumstances.

Assembling documents

Ensure you have to hand:

• Your UCAS number
• GCSE or equivalent grades
• A Level or equivalent grades
• Personal statement

You could be asked for any or all of these in Medicine Clearing.

List of medical schools and phone numbers

Clearing can be stressful. Keeping this key information handy could help organise your use of the UCAS search tool and save you time when calling up medical schools to apply through Clearing.

What to do on the day

Having a clear plan of action for the day itself is vital if you want to increase your chances in Medicine Clearing.

Here are some top tips:

• Get up early: it might seem obvious, but make sure you set an early alarm to ensure you receive your results and log onto Clearing as early as possible. You don’t want to miss your Medicine place just because you slept in!
• Stay calm: Clearing can be panic-inducing, but if you plan and prep well, then you have done all you can to maximise your chances. Stay cool, take deep breaths, and work methodically. Remember – even if you don’t find a place for Medicine this year, it’s not the end of the world. We have tips on what to do if this happens later on in this guide.
• Be flexible: Medicine Clearing demands an agile and fast-moving approach. Things change quickly and you need to be on the ball. Keep your phone on you and the volume turned up to ensure you don’t miss any calls. Check your emails and UCAS regularly, too.

What to do after Medicine Clearing

If you found a place

Congratulations! All your hard work and prep has paid off, and you’re off to medical school.

First, make doubly sure that you accepted the offer officially in UCAS by uploading the course under ‘Your choices’ and clicking ‘Add a Clearing choice’ in Track.

The key next step is to find accommodation – you’ll need somewhere to live during you studies! The medical school may be able to assist with this.

If you didn’t find a place

If you didn’t find a place, don’t worry. Medicine is highly competitive and Clearing is tough – often there are no, or very few, Medicine places available. You do have options, though:

Re-apply next year

Take a gap year and re-apply. Now you know how the process works, you may have a better chance. Plus, if you’re not at school full time, you can devote more energy to your prep. As well as submitting a new UCAS application (including personal statement and references), you will have to re-take the UCAT and sit any interviews again.

If you want expert support for your re-application, Dukes Plus can help. Our doctor-designed medical school application packages can give you the edge in every aspect of the admissions process. Check out our medicine application support here.

Study abroad

There are medical schools outside the UK! You could always apply for Medicine in Europe or even further afield.

Biomed then graduate-entry Medicine

The classic back-up is still available to you. Biomedical Science courses are likely to be available in Clearing. You could apply for these, do well in your undergraduate degree, and then apply for graduate-entry Medicine afterwards.

Allied Health and different healthcare career

Alternatively, you could take a course like Allied Health or similar and enter a different healthcare career – like becoming a paramedic or physiotherapist. These roles are still highly rewarding, involve helping people, and make use of your passion for science and healthcare.

How Can Dukes Plus Help?

If you decide to re-apply for Medicine, we’ve got you covered.

Our dedicated team of doctors, medical admissions specialists, and expert tutors are here to support you at every stage of your medicine application journey. Whether it’s selecting the right medical schools, preparing for the UCAT, or excelling at interviews, our tailored approach is designed to maximise your chances of success.

Join the 50,000 medicine applicants who have trusted us to help them secure their place at medical school. Learn more about our services or book a medicine admissions consultation today to get started.