Medicine Summer School FAQ

The course is designed to give students a taste of the way medical students first encounter a topic at medical school. Typically, that means beginning with the underlying science – for example, how the heart or nervous system works – and then moving on to a few specific ways in which things can go wrong.

From there, the focus shifts to the more distinctly medical questions: how patients present with particular symptoms, how doctors ask questions and communicate with them, and how those problems might be investigated in practice through examinations, tests, and clinical reasoning.

The level of scientific detail can vary a little depending on the background knowledge of the group, but the overall aim is the same: not just to teach facts, but to help students start thinking in a more medical way about illness, diagnosis, and patient care.

The course is demanding, both because students are introduced to a large amount of new material in a short time and because they are expected to engage with that material actively from the start.

Like all of our summer schools, the Medicine Summer School moves quickly and asks students to absorb unfamiliar ideas with confidence. However, what often surprises students most is not the academic level so much as the level of participation involved. This is not a course where students simply sit back and listen to lectures. They are asked to speak up, think through cases, practise new skills, and apply what they have learned as the course unfolds.

For that reason, the course tends to suit students who are willing to contribute actively, even when they are encountering ideas for the first time. The experience is designed to be supportive rather than intimidating, but it does require a genuine readiness to take part rather than just observe.

No specific prior knowledge is required. The course is designed to be accessible to students from the end of Year 10 onwards, and we provide advance reading to help everyone arrive with some useful grounding.

That said, students at different stages of school will naturally find the material different in different ways. A student who is already studying A-level Biology or Chemistry will usually find that some of the scientific background is more familiar, whereas a younger student may need to absorb more new material as the week goes on.

The course is designed to bridge that gap, so younger students can still participate fully, but it is fair to say that they are likely to have a slightly more challenging experience in terms of how much is new to them.

It is also quite common for some students to arrive with strong prior knowledge of particular conditions or areas of medicine, sometimes because of family experience or personal interest. That is very welcome, and often adds something valuable to the discussion.

The course is taught in small groups because that allows tutors to engage directly with each student and respond to the needs of the particular group in the room. Students arrive with different levels of scientific knowledge, different interests, and different degrees of confidence, and small-group teaching makes it much easier for tutors to adjust their explanations, ask questions, and make sure students are following what is being discussed.

Just as importantly, small groups make it possible for students to take an active role in the learning. The aim of the course is not simply to present information about medicine, but to give students the chance to think through cases, ask questions, practise skills, and try out ideas for themselves.

That kind of learning depends on responsiveness and feedback. Students benefit not only from hearing new ideas, but from putting them into practice and getting meaningful responses from tutors and peers. In a large lecture-based format, much of that would be lost.

Because medicine is an active profession rather than a passive one. In most areas of medicine, what is distinctive is not simply knowing information, but using it: talking to patients, investigating symptoms, making judgements, and deciding what to do next. The course is designed to reflect that reality as far as possible.

This also helps students work out whether medicine is genuinely right for them. Listening to information about medicine can be interesting, but actually trying to think through a case, ask questions, communicate clearly, or respond to a clinical scenario gives a much better sense of what the subject and profession involve in practice.

Active participation also tends to produce a deeper understanding of the material. It is much easier to feel that you have understood something when you are listening passively than when you are asked to use it. Having to apply ideas in practice, especially with feedback from tutors and peers, helps students see more clearly what they have really grasped and what still needs work.

Finally, active learning simply makes for a better experience. Students are giving up part of their summer holiday to be here, and we want the course to be both intellectually serious and genuinely enjoyable. Interactivity is part of what makes the week lively, memorable, and rewarding.

One reason is that medicine is an unusually broad profession. A student who is drawn to psychiatry, for example, may find themselves interested in very different questions and ways of working from a student who is drawn to surgery or cardiology. By covering a range of topics, the course helps students build a clearer sense not only of whether medicine appeals to them in general, but also of which aspects of it they find most interesting.

That breadth is useful in a practical sense as well. As students encounter different areas of medicine, they also begin to notice the kinds of work each field involves and the different ways doctors think, communicate, and make decisions within them. In an ideal world, students leave the course not only thinking, “yes, I would like to pursue medicine,” but also with some early sense of the kind of medicine that may suit them best.

A broader course also gives more students the chance to find a topic that really engages them. Different sessions naturally emphasise slightly different strengths, whether scientific understanding, communication, ethical reasoning, or clinical investigation.

At the same time, the course is not simply a collection of unrelated topics. Across the week, students keep returning to some of the same core medical habits: listening carefully, asking good questions, thinking logically about symptoms and causes, and communicating clearly with patients. Exploring those habits in a range of medical contexts often helps students understand them more deeply.

The most important way the course helps is by giving students a much clearer sense of what studying Medicine is actually like. For many school-age students, Medicine is still quite an opaque subject. They may have a strong ambition to become a doctor, but only a limited sense of what medical study really involves in practice.

The course helps make that picture more concrete. Students begin to see the kinds of ideas, skills, and activities that are central to Medicine: understanding the science behind illness, thinking through symptoms and diagnosis, communicating clearly, and responding to ethical and practical questions. That gives them a much better basis on which to decide whether the subject genuinely suits them.

This can be especially valuable because choosing Medicine is a major commitment. Compared with many other degree paths, it requires students to make an unusually weighty decision at a relatively early stage. The more realistic information they have before making that choice, the better.

Students also often find it valuable to spend time with other young people who are thinking seriously about the same path. In many schools, only a small number of students are considering Medicine, so the chance to meet peers with similar ambitions and questions can be helpful in itself.

Yes, but not in the way some students expect.

The course is not designed as a coaching programme for medical school applications, and it is not built around rehearsing personal statement content or teaching students how to “perform” well at interview. Students looking primarily for that kind of admissions support are usually looking for something different from what this course is trying to offer.

What the course does provide is a much stronger intellectual and practical grounding in the kinds of questions Medicine raises. Students spend the week discussing medical ideas, ethical dilemmas, communication challenges, and clinical scenarios in a serious and structured way. That often gives them much more to say, and a much clearer sense of what they actually think, when they later come to write personal statements or talk at interview.

For personal statements, the main value lies in what students take away and how they build on it afterwards. Simply listing a summer school is rarely impressive on its own. What matters is being able to reflect on what you learned, what interested you, and how the experience shaped your thinking.

The course can also help students develop a more grounded and convincing sense of their own motivation. One of the things medical schools are trying to judge is whether an applicant has a serious understanding of the path they are choosing. A student who can communicate not only that they want to study Medicine, but also that they have begun to understand what kinds of medical questions, skills, or areas of practice most interest them, will often come across as much more thoughtful and credible.

For interviews, the benefit is often more direct. Students spend the week speaking, reasoning aloud, responding to ethical questions, and explaining their ideas in a small-group setting. That gives them valuable practice in exactly the kinds of reflective and discussion-based thinking that often arise in Medicine interviews, even though the course itself is not an interview-preparation product.

Yes. Although the course is designed primarily for students considering Medicine, it can also be useful for students interested in other patient-facing healthcare professions.

Many of the questions explored during the week – communication, ethics, clinical reasoning, and the relationship between scientific knowledge and patient care – are relevant well beyond Medicine itself. Students considering fields such as Nursing or other healthcare professions may therefore still find the course valuable.

The course is not designed specifically around those professions, but students with those interests are very welcome.

Teaching on the Medicine Summer School is interactive, discussion-based, and strongly focused on applying ideas in practice. Rather than relying mainly on lectures, tutors introduce core concepts and then ask students to work with them through case discussions, practical activities, ethical scenarios, and clinical-style exercises.

Some sessions begin with the scientific background to a medical topic, but the aim is always to move beyond simply hearing information. Students are encouraged to ask questions, think through problems, communicate their reasoning, and reflect on how medical knowledge is used in real situations.

The course is therefore designed to give students a more active and realistic sense of how medicine is studied and practised. It combines serious academic content with a teaching style that is participatory, supportive, and focused on helping students engage directly with the material.

Group sizes are kept deliberately small so that every student has the opportunity to take part and tutors can engage closely with each individual.

For the in-person courses, groups typically contain 12–16 students, depending on the room being used. For online courses, groups are usually 8–12 students, which helps discussions remain focused and manageable in a virtual setting.

These smaller groups make it much easier for students to ask questions, practise new skills, and receive meaningful feedback. They also allow tutors to adapt discussions to the interests, confidence, and prior knowledge of the particular students in the room.

Our tutors are chosen not only for their academic and clinical knowledge, but also for their ability to teach students who are just beginning to explore the subject seriously.

In Medicine, that usually means tutors who have enough experience to bring real medical understanding to the classroom – including clinical insight, practical knowledge, and a clear sense of how medical ideas are used in practice – while still being close enough to the student experience to remember what it was like to be considering Medicine, applying to study it, and encountering these ideas for the first time.

That balance matters. Students benefit from being taught by people who can speak with real authority about the subject, but who can also explain it in a way that feels approachable and relevant to someone at school.

You can read more about some of the tutors who teach on our courses on our tutor profiles page.

The atmosphere on the Medicine Summer School is warm, lively, and collaborative. Students are often grappling with unfamiliar material at the same time, and that creates a strong sense of shared effort rather than competition.

Although the subject matter is serious, the sessions themselves are not po-faced. Medicine often involves questions that are intellectually demanding, practically messy, and sometimes unexpectedly strange, and tutors are good at creating an atmosphere where students can explore those questions with curiosity, humour, and openness.

That matters because students need to feel able to have a go, make mistakes, and refine their thinking without feeling embarrassed. Tutors work hard to make the course supportive as well as challenging, so that students can take intellectual risks and build confidence as they go.

The result is usually an environment that feels both demanding and enjoyable: students are stretched, but in a way that is humane, engaging, and often genuinely fun.

Yes. Students receive a certificate of participation at the end of the week.

This simply confirms that they attended the course and took part in the programme. It is not connected to any formal qualification or external accreditation.

For most students, the main value of the course lies in the experience itself – the ideas explored, the discussions with tutors and other students, and the insights gained during the week.

The in-person course costs £845, and the online course costs £495.

Places can be reserved with a 25% deposit, with the remaining balance due eight weeks before the course start date.

We also offer a bursary scheme, which can support students with up to 90% of the course fees depending on circumstances. You can find full details on the bursaries page, or contact us if you would like to discuss your eligibility.

Both the online and in-person versions of the course run Monday to Friday.

For the in-person course, sessions run from 10:30 to 16:30, with a break for lunch at around 13:00.

For the online course, sessions run from 10:00 to 15:30, with short breaks during the day.

These schedules are designed to allow for focused academic work while still leaving students with time to rest and reflect between sessions.

Yes. We actively welcome students from a wide range of social and educational backgrounds, and we believe that having a diversity of experiences in the classroom enriches the discussions for everyone involved.

For that reason, we offer a bursary scheme which can support students with up to 90% of the course fees, depending on circumstances.

Full details of how the bursary system works, including eligibility and how to apply, can be found on the bursaries page.

If you are unsure whether you might be eligible, or if you would like to discuss your situation before applying, you are very welcome to contact us. We are always happy to talk through the options and help families understand how the scheme works.

The two versions of the course are very similar in their overall aims and academic content. Students in both formats explore the same broad medical themes and are introduced to the same kinds of clinical, ethical, and scientific questions.

The main difference is that the in-person course includes more hands-on practical activities. Some exercises – such as suturing or certain physical examination and neurology activities – work best when students are in the room together and can try them directly under tutor guidance.

The online course still covers those same areas, but approaches them in a more discussion-based way. In some cases, this means there is slightly more time to go into case studies or particular medical questions in greater depth.

So the in-person course offers more physical practical experience, while the online course is a little more focused on discussion and extended exploration of the material. Both are serious, interactive, and academically demanding in similar ways.

The in-person course takes place in Bloomsbury, in the heart of central London, an area well known for its concentration of universities, libraries, and cultural institutions.

It is a beautiful and historically rich part of the city, with many of London’s major academic institutions nearby and several of Bloomsbury’s famous garden squares just a short walk away – ideal for breaks and lunch between sessions.

The location is very easy to reach by public transport, with excellent Underground and rail connections.

You can find full details of the venue, along with travel information, on our How to Find Us page.

In most cases, yes. We are very happy to work with students who have particular access needs, whether related to physical disability, neurodivergence, or other learning requirements.

If there is anything that would help you participate more comfortably in the course, we encourage you to let us know in advance. The more information we have about a student’s needs, the easier it is for tutors and organisers to make appropriate adjustments.

Wherever possible, we will work with families to ensure that students can take part fully in the sessions and engage with the course in a way that suits their learning needs.