2026 entry · Medicine interview
Queen's University Belfast
Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) · format, dates and preparation
Interview timeline
When are Queen's University Belfast medicine interviews?
| Invitations released | November to December |
|---|---|
| Interviews held | Mid-December to March |
| Delivery | In person (home); online (international) |
How interview waves work
Interview invitations are not sent in one batch. Schools release them in waves across the cycle, so the date you hear back depends as much on when your application was processed as on how strong it is.
- Most invitations go out in waves from November to January, with interviews held between late November and March.
- A quiet December does not mean a rejection. Later waves are normal, and some schools (Southampton, King's, Brunel) run well into the new year or beyond.
- When an invitation arrives you usually have to respond fast, often within two weeks, or the place is released.
- A handful of schools interview early: St George's from November, Oxford and Aberdeen in mid-December.
What changes year to year
The biggest change year to year is delivery mode. Many schools moved online during the pandemic; some have stayed online (Bristol, Glasgow, Keele, Nottingham, Plymouth, Aston), while others returned in person (Aberdeen, Leeds, Anglia Ruskin, St George's). Exact calendar dates move by a few weeks each cycle, but the month-level windows below have stayed stable.
Cross-checked for 2026 entry. Windows are month-level and describe the most recent (2026-entry) cycle. Exact dates shift by a few weeks each year and are confirmed only in a candidate's official invitation email. Always treat the invitation as the source of truth. The Medic Portal and Blue Peanut interview guides (2026 entry)
The interview day
How it actually runs
official QUB pages describe a 12-station circuit for home/in-person candidates (9 assessed + 3 rest stations) and a 7-station MMI for international/stage-two candidates; independent guides cite slightly different counts (7-9), so treat exact numbers as indicative
Assessment focus
What Queen's University Belfast looks for
Real experiences
What applicants actually say about the Queen's University Belfast interview
Gathered from applicant forums, weighted by how many independent sources agree. These are unverified community reports, not official university information, and can shift between cycles.
4 insights · 1 widely reported
The pre-interview points threshold for getting an MMI invite swings noticeably year to year, so applicants track it live on the yearly TSR entry thread rather than trusting a fixed number. 2026-entry posters reported invites going out as low as 36 out of 45 points, 2024-entry applicants were told at the open day to expect the threshold to drop from 38 the previous year to around 35-36, and 2025-entry posters reported a threshold near 30 out of the then 42-point scale.
Widely reported · 3 sources(spans several cycles)
The pre-interview points threshold for getting an MMI invite swings noticeably year to year, so applicants track it live on the yearly TSR entry thread rather than trusting a fixed number. 2026-entry posters reported invites going out as low as 36 out of 45 points, 2024-entry applicants were told at the open day to expect the threshold to drop from 38 the previous year to around 35-36, and 2025-entry posters reported a threshold near 30 out of the then 42-point scale.
"paraphrase: lowest reported score for an interview invite was 36/45, with holders of 37-41 points also receiving invites across the December and February batches"
TSR thread, Queen's University Belfast (QUB) A100 - Medicine 2026 entry"paraphrase: at the open day they said they were expecting (and hoping) that it would drop from 38 to closer to previous levels of around 35/36 for 2024 entry"
TSR thread, Official: Queen's University Belfast A100 2024 Entry Applicants"paraphrase: the 2025 threshold for interview invitation was around 30 points out of the previous 42-point system"
TSR thread, Official: Queen's University Belfast A100 2025 Entry ApplicantsQUB's reserve list keeps moving right up to August/September, and applicants who chased it directly (phoning or emailing admissions to ask if anyone had dropped out) report better luck than those who just waited passively. Also, holding a firm place at another medical school under UCAS rules you out of being pulled from QUB's reserve list.
Several reports · 2 sources(spans several cycles)
QUB's reserve list keeps moving right up to August/September, and applicants who chased it directly (phoning or emailing admissions to ask if anyone had dropped out) report better luck than those who just waited passively. Also, holding a firm place at another medical school under UCAS rules you out of being pulled from QUB's reserve list.
"paraphrase: one applicant got an offer by calling to ask if anyone had dropped out in the first month; another was advised to email admissions directly to ask if more offers were going out"
TSR thread, offers from QUB med waitlist"paraphrase: QUB will not reconsider you from the reserve list once you hold a place at another medical school in UCAS"
TSR thread, Queen's University Belfast A100 2024 Entry WAITLIST threadThe MMI circuit is bigger than the headline nine stations suggests: it actually runs 12 stations total, 9 scored plus 3 unscored rest stations, and multiple scored stations are full role-play scenarios with a trained actor rather than a panel simply asking questions. Applicants who prepped mainly for standard ethics Q&A report being caught off guard by how role-play-heavy it is.
Several reports · 2 sources(spans several cycles)
The MMI circuit is bigger than the headline nine stations suggests: it actually runs 12 stations total, 9 scored plus 3 unscored rest stations, and multiple scored stations are full role-play scenarios with a trained actor rather than a panel simply asking questions. Applicants who prepped mainly for standard ethics Q&A report being caught off guard by how role-play-heavy it is.
"paraphrase: the circuit has 12 stations, interviewers at 9 of them plus 3 rest stations, one minute to prepare and five minutes per station"
TSR thread, Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) at Belfast for Medicine - advice and tips"paraphrase: two of the scored stations are role-play scenarios acted out with a trained actor, described by posters as unusually role-play-heavy compared to other schools' MMIs"
TSR thread, Medicine interview- Queens university BelfastDespite the nerves beforehand, long-running applicant consensus is that the stations move very fast and most people come out having enjoyed it rather than dreading it.
Single report(older cycle)
Despite the nerves beforehand, long-running applicant consensus is that the stations move very fast and most people come out having enjoyed it rather than dreading it.
"paraphrase: the interviews go by really fast and almost all candidates enjoy the experience"
TSR thread, Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) at Belfast for Medicine - advice and tipsFree prep guide
How to prepare for Queen's University Belfast
- Each station is scored independently by a different assessor: a weak station doesn't sink the ones before or after it, so reset your mindset walking into each one.
- Ethics questions are scored on your reasoning process, not on landing on the "correct" verdict: show your working.
- Practise explaining something familiar to you in plain language: examiners are checking whether you can be understood by someone with no medical background.
- Show empathy through specific behaviour in your answers (what you said or did), not just by stating that you're "a caring person".
- Structure your reasoning explicitly: state your assumptions, weigh the options, then give your answer, rather than jumping straight to a conclusion.
Verified against the university's own admissions page.
Queen's University Belfast: official Medicine MMI candidate information pagesResearched 2026-07-03 for 2026 entry. Formats can change year to year: next check due 2026-09-01.
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