About the Course
It can be overwhelming initially but you sort of figure out what works for you and get into the rhythm of things. It can be quite demoralising when you see friends with lighter workloads getting to take part in more social activities but so long as you manage your time appropriately, you can have a life outside of your degree.
My favourite part of the course is the tutorials because it is really interesting hearing stories from our tutors about their research or cases from their times as a doctor, and that really helps you contextualise the theory you are learning in a more practical setting.
We have about 2 GP placements a term from first year (many people think there is no clinical contact in our first three years).
The Application Process
For UCAT, start preparing like 6-8 weeks beforehand. It's important to do little but often, so as soon as you can, start doing an hour or two everyday of practice questions which you can then build up as needed until the day of the test. Perhaps schedule it for early-mid August so that you will have more time afterwards in the holiday to focus on your reading. But please make sure you prioritise the entrance exams over the wider reading - the main deciding factor for interviews is exam scores and the personal statement is mainly used to judge people with lower exam scores and as a conversation starter.
Interviews: In terms of the theory-based medical questions, the most important thing is applying your A level biology knowledge; sometimes a question might seem completely unrelated to what you've studied but a lot of what you know from biology (cells, receptors, active transport etc) can be applied to completely new scenarios. Also do learn to interpret different graphs e.g. log graphs. The clinical/ethics-based questions are very similar to those at other unis and make sure that you keep upto date with the latest medical-related news. As I'm sure you've heard a lot, they really just want to hear you talking through your thinking process. Hence it's really important to always apply your existing knowledge in those unfamiliar contexts and explain how you are doing so - they want to see if you can think critically and creatively with what you do know. Even if you genuinely have no idea, just try and apply anything that could be useful - it doesn't matter if what you initially say is wrong as long as you can respond to any hints they give you and work off them.
I would also recommend looking into what the tutors specialise in - I briefly checked before my interviews but didn't think it would matter, however a lot of the tutors asked me questions related to their general area of expertise e.g. genetics, cancer etc.
This is the general selection criteria on the website.
Bonus tips: try to showcase your enthusiasm about your subject and curiosity to learn.
What helped me prepare the most was trying to think critically and apply a level biology content whenever I came across unknown medical territory e.g. if I was reading a book and they mentioned a disease and its symptoms, I tried to think from a cellular level about the mechanism by which the disease would cause those symptoms before checking the correct answer - of course a lot of times the answer may be something you haven't learnt yet but it's good practice just trying to put yourself in unfamiliar situations and trying to make sense of it.