338% increase of offers to free school meal eligible students on UEA’s Preparing for Medicine programme
By: Communications
The University of East Anglia’s (UEA) flagship Preparing for Medicine programme has seen a 338% increase in offers for students who are free school meal eligible, due to extra spaces funded by the Medical Schools Council, NHS England, and UEA’s Access and Participation Plan (APP).
This increase follows on from research published in February by the Sutton Trust, which highlights the unequal access to medicine for socio-economically disadvantaged students.
With a focus on student support, UEA's Preparing for Medicine programme aims to demystify the application process and maximise participants’ chances of studying medicine, through mentorship and specially tailored workshops and events.
A total of £75,000 (£37,500 per year) has been awarded across two cohorts, running from January to October 2025 and January to October 2026, after a successful joint bid from UEA and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU); 50 student places were funded by the Medical Schools Council and NHS England, and a further 15 places from the APP.
As a region, the East of England performs below the national average across multiple measures, in terms of progression to higher education. Norfolk has a higher proportion of households in the lowest Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) decile, which is particularly pertinent on measures of rural coastal deprivation.
More than 89% of this year’s cohort of 64 students were drawn from quintiles 1-3 of the index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), more than 61% are first-generation students (from a family where the parents or caregivers do not have a university degree, from the UK or abroad), and more than 85% of the cohort are free school meal eligible.
Dr Charlie Williams (shown above), Lecturer in Medicine and the Widening Participation Academic Lead in Norwich Medical School, said:
“This new funding will allow us to support more aspiring medical students than ever before. All students, from all walks of life, deserve the knowledge of applying to medical school. This programme aims to give opportunities to those who are not otherwise given them.
“In the East, particularly around coastal areas, we have what are known as ‘cold spots’ – areas where no one has attended medical school. We know that health inequalities exist in rural and coastal communities, and that representation and lived experiences can be a driver for change. We hope that inspiring students from these areas may help to address the issue in the future.
“This programme sits proudly alongside UEA’s other established outreach activities, which engage with up to 18,000 students per year, a significant proportion of whom are from disadvantaged or under-represented groups.”
Preparing for Medicine was first launched at UEA in 2010, known then as ‘Medical Aspirations’, for Year 12 to Year 13 students (Level 3, Year 1 to Year 2). In its first year, 12% of participants progressed to studying Medicine at UEA, which rose to 21% in following years.
Medicine is among the most competitive of university courses to apply to. In 2023, only 21.5% of applications to UK universities to study medicine resulted in an offer, compared to an offer rate of 77% for all courses.
Between 2018-2021, more than 55% of 272 participants have gone on to study medicine or dentistry after completing the UEA programme. In addition, more than 52% of students from the 2022 cohort applied to study Medicine at UEA, with 75% of those gaining offers on the MBBS Medicine with a Gateway Year and MBBS Medicine courses (from a cohort of 38 participants).
Find out more about Norwich Medical School
Laura Flower (above) from Norwich, a final-year Medicine student at UEA, took part in the programme in 2018-19.
She said: “I truly believe that I owe my medical school place to the Preparing for Medicine programme, and I am continuously grateful for the support it gave me. As a first-generation university student and the only student to ever apply for medicine from my sixth form, I initially found the medicine application process terrifying.
“The Preparing for Medicine programme myth busted the entire application process – making it clear, understandable and, more importantly for me, achievable. With the help and support of the Preparing for Medicine team, they helped me develop the essential skills and confidence for me to go on and apply for medicine.
“In fact, it equipped me so well that I gained a place at all four medical schools I applied to, something I am incredibly proud of.” 
Imogen La Chapelle (above), a final-year Medicine student at UEA who is also from Norwich, took part in the programme in 2019.
She said: “The whole experience just made me feel incredibly supported and motivated to do Medicine at UEA. Before the programme’s residential, I had done a lot of research into different medical schools and was still quite unsure about where I wanted to study. After the residential, I was certain that UEA was right for me. Everyone was incredibly friendly, and I learnt so much.
“The programme gave me much more confidence in myself and in understanding the application process. It wasn’t just the residential itself, but also the UCAT study day, the mock interview, the personal statement activity. There was so much support throughout, which meant getting into medical school felt much more achievable.”
Learn more about Laura and Imogen's inspiring 'Prep for Med' journeys
Although usually delivered through in-person events across the year, the two expanded Preparing for Medicine cohorts for 2025 and 2026, which draws participants from across a wider geographical area, will engage in online events. However, they will still engage with in-person residentials taking place at UEA or ARU.
Examples of events and support include mentoring from a current medical student throughout the programme; mock interviews; and University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) workshops.
Images: Participants from the 2024 Preparing for Medicine cohort in a workshop
Students who engage with all aspects of the programme and meet the minimum course requirements are guaranteed an interview to study Medicine at UEA.
One participant of the current 2025 Preparing for Medicine cohort, who took part this week on the UEA outreach residential, described it as “an incredibly interactive programme [that] provides you with a realistic insight into what medical school will be like”.
Another participant shared the same positive sentiment: “This residential helped me gain a newfound sense that I could actually apply to medicine, and also gave me a valuable taster on what life at UEA would be like.
“It also helped boost my confidence by meeting a lot of other like-minded students that wanted to apply to medicine, and I would 100% recommend this programme to anyone who would think about applying to medicine.”
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