Completing the UCAS form

All applications are coordinated by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

How to apply

You will need to register first if you do not have a UCAS account and then submit an application via UCAS Hub.

A step-by-step guide is available on the same webpage. Please do not worry about any UCAS references to 'Undergraduate' and proceed to complete all the required sections.

You will need to enter The University of Manchester's UCAS institution code and the UCAS course code of your chosen Physician Associate course in the 'Choices' section as shown in the example below.

  • Institution code: M20
  • Course code for MSc Physician Associate Studies: A300
  • Course code for PGDip Physician Associate Studies: A301

Deadline and important information about completing your UCAS form

The deadline for submitting the UCAS form for the Physician Associate Studies course is 18:00 (UK time) on 31 January.

Applications received after this date may still be considered, but we recommend you to apply as early as possible to avoid disappointment as we reserve the right to close the course once we reach capacity.

The UCAS form is your opportunity to tell us about your current qualifications and how you match up to our published entry criteria. The form needs to be complete and accurate at the point of submission, and is assessed as it is received.

All qualifications, including those which are pending and any in which you have been unsuccessful, must be declared. For pending qualifications, a predicted grade from an appropriate educational professional at your current institution of study should be provided. Unfortunately, we cannot progress an application without predicted grades, so if none are present, the application will be rejected.

Please note that we do not normally accept subsequent declarations of additional qualifications or revised predicted grades that are provided to us after the January UCAS deadline, so it is important that your form is accurate at the point of submission.

Applicants who meet the minimum academic requirements for Physician Associate Studies at The University of Manchester progress to the next stage of the selection process.

Personal statement

You will be required to write a personal statement as part of your UCAS application, and this will be seen by the admissions departments for each of your course choices.

At Manchester, we do not usually read the personal statement that comes to us via UCAS; instead, we ask applicants to complete a Non-Academic Information Form. Applicants who do not submit a Non-Academic Information Form by the required deadline will be rejected. More information can be found on the Non-Academic Information Form page.

There are some circumstances where we will look at the personal statement, however, so it is important that you complete it. The sorts of areas we would expect to see covered in the personal statement are as follows:

  • reasons for choosing/changing to the Physician Associate Studies course;
  • amount of work experience relevant to the role of a physician associate;
  • knowledge/experience of the UK healthcare system;
  • interests/hobbies;
  • team-working skills;
  • communication skills;
  • abilities in dealing with difficult/complex situations;
  • determination;
  • conscientiousness;
  • intellectual potential.

Reference

A reference must be submitted as part of your UCAS application rather than sent to us separately by email. A member of academic staff who knows you from your previous university-level studies should write this reference. Alternatively, if you are currently employed in a healthcare role, this may be your employer.

A 'character reference' is not sufficient. We do, however, want to know what the writer of the reference thinks about you as a person, not just about your academic achievements and potential.

We strongly recommend that any mitigating circumstances that may have affected your academic performance or any other aspect of the information contained in the UCAS form should be included in the referee's report.

Once we have received an application, we would also expect to be informed of any mitigating circumstances that might occur during the application process. Please contact us for further information on mitigating circumstances.