Hi all,
Will be sitting GAMSAT this Sept and Nottingham is definitely first choice as it stands. Loved the site, they all seemed pretty organised and I do like how transparent they are.
However, preparation for GAMSAT has come to a grinding halt. Need more time in the day!
With regards to interview invite/work experience. They have a set cut off for GAMSAT scores and then a questionnaire is sent out for work experience around December time I believe. I think they do have a minimum amount/quality they require, though it is still somewhat subjective.
Speaking to Prof. Garrud, they want the equivalent of ~4 months full time direct patient contact specifically mentioning HCA work. Now that's obviously not possible for everyone, but if you'd been volunteering twice a week for a year I imagine it'd be fine. Though he did seem to favour HCA work, I think most schools do to an extent, I got the impression other roles are fine as long as you can get similar insights and experiences i.e. patient contact, multidisciplinary team, healthcare system insights etc.
Finally, talking to a few of the students I think the least experience any had was 4 months HCA full time, so the above seems pretty accurate.