Pre-allocation

Applications for pre-allocation must be submitted during the national application window alongside the main Foundation Programme application form on Oriel and submitted by the deadline more information on pre-allocation can be found here.

Link to you local medical school who will be able to provide guidance and support.

The pre-allocation process allows some applicants to apply to be pre-allocated to a Foundation School on the grounds of having a requirement to remain in a specific geographical area.

Pre-allocation guidance and application forms are available on the UKFPO website.

The criteria for applying to pre-allocation is available on the UKFPO website.

Please follow the guidance on the UKFPO website.

The Scottish Foundation School aims to accommodate pre-allocated applicants allocated to Scotland to the relevant region  based on the information included in the application form eg East, North, South-East or West region.

If your application is approved it DOES NOT guarantee first choice preference of Group (e.g. E08, N05, S02, W13).

The Oriel system requires you to rank your Group preferences, so you must do this even if you are being allocated through pre-allocation.

You should rank the Group preferences in the order you provided to the Scottish Foundation School.

Group allocation will be released at the same time as other applicants via Oriel. 

The pre-allocation process only applies to Group allocation. Once you have been allocated to a Group, your programme will be allocated based upon your PIA.  

As part of pre-allocation, the Scottish Foundation School cannot guarantee a specific Group, but we will endeavour to meet your request to be placed in a particular region (East, North, South-East or West). 

If your pre-allocation is approved and you are pre-allocated to the Scottish Foundation School using the national process and guidelines, the Scottish Foundation School team will contact you via the email address provided on your Oriel application.

The Scottish Foundation School will ask you to rank your top ten most preferred Groups, your preferences must reflect the information you have given in your application form.

The local Associate Postgraduate Dean for your preferred region will allocate you to a Group based upon the information in your application, your home location, your Group preferences, and the overall Group allocations for applicants approved for pre-allocation.

Applicants approved for pre-allocation are not guaranteed their first choice of Group.  Applicants should not contact the local regional teams regarding pre-allocation, this process in managed centrally by the Scottish Foundation School.

Scotland offers a flexible approach to pre-allocation. We welcome pre-allocation applicants to the Foundation School who have met the UKFPO criteria and been approved. All applicants approved under any of the 5 pre-allocation criteria will have their application to Scotland processed in the same way. 

The Scotland Deanery has 4 regions (East, North, South-East and West) and we will offer flexibility to either select the Foundation region aligned with your medical school or a different Scottish region PROVIDED your criterion for application remains consistent with your application criterion AND you have a valid contemporaneous address in the region where you will be supported. UKFPO proof of address criteria.

For example:

• You attended Aberdeen medical school, and you are accepted through the UKFPO process for pre-allocation and provide a North region address, you will be allocated to the North.
• You attended Dundee medical school, and your family support is based in the South-East and you provide an address in the South-East, you will be pre-allocated to the South-East region.
• You attended a university medical school out-with Scotland, and you are applying under criterion 1 (parent/legal guardian) and your family support is based in the West region, and you provide an address in the West, you will be allocated to the West region.

The overall UKFPO system is applicable e.g. if you are applying under criterion 4 Primary Carer or 5 Widening Participation, you can only be allocated to the Foundation School local to your medical school. Graduates of Scottish medical schools applying via criteria 4 or 5 are able to specify allocation to any of the four Scottish Foundation regions.

1. Receive approved pre-allocation names and forms from UKFPO (approx. January  of each year)
2. Pre-allocation applicants are asked by the Scottish Foundation School to preference their ‘top 10 groups’ e.g. E01, N07, S13, W15 etc via MS Form
3. Pre-allocation forms and applicant preferences are shared with the regional APGD
4. Regional APGD allocates applicant to a group based on individual applicant preferences provided and the information based on the pre-allocation application form
5. Pre-allocation applicants must preference groups in Oriel in the same order as provided to the Foundation School
6. Allocated to a group in Oriel
7. Group match run, as per national timeline
8. Pre-allocation applicants must rank programmes (rotations) in the group they are allocated (same process for standard FP applicants - allocation to a rotation is based on PIA rank)