UCAT Cut-Off Scores for UK Medical Schools: A Guide for 2027 Entry
UCAT Scores and Cut-Offs: How Medical Schools Use Your Score
Two students sit the same UCAT and get the same 1,940. One gets four interviews. The other gets none.
Nothing separates them except where they applied. That is the entire subject of this guide.
The number itself is only half the story — what matters is which of the 40-odd UK medical schools treat it as a queue ticket, which treat it as a bar to clear, which fold it into a points total alongside your GCSEs, and which barely glance at it. Get that mapping right and a mid-range score becomes four real chances. Get it wrong and a brilliant score buys you nothing at all. 🎯
Updated 16 September 2026 with the UCAT Consortium's preliminary 2026 figures. They change what a good score looks like this year, and not in the direction most applicants are assuming.
What "cut-off" actually means (and how to read this guide)
"Cut-off" gets used loosely, and the looseness causes real damage. There are three completely different things hiding behind the word.
A published minimum is a genuine floor set before the cycle begins. Score below it and you are rejected automatically, no matter how good the rest of your application is. Keele, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Swansea all publish one.
A retrospective cut-point is the score of the lowest-ranked applicant who happened to get an interview last year. Nobody set it in advance. It emerged from who applied and how many interview slots existed. Bristol, Imperial, Sheffield and Anglia Ruskin publish figures of this kind, and every one of them will move next cycle.
A screening threshold is calculated part-way through the cycle, usually in November once results reach universities. Manchester and Glasgow both work this way, which means nobody — including the admissions team — knows the number when you submit your UCAS form in October.
Only the first kind is a promise. The other two are weather reports from last year. Treat them accordingly — and this year, as you are about to see, last year's weather is a particularly poor guide.
How do medical schools actually select for interview?
Strip away the detail and almost every UK medical school runs one of four models.
Ranked from the top down. Everyone eligible is ordered by UCAT score and invitations go out from the top until the slots run out. There is no bar — just a queue. University College London (UCL), Southampton, Hertfordshire and Anglia Ruskin work this way, and it is where a high score is worth the most.
Threshold first, then ranked. A minimum is set, everyone below it is rejected, and the survivors are ranked on score anyway. Clearing the bar is not enough. Sheffield and Imperial College London are the clearest cases.
Points, with the UCAT as one ingredient. Your score converts into points that sit alongside points for GCSEs, A-levels or contextual flags. Birmingham, Leicester, Queen's University Belfast (QUB), Nottingham and Edinburgh all do this, but the balance between ingredients varies enormously — and that variation is the opportunity.
Barely used at all. A few schools use the UCAT only to break ties, or do not require it. Cardiff and the University of Buckingham sit here.
One warning before you go further: a school can sit in a different category for Home, contextual, graduate and international applicants. Newcastle University ranks international and A101 applicants on UCAT alone while Home A100 applicants go through a points system. Always read the paragraph that applies to you.
Here is why the model matters more than ever this year. Ranked and threshold schools recalculate against the cohort. If everyone scores higher, the bar rises with them and your raw number buys you less. Points-based schools that convert your score into a decile rank do the same thing. Only the schools that barely use the UCAT are insulated.
What changed with the UCAT — and why older cut-offs don't translate cleanly
Abstract Reasoning was removed from the UCAT in 2025. The test now has three cognitive subtests — Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning — plus the Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which is reported as a band rather than a score.
That drops the maximum total cognitive score from 3,600 to 2,700, and the minimum from 1,200 to 900. It is not a rescaling. A quarter of the test simply vanished.
So every cut-off published for 2025 entry or earlier is on a different scale and cannot be compared to anything you will score this year. The clearest example is Keele, whose guidance for 2025 entry stated that applicants below 2,280 would not be considered — an unremarkable floor out of 3,600. Carried across to the 2,700 scale, that same number would sit near the 9th decile. Students read figures like that, assume they are nowhere near, and delete schools that would have interviewed them.
Before you use any threshold you find anywhere — including on a university's own website, where old pages linger — confirm two things: which scale it is on, and which entry year it applies to. If you cannot establish both, the number is useless.
The six things that changed for 2027 entry 🔄
Worth knowing before you read the school-by-school sections.
- The 2026 preliminary mean is 1,970 against a final 2025 mean of 1,891. The cohort has moved, and every decile boundary has moved with it.
- Band 1 has become scarcer — 16% of candidates so far against 21% last year. A Band 1 is worth more this cycle than it was last.
- Keele has published a minimum on the new scale: 1,700. That replaces the old 2,280 figure entirely and is a far more accessible bar than the old number implied.
- Cambridge will not use the Situational Judgement Test at all for 2027 entry. Its cognitive total still counts.
- Sheffield's published minimum for 2027 entry is 1,800, calculated from the 40th centile average across the previous three cycles.
- Anglia Ruskin now requires Home fee status and publishes a detailed set of 2026-entry cut-offs with regional uplifts.
Introduction
Your UCAT arrives in a window of a few weeks and then has to carry your entire application through the most competitive stage of the process. Around 40,000 people sit it each cycle. Roughly a third of applicants are interviewed at a typical school, and many schools interview two to three candidates per place.
What this guide gives you is the mapping: what the current scale looks like, what the newly published 2026 figures actually say, how each UK medical school uses the number, and how to convert all of that into four UCAS choices that work together rather than against each other.
Everything here is written against the 2,700 scale. Where a figure is on the old 3,600 scale, it is labelled. Where a school has not published a figure, that is stated plainly rather than filled in with a guess from a forum. 📊
How to read your UCAT score for 2027 Entry
The scoring system in one paragraph
Verbal Reasoning is 44 questions in 22 minutes, Decision Making 35 questions in 37 minutes, Quantitative Reasoning 36 questions in 26 minutes. Each is scaled to between 300 and 900, giving a total cognitive score between 900 and 2,700. The Situational Judgement Test is 69 questions in 26 minutes and produces a band from 1 to 4, with Band 1 the highest. There is no negative marking anywhere in the test.
The most recent official decile table
The UCAT Consortium published its preliminary 2026 statistics on 13 September 2026, based on 20,794 tests. These are the newest official figures available, and they are the ones to use — with one very large caveat covered in the next section.
The preliminary total cognitive mean scaled score is 1,970, and the preliminary decile boundaries are:
- 1st decile — 1,630
- 2nd decile — 1,750
- 3rd decile — 1,840
- 4th decile — 1,910
- 5th decile — 1,980
- 6th decile — 2,040
- 7th decile — 2,110
- 8th decile — 2,190
- 9th decile — 2,300
Preliminary subtest means were 614 for Verbal Reasoning, 657 for Decision Making and 699 for Quantitative Reasoning. On the Situational Judgement Test, 16% of candidates achieved Band 1, 42% Band 2, 32% Band 3 and 10% Band 4.
For comparison, the final 2025 figures — drawn from 41,354 tests, and the ones every published school threshold was set against — had a mean of 1,891 and deciles of 1,580, 1,680, 1,760, 1,820, 1,880, 1,950, 2,010, 2,100 and 2,220. Subtest means were 602, 628 and 661. Bands ran 21%, 39%, 29% and 10%.
Put those side by side and the preliminary deciles sit 50 to 100 points above last year's final ones. Do not take that at face value. Here is why.
Why the preliminary figures will fall — and roughly how far
This is the single most important thing on this page, and almost nobody will tell you about it.
Preliminary statistics are drawn from the candidates who tested early. Early testers are, on average, the better-prepared ones — the students who booked in July, revised over the summer holidays and sat the test before term restarted. The mean therefore starts high and falls as the rest of the cohort works through the testing window.
The UCAT Consortium says so itself, and gives the worked example: the 2025 preliminary mean was 1,939 and the final mean was 1,891. The figure dropped 48 points, or about 2.5%, once everyone had tested.
This year's preliminary figures cover 20,794 tests with a further 22,000 candidates expected — so barely half the cohort has sat it. The Consortium's own wording is that these numbers "should be treated with significant caution".
So the honest year-on-year comparison is not 1,970 against 1,891. It is preliminary against preliminary: 1,939 last year, 1,970 this year — a rise of about 31 points. Real, but a third of what the raw comparison suggests.
Our projection for the final 2026 deciles 📉
Applying last year's 2.5% drift to this year's preliminary boundaries gives a rough landing zone. These are Blue Peanut Medical's own estimates, not official figures — the real ones publish shortly after testing closes on 24 September.
- 1st decile — around 1,590
- 2nd decile — around 1,710
- 3rd decile — around 1,790
- 4th decile — around 1,860
- 5th decile — around 1,930
- 6th decile — around 1,990
- 7th decile — around 2,060
- 8th decile — around 2,140
- 9th decile — around 2,240
On that basis the final mean lands near 1,920, roughly 30 points above 2025. The practical reading: this cohort is modestly stronger than last year's, not dramatically so, and the deciles will end up only slightly above where they sat in 2025.
Use the preliminary table if you want the cautious view of your position. Use these estimates if you want the likely one. Do not use either as though it were settled.
UCAT 2026 deciles: what we know right now 📅
Three things have genuinely moved, and each one changes something practical.
Your raw score is worth less than the same score last year. A 2,100 was exactly the 8th decile boundary in 2025. On the 2026 preliminary table it sits below the 7th decile — the same number, two decile bands lower. Last year's mean of 1,891 now sits between the 3rd and 4th deciles, around the 35th percentile. If you have been measuring yourself against last year's table, you have been flattering yourself by roughly one decile.
Quantitative Reasoning has pulled away from Verbal Reasoning. Preliminary subtest means are 614 for Verbal Reasoning and 699 for Quantitative Reasoning — a gap of 85 points, up from 59 points last year. Decision Making rose 29 points and Quantitative Reasoning 38, while Verbal Reasoning moved just 12.
That matters because a total is a total, but some schools look inside it. A 700 in Verbal Reasoning is now a considerably rarer achievement than a 700 in Quantitative Reasoning, and Verbal Reasoning is where this cohort is weakest.
Band 1 has become harder to get. Band 1 fell from 21% of candidates to 16%, while Band 3 rose from 29% to 32%. Band 4 held at 10%.
Fewer Band 1s means a Band 1 is worth more wherever bands are scored as points — Newcastle awards 5 interview points for it, Keele 2, and Edinburgh makes the band 7.5% of your pre-assessment score. It also means the Band 3 problem has grown, which we come back to below.
How Do I Know If I Have a Good UCAT Score?
Here is an honest working guide against the 2026 preliminary boundaries. Because those boundaries will drift down, treat each band as slightly pessimistic rather than optimistic — which is the right way round when you are choosing four courses.
2,300 and above (9th decile or higher) is a genuinely high score. It clears every published threshold in the country, including Imperial's 2,320 for Home applicants if you are above that, and it is worth the most at the ranked schools.
2,110 to 2,299 (7th–8th decile) is strong. Most thresholds are comfortably clear and you are competitive at ranked schools, though not safe at the very top of them. Balance your list.
1,980 to 2,109 (5th–6th decile) is around the middle. This is where school choice matters more than the score itself: at Cardiff, QUB or Birmingham with strong GCSEs you are a real candidate; at UCL or Bristol you are probably not.
1,840 to 1,979 (3rd–4th decile) is below average but far from finished. Cardiff, Aston, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Keele and Sunderland all remain open. Queen Mary's floor is the 4th decile, so watch that one closely.
Below 1,840 (1st–2nd decile) narrows things sharply. Leicester rejects the bottom two deciles outright. Cardiff and Buckingham become the strongest plays, and a considered gap year is a legitimate strategic option rather than an admission of defeat.
Two caveats worth holding onto. These are preliminary boundaries, so if you are sitting a decile boundary you may well move up when the final figures publish. And a decile is a ranking, not a verdict — the sections below are about finding the schools where your particular ranking counts for most.
What About the Situational Judgement Test?
The SJT is scored and reported completely separately from your cognitive total, and it is the single most common avoidable rejection in the whole process.
It does not add to your 2,700. It sits alongside it as a band, and 10% of candidates receive Band 4 — the band that closes doors fastest, and the one figure that has not moved at all between 2025 and 2026.
Do schools actually use SJT bands?
Yes, and far more decisively than most applicants expect. There are four distinct approaches, and they matter enormously to how you build your list.
Ignored completely. Bristol excludes the SJT from its interview selection. Glasgow states it does not consider it. Swansea's Graduate Entry Medicine does not use it. Cambridge has confirmed it will not use it for 2027 entry. If your band is your weak point, these are not loopholes — they are published policy, and they should shape your shortlist.
Band 4 rejected. The long list: Keele, Edge Hill, Leicester, Brunel, Nottingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Imperial, Queen Mary, Anglia Ruskin and others. One candidate in ten is affected.
Band 3 rejected too. Manchester does not currently consider Band 3 or Band 4. On the 2026 preliminary figures that is 42% of the entire cohort excluded on band alone — up from 39% last year, because Band 3 has grown. Liverpool requires Bands 1–3 from Home applicants; Sunderland and Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) require Bands 1–3 as well, with KMMS asking Band 2 or above from postgraduate applicants.
Scored as points. Keele awards 2 points for Band 1, 1 for Band 2 and 0 for Band 3. Newcastle gives 5, 3 and 1 points respectively at interview. Edinburgh makes the band worth 7.5% of your pre-assessment score. Sheffield converts it into a mark out of five and adds it as a virtual ninth station in an eight-station Multiple Mini Interview (MMI).
The practical instruction is short: go through your four choices one at a time and confirm each accepts your band. It takes twenty minutes and it saves cycles. 🚩
Subtest minimums: the rule that catches people out
Most schools use only your total. A few do not, and a strong total built on one weak subtest can fail at one school while sailing through elsewhere.
City St George's, University of London applies a minimum of 500 in each individual subtest alongside its overall cut-off. Nottingham double-weights Verbal Reasoning in its pre-interview scoring, so Verbal Reasoning carries twice the value there that it does elsewhere. Keele uses Verbal Reasoning as its tiebreaker when applicants are level on combined score.
This is worth more attention than usual this year. With the preliminary Verbal Reasoning mean at 614 against 699 for Quantitative Reasoning, a strong Verbal Reasoning score is scarcer than it has been — which quietly increases its value at Nottingham and Keele, and makes the 500 floor at City St George's a slightly more common stumbling block.
Check your score breakdown, not just the headline number.
Will every school publish a UCAT cut-off?
No, and the ones that decline are being honest rather than evasive.
Southampton states plainly that the score needed varies year on year and that it is therefore not possible to indicate one. Hertfordshire says the same. Birmingham confirms it cannot advise on a threshold because it changes annually. Cardiff uses a cut-off only when too many applicants tie on academic score. Aston, Aberdeen and Brunel state they set no minimum at all.
Meanwhile Manchester and Glasgow do not calculate their thresholds until November, once results arrive — which is a month after you have submitted your UCAS form.
Two things follow. First, you will always be applying on incomplete information, and any site promising you this year's cut-offs in September is guessing. Second, "no published cut-off" and "low bar" are not the same thing — Southampton ranks strictly on UCAT and publishes nothing.
Once your score gets you the interview
Your UCAT gets you the interview. The interview gets you the offer.
A mid-range score can win offers when your interview is strong, and even a high one can fall short without preparation. Our interview course is taught in small groups by NHS doctors, with realistic MMI practice and feedback on every station.
Where Should I Apply Based on My UCAT Score for 2027 Entry?
The honest answer is that your score sets the shape of your list, not its length. Everyone gets four medical choices. The question is how you spread them across the four selection models.
If you are at or above the 9th decile, spend two choices where the score does maximum work (ranked or threshold schools), one on a points-based school where GCSEs and UCAT are balanced, and one where you are competitive on your whole profile. Four purely UCAT-ranked schools sounds logical and is the most common way high scorers end up with nothing — thresholds move together across the sector, so a strong cohort year can push you outside the invited group at all four simultaneously. This year's figures make that risk concrete rather than theoretical.
If you are in the 5th–8th deciles, this is where deliberate choice pays most. Mix one ranked school where you are plausibly in range, two points-based schools where good GCSEs carry weight, and one low-UCAT-preference school as genuine insurance.
If you are below the 5th decile, lead with the schools that give the UCAT least weight — Cardiff, QUB, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Keele, Sunderland — and make sure your GCSEs, predicted grades and interview preparation are doing the heavy lifting.
And use your fifth UCAS slot properly. It cannot be a fifth medical school, so make it a course you would genuinely enjoy — Biomedical Science, Pharmacology, Physiology. A good degree reopens the door through graduate-entry medicine. 🎓
Where last year's cut-offs sit against this year's cohort
Every school threshold in this guide is a 2026-entry figure, set against the 2025 cohort. Schools recalculate each cycle, so these numbers will not repeat — but mapping them onto this year's preliminary deciles tells you what kind of ranking each school was really asking for.
- Imperial's 2,320 sat above the 9th decile then and still does now. Call it the top 10% either way.
- Bristol's 2,240 and UCL's 2,190 both sat around the 9th decile in 2025. On this year's preliminary table they fall between the 8th and 9th — so in ranking terms they were asking for roughly the top 15%.
- Sheffield's 2,120 for Home applicants lands between the 7th and 8th decile — about the top 30%.
- Anglia Ruskin's 2,010 and Glasgow's 1,990 for rest-of-UK applicants both sit between the 5th and 6th decile now, around the median.
- Liverpool's 1,960 and Lancaster's 1,920 fall between the 4th and 5th decile — genuinely mid-table rankings.
- Edinburgh's 1,850 minimum and Sheffield's 1,800 sit in the 3rd decile region, excluding roughly the bottom quarter to third.
- Keele's 1,700 sits between the 1st and 2nd decile, excluding only around the bottom 15%.
The lesson is not that these are this year's numbers. It is that the ranking each school wants is far more stable than the score attached to it. If a school took the top 15% last year, it will take roughly the top 15% this year — at whatever raw number that turns out to be. Work out your decile and compare that, not your score.
UCAT Cut-Off Scores by Medical School: The Published Figures
Every figure below is the most recent published number, with its entry year and scale labelled. Thresholds are recalculated every cycle — and given the cohort shift described above, expect the 2027-entry versions of these to land higher.
Published minimums (a genuine floor, set in advance)
- Sheffield — 1,800 for 2027 entry
- Edinburgh — 1,850 for 2027 entry
- Keele — 1,700 for 2027 entry (Home); international applicants ranked on total score
- Swansea Graduate Entry — 1,900, with the actual cut-score set higher each year
- Queen Mary — below the 4th decile not considered
- Leicester — bottom two deciles rejected
- Sunderland and St Andrews — a top-8-deciles requirement with SJT Bands 1–3
Note that the decile-based minimums here — Queen Mary, Leicester, Sunderland, St Andrews — are unaffected by the cohort shift. They ask for a ranking, so the raw score that satisfies them simply moves with everyone else.
Retrospective cut-points from 2026 entry (what it actually took last cycle)
- Imperial College London — 2,320 Home, 2,170 contextual
- Bristol — 2,240 Home, 2,270 Overseas
- Sheffield — 2,120 Home A100, 2,070 international A100, 1,800 A101
- Anglia Ruskin — 2,010 main, 1,960 East of England, 1,920 Essex, 1,830 graduate
- Glasgow — 1,870 Scottish-domiciled, 1,990 rest of UK, 2,150 international and EU
- Liverpool — 1,960 Home, 2,080 international and EU
- Lancaster — 1,920 UK non-contextual, 1,870 UK contextual, 1,900 overseas
- UCL — 2,190 Home, 2,300 Overseas, 2,080 Access UCL
Calculated later in the cycle (unknown when you apply)
- Manchester — threshold set in November, Band 1 or 2 only
- Glasgow — 2027 thresholds set in November 2026, not published until the cycle closes
- Edge Hill — threshold set by the number of interviews planned
- City St George's — annual overall cut-off, plus a minimum of 500 in every subtest
No minimum score used at all
- Cardiff, Aston, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Brunel, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, Southampton, Leeds, Bangor
- Buckingham does not require the UCAT
High UCAT Preference Medical Schools (2027 Entry)
These are the schools where a strong score does the most work.
University College London (UCL) — ranked on the cognitive total
UCL uses the combined score from the three cognitive subtests to rank applicants and invite to interview, and interviews around 1,000 applicants each year. Where candidates tie on total score, the SJT is used to separate them.
Published 2026-entry thresholds were 2,190 for Home applicants, 2,300 for Overseas and 2,080 through Access UCL. There is no academic-score offset here — the ranking is the ranking, which also means UCL's bar will track the cohort upwards this cycle.
University of Bristol — the score is the shortlist
Bristol selects for interview on your combined cognitive score, with the Situational Judgement Test excluded entirely. For 2026 entry the threshold was 2,240 for Home applicants and 2,270 for Overseas.
If your cognitive total is strong and your band is not, Bristol should be near the top of your list — and with Band 1 scarcer this year, the number of applicants in exactly that position has grown.
Imperial College London — a high bar, then the top third
Imperial published a minimum of 2,320 for Home applicants for 2026 entry, with a contextual threshold of 2,170 for those meeting widening participation criteria. Band 4 is discounted, and Imperial states it normally interviews the top third of applicants.
The 150-point gap between the standard and contextual thresholds is one of the largest in the country. If you have never checked whether you qualify for contextual consideration, check.
University of Sheffield — clearing the bar isn't the point
Sheffield publishes a minimum of 1,800 for 2027 entry, calculated as the 40th centile average across the previous three cycles. But that floor is not the number that matters. For 2026 entry the scores actually needed were 2,120 for Home A100 applicants and 2,070 for international A100, because everyone above the threshold is ranked on score to fill a fixed number of MMI places. Graduate-entry A101 sat at 1,800.
There is a nice detail for all-rounders: the SJT is converted into a mark out of five and added as a virtual ninth station to the eight-station MMI, for a total of 45 points.
Anglia Ruskin University — the most transparent cut-offs in the sector
ARU publishes its 2026-entry figures in unusual detail: 2,010 as the main non-graduate cut-off, 1,960 for East of England applicants, 1,920 for Essex applicants and 1,830 for graduates. Regional applicants have uplifts applied to their scores before ranking, so the effective bar is lower than it looks.
Band 4 applicants are not invited. Applicants who have received free school meals or are care-experienced are invited to interview regardless of UCAT score, provided they meet the academic requirements with Band 1–3. Note that ARU now requires Home fee status at the point of application.
University of Southampton — ranked first, academics second
Southampton ranks BM5 applicants by UCAT score at Stage 1 and only then pre-screens against academic criteria. That ordering decides whether anyone reads the rest of your application.
Southampton deliberately publishes no cut-off, stating that the score of those attending a Selection Day varies each year. Any 3,600-scale figure you find quoted for Southampton is from an older cycle and should be ignored. The BM6 widening participation route does not use UCAT ranking in the same way.
University of Liverpool — UCAT first, academics second
Liverpool ranks non-graduate applicants on overall UCAT score at Stage 1, then assesses academics for the top scorers. Home applicants need SJT Band 1–3; international and European Union applicants may offer any band. The 2026-entry cut-offs were 1,960 Home and 2,080 international and EU, and Liverpool states openly that these move each year.
Newcastle University — 60 points and a steep gradient
Newcastle awards up to 60 points on UCAT total alone for Home A100 applicants: 60 points at 2,400 and above, falling to a single point at 1,810 and below. Those points combine with an academic score to produce a screening total.
Worth noting that this is a fixed table rather than a decile conversion, so a stronger cohort works in your favour here in a way it does not elsewhere — the same raw score earns the same points regardless of how everyone else does. For international and A101 applicants, ranking is on UCAT score alone. Band 4 is not considered, and at interview your band is worth 5 points for Band 1, 3 for Band 2 and 1 for Band 3.
University of Manchester — ranked on score and band together
Manchester calculates its threshold only after results arrive in November. Applicants who clear it with Band 1 or Band 2 and meet the academic minimum are normally invited to interview, and where demand exceeds capacity the ranking runs on total score and band together.
The hard rule: Band 3 and Band 4 are not currently considered — which on this year's preliminary figures removes 42% of candidates before the cognitive score is even looked at. A superb total does not rescue a Band 3 here.
University of Lancaster — UCAT shortlisting with a contextual door
Lancaster shortlists for interview on UCAT score once academic criteria are met, and applies contextual information at two separate stages. Borderline candidates meeting its widening participation criteria may be invited at a lower overall threshold. Published 2026-entry figures were 1,920 for UK non-contextual applicants, 1,870 UK contextual and 1,900 overseas.
University of Hertfordshire — ranked, but international only
Hertfordshire's new MBBS ranks applicants by UCAT score and invites down the list, with no standard cut-off value published. The important caveat: the course is available to international students only for both the 2026/27 and 2027/28 intakes, with plans to open to Home students later.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) — bands first, then ranking
BSMS requires Band 1, 2 or 3 for contextual admissions consideration and for its Guaranteed Interview Scheme for Sussex students. Contextual applicants with an acceptable band are then ranked by UCAT score, with top-ranked candidates invited to interview. BSMS does not currently publish new-scale cut-off figures.
Also worth a look 👀
City St George's, University of London applies a minimum of 500 in each subtest alongside an annual overall cut-off. St Andrews works to a top-8-deciles requirement with Bands 1–3. University of Oxford shortlists on a combined UCAT and GCSE score and publishes the outcome in rare detail — in the 2025 cycle the mean UCAT was 2,217.5 across all applicants, 2,377.5 among those shortlisted and 2,407.1 among offer holders, with roughly 425 candidates interviewed.
Mid-Range UCAT Scorers
These are the schools where your score is one ingredient among several — and where good GCSEs genuinely compensate.
University of Birmingham — 45:40:15
Birmingham's application score is 45% academic, 40% UCAT and 15% contextual. Your UCAT is converted by national decile onto a 0–4.0 scale, running from 4.000 for the top decile down to 0.000 for the 1st. The SJT band is used at the interview stage, not for screening.
Because Birmingham converts by decile rather than raw score, the cohort shift is neutral here: what matters is your ranking, and a rising cohort moves everyone's raw scores without changing where you sit. There is no minimum cut-off either, so you are never screened out on score alone — but 40% is real weight. Birmingham suits you if your GCSEs are outstanding and your UCAT is mid-range rather than bottom-decile. 📈
University of Edinburgh — a quarter of your pre-assessment score
Edinburgh's minimum for 2027 entry is 1,850, with Band 4 rejected outright. Above that, UCAT total is worth 17.5% of your pre-assessment score and the SJT band another 7.5% — 25% combined, matched by 25% for academic qualifications, with the Assessment Day carrying the remaining 50%.
Scores are ranked into deciles and converted into points, so the difference between the 7th and 9th decile is real money. Edinburgh applies widening access uplifts: PLUS Flag applicants receive a 10% uplift and are exempt from the cut-off, FLAG applicants receive 5%, and SIMD40 Scottish applicants receive 10%.
One thing to watch: 1,850 is a fixed number, not a decile. On the 2026 preliminary table it sits just above the 3rd decile, so it excludes a slightly larger share of candidates than it did last year.
University of Cambridge — no threshold, and no SJT for 2027
Cambridge requires the UCAT and uses the overall cognitive subtest score as part of selection for interview, and potentially when making offers. There is no minimum threshold, and a low score does not automatically disqualify you.
New this cycle: Cambridge will not use the Situational Judgement Test at all for 2027 entry. Selection is a mixture of academic record, UCAT and interviews, with the UCAT read alongside everything else rather than as a gate.
University of Leicester — a straight 50:50
Leicester splits its pre-interview score evenly: 48 points for GCSEs and 48 points for UCAT. The bottom two deciles are rejected automatically, as is Band 4. Because that floor is expressed as a decile, it will exclude the same 20% of candidates regardless of how the cohort scores. If your GCSEs are a wall of 8s and 9s, that half of the score does genuine work.
Queen Mary University of London (Barts) — 4th decile, then weighted
Queen Mary will not take an application past first shortlisting if your UCAT falls below the 4th decile or your SJT is Band 4. On the 2026 preliminary table the 4th decile is 1,910, against 1,820 last year — so the raw score you need has risen by around 90 points even though the rule has not changed at all. That is the cohort shift in its purest form.
Be realistic about the academic side: A*AA including Chemistry or Biology plus a second science, and GCSEs at 777666 including Biology, Chemistry, Maths and English.
Queen's University Belfast — 9 points out of 45
QUB's pre-interview score for 2026 entry ran to 45 points: 36 for academic background and just 9 for the UCAT, awarded by decile rank. That is roughly an 80:20 split in favour of your grades. The SJT is used only to separate borderline candidates.
Worth knowing: Northern Irish applicants take the bulk of the places, so competition for the remainder is fierce.
University of Aberdeen — scored relative to other Aberdeen applicants
Aberdeen is explicit that it does not use a minimum UCAT cut-off. Instead your performance is scored relative to other Aberdeen applicants and weighed alongside academic achievement — broadly 30% academic, 20% UCAT and 50% interview.
That relative scoring cuts both ways: in a smaller applicant pool, a top-decile score stands out sharply, and a mid-range one is not automatically fatal. It also insulates you from the national cohort shift, since you are measured against Aberdeen's applicants rather than everyone's.
Hull York Medical School (HYMS) — points for score and band
HYMS awards points for both your total UCAT score and your SJT band as part of its interview ranking, which makes a Band 1 worth something concrete rather than merely not being a problem — and rather more this year, with Band 1 down to 16% of candidates.
University of Nottingham — your score buys the interview, and nothing else
Nottingham scores 40 points of UCAT against 32 points of GCSE before interview, with Verbal Reasoning double-weighted. Getting invited is therefore UCAT-heavy, and the double weighting is worth more than usual this year given how little the Verbal Reasoning mean has moved.
Then everything resets: offers are made solely on interview performance. Band 4 is rejected. Nottingham hands you the room and nothing else, which makes it a strong choice only if your interview technique is up to it. 🎤
University of Leeds — compensation both ways
Leeds combines academic and UCAT scores into a single ranking total and is explicit that a high academic score can compensate for a lower UCAT, and vice versa. There is no pre-determined cut-off.
University of Lancashire — UCAT required, weighting unpublished
The University of Lancashire (formerly the University of Central Lancashire, UCLan) requires the UCAT but does not publish a clear weighting. Treat it as an unknown quantity and confirm directly with admissions before committing a choice.
Low UCAT Preference Medical Schools (2027 Entry)
None of these are lesser medical schools. They simply price your UCAT differently — and in a year when the cohort has moved, that pricing is worth more than usual.
Cardiff University — the strongest low-UCAT choice
Cardiff's admissions policy states there is no minimum UCAT score. A cut-off is used only where too many applicants sit on the same excellent academic score. GCSE and UCAT decile scores are then combined: deciles 9–7 score 3 points, deciles 6–4 score 2 points and deciles 3–1 score 1 point, sitting alongside academic points from eight specified GCSEs.
Look at that scale carefully. The entire spread from the 1st decile to the 9th is worth two points. That is the smallest UCAT gradient of any UK medical school, and it is why Cardiff belongs on the list of anyone whose GCSEs outperform their UCAT. The flip side: Cardiff scores achieved qualifications, so a patchy GCSE profile hurts here more than anywhere else.
Keele University — a new, much lower floor
This is the biggest single policy change this cycle. For 2027 entry, Keele's minimum total UCAT is 1,700, with Band 4 not considered. Forget the old 2,280 figure entirely — that was on the 3,600 scale.
Home applicants are then ranked on a combined mark out of 25: UCAT quintile performance (5 points for the top 20%, descending) plus a personal statement assessment scored 0–15. SJT bands add 2 points for Band 1, 1 for Band 2 and 0 for Band 3. Verbal Reasoning breaks ties. International applicants are ranked on total UCAT score and need Band 3 or better.
On the 2026 preliminary table, 1,700 sits between the 1st and 2nd decile — so it screens out only around the bottom 15% of candidates. That is a genuinely accessible bar attached to a well-established medical school.
University of Sunderland — reflection over numbers
For September 2027 entry, Sunderland asks for a UCAT in the top 8 deciles with an SJT in Bands 1–3. Because that is a decile requirement rather than a score, the cohort shift changes nothing about your chances here — the bottom 20% are excluded whatever the raw numbers turn out to be.
Clear that, and shortlisting also draws on its Interview Selection Tool — a survey in which you write about and reflect on your work and caring experience from the past two years, listing up to four experiences with contact details for the most significant. How well you reflect counts alongside your score. The tool must be completed by 6pm on 22 October 2026 — a week after the UCAS deadline, and easy to miss. MMIs run in December and early January.
Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) — a mid-range threshold, then equality
KMMS operated a threshold of 2,490 (the 47th centile) on the old 3,600 scale for 2025-26 entry, with Band 3 or above for school leavers and Band 2 or above for postgraduates. It has explicitly stated it does not commit to the same or a similar threshold for 2027 entry.
The part worth understanding is what happens above the threshold: KMMS states that high UCAT scorers will not necessarily be selected over lower scorers who still pass. For Groups A and B it assesses attainment relative to the average for your school rather than in absolute terms. Clear the bar and your score stops being the story.
Edge Hill University — a moving threshold and a WP extension
Edge Hill ranks applicants who meet the academic minimum by UCAT, setting a threshold each year based on the number of interviews it plans to hold. That threshold is extended for candidates meeting specific widening participation criteria or who have completed its Widening Access to Medicine Programme. Band 4 is an automatic rejection.
Newer schools with shorter applicant histories have less predictable thresholds — sometimes in your favour.
Aston University — no cut-off at all
Aston states directly that it does not have a lower cut-off score for either the UCAT or the SJT, and considers your score alongside all other entry requirements. For a student with a mid-range score and a strong overall profile, that is a real opening. Any "lowest score invited" figure you see quoted for Aston is from the old scale.
Norwich Medical School, UEA — half the offer is your interview
UEA has no threshold and states that a high score is advantageous while a low one does not disqualify you. The UCAT ranks applicants for interview, but at the offer stage your interview score and UCAT score are weighted equally.
The catch is the GCSE bar: six subjects at grade 7 including Maths, English Language and two sciences.
University of Plymouth — academic-led shortlisting
Plymouth considers applicants for interview on relevant academic qualifications alongside the UCAT, and does not look at your personal statement or work experience when shortlisting. It is explicit that its advertised entry requirements are not the interview threshold — the bar moves with the applicant pool.
Brunel University of London — relative performance
Brunel has no set cut-off and selects on performance relative to the rest of its applicant pool, excluding Band 4.
University of Buckingham — no UCAT required
Buckingham does not use the UCAT at all. Selection runs through academic screening, a computer-based assessment and a structured selection examination. It is a private medical school with self-funded fees, so check the finances carefully before counting on it — but it takes the test out of the equation entirely.
Build Your UCAS List Smartly
Spread across the models, not the map
The most common structural mistake is four choices that all work the same way. Four ranked schools means four correlated outcomes — if the cohort is strong, you miss at all four on the same day for the same reason. Four points-based schools means your GCSEs decide everything and your UCAT was wasted.
Mix the models deliberately. Two where your score does most work, one where it is balanced against academics, one where you are competitive on your whole profile.
Score-based or decile-based? The distinction that matters this year
Here is a filter almost nobody applies, and it is unusually valuable in a year when the cohort has moved.
Some schools set their bar as a raw score — Edinburgh's 1,850, Keele's 1,700, Swansea's 1,900, Newcastle's points table. Others set it as a decile or ranking — Queen Mary's 4th decile, Leicester's bottom two deciles, Sunderland's top eight, Birmingham's decile conversion, Cardiff's decile bands.
When the cohort scores higher, those two behave in opposite directions. A fixed raw score becomes easier to clear, because more candidates reach it. A decile requirement stays exactly as hard, because it is defined by where you sit relative to everyone else.
So if your score is up on what you expected but you are unsure how the cohort has moved, the fixed-score schools are the more predictable bet. If you know you are ranked well but your raw number looks unremarkable, the decile schools protect you. 🎯
Check whether you qualify for contextual admissions
This is the most under-used lever in the entire process, and high scorers skip it as often as anyone.
Imperial's contextual threshold ran 150 points below its standard one for 2026 entry. Edinburgh's PLUS Flag applicants get a 10% uplift and exemption from the cut-off. Anglia Ruskin applies regional uplifts before ranking, and invites free-school-meals and care-experienced applicants regardless of score. Lancaster invites borderline widening participation candidates at a lower threshold. Edge Hill extends its threshold. Birmingham builds a 15% contextual element straight into its scoring.
Checking takes ten minutes and can change which schools are realistic.
Don't Let SJT Quietly Ruin Your Shortlist
Worth repeating because it is the cheapest mistake to avoid, and this year it affects more people. Band 3 has grown from 29% to 32% of candidates, so 42% of the cohort now falls in a band Manchester will not consider.
If you have Band 3, Manchester is out. If you have Band 4, a long list is out — Keele, Edge Hill, Leicester, Brunel, Nottingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Imperial, Queen Mary, Anglia Ruskin among them.
If the band is your weak point, Bristol, Glasgow, Swansea's graduate route and — new for 2027 entry — Cambridge do not use it at all.
Plan for the thresholds you won't know in time
You submit on 15 October. Manchester and Glasgow do not set their thresholds until November. Edge Hill's depends on how many interviews it decides to run. City St George's is calculated annually. And the final UCAT deciles themselves will not publish until after testing closes on 24 September.
You cannot solve this by finding better information, because the information does not exist yet. You solve it by building a list that survives more than one outcome.
Applying to Scottish Medical Schools as a Rest-of-UK Applicant
Medicine is a controlled subject in Scotland, with the number of funded places capped by the Scottish Government. Places are allocated across Scottish-domiciled, rest-of-UK (rUK) and international quotas, and the rUK quota is small. Competition per place is substantially higher for rUK applicants than the headline figures suggest.
The effect shows up clearly in the published thresholds. Glasgow's 2026-entry figures were 1,870 for Scottish-domiciled applicants, 1,990 for rest of UK and 2,150 for international and EU — a 120-point gap between Scottish and rUK applicants for the same course. Glasgow also does not consider the SJT at all, and will not know its 2027 thresholds until November 2026, publishing them only after the cycle closes.
Edinburgh publishes a minimum of 1,850 for 2027 entry and rejects Band 4, with the widening access uplifts described above applying to Scottish applicants in particular.
Aberdeen uses no minimum cut-off but scores relative to its own applicant pool, and recent guidance put non-contextual rUK applicants meaningfully above non-contextual Scottish school leavers.
Dundee publishes admissions statistics by year of entry, which is genuinely useful — but the most recent published figures are on the old 3,600 scale. In 2023/24 entry, rUK applicants invited to interview averaged 2,723 against 2,662 for Scottish-domiciled applicants, from an applicant pool of 597 rUK versus 985 Scottish, producing 65 rUK offers against 450. Those numbers do not translate to the current scale, but the ratio tells you everything about the quota effect.
St Andrews manages its intake against Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council targets, with a top-8-deciles requirement and Bands 1–3.
The practical takeaway: if you are a rUK applicant, do not read a Scottish medical school's headline threshold and assume it applies to you. Find the rUK figure, and if the school does not publish one, assume it sits meaningfully higher.
Applying to Welsh Medical Schools: Is It Harder for Rest-of-UK Students?
Wales runs a smaller system with an explicit policy interest in training doctors who will stay, and that shapes admissions in ways worth understanding.
Cardiff recognises Welsh-domiciled applicants as one of its contextualised groups, and states that its cut-off score may differ between groups to ensure representation from each. Since Cardiff has no minimum UCAT score and gives the test the smallest gradient in the sector, this is a school where being rUK costs you comparatively little — your GCSEs and Level 3 qualifications are doing the work regardless of domicile.
North Wales Medical School at Bangor does not publish a minimum UCAT score, and offers a contextual AAB route linked to Welsh First or Second Language GCSE. There is no specific quota for Welsh applicants.
Swansea is the most interesting case, and it now runs two routes. Its Graduate Entry Medicine accepts UCAT or GAMSAT from Home applicants, with a UCAT minimum of 1,900 — the actual cut-score is set annually and may be higher — or GAMSAT at 50 overall and 50 in Paper 3. International applicants may also offer the MCAT at 500. The SJT is not considered at all.
New for 2027 entry, Swansea has also opened a five-year MBBCh (A110) for school leavers, with the same 1,900 UCAT minimum and the same policy of ignoring the SJT band. Eligibility is tightly drawn: applicants must meet residence and school attendance criteria in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion or Pembrokeshire, and international applicants are not eligible. If you qualify, it is one of very few undergraduate routes in the UK where your SJT band is genuinely irrelevant.
Swansea's "Doctors for Wales" preference applies to some remaining interview places but does not reduce the number of interviews available to non-Welsh applicants, and all candidates are treated equally at interview. After the assessment day — three stations of 20–30 minutes — offers are made on interview performance alone. Test scores are discarded.
So: is it harder as a rest-of-UK student? Marginally, and mostly at the margins of interview allocation rather than at the shortlisting stage. Cardiff in particular remains one of the best low-UCAT-preference options in the UK regardless of where you live.
UCAT Scores and International Medical Schools: Widening Your Options
If your four UK choices look thin, it is worth knowing what sits outside them — though the questions to ask are different.
Many European medical schools teaching in English use their own entrance examinations rather than the UCAT, typically testing biology, chemistry and physics rather than aptitude. Irish medical schools use the HPAT rather than the UCAT for school leavers. Some international programmes accept the UCAT, and a handful accept the MCAT.
Three things matter far more than the admissions test when you look abroad.
Recognition. Check that the qualification allows registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) if you intend to practise in the UK, and understand the route — most overseas graduates return through the UK Medical Licensing Assessment (UKMLA).
Cost and funding. Student Finance rules differ sharply outside the UK, and most international programmes are self-funded across five or six years.
Clinical exposure. The quality and volume of patient contact varies enormously between programmes. It is the hardest thing to assess from a prospectus and the thing that shapes you most as a clinician.
A domestic route is worth exhausting first. Which brings us to the two options students overlook most often.
No-UCAT Graduate Programmes
If you already hold or are completing a degree, several graduate-entry routes use the GAMSAT instead of the UCAT. Swansea accepts either. Others — including a number of four-year A101 programmes — accept GAMSAT alone, which removes the UCAT from your application entirely.
Worth noting that graduate thresholds are often meaningfully lower where the UCAT is used: Anglia Ruskin's 2026-entry graduate cut-off was 1,830 against 2,010 for non-graduates, and Sheffield's A101 sat at 1,800 against 2,120 for A100.
Look at Gateway or Foundation Programmes
Gateway and foundation-year routes are designed for applicants who meet widening participation criteria, and they typically apply substantially lower academic and UCAT thresholds in exchange for an additional year of study. Lancaster, Keele, Edge Hill, St Andrews, Sunderland and many others run them.
These are not a consolation prize — they lead to the same medical degree, and the students on them are frequently among the most motivated in the cohort. If you qualify, a gateway place is a better use of a UCAS choice than a long shot at a ranked school. 🚪
Your UCAT gets you the interview. The interview gets you the offer.
Once your score gets you the interview
Here is the part applicants consistently underestimate.
Every school on your list will interview more people than it has places for. The moment you walk into that building, your UCAT is either capped, halved or discarded completely.
At Nottingham, the offer is decided on interview alone. At Swansea, the same for both routes. At Edinburgh, the Assessment Day is 50% of the total. At Aberdeen, the interview is 50%. At UEA, your interview and your UCAT are weighted equally at the offer stage. At Sheffield, your SJT becomes one station among nine.
There is a particular reason this matters in 2027 entry. If the cohort really is stronger, more applicants will clear more thresholds — which means bigger interview pools competing for the same number of places, and a lower conversion rate at interview than last year. The score gets more people through the door; it does not create extra places behind it.
Whatever your score, the people who convert are the ones who prepared for December as seriously as they prepared for September.
Try these on yourself, out loud, with a timer set to eight minutes a station:
- Talk us through a time your preparation did not produce the result you wanted.
- A patient tells you they have researched their symptoms online and disagrees with the consultant. How do you respond?
- Tell us about a time you had to give someone difficult feedback.
- You notice a fellow student has recorded work experience hours they did not complete. What do you do?
- Why this medical school, specifically — and don't tell us about the campus.
These are here for your own self-practice. Reading them, thinking them through and recording yourself answering will get you a long way on your own.
Done reading about your score? Start preparing to win the offer.
What self-practice cannot replicate is the real thing: a timed circuit, unfamiliar actors, a buzzer, and someone who does this for a living telling you exactly where you lost the marks.
If that is what you are after, have a look at our MMI Courses page, where we run full timed Mock MMI Circuits with individual feedback on every station. 🎯
⏰ Key Dates for 2027 Entry
- 13 July 2026 — UCAT testing window opened
- 13 September 2026 — UCAT preliminary mean scores and deciles published, based on 20,794 tests
- 16 September 2026, 3pm — UCAT booking deadline
- 24 September 2026 — final day of UCAT testing
- Shortly after 24 September 2026 — final mean scores, deciles and percentiles published; expect them to fall below the preliminary figures
- 6pm, 15 October 2026 — UCAS deadline for medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses
- 6pm, 22 October 2026 — Sunderland's Interview Selection Tool deadline
- Early November 2026 — UCAT results delivered to universities
- November 2026 — Manchester, Glasgow and others calculate their thresholds
- December 2026 onwards — interviews begin; most schools interview December to March
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good UCAT score for 2027 entry?
On the 2026 preliminary figures, 2,110 or above puts you in the top 30% and 2,300 or above in the top 10%. The preliminary mean is 1,970. Because preliminary figures fall as the cycle progresses — last year's dropped 48 points — treat those boundaries as a cautious estimate that will likely settle slightly lower.
Have the 2026 UCAT deciles been published?
Preliminary figures were published on 13 September 2026, based on 20,794 tests taken. Final mean scores, deciles and percentiles publish shortly after testing closes on 24 September. The UCAT Consortium has said the preliminary numbers should be treated with significant caution, since around 22,000 more candidates are still to sit the test.
Why will the preliminary UCAT figures change?
Because early testers score higher on average. Candidates who book in July and revise over the summer sit the test first, so the mean starts high and falls as the rest of the cohort works through the window. In 2025 the preliminary mean was 1,939 and the final mean was 1,891 — a fall of 48 points, or about 2.5%.
Is the 2026 UCAT cohort really scoring higher than 2025?
Modestly, yes. The fair comparison is preliminary against preliminary: 1,939 in 2025 against 1,970 in 2026, a rise of around 31 points. Comparing this year's preliminary mean to last year's final mean suggests a 79-point jump, but that compares two different things and overstates the change substantially.
My score was the 8th decile last year's table — what is it now?
Probably the 7th. A 2,100 was exactly the 8th decile boundary on the final 2025 figures; on the 2026 preliminary table it falls below the 7th. If you have been benchmarking against last year, you have likely been placing yourself about one decile too high.
What is the UCAT cut-off for medicine in the UK?
There is no single national cut-off. Published minimums for 2027 entry range from Keele's 1,700 to Sheffield's 1,800 and Edinburgh's 1,850, while the scores actually needed at ranked schools in 2026 entry ran as high as 2,320 at Imperial and 2,240 at Bristol. Each school sets its own, and most recalculate every cycle — so expect 2027-entry figures to land above the 2026 ones.
Which medical schools don't have a UCAT cut-off?
Cardiff, Aston, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Brunel, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, Southampton, Leeds and Bangor all state they set no minimum score. Buckingham does not require the UCAT at all. Note that "no cut-off" does not mean "low weighting" — Southampton and Hertfordshire both rank strictly on score.
Can a Band 3 SJT ruin a good UCAT score?
At some schools, yes — and slightly more of you are affected this year. Band 3 rose from 29% to 32% of candidates, so 42% of the cohort now sits in a band Manchester will not consider. Band 4 is an automatic rejection at a long list including Keele, Edge Hill, Leicester, Brunel, Nottingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Imperial, Queen Mary and Anglia Ruskin. Bristol, Glasgow, Swansea and Cambridge (for 2027 entry) do not use the SJT at all.
Should I wait for the final UCAT deciles before choosing my four?
You have time to do both. Final figures publish shortly after 24 September and the UCAS deadline is 6pm on 15 October, which leaves around three weeks. Draft your shortlist now against the preliminary table, then sanity-check it once the final numbers land — particularly if you are sitting close to a decile boundary.
Do strong GCSEs make up for a weak UCAT?
At some schools, substantially. Queen's Belfast awards 36 of 45 pre-interview points for academic background against 9 for the UCAT. Cardiff's entire UCAT decile range is worth two points. Leeds states explicitly that academic strength can compensate for a lower UCAT. At UCL, Southampton or Sheffield, they will not.
Is it harder to get into a Scottish medical school as a rest-of-UK applicant?
Yes. Medicine is a controlled subject with government-capped places allocated by domicile, and the rest-of-UK quota is small. Glasgow's 2026-entry threshold was 1,990 for rest-of-UK applicants against 1,870 for Scottish-domiciled — and Dundee's published statistics show a far lower offer rate per applicant for rest-of-UK candidates.
Does a high UCAT score guarantee an interview?
No. Thresholds are recalculated each cycle against that year's applicants, and several schools interview only a fixed proportion — Imperial normally invites roughly the top third, and UCL interviews around 1,000 applicants. A strong score makes an interview likely at the right schools, never certain.
🔗 Useful Links
Admissions test and application
- UCAT Consortium — Test Statistics
- UCAT Consortium — 2025 Test Statistics
- UCAT Consortium — Test Format and Scoring
- UCAT Consortium — Test Dates and Deadlines
- Medical Schools Council — Studying Medicine
Medical school admissions pages
- Anglia Ruskin University — MBChB Medicine
- Aston University — The UCAT
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School — Entry requirements
- University of Birmingham — Selection for interview and application scoring
- University of Bristol — MB ChB Medicine, 2027 entry
- Brunel University of London — Medicine MBBS
- University of Buckingham — MB ChB Medicine
- University of Cambridge — Medicine
- Cardiff University — Medicine admissions criteria
- City St George's, University of London — Medicine MBBS
- University of Dundee — MBChB admissions statistics by year of entry
- Edge Hill University — MBChB Medicine
- University of Edinburgh — The UCAT
- University of Glasgow — University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
- University of Hertfordshire — MBBS Medicine
- Hull York Medical School — UCAT
- Imperial College London — Medicine MBBS/BSc
- Keele University — Medicine, how to apply
- Kent and Medway Medical School — Entry requirements 2027
- Lancaster Medical School — Applying
- University of Leeds — Understanding UCAT
- University of Leicester — Applying to Leicester Medical School
- University of Liverpool — Admissions information
- University of Manchester — University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
- Newcastle University — MBBS Admissions Policy 2027 entry
- North Wales Medical School, Bangor — Medicine BMBS
- Norwich Medical School, UEA — MBBS Medicine
- University of Nottingham — Undergraduate selection process
- University of Oxford — Medicine shortlisting and admissions statistics
- University of Plymouth — BMBS entry requirements
- Queen Mary University of London — A100 entry requirements
- Queen's University Belfast — Medicine admissions policy
- University of Sheffield — Medicine admissions
- University of Southampton — How to apply
- University of Sunderland — Applying for Medicine
- Swansea University — Medicine (Graduate Entry) MB BCh
- University College London — MBBS Admissions
Blue Peanut Medical
- Mock MMI Circuits and MMI Courses
- Medical School Interview Course
- Swansea's new 5-year MBBCh for 2027 entry
- Best Medical Schools to Apply to With a High UCAT Score (2027 Entry)
- Where to Apply to Medicine With a Low UCAT Score (2027 Entry)
- UCAT Online Course
- Free Medical School Interview Resources
Admissions policies change every cycle. Always confirm current requirements on the medical school's own website before you submit your UCAS application. Last updated 16 September 2026.
Blue Peanut interview course
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