Where to Apply to Medicine With a Low UCAT Score: UK Medical Schools for 2027 Entry

30 Sept

Updated 30 September 2026 with the UCAT Consortium's final 2026 figures.

So the score came up on the screen, and it wasn't the one you wanted. Maybe Verbal Reasoning got away from you. Maybe the clock beat you in Decision Making. Either way, you're now looking at a number and wondering whether medicine is still realistic for 2027.

It is. Every year, students with below-average scores in the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) get interviews and offers from UK medical schools. Very few of them manage it by luck. They work out which medical schools barely care about the score, which ones will reject them before anyone reads a word they've written, and they build their Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) choices around that.

That's what this guide will help you do. 👇

📊 What Counts as a Low UCAT Score for 2027 Entry?

There's no official definition, so here's a practical one. If your score is in the bottom half of this year's cohort, it's below average. If it's in the bottom 30%, most admissions tutors would call it low.

The key word is this year's. A low score is only low compared with the people who sat the test alongside you, which is why the numbers below matter so much.

The 2,700 scale: why older cut-offs will mislead you

Abstract Reasoning was removed from the UCAT in 2025. The test now has three scored subtests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning), each marked from 300 to 900. The Situational Judgement Test (SJT) is reported separately as a band from 1 to 4, with Band 1 the best.

That means your total runs from 900 to 2,700, not 1,200 to 3,600. Any cut-off from 2025 entry or earlier is on the old scale. A "2,400" quoted from a few years back was a middling score at the time. On today's scale, 2,400 would put you in the top 10%.

Students still read those old figures, decide they're nowhere near, and cross off schools that would have interviewed them. Before you trust any threshold, even one on a university website where old pages linger, check two things: which scale it's on, and which entry year it's for.

UCAT 2026 final deciles: what your score is actually worth 📈

The UCAT Consortium has published its final 2026 statistics, based on all 42,359 tests taken up to 24 September 2026. These are the figures medical schools will work with for the rest of this cycle, and they won't change again.

The final mean total score is 1,918, and the decile boundaries are:

1st decile: 1,590
2nd decile: 1,700
3rd decile: 1,780
4th decile: 1,850
5th decile: 1,920
6th decile: 1,980
7th decile: 2,050
8th decile: 2,140
9th decile: 2,250

Each decile is the score at that percentile. The 2nd decile of 1,700 is the 20th percentile, so a score below it puts you in the bottom fifth of the cohort.

Subtest means are 602 for Verbal Reasoning, 640 for Decision Making and 675 for Quantitative Reasoning. On the SJT, 15% of candidates are in Band 1, 40% in Band 2, 34% in Band 3 and 11% in Band 4.

If you judged your score in mid-September, you've been too hard on yourself ⬆️

The preliminary figures published on 13 September covered only the 20,794 students who had tested by then, and early testers score higher. That put the preliminary mean at 1,970, a full 52 points above the final 1,918. (We estimated a drop of 40 to 60 points at the time, so this landed almost exactly where we expected.)

Every boundary came down with it. A score of 1,800 was below the 3rd decile in mid-September. On the final table, it's above it. So if you built a shortlist against those early numbers, your ranking is better than you thought, and your four choices deserve a second look before 15 October. 🔍

Against last year, this cohort is only slightly stronger

The 2025 final mean was 1,891, so 2026 is up by 27 points. The boundaries have moved up by 10 to 40 points: the 5th decile went from 1,880 to 1,920, and the 9th from 2,220 to 2,250.

Keep that in mind when you read a cut-off from last cycle. Those numbers were set against a marginally weaker cohort, so treat them as a guide to the ranking a school wants rather than the figure it will publish this year.

Verbal Reasoning is this cohort's weak spot, and two schools pay you for it

The final statistics include deciles for each subtest, and the three don't behave alike.

A score of 640 is the 7th decile in Verbal Reasoning but only the 4th decile in Quantitative Reasoning. Verbal Reasoning has the lowest mean of the three, at 602 against 675 for Quantitative Reasoning, so a strong Verbal Reasoning mark is a scarcer thing than the same mark elsewhere.

Two schools pay for it specifically. Nottingham counts Verbal Reasoning twice in its pre-interview score, and Keele uses it to break ties. That's worth knowing if your total looks unremarkable, but your Verbal Reasoning doesn't.

Where does your score sit? A working guide

These bands use the final boundaries, so they won't move this cycle again.

🟡 1,780 to 1,919 (the 30th to 50th percentile): below average, but you have plenty of realistic options if you choose carefully.
🟠 1,700 to 1,779 (the 20th to 30th percentile): low. Your list should lean heavily towards schools that give the UCAT little weight.
🔴 Below 1,700 (the bottom 20%): very low. Some doors stay open, and Cardiff sets no minimum at all, but this is where a planned gap year and a second attempt deserve serious thought.

A decile is a ranking, not a verdict. The rest of this guide is about finding the schools where your ranking costs you least.

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.

See the medical interview course Add a mock MMI circuit

🧭 How Medical Schools Actually Use Your UCAT Score

Knowing your decile is only half the picture. What really matters is what each school does with it. Almost every UK medical school falls into one of four groups.

The four ways schools use the UCAT

1. Ranked from the top. Applicants are sorted by score and invited from the top down until the interview slots run out. There's no bar to aim for, just a queue. This is the worst setup for a low scorer.

2. A threshold, then something else. You clear a minimum, and after that your exact score matters much less (or not at all). This is good news when the bar is set low.

3. Points, with the UCAT as one part. Your score is turned into points and added to points for your General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) grades, A-levels or contextual factors. Strong grades can make up a lot of ground.

4. Barely used, or not used at all. The UCAT only breaks ties, or isn't required.

With a low score, groups 2, 3 and 4 are where you want to be. The detail still matters, though, so read on.

Fixed scores or deciles? A detail worth understanding

Some schools set their bar as a raw score, such as Keele's 1,700, Sheffield's 1,800 or Swansea's 1,900. Others set it as a ranking, such as Sunderland's top eight deciles or the decile-based points at Cardiff, Queen's University Belfast and Birmingham.

The two behave differently when the cohort moves. Because this year's scores are up slightly on 2025, a fixed raw minimum now excludes marginally fewer people than it would have last cycle. A decile rule doesn't budge at all: the bottom 20% are the bottom 20%, whatever the numbers attached to it.

Now that the final deciles are out, you can check both. Take your raw score to the fixed-minimum schools, and take your decile to the ranking schools.

Check your SJT band before anything else 🚩

Your SJT band can end an application on its own, no matter how good everything else is.

Band 4 (11% of candidates this year) is an automatic rejection at a long list of schools, including Keele, Sunderland, Edge Hill, Brunel, Nottingham, Newcastle, Leicester and Anglia Ruskin.
Band 3 (34% of candidates, up from 29% last year) rules you out at Manchester, which doesn't currently consider Band 3 or Band 4. On the final figures, that's 45% of the cohort excluded before anyone looks at a single score.
A few schools lean on it lightly. Queen's University Belfast only uses the SJT to separate borderline applicants, Aston says it has no SJT cut-off, and Bristol leaves the SJT out of interview selection altogether.

Go through your four choices one at a time and confirm each one accepts your band. It takes twenty minutes and can save your whole application cycle. Our school-by-school guides set out exactly who accepts SJT Band 3 and SJT Band 4.

🟢 Best UK Medical Schools to Apply to With a Low UCAT Score (2027 Entry)

How to read the colours:

🟢 The UCAT carries little weight, or the minimum is low
🟡 The UCAT matters, but a below-average score won't rule you out on its own

Always check the school's own admissions page before you apply. Policies change every cycle, and not every school has published everything for 2027 entry yet.

🟢 Cardiff University: the UCAT barely moves the needle

Cardiff's guidance for 2027 entry says a UCAT cut-off is only used if too many applicants have excellent academic scores. There's no minimum to aim for in advance.

Where the UCAT does count, it's turned into points by decile: 3 points for deciles 7 to 9, 2 points for deciles 4 to 6 and 1 point for deciles 1 to 3. The entire gap between a bottom-decile score and a top one is just two points. That's tiny.

Those points are added to a GCSE score built from eight subjects, with 3 points for a grade 9, 8 or A*, 2 points for a 7 or A, and 1 point for a 6 or B.

The catch is clear once you see the maths. At Cardiff, your GCSEs carry the application. To be eligible you need Biology and Chemistry (or Double Science) at grade 7, Maths and English Language at grade 6, and four more GCSEs at 6 or above. To be competitive, you'll want plenty of 8s and 9s. If your GCSEs are your strongest asset and your UCAT isn't, Cardiff belongs near the top of your list.

Cardiff also assesses Welsh-domiciled, contextualised and widening participation applicants as separate groups. Home applicants are interviewed in person using Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs).

🟢 Keele University: a much lower minimum for 2027

This is the biggest change for low scorers this year. For 2027 entry, Keele's minimum UCAT score for Home applicants is 1,700, and Band 4 isn't considered.

If you've seen Keele's old figure of 2,280 anywhere, ignore it. That was on the 3,600 scale.

On the final 2026 figures, 1,700 is exactly the 2nd decile boundary. Keele's minimum therefore screens out the bottom 20% of candidates and nobody else, which makes it one of the most accessible published bars in the country.

Clear it, and Home applicants are ranked on a score out of 25:

UCAT grade (up to 10 points): 5 points for the top quintile down to 1 point for the bottom, plus 2 points for SJT Band 1 or 1 point for Band 2, and a bonus point each for receiving a UCAT bursary, meeting contextual criteria or going to school in the Keele region
Personal statement (up to 15 points): marked against Keele's person specification

Look at that split. Your personal statement is worth more than your UCAT. A lower-quintile score with a strong, well-evidenced statement can still reach the shortlist. As a guide, Keele's threshold in 2025 was 15 out of 25, and Verbal Reasoning is used to break ties.

International applicants are treated differently. They need at least 1,950 with Band 3 or better, and are then ranked on their UCAT score.

🟢 Queen's University Belfast: just 9 points out of 45

The most recent published policy from Queen's University Belfast (QUB), for 2026 entry, scores applicants out of 45 before interview: 36 points for academic background and only 9 for the UCAT. UCAT points follow your decile, from 0 for the bottom 10% up to 9 for the top 10%.

A worked example 🧮

Take a student with nine GCSEs at grade 9. At 4 points each, that's 36. Their UCAT falls in the 20th to 30th percentile band, which earns 2 points. Their total is 38 out of 45.

Their low UCAT has cost them 7 points. That's a lot, but it's recoverable, which is not something you can say at most schools.

The interview threshold moves with competition. QUB's policy notes that it was 38 points in 2024 and 30 points in 2025. The SJT is only used to separate borderline applicants, and after the interview, offers are made on the interview ranking alone.

Two more things to know. For 2027 entry, QUB asks for A*AA, or AAA plus an A in a fourth Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level. And there's no separate quota for Northern Irish students: all 236 Home places are open to UK and Republic of Ireland applicants, so competition is strong.

🟢 Aston University: no cut-off for the UCAT or the SJT

Aston says it doesn't set specific UCAT score requirements and has no lower cut-off for the UCAT or the SJT. Your score is looked at alongside all its other entry requirements.

The SJT part is unusual. If a weak band is part of your problem, Aston is one of the few schools that doesn't publish a band cut-off at all.

Remember, though, that "no cut-off" doesn't mean "doesn't count". The rest of your application still has to be strong.

🟢 University of Sunderland: your reflection counts

For September 2027 entry, Sunderland asks for a UCAT score in the top eight deciles with SJT Band 1 to 3. In other words, you need to be outside the bottom 20%, which on the final 2026 figures means 1,700 or above. That's the same effective bar as Keele's published minimum, reached by a completely different route.

Clear it, and shortlisting also uses Sunderland's Interview Selection Tool. This is where you write about and reflect on your work or caring experience from the past two years. If your score is modest but your experience is meaningful, this is your chance to stand out.

The details that matter:

The Interview Selection Tool closes at 6 pm on 22 October 2026, a week after the UCAS deadline. Miss it, and your application goes no further.
MMIs run face-to-face from the week beginning 7 December 2026.
The typical offer is AAA. Contextual offers are AAB, and ABB is available to eligible North East and Cumbria residents who make Sunderland their firm choice.
You'll need five GCSEs at grade 7, with at least a 6 in Maths, English Language, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Sunderland can't accept international applicants.

🟡 Kent and Medway Medical School: clear the bar and your score stops mattering

Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) hasn't committed to a figure for 2027 entry. Its most recent published threshold was set at the 47th centile (a raw score of 2,490 on the old 3,600 scale), with SJT Band 3 or above for school leavers and Band 2 or above for graduates.

That makes KMMS a school for the "just below average" group rather than the "well below" one. What happens above the bar is the interesting part. KMMS says high scorers won't necessarily be chosen over lower scorers who still pass. It also judges school leavers' grades against the average for their own school rather than in absolute terms.

If you're sitting close to the middle of the table, KMMS is well worth a look. A-level offers are AAA or AAB, depending on your school's results, and you'll need five GCSEs at grade 6 or above, including English Language, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

🟡 Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia: half the offer is your interview

The University of East Anglia (UEA) has no UCAT threshold. In its own words, "a high score is advantageous; a low score does not disqualify".

The UCAT, including the SJT, is used to rank applicants for interview. But when offers are made, your interview score and your UCAT score are weighted equally. A low score makes the interview invitation harder to get. Once you're in the room, a strong performance across the six MMI stations can pull you right back.

The hurdle here is GCSEs: at least six at grade 7, including Maths, English Language and the sciences.

🟡 University of Birmingham: no cut-off, but the UCAT still carries weight

Birmingham states there is no minimum UCAT cut-off. Its application score is split 45% academic, 40% UCAT and 15% contextual, with your UCAT converted by national decile onto a scale from 0 (bottom 10%) to 4.0 (top 10%). The SJT isn't used for ranking. It comes into play at the interview.

Be realistic about that 40%. Birmingham suits you if your score is only a little below average and your GCSEs are outstanding. It scores seven GCSEs, including English Language, English Literature, Maths, Biology and Chemistry, and a grade 8 or 9 is worth double a grade 7.

If you qualify for contextual admissions, that 15% can make a real difference.

🟡 University of Aberdeen: measured against Aberdeen's own applicants

Aberdeen says plainly that it does not use a minimum UCAT cut-off. Your score is compared with everyone else who applied to Aberdeen and considered alongside your achieved and predicted grades.

That makes it one of the more realistic Scottish options with a modest score. If you live outside Scotland, look at Aberdeen's published admissions data from previous years before you commit a choice, so you know how applicants like you have fared.

🟡 University of Plymouth: grades first

Plymouth selects for interview using academic qualifications and UCAT performance. It says it doesn't look at personal statements or work experience at this stage. It's also clear that its typical offer isn't the interview threshold, which changes with the number of applicants and their scores.

The typical offer is A*AA to AAB, including an A in Biology and an A in a second science (Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Psychology). The minimum GCSE requirement is seven passes at grade 4 or above, including English Language, Maths and two sciences. Plymouth's last published threshold was on the old scale, so don't try to convert it.

Also worth a look 👀

Edge Hill University ranks by UCAT, but sets its threshold each year based on how many interviews it plans to hold. It extends that threshold for applicants who meet widening participation criteria or complete its Widening Access to Medicine Programme. Band 4 is an automatic rejection.
Brunel University of London has no set cut-off and selects on how you perform compared with other applicants that year. Band 4 isn't accepted, and interviews are six-station virtual MMIs.
University of Leeds has no pre-set cut-off and says a high academic score can make up for a lower UCAT (and the other way round). Leeds is competitive, so this works best with excellent grades.
Swansea University's new Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBCh) course (A110) has a UCAT minimum of 1,900 (just below this year's median of 1,920) and doesn't assess the SJT at all. The big catch is that it's only open to applicants who live in, and went to secondary school in, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion or Pembrokeshire.

🎓 Contextual Admissions: The Help Most Low Scorers Never Check

Widening participation schemes can lower the bar considerably, and plenty of eligible students never find out. If your school's results, your family's income, your postcode or time spent in care could qualify you, check before you apply.

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) ranks by UCAT with no standard cut-off. However, applicants who have had free school meals in the last five years, or who are care-experienced, are invited to interview regardless of their UCAT score, provided they meet the academic requirements and have SJT Band 1 to 3. ARU also adds automatic score uplifts for applicants from Essex and the East of England. You need Home fee status to apply.
Edge Hill extends its UCAT threshold for eligible widening participation applicants.
Keele adds a bonus point for meeting its contextual criteria, and another for going to school in the Keele region.
Birmingham builds a contextual element worth 15% into its application score.
Kent and Medway judges your grades against your own school's average.
Cardiff assesses contextualised and widening participation applicants as separate groups.

Many schools also run gateway or foundation-year medicine courses for widening participation students, including Edge Hill and Keele. These usually have lower entry requirements in exchange for an extra year of study, and they lead to exactly the same medical degree.

🔴 Medical Schools to Think Twice About With a Low UCAT Score

These are excellent medical schools. They just lean heavily on the UCAT, which makes them long shots with a bottom-half score.

Newcastle University ranks applicants and invites the highest scorers. For 2027 entry, Home A100 applicants can earn up to 60 points from their UCAT alone, ranging from 60 points at 2,400 and above down to 1 point at 1,810 and below. International and graduate-entry (A101) applicants are ranked on UCAT alone. Band 4 isn't considered.
University of Manchester sets its threshold in November, after results arrive, and doesn't consider Band 3 or Band 4. If too many eligible applicants remain, it ranks them on UCAT total and SJT band.
University of Sheffield publishes a minimum of 1,800 for 2027 entry, which looks friendly. It isn't the number that decides things. Everyone above it is ranked on UCAT score, and the score actually needed by Home A100 applicants for 2026 entry was 2,120, which is around the top 25% on this year's final figures.
University of Bristol selects for interview on your combined cognitive score. Its 2026 entry threshold for Home applicants was 2,240, which sits between the 8th decile (2,140) and the 9th (2,250) on this year's final table. That's roughly the top 15%.
University of Leicester has no formal minimum, but says the UCAT is a significant part of selection and that applicants in the lowest two deciles are very unlikely to score enough for an interview. Band 4 is rejected.
University of Nottingham is a partial exception. Before the interview, the UCAT is worth up to 40 points (with Verbal Reasoning counted twice) against 32 for GCSEs, plus points for your SJT band. Getting an interview is therefore UCAT-heavy. But offers are then made solely on interview performance. If your score is borderline rather than low and you interview well, Nottingham is a calculated risk.

🧠 How to Choose Your Four Medicine Courses With a Low UCAT

Don't put all four choices in one basket

Four schools that all rank on UCAT means four rejections, for the same reason, on the same day. Spread your choices instead: at least one where the UCAT barely counts, one where your grades do most of the work, and one where something other than your score (a personal statement, a reflection tool, contextual factors) makes a real difference.

Example lists to get you started

These show how the pieces can fit together. They're starting points, not prescriptions. Your own list should depend on your grades, your SJT band, where you live and whether you qualify for contextual admissions.

Strong GCSEs, UCAT around the 20th to 40th percentile, SJT Band 1 to 3 Cardiff, Queen's Belfast, Keele, and either Aston or Birmingham.

Solid GCSEs, plenty of meaningful experience, UCAT above the bottom 20%, SJT Band 1 to 3 Keele, Sunderland, Aston, and either UEA or Plymouth.

Eligible for widening participation Start with Anglia Ruskin (if you've had free school meals or are care-experienced), Keele, Edge Hill and Kent and Medway. Also think about whether a gateway year course would suit you better than a standard one.

SJT Band 4 Your options narrow sharply. Aston publishes no SJT cut-off, and Queen's Belfast only uses the SJT to separate borderline applicants. Beyond those, read every school's policy line by line, and give the gap year option serious thought.

Make your fifth choice count

UCAS only allows four medicine choices, so your fifth has to be something else. Pick a course you'd enjoy, such as Biomedical Science, Pharmacology or Physiology. A good degree can lead to graduate-entry medicine later on. It's a back-up plan, not giving up. 🎓

Apply now or take a gap year? ⏳

You can only sit the UCAT once in each testing cycle, so there's no second attempt before the 15 October deadline. The real decision is whether to apply now with the score you have, or take a year out and try again.

As a rough guide, if you're above the bottom 20%, have strong GCSEs and predicted grades, and your SJT is Band 1 to 3, apply with a carefully built list. If you're in the bottom 10% with Band 4, a planned gap year (with proper UCAT preparation, more experience and your A-level results already in hand) will often give you a more serious second attempt than a rushed first one.

🔄 Other Routes Into Medicine

If the standard route looks too narrow this year, gateway years (covered above) aren't the only alternative.

Graduate-entry medicine: some four-year courses for graduates accept the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT), which gives you a route that doesn't depend on the UCAT.
University of Buckingham: a private medical school that doesn't require the UCAT. You apply directly, not through UCAS, so it doesn't use one of your four medicine choices. Selection involves academic screening, a computer-based Multiple Mini Assessment and an MMI, and the minimum A-level offer is ABB including Chemistry or Biology. The big caveat is cost. Fees for UK students are £41,500 for the first year and £186,750 for the full 4.5-year course, which starts in January.

🎤 Your Interview Is Where a Low UCAT Stops Mattering

If your score is low, the interview isn't just important. It's where you win back everything the UCAT cost you.

At Nottingham, offers are based only on interview performance.
At Queen's Belfast, offers are made on the post-interview ranking alone.
At UEA, your interview counts as much as your UCAT.

Every school on your list will also interview more people than it has places, so how well you perform on the day is what decides your year.

Try these out loud, with a timer set to eight minutes per question:

Your UCAT score is below our average. What does that tell us about you as a future doctor?
Tell us about a time you did worse than you expected. What did you change afterwards?
A friend asks you to sign them in to a compulsory teaching session they're skipping. What do you do?
A patient tells you they've read online that their treatment is wrong. How do you respond?
Why this medical school? And don't tell us about the campus.

These examples are here for your own practice. Reading them, thinking them through and recording yourself answering them will take you a long way on your own.

What they can't give you is the real thing: a timed circuit, actors you've never met, a buzzer, and an experienced interviewer telling you exactly where you dropped marks. If that's what you're 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

24 September 2026: UCAT testing closed, with 42,359 tests taken
Late September 2026: Final UCAT mean scores, deciles and percentiles published
6 pm, 15 October 2026: UCAS deadline for most medicine courses
6 pm, 22 October 2026: Sunderland's Interview Selection Tool deadline
Early November 2026: UCAT results sent to universities, and Manchester sets its threshold
From 7 December 2026: Sunderland MMIs begin, with most schools interviewing between December and March

❓ Low UCAT Score: Frequently Asked Questions

What is a low UCAT score in 2026?

The final 2026 mean is 1,918, and the median is 1,920, so anything under roughly 1,920 is below average. A score under 1,780 puts you in the bottom 30%, and under 1,700 in the bottom 20%. These are final figures, so they won't move this cycle again.

Can I get into medicine with a low UCAT score?

Yes. Cardiff, Aston, Birmingham and Aberdeen don't use a fixed minimum UCAT score; Keele's minimum for 2027 entry is 1,700, and Queen's Belfast gives the UCAT only 9 of its 45 pre-interview points. You'll need a strong application in every other area and a carefully chosen list.

Which UK medical schools have no UCAT cut-off?

Cardiff (unless too many applicants tie on academic score), Aston, Birmingham, Aberdeen, UEA, Brunel and Leeds all say they don't use a fixed minimum. "No cut-off" doesn't always mean low weighting, though. Birmingham gives the UCAT 40% of its application score, and UEA uses it to rank applicants for interview.

Which medical school has the lowest UCAT requirement?

Buckingham doesn't require the UCAT at all, but it's private and expensive. Of the schools you apply to through UCAS, Cardiff gives the UCAT the least weight, with just two points between the top and bottom deciles. Keele has one of the lowest published minimums for 2027 entry, at 1,700, which, on the final 2026 figures, excludes only the bottom 20% of candidates.

Is SJT Band 4 an automatic rejection?

At many schools, yes, including Keele, Sunderland, Edge Hill, Brunel, Nottingham, Newcastle, Leicester and Anglia Ruskin. Band 4 covers 11% of candidates this year. Aston says it has no SJT cut-off, and Queen's Belfast only uses the SJT to separate borderline applicants. Manchester goes further and rejects Band 3 as well, which this year means 45% of the cohort.

Do good GCSEs make up for a low UCAT?

At some schools, very much so. Queen's Belfast awards 36 of 45 pre-interview points for academics, Cardiff's GCSE score far outweighs its UCAT points, and Leeds says a high academic score can compensate for a lower UCAT. At Newcastle or Sheffield, they won't rescue a low score.

Are the final 2026 UCAT deciles out, and what changed?

Yes. They cover all 42,359 tests taken up to 24 September 2026. The mean is 1,918, and the boundaries run from 1,590 at the 1st decile to 2,250 at the 9th. They sit 40 to 60 points below the preliminary table published on 13 September, and 10 to 40 points above last year's. If you worked out your position in mid-September, check it again against the final numbers before the UCAS deadline at 6 pm on 15 October 2026.

Can I resit the UCAT this year?

No. You can only sit the UCAT once in each testing cycle. If you want another go, it will be in summer 2027, for 2028 entry.

🔗 Useful Links

UCAT and applications

Medical school admissions pages

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The Blue Peanut Medical team is led by experienced National Health Service (NHS) General Practitioners with extensive involvement in medical education, and is dedicated to helping applicants succeed at every stage of their journey into medical school.

Admissions policies change every cycle. Always confirm the current requirements on the medical school's own website before you submit your UCAS application. Last updated 30 September 2026.

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This content is provided in good faith and based on information from medical school websites at the time of writing. Entry requirements can change, so always check directly with the university before making decisions. You’re free to accept or reject any advice given here, and you use this information at your own risk. We can’t be held responsible for errors or omissions — but if you spot any, please let us know and we’ll update it promptly. Information from third-party websites should be considered anecdotal and not relied upon.