A-Level Requirements for Medicine and Dentistry
56 of the 59 school-leaver courses in our directory set a standard offer of AAA or A*AA. Every one of them requires Chemistry or Biology, but only 21 require both, and the 9 graduate-entry courses change the picture again.
A-levels are still the single biggest filter in a standard-entry medicine or dentistry application. Most schools set a minimum you have to meet or be predicted before the rest of the application counts, and a number of them go further and score your academic record against every other applicant's rather than treating it as a simple pass or fail. The pattern below is counted from the 68 courses in our directory, but the exceptions matter, so check each school's own page before you finalise your five UCAS choices.
The standard pattern
43 of the 59 school-leaver courses ask for AAA and 13 ask for A*AA, with a small number sitting outside that band in both directions. On subjects, all 59 of them make at least one of Chemistry and Biology compulsory, but only 21 require both. Chemistry is the more commonly essential of the two, named by 33 courses against 27 for Biology. Where a school mandates only one, the second subject usually has to come from a short science list, most often Physics, Maths or Psychology. A substantial minority of schools, though not most of them, also require the grades in a single sitting rather than built up across resits.
GCSEs matter more than many applicants expect. 49 of the 59 school-leaver courses name both English and Maths with a minimum grade attached, usually grade 6 or above, while only 19 name two or more sciences specifically. Some schools fold GCSE results directly into their overall scoring rather than treating them as a pass/fail threshold, which is where a strong set earns you something rather than just clearing a bar.
Graduate-entry: the route without A-levels
If your A-levels don't meet the standard offer, or you're coming to medicine or dentistry after a first degree in another subject, 9 of the 68 courses in our directory are graduate entry. These are usually shorter, accelerated courses (often 4 years) for applicants with a completed degree, most asking for a 2:1 though Worcester accepts a 2:2. The subject of that degree is not the barrier it is assumed to be: Swansea, Warwick and Chester all accept a degree in any discipline, and Chester names arts, humanities and language graduates specifically. Selection centres on your degree result, UCAT or GAMSAT, and the interview. Several of these schools, Chester, Swansea, Warwick and Worcester among them, run graduate entry only, with no school-leaver pathway at all.
Contextual and widening-access offers
About half the school-leaver courses in our directory, 29 of 59, publish a reduced offer for applicants who meet specific widening-participation criteria such as school performance data, household income, or care experience. 27 of those 29 land on AAB or ABB. Schemes vary significantly in eligibility and in the size of the grade reduction, so if you might qualify, check each target school's own contextual offer policy directly rather than assuming a blanket rule applies.
Every school's exact A-level and GCSE requirements are listed on its page in our school directory, alongside its UCAT and interview policy, so you can compare the whole entry requirement in one place rather than piecing it together from separate sources.