A-Level Requirements for Medicine and Dentistry
Most UK medical and dental schools set a standard offer of AAA to A*AA including Chemistry and Biology, but exact subjects, grades and graduate-entry alternatives vary school to school.
A-levels are still the single biggest filter in a standard-entry medicine or dentistry application: most schools use them as a hard minimum before UCAT or the interview is even considered. The pattern below holds across most of the 60 schools in our directory, but the exceptions matter, so check each school's own page before you finalise your five UCAS choices.
The standard pattern
Most schools ask for AAA, with a growing number asking for A*AA at the most competitive end. Chemistry and Biology are required by the large majority of schools, usually with the requirement that both are achieved in the same sitting rather than built up across resits. The third A-level is typically open, though Physics, Maths and Psychology are the most commonly accepted choices where a specific second science isn't mandated.
GCSEs matter more than many applicants expect. Most schools set a minimum number of passes at grade 6/B or above, commonly requiring English Language, Mathematics and at least two sciences by name, and some fold GCSE results directly into their overall scoring rather than treating them as a pass/fail threshold.
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, several UK schools run graduate-entry programmes that don't use A-levels in selection at all. These are usually shorter, accelerated courses (often 4 years) built for applicants with a completed degree, typically requiring a 2:1 classification or higher, most often in a science-related subject. Selection instead centres on your degree result, UCAT or GAMSAT, and the interview. A small number of schools, including Chester and Worcester, only offer this graduate-entry route with no separate school-leaver A-level pathway at all.
Contextual and widening-access offers
Most UK schools run some form of contextual admissions scheme, making a reduced offer, often AAB or ABB, to applicants who meet specific widening-participation criteria such as school performance data, household income, or care experience. These schemes vary significantly in eligibility and the size of the grade reduction between schools, 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.