UCAT & Medical School Admissions FAQ
Common questions about UK medical and dental school entry, UCAT scoring, interview formats, and how to choose your target schools.
What UCAT score do I need to get into medicine or dentistry?
Most UK medical schools use UCAT as part of selection but don't publish explicit minimum scores until all applications are in. Of the 68 courses covered here, 14 publish a numeric UCAT figure at all, and only 3 of those are labelled for the current cycle rather than the last one. Others use UCAT within a scoring model alongside A-levels, GCSEs, and context. The UCAT Consortium's own 2026 statistics put the 80th percentile (8th decile) at 2140, so target that or higher as a safe benchmark, then check each school's individual weighting and interview thresholds. See the cut-off ranking pages below for schools ranked by published difficulty.
Do all schools use UCAT?
Most do, but not all. Buckingham requires no UCAT at all and runs an in-house Multiple Mini Assessment (MMA) instead. The GAMSAT replaces the UCAT outright at Ulster medicine, whose published admissions material never mentions the UCAT. The GAMSAT is accepted alongside the UCAT at Brunel medicine, Pears Cumbria medicine, Surrey medicine and Worcester medicine, and Surrey will only let you use the UCAT if your degree is in Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedical Science, Chemistry or Natural Sciences. Swansea accepts GAMSAT or UCAT from home applicants for its graduate-entry course, and GAMSAT, UCAT or MCAT from international applicants. Warwick's graduate-entry route still requires the UCAT: its entry requirements state that all applicants must take the UCAT or, where appropriate, the UCATSEN. Check each school's entry requirements page for their specific test suite.
What's the difference between a published cut-off and no cut-off?
A published cut-off (like Edinburgh's 1850) is the school's official minimum UCAT score to progress to interview. When a school says "no cut-off published," it typically means they use UCAT in a percentile or decile band within a larger scoring model, or they assess the full cohort before setting the threshold. Neither guarantees interview progress. Always aim higher than any historical figure you see.
How much do A-levels matter if I have a good UCAT score?
Significant. Of the 59 courses here that publish a standard A-level offer, 43 ask for AAA and 13 ask for A*AA, and every one of them names Chemistry or Biology. UCAT score alone won't overcome weak A-levels. Graduate-entry routes ask for a degree instead, usually a 2:1, though Chester, Warwick and Worcester all accept a 2:2 paired with a Masters or a doctorate. See each school's page for their exact A-level and GCSE requirements.
What's an SJT band, and does it matter?
The Situational Judgement Test (SJT) is part of UCAT, scored separately as a band (Band 1 = highest). Most schools use SJT within their selection process, and a Band 4 is a hard stop at more of them than you would guess: 9 courses here publish a policy that takes a Band 4 out of contention before interview, including Edinburgh medicine, Imperial medicine, Keele medicine, Leicester medicine and Liverpool medicine. Warwick publishes no SJT policy either way, so treat it as unknown rather than as a free pass. Generally, aim for Band 1 or 2; Band 3 is usually acceptable, Band 4 is risky. Check each school's SJT policy on their page.
Which interview format should I prepare for?
Most schools use Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI): a circuit of short stations covering clinical scenarios, ethics, teamwork, and communication. Station counts and timings vary more than you would expect and most schools don't publish them at all; where they do, the circuits here run from four to eight stations of five to ten minutes each. Some use structured or panel interviews with longer questions instead. Online delivery is now common rather than unusual: Aston, Brunel, Bristol, Glasgow, Keele, St George's and St Mary's interview everyone online, and many more interview home applicants on campus and international applicants online. Interviews mostly run from November to March, with December and January the busiest. Check the "Interview type" column on each school's page for specifics, then search our UCAT toolkit for MMI and interview prep resources.
Are there graduate-entry medicine programmes?
Yes, and more of them than most people realise: 9 of the courses here are graduate entry (A101 for medicine, Year 2 entry for dentistry). They are Aberdeen dentistry, Chester medicine, Lancashire dentistry, Pears Cumbria medicine, Surrey medicine, Swansea medicine, Ulster medicine, Warwick medicine and Worcester medicine. These accept graduates with a first degree, typically a 2:1 or higher, and the subject matters less than you might expect: Swansea is open to graduates of any discipline, and Chester states that arts, humanities and language graduates are eligible. Entry usually turns on your degree result, the admissions test each school asks for, and the interview rather than A-levels, though Lancashire's Year 2 dentistry route still wants three A-levels alongside the degree. Competition is just as fierce. At most of these universities the graduate-entry course is the only medicine or dentistry course they run, so there is no standard A100 route alongside it.
How current is this information?
All 68 courses were verified between 2026-08-11 and 2026-09-13, with 4 checked on the later date. Some schools hadn't published their 2027-entry pages when they were checked, so those rows rest on the school's 2026 policy and say so in the notes. Universities typically finalize entry requirements by September. Check the official website before applying.
I'm not on this list, what do I do?
This directory covers 68 UK medical and dental courses, and every medical school in it appears in the Medical Schools Council's own A-Z. Each course is checked against that school's own admissions pages rather than a third-party summary. If a course you're targeting is missing, check UCAS and the school's own site, or contact its admissions team directly.
How do I use this to choose my UCAS schools?
UCAS gives you five course choices, and at most four of them can be in any one of medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or veterinary science. The cap is per subject, not shared, so four medicine plus one dentistry is a legal application and five medicine is not. Most applicants spend the spare slot on something outside both. Within your four, research each school's UCAT weighting, interview style, location, and culture, then aim for a mix: one to two ambitious targets (higher cut-offs), one to two realistic options (medium cut-offs), and one safety school (lower cut-off or broader criteria). Use our ranking pages to compare, then read individual school pages for the full picture. Join our members area to access interview prep and tools to build your strategy.