What interview format does University of Aberdeen use for dentistry?

Multiple Mini Interview. Aberdeen describes an MMI as candidates rotating around a number of question stations in turn, with each station lasting 7 minutes and the whole experience taking approximately 90 minutes for each candidate. At each station a selector explores one question area and scores your performance against pre-determined criteria, and communication and interpersonal skills are scored independently at every station. Aberdeen says the interview is not intended to test academic knowledge or to ask questions tied directly to the school curriculum, and that for some questions there is no correct answer, so what is under scrutiny is your ability to reflect on and discuss different aspects of a problem. The same categories of question are used on each day the MMI runs, and interviewees are offered a tour of the Dental School on the day. The highest-scoring candidates on academic attainment and the admissions test are invited to interview, and all subsequent offers are made on interview performance alone. Aberdeen's interview page names ten questioning domains that selectors may explore, but it does not state how many stations there are, or which months interviews are held in..

University of Aberdeen Dentistry: UCAT, A-Levels & Interview Requirements

Q: What UCAT score do I need for University of Aberdeen Dentistry?

University of Aberdeen has not published a fixed minimum score for 2027 entry. Instead: Aberdeen combines UCAT with academic achievement on a fixed weighting of academic 60% and UCAT 40%, and states in those words that a minimum UCAT cut-off score is NOT used. In place of a threshold, a score is allocated based on overall UCAT performance compared with all other applicants to Aberdeen, so the bar moves with the strength of that year's field rather than sitting at a fixed number. Aberdeen does publish the lowest UCAT score invited to interview each year, which for 2025 was 2320 at Scottish fee status and 2470 for the rest of the UK.

University of Aberdeen's dentistry programme is graduate-entry: no standard A-level route applies. Here's how UCAT, your degree, and the interview fit together.

2027 UCAT cut off

Not published

How the UCAT is weighted

Aberdeen combines UCAT with academic achievement on a fixed weighting of academic 60% and UCAT 40%, and states in those words that a minimum UCAT cut-off score is NOT used. In place of a threshold, a score is allocated based on overall UCAT performance compared with all other applicants to Aberdeen, so the bar moves with the strength of that year's field rather than sitting at a fixed number. Aberdeen does publish the lowest UCAT score invited to interview each year, which for 2025 was 2320 at Scottish fee status and 2470 for the rest of the UK.

SJT policy

The SJT subtest is not formally scored as part of the ranking, but may be used in offer-making when candidates have similar scores.

A-level requirements

Not applicable. Aberdeen's BDS is graduate entry only: it says it is unable to consider applications from school leavers because the degree is only available to graduates, and that it does not consider A-level results in the academic score, which is based solely on the final or predicted degree result. Its own advice to school pupils is to take a degree such as Biomedical Science and achieve at least an upper second class honours qualification. The graduate entry pathway allows direct entry into year 2 and is completed in four years, with only 20 places available each year.

Interview

Multiple Mini Interview, 7 minutes a station, November to March.

Aberdeen does not publish two of the five things a candidate needs before an interview.

Aberdeen interview: full format, stations, dates and what is not published

Resits

University of Aberdeen publishes no resit policy. That is not the same as resits being accepted, and it is worth asking admissions directly before relying on either reading.

Personal statement

Used, and used twice. Aberdeen tells BDS applicants 'you need to submit an excellent personal statement' and says that on receipt of the UCAS form 'we carefully considers all aspects of the remaining application and score your form objectively, based upon three categories: Practical experience and knowledge of career implications; Knowledge of core qualities required of a dentist ... including team work; Practical skills'. Personal Statement is then a named MMI station domain for BDS, alongside Manual Dexterity, Professionalism & Ethics and Article Comprehension. Aberdeen separately publishes a pre-interview weighting of academic attainment/predictions 60% and UCAT 40%, and says BDS offer decisions rest on interview performance alone - so the statement has no published share of the shortlisting score, but it is directly examined at the interview that decides the offer.

What the UCAT had to be, 2026 entry

University of Aberdeen does not publish one.

That is the university's own position, not a gap in our research. Any specific number quoted for University of Aberdeen elsewhere is somebody's reconstruction from reported scores, not a figure the medical school has confirmed. Treat it accordingly.

Aberdeen states it does not use a minimum UCAT cut-off score for dentistry. Since the course is graduate entry only, with roughly twenty places a year and no consideration of A-levels, the UCAT sits alongside a degree rather than against school qualifications.

University of Aberdeen application data, checked 2026-09-01.

Your actual chances, 2016 entry

University of Aberdeen's own published figures, not an estimate.

These are 2016 entry figures.
Applicant	Applied	Interviewed	Offers	Offer rate
All applicants	187	64 (34%)	37	20%

Aberdeen's dental school publishes a four-stage funnel and has not updated it since 2016 entry, which is the heading on its own page. The 2016 domicile table reads Scotland 37 applicants, 23 interviews, 19 offers and 10 entrants; Rest of UK 125, 32, 11 and 5; EU 22, 9, 7 and 6; Overseas 3, 0, 0 and 0. Those four rest-of-UK columns are the ones worth reading: 125 applications produced 11 offers and 5 entrants. Only the domicile totals are carried into the figures here, because the three tables on Aberdeen's page do not agree with each other - the gender table totals 205 applicants, 52 interviews, 36 offers and 20 entrants, and the applicant-type table 187, 64, 29 and 20. Aberdeen also records one deferred offer for entry in September 2017. This is a decade old and describes a cohort that no longer exists.

Offer rate is offers as a share of applications, so it already accounts for everyone cut before interview. University of Aberdeen application data, checked 2026-09-23.

National benchmark, for context

For context, the UCAT Consortium's own 2026 statistics report a mean cognitive score of 1918 (out of 2,700) across 42,359 tests, with the median (5th decile) at 1920 and the top decile at 2250+. This is a national figure, not University of Aberdeen's own threshold, since University of Aberdeen doesn't publish one for the current cycle.

UCAT Consortium, Test Statistics 2026

University of Aberdeen's dentistry programme is graduate-entry only, so A-level results aren't part of the selection criteria. Not applicable. Aberdeen's BDS is graduate entry only: it says it is unable to consider applications from school leavers because the degree is only available to graduates, and that it does not consider A-level results in the academic score, which is based solely on the final or predicted degree result. Its own advice to school pupils is to take a degree such as Biomedical Science and achieve at least an upper second class honours qualification. The graduate entry pathway allows direct entry into year 2 and is completed in four years, with only 20 places available each year. SJT policy: The SJT subtest is not formally scored as part of the ranking, but may be used in offer-making when candidates have similar scores. Worth knowing: No cut-off is used. Selection for interview is scored 60% academic attainment and predictions and 40% admissions test, with the test score set by ranking the applicant against everyone else who applied to Aberdeen rather than against the national field, and all subsequent offers are made on interview performance alone. The SJT is not scored, though Aberdeen says it may separate candidates with similar scores when offers are made. Aberdeen does not publish a location or a month for its dentistry interviews: its interview page says only that candidates are invited by email, are asked to attend at the allocated time and date, and are offered a tour of the Dental School on the day of the interview. Always confirm against the official page before applying, since this is the most recent published position rather than a guarantee for the live cycle.

Source: University of Aberdeen's own admissions page. Last checked 13 September 2026.

Every figure above is taken from that page. Where University of Aberdeen publishes nothing, this page says so rather than quoting a number reconstructed from student reports.

See the full directory or the admissions hub.

Interview season runs November to MarchFrom Invite to Offer: medicine and dentistry interview preparationThree live MMI seminars, recorded guides and a practice question bank, starting Monday 19 October.See the programme

What the UCAT had to be, 2026 entry

Your actual chances, 2016 entry

Schools worth comparing University of Aberdeen against

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