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Which medical school should I apply to? Built on 2027 entry criteria.

Answer a few questions about your UCAT, GCSEs and predicted grades. We compare your profile against every UK medical school and show where you genuinely fit, and where you do not.

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What it checks

51 UK medical schools 2027 Entry criteria
  • UCAT cut-offs, averages and SJT bands
  • Home, RUK and international quotas
  • Graduate, gateway and contextual routes
Avg. UCAT of our students 2,230 +339 above the national average (1,891) Step 1 of 4 · About you Takes about a minute Fee status Where are you domiciled?

Scottish schools keep a set number of places for Scottish students, with different entry requirements for everyone else. This changes your results.

Entry route

Not sure how to answer some of these, or what your grades and UCAT actually mean for each school? A 30-minute session with a strategic applications advisor walks you through your profile and where it fits.

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Why the wrong four choices cost people a place

No two medical schools pick students the same way. Some only care about your UCAT once you pass a minimum. Others, like Birmingham, Cardiff and Manchester, score your GCSEs directly, so a strong UCAT does not make up for a weak set. A few will not look at resits, and some reject anyone in SJT Band 3. Most people who miss out did not have bad numbers. They just picked four schools that all judged the one thing they were weakest at.

What we check

  • The minimum UCAT each school needs, and the score people usually need to get an interview
  • SJT bands, including the schools that reject Band 3
  • Whether GCSEs count, and how much
  • A-level and Highers requirements, plus contextual offers
  • Whether resits and gap years are accepted
  • Graduate entry: what degree class you need, and who uses the GAMSAT instead of the UCAT
  • Scottish schools: the different rules for Scottish and non-Scottish students

Which Medical Schools Should I Apply To?

Choosing where to apply for medicine is one of the most important parts of your UCAS application. UK medical schools do not all select applicants the same way: some weight your UCAT score heavily, others look at UK medical school entry requirements such as GCSEs or predicted A-levels first, and some use contextual data or SJT bands as part of their shortlisting.

The Medical School Matcher helps you compare your own profile against these differences. Enter your UCAT score, GCSEs, predicted grades, fee status and circumstances, and the tool highlights the medical schools that are most likely to suit your application, as well as the ones that would screen you out.

It is designed to help with choosing a medical school, not to predict an exact probability of acceptance. Use it as a starting point, then confirm every detail on the university's official admissions pages before you apply.

Medical school application guide

How to decide which medical schools you should apply to

Your UCAT is only one part of the decision. Explore how UK medical schools use UCAT, GCSEs, grades, SJT and contextual criteria differently when selecting applicants.

Start with how each school selects

You get four medicine choices, so each one is a quarter of your application.

Eligibility and competitiveness are not the same thing. Clearing a school's published minimum tells you that you will not be screened out - not that you are likely to be invited to interview.

The stronger approach is to identify the schools whose selection method rewards the part of your profile that is strongest, and to avoid submitting four choices that all judge you on the same weakness.

Choosing medical schools based on your UCAT score

Universities use the UCAT very differently. Broadly, a school will:

  • rank applicants almost entirely on the total score;
  • apply a threshold and then look at academics;
  • weight individual subtests rather than the total; or
  • use it only alongside other measures.

That means the same score can be strong at one school and uncompetitive at another. Rather than chasing a single national cut-off, look at how each school on your list uses the score - and see how your raw marks convert into a scaled UCAT score and percentile first if you are still estimating.

For a school by school view of the scores that got interviews last cycle, see our guide to the UCAT score needed for medicine in 2027.

How GCSEs affect your medical school choices

Some medical schools score GCSEs directly as part of the shortlisting formula, so the number of grade 7-9 passes materially changes your ranking.

Others treat GCSEs purely as a minimum entry requirement, and a handful place very little weight on them at all. If your GCSEs are the weakest part of your profile, that single fact should rule several schools out of your four.

Predicted and achieved A-level grades

Grades usually determine eligibility rather than ranking. Most schools will not shortlist an applicant whose predictions fall below the standard offer, and some will not consider resits or will require specific subjects.

If you are applying post-results, achieved grades can open up schools that would not have accepted the same profile on predictions.

How your SJT band is used

Medical schools treat the situational judgement test differently:

  • a number reject Band 4 outright, and some also reject Band 3;
  • others use the SJT only to separate borderline candidates, or at the offer stage;
  • a few do not use it in shortlisting at all.

It is worth checking before you commit a choice.

Contextual medical school admissions

Contextual eligibility is based on factors such as school performance, household circumstances, care experience or widening participation postcodes.

It can lower the grade or UCAT threshold a school applies to you, or move you into a separately assessed pool. Criteria differ by university, so a contextual flag that helps at one school may not apply at another.

Why your four medicine choices matter

A shortlist has to balance two things: where you would genuinely want to spend five or six years, and how well your application fits each university's selection process.

Course style, medicine interview format, location and teaching all matter - but so does making sure you are not spending all four choices on universities that shortlist in the same way.

What the matcher checks for you

You tell us the things medical schools actually select on:

  • your UCAT total and SJT band;
  • your GCSE profile;
  • your predicted or achieved A-level (or Highers) grades;
  • your fee status and entry route;
  • whether you qualify for contextual consideration.

The matcher then compares those inputs against the admissions criteria each UK medical school publishes, and groups the schools by how well your profile appears to align.

Nothing is hidden behind a payment: every school, and the reasoning behind its classification, is shown on screen.

Medical School Matcher vs personalised application strategy

The free matcher answers "which medical schools could suit my profile?". Our medical school application strategy service answers a harder question: which four should you actually apply to, and why.

That service is expert human analysis - an admissions advisor reviews your full profile, recommends a four with written reasoning, gives you backups and the universities they would approach cautiously, and talks it through on a 30-minute call.

It is not a paid unlock of this tool; everything the tool produces here is free.

Common questions

Which medical school should I apply to?

There is no single right answer, because each UK medical school weighs the UCAT, GCSEs, A-levels, SJT and contextual data differently. The sensible approach is to work out which schools assess the parts of your profile that are strongest, rule out the ones with fixed rules you do not meet, and then choose four that spread your risk. The Medical School Matcher does the first two steps for you in about a minute.

Which medical schools can I apply to with my UCAT score?

Almost every UK school will accept your application at any UCAT score, but the score that realistically gets you an interview varies enormously. Some schools rank purely on UCAT, some use a threshold and then look at academics, and a few barely use it. Enter your score in the Medical School Matcher and you will see, school by school, where it sits against the way that school actually uses the UCAT.

How many medical schools can I apply to?

Four. UCAS lets you list five choices, but no more than four can be medicine, so the fifth is normally a related backup course. That limit is why shortlisting matters so much - a wasted choice is 25% of your application.

How accurate is the Medical School Matcher?

It takes the rules each school publishes - UCAT cut-offs, SJT bands, how much GCSEs count, resit rules, contextual offers and how many places are set aside for each type of applicant - and checks your numbers against them. So it can tell you where you clear the bar and where you would be rejected outright. What it cannot know is how strong everyone else applying this year will be. That is why we mark close calls as borderline instead of giving you a made-up percentage.

Does it cover graduate entry and Scottish applicants?

Yes. For graduate entry we check the degree class each school asks for and flag the ones that use the GAMSAT instead of the UCAT. If you are from England, Wales or Northern Ireland applying to a Scottish school, we score you against the places kept for non-Scottish students, which are much harder to get.

Is the Medical School Matcher free?

Yes, completely. Every school and every reason is shown on screen with nothing hidden and no email needed. You only give us your email if you want a PDF copy sent to you.

Does the Medical School Matcher guarantee an interview?

No. It shows where your profile appears to align with a school's published selection criteria. It cannot account for how strong the rest of this year's applicant pool is, and admissions criteria can change between cycles. No tool, and no tutor, can guarantee an interview or an offer.

Still unsure how all of this applies to you? Our strategic applications advisors read your full profile against every school's 2027 entry criteria and tell you where you genuinely stand.

Book an advisor session

Full entry requirements, school by school

Every school in the matcher has its own written guide: UCAT cut-offs, GCSE scoring, interview format and what they actually look for. Start with the UK medical school entry requirements or jump straight in.

AberdeenAnglia Ruskin (ARU)AstonBangorBarts (QMUL)BirminghamBrighton & Sussex (BSMS)BristolBrunelBuckinghamCambridgeCardiffDundeeEast Anglia (UEA)Edge HillEdinburghExeterGlasgowHull York (HYMS)ImperialKeeleKent & Medway (KMMS)King's College London (KCL)LancasterLeedsLeicesterLincolnLiverpoolManchesterNewcastleNottinghamOxfordPears CumbriaPlymouth PeninsulaQueen's Belfast (QUB)SheffieldSouthamptonSt AndrewsSt George's (SGUL)SunderlandSurreySwansea (Graduate)Three Counties (Worcester)UCLanUCLUlsterWarwickChesterGreater ManchesterHertfordshireSt Mary's TwickenhamWolverhampton

Medical school admissions criteria can change between application cycles. The Medical School Matcher is designed to help you explore potential options and should not be treated as a guarantee of eligibility, interview or offer. MedicHut is not liable for any application outcomes, and using this guide cannot guarantee any specific result. Always check the latest official university admissions requirements before applying.

We keep this tool updated as universities release more information for 2027 entry. If you spot anything that looks incorrect or out of date, use the "Spotted an error?" button on screen or email team@medichut.com and we'll check it against the university's official guidance.

Admissions information last reviewed: August 2026 · data set for 2027 entry (applications submitted in 2026)