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Dental school comparison

Bristol vs Queen Mary (QMUL)

Bristol and Queen Mary (QMUL) are both UK dental schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Bristol is based in Bristol (England) while Queen Mary (QMUL) sits in London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination. Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Side-by-side comparison

Bristol

Bristol

Quick comparison

Location
Bristol, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics / Further Mathematics
TrueScore
Bristol TrueScore 2280
UCAT home cut-off
~2280+/2700
Interview format
Structured panel-style interview (Zoom, remote)
Post-interview chance
UK applicants: 89/169 = 53% (2025).
Decision date
March onwards

Queen Mary (QMUL)

London

Quick comparison

Location
London, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA at A-level (offer and prediction) — single sitting, no more than 2 years. UCAS Tariff minimum 152 (A*AA delivers this).
TrueScore
Queen Mary (QMUL) TrueScore 2210
UCAT home cut-off
Expressed as a decile, not a raw score: applications below the fourth decile of the total UCAT do not pass first shortlisting, and clearing it guarantees nothing.
Interview format
Two-interviewer panel, online (January–February)
Post-interview chance
2025 - All applicants: 182/267 = 68%. Overseas: 13/22 = 59%.
Decision date
Spring

Bristol vs Queen Mary (QMUL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Bristol requires AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics / Further Mathematics.

Queen Mary (QMUL) requires A*AA at A-level (offer and prediction) — single sitting, no more than 2 years. UCAS Tariff minimum 152 (A*AA delivers this).

Queen Mary (QMUL) is the stricter A-Level offer; Bristol is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Bristol carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Bristol: Mathematics at grade 7/A or higher. English Language or English Literature at grade 4/C or higher.

Used as minimum threshold only — Bristol BDS is wholly UCAT-based for shortlisting once academic… Queen Mary (QMUL): Six GCSEs at grade 7,7,7,6,6,6 (777666) or above, must include Mathematics, English Language or Literature, Biology and Chemistry (or Double Science). GCSEs are not required for graduate applicants…

Interview formats

Both Bristol and Queen Mary (QMUL) use Panel interviews, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot-topic answers and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer.

That said, the specifics differ slightly: Bristol runs structured panel-style interview (zoom, remote); Queen Mary (QMUL) runs two-interviewer panel, online (january–february). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Bristol interviews in December – February; Queen Mary (QMUL) in January – February.

Curriculum and teaching style

Bristol runs a Spiral curriculum; Queen Mary (QMUL) runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Bristol delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Queen Mary (QMUL) uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year BDS spiral curriculum. Clinical placements at Bristol Dental Hospital and South-West community sites. Five-year BDS at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Clinical placements at Royal London Dental Hospital and East London community

Intake size: Bristol — ~70 home + ~20 international places per year for BDS Dentistry.; Queen Mary (QMUL) — ~80 home + ~20 international places per year for BDS Dentistry (Barts and The London).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Bristol: UK applicants: 89/169 = 53% (2025). Queen Mary (QMUL): 2025 - All applicants: 182/267 = 68%. Overseas: 13/22 = 59%.

Post-interview odds give you the clearest signal of how competitive each school is at the final stage — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%, even if the interview thresholds look identical on paper.

What makes each distinctive

Bristol: Entirely UCAT-based shortlisting (work experience encouraged, not required). No SJT use. No significant personal-statement scoring - medical applicants often get offers with a medical statement.

Queen Mary (QMUL): Queen Mary applies a fourth-decile minimum on the total UCAT: below it an application does not pass first shortlisting, and clearing it guarantees nothing. The bar is published as a decile rather than a score because the boundary moves with each cohort, and Queen Mary states thresholds cannot be predicted from previous years.

Higher predicted grades do not compensate. SJT band 4 automatically rejected.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Bristol is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Bristol feeds into the England foundation programme network; Queen Mary (QMUL) into the London network.

If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Bristol; if you prefer lecture-led foundations, the other suits better. Your firm/insurance choice should ultimately weight: where your UCAT and predicted grades sit relative to each school's threshold, which interview format you can prepare for most credibly, and where you'd actually want to live for five years.

Common questions

Neither school publishes a single fixed UCAT cut-off; both use UCAT as part of a composite shortlisting score alongside GCSE and personal-statement weighting. Bristol guidance: ~2280+/2700. Queen Mary (QMUL) guidance: Expressed as a decile, not a raw score: applications below the fourth decile of the total UCAT do not pass first shortlisting, and clearing it guarantees nothing..

Where to go next

BristolEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
Queen Mary (QMUL)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other dental school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed .