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Dental school comparison

Dundee vs Queen Mary (QMUL)

Dundee and Queen Mary (QMUL) are both UK dental schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Dundee is based in Dundee (Scotland) 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.

The interview formats diverge — MMI vs Panel — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different.

Side-by-side comparison

Dundee

Dundee

Quick comparison

Location
Dundee, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology — all three subjects in the same sitting. Ideally 1–2 A* predicted.
TrueScore
Dundee TrueScore 1500
UCAT home cut-off
Dundee does not publish a UCAT threshold for dentistry on the current scale. Its historical admissions figures were measured on the retired /3600 four-subtest test and, as Dundee itself warns, are not directly comparable with scores from 2025 onwards.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Scottish: 71/149 = 48%. RUK: 17/127 = 13%. Overseas: 28/58 = 48%.
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

Dundee vs Queen Mary (QMUL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Dundee requires AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology — all three subjects in the same sitting. Ideally 1–2 A* predicted.

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; Dundee is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Dundee carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Dundee: Mathematics and English at grade 6/B or above (National 5 or GCSE) — used in shortlisting, higher grades essential.

GCSEs feed the academic score (60% of pre-interview ranking for school leavers)… 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

Dundee uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)); Queen Mary (QMUL) uses Panel (Two-interviewer panel, online (January–February)). These two formats reward different skills — MMI emphasises breadth, station-recovery and structured answers under time pressure, while Panel rewards depth and consistency.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Queen Mary (QMUL) may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Dundee is the better fit.

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

Curriculum and teaching style

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

Specifics: Five-year BDS with spiral curriculum. Clinical placements at Dundee Dental Hospital and Tayside 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: Dundee — ~75 places per year (predominantly Scottish + RUK + small international).; 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

Dundee: Scottish: 71/149 = 48%. RUK: 17/127 = 13%. Overseas: 28/58 = 48%. 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

Dundee: Non-graduate weighting: 60% academic / 40% UCAT. Graduate weighting: 40% academic / 60% UCAT. Both A-level predictions and GCSEs feed the academic score, so consistent strong grades matter.

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, Dundee is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Dundee feeds into the Scotland foundation programme network; Queen Mary (QMUL) into the London network.

If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Dundee; 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. Dundee guidance: Dundee does not publish a UCAT threshold for dentistry on the current scale. Its historical admissions figures were measured on the retired /3600 four-subtest test and, as Dundee itself warns, are not directly comparable with scores from 2025 onwards.. 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

DundeeEntry 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 .