Where are King's College London (KCL) and Queen Mary (QMUL) located, and how does that affect cost?

King's College London (KCL) is in London, UK. Queen Mary (QMUL) is in London, UK. Tuition is £9,250/year at both for UK home applicants; the main cost difference is accommodation (London accommodation typically runs 30-50% above the national average).

When does each school release decisions?

King's College London (KCL) typically releases dentistry decisions March onwards. Queen Mary (QMUL) releases dentistry decisions Spring. If one is earlier than the other, you may need to hold a decision while waiting for the second school — be ready to compare in real time.

Dental school comparison

King's College London (KCL) vs Queen Mary (QMUL)

King's College London (KCL) and Queen Mary (QMUL) are both UK dental schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in London, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: King's College London (KCL) and Queen Mary (QMUL).
Comparison field	King's College London (KCL)London	Queen Mary (QMUL)London
Quick comparison
Location	London, UK	London, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level — A in Biology or Chemistry, plus A in another of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) — single sitting, no more than 2 years. UCAS Tariff minimum 152 (AAA delivers this).
TrueScore	King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2050	Queen Mary (QMUL) TrueScore 2210
UCAT home cut-off	No threshold published. King's does not release its dentistry UCAT cut-off, and its published admissions statistics run on the retired /3600 scale, so they cannot be restated on the current /2700 one.	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, remote (no longer 6-station MMI)	Two-interviewer panel, online (January–February)
Post-interview chance	Non-contextual home students without degree: 98/171 = 57% (2025). Overall 2025: 175/350 = 50%.	2025 - All applicants: 182/267 = 68%. Overseas: 13/22 = 59%.
Decision date	March onwards	Spring

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level — A in Biology or Chemistry, plus A in another of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) — single sitting, no more than 2 years. UCAS Tariff minimum 152 (AAA delivers this).
Contextual A-Level offer	-	Reduced offer available for East London / contextual applicants
Required A-Level subjects	Biology or Chemistry at grade A*, plus another of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology at grade A	Biology or Chemistry required, plus a second science from Chemistry / Biology / Physics / Mathematics
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted for applicants resitting their Level 3 qualifications for the first time. Second resits only with mitigating circumstances.	Resits only with extenuating circumstances falling under the Equality and Diversity Act 2010
GCSE requirements	Minimum grade 6/B (National 5 grade B or Intermediate 2 / Standard Credit Grade 1 or 2) in Mathematics and English Language. 8+ grade 8/9s typically required to be competitive.	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.
GCSE scoring methodology	GCSE = ~40% of pre-interview score: 8+ grade 8/9s = 40/40, 7s = 30, 6s = 20, 5s = 10. A grades may be counted as A* for applicants from lower-performing schools.	Used as minimum threshold once met — UCAT and UCAS tariff drive the ranking. No longer at a 50:50 UCAS:UCAT weighting.
Scottish Highers	Three Scottish Highers in combination with two Advanced Highers (no subject counted at both Higher and Advanced Higher levels)	AAA at Higher
Scottish Advanced Highers	A at Advanced Higher Biology or Chemistry, plus A at an additional Advanced Higher in one of Biology / Chemistry / Mathematics / Physics / Psychology	AA at Advanced Higher
International Baccalaureate	38 points overall (including TOK/EE), with HL 6 in Chemistry or Biology, plus HL 6 in one of Biology / Chemistry / Mathematics / Physics / Psychology. Either Maths Analysis & Approaches or Applications & Interpretation accepted.	37 points overall, 666 at Higher Level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one further science from Chemistry / Biology / Physics / Mathematics
Graduate-entry degree requirement	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above. An accelerated 4-year Graduate/Professional Entry Dentistry programme is available. The lowest UCAT invited that King's has published for this route (2,330 for 2024 entry) was measured on the retired /3600 four-subtest test and has no equivalent on the current /2700 scale.	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above. Graduate qualifications scored via QMUL's internal Academic Points system (50/50 UCAT:Academic Points). No GCSE requirement for graduates.
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	A target of around 15 overseas places.	-
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	Band 1 ideal; band 4 appears to be automatically rejected. SJT contributes ~5% of scoring.	Band 4 automatically rejected. Used post-interview in offer-making (likely minimal weighting).
UCAT notes	King's has declined to publish the exact weightings it applies. Any precise UCAT/GCSE/SJT formula quoted for King's dentistry is inferred from Freedom of Information responses rather than published po…	Queen Mary states that thresholds cannot be predicted for any individual year, nor derived from previous years - which is why the bar is published as a decile rather than a score. Applicants above the…

Degree awarded	BDS	BDS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Integrated	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	-	-
Placement geography	London	East London
Named placement sites	Guy's Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College Hospital	The Royal London Dental Institute
Intercalation	Opportunity to intercalate a BSc.	-
Course highlight	The largest dental school in the UK, graduating around 150 dentists a year.	The Institute of Dentistry moved into the Alexandra Wing of The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel in 2014 — a £78 million building, the first new dental school built in the UK for over 40 years.

Interview window	January – February	January – February
Interview details	Two-interviewer panel format conducted remotely. Tests communication skills while exploring general health-related social and ethical issues. Many questions overlap with the SJT-style scenarios. Build…	Online panel interview with two senior academic/clinical staff, a dental student, or sometimes a lay selector. Split into two parts: (1) questions based on an article given 2 weeks prior; (2) personal…

Specialities	Dentistry (BDS), Graduate Entry Dentistry (4-year), Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (3-year, post-FY2)	Dentistry (BDS)
Established	1829	1843
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Combined scoring: ~45% UCAT + 5% SJT + 40% GCSE + 10% contextual factors (FOI-derived; subject to change). 8+ grade 8/9s at GCSE typically required. SJT band 4 appears to be automatically rejected. Al…	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…
Official course page	https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/dentistry-bds	https://www.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/coursefinder/courses/2026/dentistry/

King's College London (KCL)

London

Quick comparison

Location: London, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA at A-level — A* in Biology or Chemistry, plus A in another of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology
TrueScore: King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2050
UCAT home cut-off: No threshold published. King's does not release its dentistry UCAT cut-off, and its published admissions statistics run on the retired /3600 scale, so they cannot be restated on the current /2700 one.
Interview format: Two-interviewer panel, remote (no longer 6-station MMI)
Post-interview chance: Non-contextual home students without degree: 98/171 = 57% (2025). Overall 2025: 175/350 = 50%.
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

King's College London (KCL) vs Queen Mary (QMUL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA at A-level — A* in Biology or Chemistry, plus A in another of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology.

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).

Both demand the same A-Level grade band, so academic prediction is unlikely to differentiate your application between them — provided you meet the required subject combination at each.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — King's College London (KCL): Minimum grade 6/B (National 5 grade B or Intermediate 2 / Standard Credit Grade 1 or 2) in Mathematics and English Language. 8+ grade 8/9s typically required to be competitive.

GCSE = ~40% of… 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 King's College London (KCL) 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: King's College London (KCL) runs two-interviewer panel, remote (no longer 6-station mmi); 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: King's College London (KCL) interviews in January – February; Queen Mary (QMUL) in January – February.

Post-interview offer rate

King's College London (KCL): Non-contextual home students without degree: 98/171 = 57% (2025). Overall 2025: 175/350 = 50%. 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

King's College London (KCL): Combined scoring: ~45% UCAT + 5% SJT + 40% GCSE + 10% contextual factors (FOI-derived; subject to change). 8+ grade 8/9s at GCSE typically required. SJT band 4 appears to be automatically rejected. Also runs a 4-year and 3-year graduate-entry programme (see Graduate Entry section).

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?

Both schools sit in the same London foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily. 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. King's College London (KCL) guidance: No threshold published. King's does not release its dentistry UCAT cut-off, and its published admissions statistics run on the retired /3600 scale, so they cannot be restated on the current /2700 one.. 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..

King's College London (KCL) uses Panel interview: Two-interviewer panel, remote (no longer 6-station MMI). Queen Mary (QMUL) uses Panel interview: Two-interviewer panel, online (January–February). The format is the same, so the same prep approach applies — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot topics, and (for MMI) structured 5-7 minute station answers. Interview windows: January – February (King's College London (KCL)); January – February (Queen Mary (QMUL)).

King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA - A* in biology or chemistry, plus A in another of biology/chemistry/physics/maths/psychology. Resit considered for first-time L3 resitters. Second resits only with mitigating circumstances.. Queen Mary (QMUL) requires A*AA in single sitting, no more than 2 years. Must include biology or chemistry + second science from chemistry/biology/physics/maths. Resit only with extenuating circumstances under Equality and Diversity Act 2010.. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

King's College London (KCL) — Minimum grade 6/B (National 5 grade B or Intermediate 2 / Standard Credit Grade 1 or 2) in Mathematics and English Language. 8+ grade 8/9s typically required to be competitive. GCSE = ~40% of pre-interview score: 8+ grade 8/9s = 40/40, 7s = 30, 6s = 20, 5s = 10. A grades may be counted as A* for applicants from lower-performing schools. 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. Used as minimum threshold once met — UCAT and UCAS tariff drive the ranking. No longer at a 50:50 UCAS:UCAT weighting.

King's College London (KCL)'s selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. Queen Mary (QMUL)'s selection methodology: UCAT + academic + MMI. SJT used post-interview. Strong East London focus. Understanding each school's exact algorithm is the single highest-leverage piece of pre-application research — it tells you whether your profile is competitive before you spend an application choice.

King's College London (KCL): Non-contextual home students without degree: 98/171 = 57% (2025). Overall 2025: 175/350 = 50%.. Queen Mary (QMUL): 2025 - All applicants: 182/267 = 68%. Overseas: 13/22 = 59%.. Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

You can — UCAS allows 4 medicine/dentistry choices in total, so listing both is feasible if your profile fits each school's selection algorithm. Apply to both only if your UCAT, GCSE and predicted-grade profile is competitive against each school's published weighting. A common mistake is using two of your four slots on similar schools when a more spread-out portfolio (one safe + one stretch) would maximise overall offer probability.

Where to go next

King's College London (KCL)Entry 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 19 September 2026.

King's College London (KCL) vs Queen Mary (QMUL)

Side-by-side comparison

King's College London (KCL) vs Queen Mary (QMUL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for King's College London (KCL) vs Queen Mary (QMUL)?

How do interviews differ between King's College London (KCL) and Queen Mary (QMUL)?

What A-Level grades do King's College London (KCL) and Queen Mary (QMUL) require?

How are GCSEs weighted at King's College London (KCL) vs Queen Mary (QMUL)?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Which has a higher post-interview offer rate, King's College London (KCL) or Queen Mary (QMUL)?

Where are King's College London (KCL) and Queen Mary (QMUL) located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

Should I apply to both King's College London (KCL) and Queen Mary (QMUL)?

Where to go next

Other dental school comparisons