Where are Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL) located, and how does that affect cost?

Plymouth is in Plymouth, 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?

Plymouth typically releases dentistry decisions Spring. 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

Plymouth vs Queen Mary (QMUL)

Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL) are both UK dental schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Plymouth is based in Plymouth (England) while Queen Mary (QMUL) sits in London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

The interview formats diverge — MMI vs Panel — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. Queen Mary (QMUL) is the older institution (founded 1843); the other (founded 2007) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL).
Comparison field	PlymouthPlymouth	Queen Mary (QMUL)London
Quick comparison
Location	Plymouth, UK	London, UK
A-Level offer	A*AA – AAB at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength) including grade A in Biology and grade A in a second science from 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	Plymouth TrueScore 1990	Queen Mary (QMUL) TrueScore 2210
UCAT home cut-off	Not published on the current scale. The average thresholds Plymouth published for the 2023-2025 cycles were measured on the retired /3600 four-subtest test and cannot be converted to /2700 - removing a subtest does not scale a score.	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	Five-station MMI (online), ~55 minutes	Two-interviewer panel, online (January–February)
Post-interview chance	Home: 132/499 = 26% (2025). Overseas: 8/28 = 29%. Home Foundation Year: 17/104 = 16%.	2025 - All applicants: 182/267 = 68%. Overseas: 13/22 = 59%.
Decision date	Spring	Spring

A-Level offer	A*AA – AAB at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength) including grade A in Biology and grade A in a second science from 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	AAB at A-level for widening-access applicants — A in Biology and A in a second science from Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology	Reduced offer available for East London / contextual applicants
Required A-Level subjects	Biology required at grade A, plus a second science from 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: with predicted grades, minimum ABB on first sitting (ABC for widening access). If applying with achieved A-level resit grades, first-sitting requirements waived.	Resits only with extenuating circumstances falling under the Equality and Diversity Act 2010
GCSE requirements	Seven GCSEs at grade 4/C or above, must include English Language, Mathematics, and either 4-4 Dual Science or two from Biology / Chemistry / Physics	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	Used as minimum threshold only — Plymouth does not consider personal statements or work experience when selecting for interview	Used as minimum threshold once met — UCAT and UCAS tariff drive the ranking. No longer at a 50:50 UCAS:UCAT weighting.
Scottish Highers	Scottish Highers NOT accepted — Plymouth Dental School requires Advanced Highers only	AAA at Higher
Scottish Advanced Highers	AAA at Advanced Higher including grade A in Biology and grade A in one further science from Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology	AA at Advanced Higher
International Baccalaureate	36–38 points overall, with HL 6 in Biology and HL 6 in one further science from Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology	37 points overall, 666 at Higher Level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one further science from Chemistry / Biology / Physics / Mathematics
Graduate-entry degree requirement	Applicants must have achieved or be predicted to achieve a 1st (70%) or higher in a University of Plymouth School of Biomedical Science programme	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	-	-
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	No use of SJT in selection	Band 4 automatically rejected. Used post-interview in offer-making (likely minimal weighting).
UCAT notes	The SJT is not used under the selection policy. The UCAT must be sat in the year of application and is used by the Admissions Advisory Panel alongside academic qualifications to select for interview;…	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	Year 1	-
Placement geography	Devon and Cornwall	East London
Named placement sites	Portland Square (Plymouth main campus), Devonport Dental Education Facility, Derriford (Plymouth), Exeter Dental Education Facility, Truro Dental Education Facility	The Royal London Dental Institute
Intercalation	Selected students may intercalate between year 3 and year 4, taking a one-year MSc in the Plymouth research laboratories.	-
Course highlight	Won a Times Higher Education Award in 2023 for contribution to the community.	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	February – April	January – February
Interview details	Online MMI format. 5 stations of ~11 minutes each by 4 different interviewers. Each station has a 'red flag' section - Yes/No reflecting suitability for the programme. One MMI station dedicated to a m…	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)	Dentistry (BDS)
Established	2007	1843
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Interview-score-based offer making. Personal statements and work experience are NOT considered for interview selection - UCAT and academic minimums alone determine who reaches interview.	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.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/bds-dental-surgery	https://www.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/coursefinder/courses/2026/dentistry/

Plymouth

Quick comparison

Location: Plymouth, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA – AAB at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength) including grade A in Biology and grade A in a second science from Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics / Psychology
TrueScore: Plymouth TrueScore 1990
UCAT home cut-off: Not published on the current scale. The average thresholds Plymouth published for the 2023-2025 cycles were measured on the retired /3600 four-subtest test and cannot be converted to /2700 - removing a subtest does not scale a score.
Interview format: Five-station MMI (online), ~55 minutes
Post-interview chance: Home: 132/499 = 26% (2025). Overseas: 8/28 = 29%. Home Foundation Year: 17/104 = 16%.
Decision date: Spring

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

Plymouth vs Queen Mary (QMUL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Plymouth requires A*AA – AAB at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength) including grade A in Biology and grade A in a second science from 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 — Plymouth: Seven GCSEs at grade 4/C or above, must include English Language, Mathematics, and either 4-4 Dual Science or two from Biology / Chemistry / Physics.

Used as minimum threshold only — Plymouth does… 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

Plymouth uses MMI (Five-station MMI (online), ~55 minutes); 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, Plymouth is the better fit.

Interview windows: Plymouth interviews in February – April; Queen Mary (QMUL) in January – February.

Curriculum and teaching style

Plymouth runs a PBL curriculum; Queen Mary (QMUL) runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Plymouth leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Queen Mary (QMUL) uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year BDS with PBL. Plymouth Peninsula Dental School - clinical placements across 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: Plymouth — ~75 home places per year for BDS Dentistry (smaller cohort, regional focus).; 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

Plymouth: Home: 132/499 = 26% (2025). Overseas: 8/28 = 29%. Home Foundation Year: 17/104 = 16%. 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

Plymouth: Interview-score-based offer making. Personal statements and work experience are NOT considered for interview selection - UCAT and academic minimums alone determine who reaches interview.

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?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Plymouth feeds into the England foundation programme network; Queen Mary (QMUL) into the London network. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Plymouth; 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. Plymouth guidance: Not published on the current scale. The average thresholds Plymouth published for the 2023-2025 cycles were measured on the retired /3600 four-subtest test and cannot be converted to /2700 - removing a subtest does not scale a score.. 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..

Plymouth uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Five-station MMI (online), ~55 minutes. Queen Mary (QMUL) uses Panel interview: Two-interviewer panel, online (January–February). The two formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each, with at least 3 full mock interviews per format before sitting either. Interview windows: February – April (Plymouth); January – February (Queen Mary (QMUL)).

Plymouth requires A*AA – AAA offer (AAB widening access - A in biology + second science). Including biology and a second science from chemistry/physics/maths/psychology. Resit (with predicted grades): minimum ABB on first sitting (or ABC WP).. 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. Resit policies differ: Plymouth — Resits accepted.. Queen Mary (QMUL) — Resits considered with explanation..

Plymouth — Seven GCSEs at grade 4/C or above, must include English Language, Mathematics, and either 4-4 Dual Science or two from Biology / Chemistry / Physics. Used as minimum threshold only — Plymouth does not consider personal statements or work experience when selecting for interview 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.

Plymouth's selection methodology: UCAT + academic + MMI. Strong South-West focus. 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.

Plymouth: Home: 132/499 = 26% (2025). Overseas: 8/28 = 29%. Home Foundation Year: 17/104 = 16%.. 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%.

Plymouth runs a PBL curriculum. Queen Mary (QMUL) runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies differ — pick the style that matches how you learn best. Plymouth specifics: Five-year BDS with PBL. Plymouth Peninsula Dental School - clinical placements across South-West community sites. Queen Mary (QMUL) specifics: Five-year BDS at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Clinical placements at Royal London Dental Hospital and East London community sites.

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

PlymouthEntry 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.

Plymouth vs Queen Mary (QMUL)

Side-by-side comparison

Plymouth vs Queen Mary (QMUL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Plymouth vs Queen Mary (QMUL)?

How do interviews differ between Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL)?

What A-Level grades do Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL) require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Plymouth vs Queen Mary (QMUL)?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Which has a higher post-interview offer rate, Plymouth or Queen Mary (QMUL)?

Where are Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL) located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL) use?

Should I apply to both Plymouth and Queen Mary (QMUL)?

Where to go next

Other dental school comparisons