Queen Mary (QMUL) vs Sheffield

Queen Mary (QMUL)'s published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2070, while Sheffield sits at approximately 2050.

Their UCAT bars are statistically indistinguishable (within 20 points), so the UCAT is unlikely to be your differentiator between them.

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.

Sheffield requires AAA prediction and offer. Must include chemistry and biology. Resit accepted with achieved BBB on first sitting, else apply with achieved results.

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

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Queen Mary (QMUL): AAA at A-Level including Chemistry and Biology. Min 6 GCSEs at grade 6+. Sheffield: AAA at A-Level including Chemistry and Biology. Min 5 GCSEs at grade 7 (or 5×6 for Access Sheffield).

Both Queen Mary (QMUL) and Sheffield 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: Queen Mary (QMUL) runs two-interviewer panel, online (january–february); Sheffield runs semi-structured face-to-face 15 min in-person panel + group task (feb 20–27). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Queen Mary (QMUL) interviews in January – February; Sheffield in 20–27 February.

Queen Mary (QMUL) runs a Integrated curriculum; Sheffield runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Queen Mary (QMUL) delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Sheffield centres learning around clinical cases.

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 Five-year BDS with PBL. Clinical placements at Charles Clifford Dental Hospital and Yorkshire community sites.

Intake size: Queen Mary (QMUL) — ~80 home + ~20 international places per year for BDS Dentistry (Barts and The London).; Sheffield — ~75 home + ~15 international places per year for BDS Dentistry.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Queen Mary (QMUL): 2025 - All applicants: 182/267 = 68%. Overseas: 13/22 = 59%. Sheffield: Home applicants: 132/317 = 42% (2024). International: 4/11 = 36%. Typically ~130 offers and ~350 interviews.

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.

Queen Mary (QMUL): QMUL-specific 4th decile minimum (2361 for 2024 + 2025). Anyone exceeding the UCAT cut-off gets an interview - higher predictions don't change anything. SJT band 4 automatically rejected.

Sheffield: All applicants must be SJT band 1 or 2 for 2026 entry. Top-25-percentile UCAT required (around 2050+/2700 for home applicants). Tighter SJT and UCAT thresholds than at most other dental schools.