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UK Medicine · 2027 Entry

Graduate Entry Medicine4-Year GEM Programmes for Graduates

Routes 15 cataloguedCourse 4 years, acceleratedTests UCAT or GAMSATNHS Bursary years 2–4
Browse GEM programmesGet application support

Photo: Sarah Cossom · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped

Overview

Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) is a 4-year accelerated UK medicine degree for applicants who already hold a bachelor's. This page covers all 15 UK graduate routes, the test each one uses, the published graduate cut-offs, NHS Bursary funding from year 2, and how to choose between GEM and applying to standard 5-year MBBS programmes as a graduate.

GEM (also called "A101") covers the same GMC-approved content as a 5-year MBBS, by compressing pre-clinical material into year 1 and starting clinical placements earlier. Standard 5-year courses (A100) are open to school leavers and graduates alike — GEM specifically requires a prior degree.

The routes split into two kinds. 7 schools exist primarily to run graduate entry — Warwick, Swansea, Surrey, Chester, Pears Cumbria, Ulster and Worcester. Another 8 run an accelerated graduate route alongside their standard 5-year course, including Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Barts and The London and Southampton's BM4.

The trade-off: 4-year GEM is faster and funded by the NHS Bursary from year 2; 5-year A100 is less competitive per place and available at far more schools. Many UK applicants apply to a mix of both to maximise their offer probability.

Key facts

UK Graduate Entry Medicine at a glance

Graduate routes
15 catalogued
Dedicated GEM schools
7 of 15
Course length
4 years (accelerated)
NHS-funded years
3 of 4 (years 2–4)
Accept GAMSAT
5 routes

Every route wants a 2:1 or above, in almost any subject. Cut-offs are the published or best-estimated graduate-tier thresholds held in our UK medical school dataset — 11 of the 15 routes publish one, the lowest being 1700/2700 and the median 2030. Schools that select on GAMSAT alone have no UCAT figure.

Step 1

All 15 UK graduate routes into medicine (2027 entry)

Every UK medical school that runs an accelerated graduate route, with the test it accepts, the degree it wants and the published graduate cut-off where there is one. Filter by route or test, sort by cut-off, or type your UCAT score to see which thresholds you already clear. Open any card for that school's full how-to-get-in guide.

Route
Test
Nation
Sort
out of 2700 — marks the cut-offs you clear

Showing 15 of 15 programmes

Campus photo credits

Campus photographs are used under free Creative Commons or public-domain licences and have been resized and cropped for display.

  • Barts and The London (Queen Mary): photograph by Paul the Archivist / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Chester Medical School (GEM): photograph by secretlondon123 — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Manchester: photograph by Happytree9527 / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Newcastle: photograph by Sarah Cossom — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • North Wales (Bangor): photograph by Tilman2007 — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Nottingham: photograph by Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent (www.clemrutter.net) — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Pears Cumbria (GEM): photograph by Tom Edwards — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Sheffield: photograph by Chanpeter — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Southampton: photograph by Roger Davies / Geograph Britain and Ireland — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • St George's: photograph by Peter Trimming / Geograph Britain and Ireland — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Surrey (GEM): photograph by Geographer / Geograph Britain and Ireland — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Swansea (GEM): photograph by Vexald / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Ulster University Medical School: photograph by Conradder / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Warwick (GEM): photograph by Mike1024 / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Worcester Medical School: photograph by Elliott Brown (Birmingham, UK) / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Applying as a graduate to a 5-year course? Most UK medical schools accept graduate applicants onto their standard A100 alongside school leavers, with the same UCAT and interview requirements. Browse the full listing at /medical-schools.
Step 2

4-year GEM vs 5-year A100 — which should you apply to?

Both routes lead to the same GMC-registered degree. They differ in what they cost you, how many places exist, and what happens if the cycle goes badly. Pick a dimension to focus the comparison on the trade-off you actually care about.

Focus on
Compare on
Option A
4-year GEM
15 routes catalogued
Option B
5-year A100
52 UK medical schools
Length of the degreeTime
Favours GEM: 4 years. Pre-clinical material is compressed into year 1 and placements usually start in year 2.
5 years (6 with an intercalated or foundation year), at the pace it was designed for.
Year you qualifyTime
Favours GEM: One year earlier — which is also one year less of lost earnings while you study.
A year later, but with more room to intercalate, take an elective or recover from a resit.
Who pays your tuitionCost
Favours GEM: Student Finance in year 1; the NHS Bursary covers years 2–4.
Student Finance for years 1–4; the NHS Bursary covers the final year only.
Net tuition borrowedCost
Favours GEM: Roughly one year of fees, plus maintenance support from year 2.
Roughly four years of fees — about £18,500 more borrowed over the degree.
Places per programmeCompetitiveness
Small cohorts. Several of the newer schools take only 30–50 students a year.
Favours A100: Large cohorts — the biggest UK schools admit 250–380 home students a year.
Who you are competing withCompetitiveness
Graduates only, so the whole field has a degree and often a strong one.
A mixed field of school leavers and graduates, scored on the same criteria.
How many schools you can apply toSchool choice
15 graduate routes catalogued here, and not every one will fit your degree or test.
Favours A100: Most UK medical schools accept graduate applicants onto the 5-year course.
Test flexibilitySchool choice
5 of the 15 routes accept GAMSAT — useful if UCAT went badly, costly if you have to sit both.
UCAT at almost every school, so one test result covers your whole list.
If it does not work out this cycleFallback
A narrow shortlist means a reapplication looks much like the first attempt.
Favours A100: A far wider pool of schools to re-target, and a foundation or gateway year is often an option.
Mixing both on one UCAS formFallback
Nothing stops you. Two GEM plus two A100 is the most common graduate strategy.
The A100 choices are what keep an offer on the table if the GEM interviews go against you.

The short version: most successful graduate applicants do not choose — they split their four UCAS choices across both, because the two routes fail in different ways.

Step 3

Admissions tests for GEM

The single most expensive mistake in a graduate application is sitting the wrong test. Work out which of the 15 routes you actually want before you book anything.

UCAT — 13 of 15 routes

The default. Warwick, Surrey, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Barts and The London, St George's, Southampton and North Wales all rank graduate applicants on UCAT — and Chester, Pears Cumbria and Worcester accept it as one option. Published graduate cut-offs currently run from about 1700 to 2100.

GAMSAT — 5 of 15 routes

A 5-hour written test in humanities, biological and physical sciences, and written communication. Swansea and Ulster select on GAMSAT alone and do not use UCAT at all; Chester, Pears Cumbria and Worcester accept whichever of the two you scored better on. Sat in March and September.

More than one test accepted

Chester, Pears Cumbria and Worcester let you submit your strongest score — Chester and Pears Cumbria will also take an MCAT. That flexibility is genuinely useful if one sitting went badly, and it is the main reason those three appear on a lot of graduate shortlists.

Which sitting to book

UCAT booking opens in May and the test runs July to late September. GAMSAT runs in March and September — take the March sitting if you can, because the September one leaves almost no margin before the 15 October UCAS deadline and no room at all to re-sit.

Step 4

Funding for UK Graduate Entry Medicine

The funding model is the single biggest practical advantage of GEM over a standard 5-year course — three NHS-funded years instead of one. Here is the same degree, funded two ways.

4-year GEM3 NHS-funded years of 4
Year 1Student Finance tuition loan
Year 2NHS Bursary
Year 3NHS Bursary
Year 4NHS Bursary
5-year A100 (as a graduate)1 NHS-funded year of 5
Year 1Student Finance tuition loan
Year 2Student Finance tuition loan
Year 3Student Finance tuition loan
Year 4Student Finance tuition loan
Year 5NHS Bursary

Year 1

Student Finance England (or equivalent) provides the standard undergraduate tuition loan (£9,250) and maintenance support. You pay tuition like any undergraduate.

Years 2–4

The NHS Bursary kicks in: NHS covers your tuition fees (you do not borrow further) and provides a means-tested maintenance grant plus a reduced-rate maintenance loan. It does not start automatically — register once you firm your offer.

vs the 5-year course

On a standard 5-year MBBS, the NHS Bursary covers the final year only. On GEM it covers years 2–4 — three years instead of one. The net tuition saving is roughly £18,500 over the degree, plus maintenance support and a year less of foregone earnings.

International students

International GEM students pay the same overseas fees as international 5-year students (£35,000–£62,000/year, school-specific). The NHS Bursary does not apply.

Step 5

GEM application timeline

The cycle runs roughly from the January before you apply (start of test prep) through the 15 October UCAS deadline to offers the following spring. Here are the milestones you cannot miss.

01
Year before applying · Jan–Jun 2025

Decide your test strategy

Work out whether your shortlist needs UCAT, GAMSAT or both. If any of Swansea, Ulster, Chester, Pears Cumbria or Worcester is on your list you need GAMSAT — book the March sitting, not September, so the result lands well before the UCAS deadline.

02
Apply year · Jul–Sep 2026

Sit your admissions test

Take UCAT (book July for the widest choice of slots). Sit GAMSAT if your list needs it. Aim for a score matched to specific schools rather than a generic "good" score.

03
Apply year · September 2026

Finalise your four UCAS choices

Your UCAT score arrives before you have to commit. Check each school's GRADUATE cut-off, not its headline home figure — they are scored separately and can differ by hundreds of points.

04
Apply year · 15 October 2026

UCAS deadline

Submit your UCAS application by the 15 October medicine deadline — the same cut-off as standard medicine, with no extension for graduate routes.

05
Apply year · Dec 2026–Mar 2027

Interviews

Most graduate routes interview by MMI; Swansea runs an assessment day and Southampton a selection day. Prepare ethics frameworks, structured behavioural answers and live mocks.

06
Apply year · March 2027 onwards

Offers & NHS Bursary

Offers are released. Register for the NHS Bursary once you have accepted a firm offer — on a 4-year course it starts paying your tuition from year 2.

Step 6

Six mistakes that cost GEM applicants offers

Assuming the graduate cut-off equals the home cut-off. Schools score graduates on a separate tier. Barts and The London invited graduates at roughly 2093 for 2025 entry, having sat at 2205 two cycles earlier — the graduate line moves independently of the headline figure.
Sitting the September GAMSAT. It leaves almost no margin before the 15 October UCAS deadline, and no room at all to re-sit. If GAMSAT is on your critical path, take it in March.
Applying to four GEM programmes only. There are 15 graduate routes in the whole country and several will not fit your degree or your test. An all-GEM list concentrates your risk in the smallest cohorts in UK medicine.
Booking UCAT for a list that does not use it. Swansea and Ulster select on GAMSAT and do not look at UCAT at all. Match the test to the schools before you pay for either.
Treating a 2:2 as automatically disqualifying — or automatically fine. Most routes want a 2:1 in any subject; a few will look at a 2:2 alongside a strong test score or a masters. It is a per-school question, never a general rule.
Forgetting the NHS Bursary needs registering. It does not arrive automatically with your offer. Register once you firm, or you will be paying year 2 tuition that the NHS was ready to cover.
FAQ

Graduate Entry Medicine — frequently asked questions

Sources

Official course pages

Entry requirements move every cycle. Confirm anything above against the school's own admissions page before you commit a UCAS choice.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary)A101 graduate route · UCATChester Medical School (GEM)Dedicated GEM school · UCAT or GAMSATManchesterA101 graduate route · UCATNewcastleA101 graduate route · UCATNorth Wales (Bangor)A101 graduate route · UCATNottinghamA101 graduate route · UCATPears Cumbria (GEM)Dedicated GEM school · UCAT or GAMSATSheffieldA101 graduate route · UCATSouthamptonBM4 graduate route · UCATSt George'sA101 graduate route · UCATSurrey (GEM)Dedicated GEM school · UCATSwansea (GEM)Dedicated GEM school · GAMSATUlster University Medical SchoolDedicated GEM school · GAMSATWarwick (GEM)Dedicated GEM school · UCATWorcester Medical SchoolDedicated GEM school · UCAT or GAMSAT
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