Aberdeen vs Bristol

Aberdeen requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology/Physics/Mathematics.

Bristol requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

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 — Aberdeen: Strong National 5 / GCSE profile expected; not algorithmically scored but contributes to academic ranking. Bristol: Mathematics at grade 7; English Language at grade 4. GCSE resit applicants welcome.

Both Aberdeen and Bristol use MMI 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.

Interview windows: Aberdeen interviews in December - March; Bristol in December - February.

Aberdeen runs a Integrated curriculum; Bristol runs a Spiral curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Aberdeen delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Bristol uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with early clinical exposure from Year 1. Distinctive remote/rural placement strand in Highlands and Western Isles. Five-year MB ChB spiral curriculum - concepts revisited with increasing complexity. Clinical exposure from Year 1.

Intake size: Aberdeen — ~257 Scottish + ~24 RUK + ~39 International per year (2025 entry data).; Bristol — ~220 home + ~30 international places per year (A100 Standard Entry Medicine).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Aberdeen: RUK 74/165 = 45% (2025); Scottish 736/863 = 85%; International 101/140 = 72%. Bristol: Total: 650/968 = 67% (2024); A108 Gateway to Medicine: 63/88 = 72%.

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.

Aberdeen: Shortlisting weights academic 60% (A-level scores) / UCAT 40%. Scottish-domiciled applicants in the top 75% academically receive guaranteed interview. Care leavers and Quintile 1 postcode applicants receive a 10% UCAT uplift; Quintile 2 receives 5%.

Bristol: Russell Group university with strong medical and dental programmes. Shortlisting is wholly UCAT-based - neither personal statement nor SJT is used in selection. Bristol has the highest UCAT cut-off of the major English schools.