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Medical school comparison

Aberdeen vs Liverpool

Aberdeen and Liverpool are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Aberdeen is based in Aberdeen (Scotland) while Liverpool sits in Liverpool (England), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

Aberdeen is the older institution (founded 1495); the other (founded 1881) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Quick comparison

Location
Aberdeen, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level
TrueScore
Aberdeen TrueScore 1700
UCAT home cut-off
-
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
RUK 74/165 = 45% (2025); Scottish 736/863 = 85%; International 101/140 = 72%
Decision date
March/April

Liverpool

Liverpool

Quick comparison

Location
Liverpool, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level with Chemistry plus Biology, Physics or Mathematics. A*AB also accepted with A*A including Chemistry plus one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics. No use of predicted grades.
TrueScore
Liverpool TrueScore 1900
UCAT home cut-off
No threshold published in advance. Liverpool ranks applicants on overall UCAT score and says the bar moves each cycle with the strength of the field.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Home applicants (2024): 612/1870 = 33%; International: 22/138 = 16%. Low post-interview chances for both.
Decision date
March onwards

Aberdeen vs Liverpool - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Aberdeen requires AAA at A-level.

Liverpool requires AAA at A-level with Chemistry plus Biology, Physics or Mathematics. A*AB also accepted with A*A including Chemistry plus one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics. No use of predicted grades.

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: English Language and Mathematics at grade 6/B or above. A combination of grade 6–9 GCSEs expected, especially in sciences. National 5 (Scottish): English and Maths at B/6 minimum. GCSEs are not used… Liverpool: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Dual Award Science).

Top 9 GCSEs scored /20: 2 pts per grade 7+, 1 pt per grade 6. Minimum 15/20 (12/20…

Interview formats

Both Aberdeen and Liverpool 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; Liverpool in December - February.

Curriculum and teaching style

Both schools deliver a Integrated-style curriculum, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar across years 1-3.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with early clinical exposure from Year 1. Distinctive remote/rural placement strand in Highlands and Western Isles. Five-year MBChB with integrated theory and clinical practice. Strong NHS placement breadth across Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Intake size: Aberdeen — ~257 Scottish + ~24 RUK + ~39 International per year (2025 entry data).; Liverpool — ~280 home + ~30 international places per year (A100 Standard Entry Medicine).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Aberdeen: RUK 74/165 = 45% (2025); Scottish 736/863 = 85%; International 101/140 = 72%. Liverpool: Home applicants (2024): 612/1870 = 33%; International: 22/138 = 16%. Low post-interview chances for both.

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

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%.

Liverpool: Historic medical school known for tropical medicine and global health. GCSE-heavy scoring (top 9 GCSEs counted). Personal statement not normally used in shortlisting but reserved for borderline cases. Low post-interview success rate compared with peers.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Aberdeen feeds into the Scotland foundation programme network; Liverpool into the England network.

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 or six 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. Aberdeen guidance: Aberdeen does not use a minimum UCAT cut-off at all. Your score is converted into points relative to every other Aberdeen applicant that year, and feeds a total of academic attainment 30%, UCAT 20% and interview 50%. Applicants are ranked on that total, so UCAT is only a fifth of the decision and the interview is half of it.. Liverpool guidance: No threshold published in advance. Liverpool ranks applicants on overall UCAT score and says the bar moves each cycle with the strength of the field..

Where to go next

AberdeenEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
LiverpoolEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed .