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Medical school comparison

Aberdeen vs St Andrews

Aberdeen and St Andrews are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in Scotland, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy.

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

St Andrews

St Andrews

Quick comparison

Location
St Andrews, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (offer and predicted) including Chemistry and one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics
TrueScore
St Andrews TrueScore 1850
UCAT home cut-off
No threshold published. Applicants who meet the requirements are ranked on their UCAT global score, and roughly the top 650 are invited to interview.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
RUK Student (2025): 123/162 = 74%; Scottish + RUK: 411/505 = 81%; International (2023): 56/82 = 68%
Decision date
March onwards

Aberdeen vs St Andrews - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Aberdeen requires AAA at A-level.

St Andrews requires AAA at A-level (offer and predicted) including Chemistry and one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics.

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… St Andrews: Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 7/A in one sitting (achieved A-level applicants may be considered with fewer).

GCSE grade 5 in Biology, Mathematics, and English (Language or Literature) required if not…

Interview formats

Both Aberdeen and St Andrews 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; St Andrews in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Aberdeen runs a Integrated curriculum; St Andrews runs a Traditional curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Aberdeen delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while St Andrews 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. First 3 years at St Andrews leading to BSc (Hons) Medicine. Most students then transfer to a partner clinical school for years 4-6 of MBChB.

Intake size: Aberdeen — ~257 Scottish + ~24 RUK + ~39 International per year (2025 entry data).; St Andrews — RUK ~24 places, Scottish ~150, International ~30 (3-year pre-clinical only - clinical years at partner schools).. 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%. St Andrews: RUK Student (2025): 123/162 = 74%; Scottish + RUK: 411/505 = 81%; International (2023): 56/82 = 68%.

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%.

St Andrews: Three-year pre-clinical course at St Andrews followed by transfer to a partner medical school for clinical years. SJT not used (was used many years ago, not now or in future). Scottish students face much lower cut-offs than RUK applicants.

Which is right for you?

Both schools sit in the same Scotland foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Aberdeen; 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 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.. St Andrews guidance: No threshold published. Applicants who meet the requirements are ranked on their UCAT global score, and roughly the top 650 are invited to interview..

Where to go next

AberdeenEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
St AndrewsEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

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