What A-Level grades do Anglia Ruskin (ARU) and St George's require?

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) requires AAA including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics or Psychology. St George's requires A*AA or AAA including Chemistry and Biology/Human Biology (offer depends on cohort strength). Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Where are Anglia Ruskin (ARU) and St George's located, and how does that affect cost?

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) is in Chelmsford, UK. St George's is in London, UK. Tuition is £9,250/year at both for UK home applicants; the main cost difference is accommodation (London accommodation typically runs 30-50% above the national average).

When does each school release decisions?

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. St George's releases medicine decisions Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished. If one is earlier than the other, you may need to hold a decision while waiting for the second school — be ready to compare in real time.

Medical school comparison

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) vs St George's

Q: How are GCSEs weighted at Anglia Ruskin (ARU) vs St George's?

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) — Minimum 4 GCSEs at grade 5/B or above including Mathematics, English Language and two science subjects. St George's — Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted. Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) and St George's are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Anglia Ruskin (ARU) is based in Chelmsford (England) while St George's sits in London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers. St George's is the older institution (founded 1733); the other (founded 2018) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Anglia Ruskin (ARU) and St George's.
Comparison field	Anglia Ruskin (ARU)Chelmsford	St George'sLondon
Quick comparison
Location	Chelmsford, UK	London, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. The third subject may not be General Studies or Critical Thinking.	A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
TrueScore	Anglia Ruskin (ARU) TrueScore 2030	St George's TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off	2010+ /2700 (2026 entry main cut-off)	No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores.
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	UK Applicants: 463/648 = 71% (2025)	Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred)
Decision date	March onwards	Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. The third subject may not be General Studies or Critical Thinking.	A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry or Biology required, plus one of Biology / Chemistry / Mathematics / Physics / Psychology	Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) both required
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted.	Resits or third year of study accepted with extenuating circumstances only
GCSE requirements	Minimum 4 GCSEs at grade 5/B or above including Mathematics, English Language and two science subjects.	Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted.
GCSE scoring methodology	-	Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	Minimum 36 points overall with 6,6,6 at Higher Level in Biology and/or Chemistry plus one other science, including Mathematics or English.	37 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including HL Chemistry and HL Biology
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above in any discipline. Graduate for Undergraduate Programme available - UCAT cut-off applies (~2100+ /2700).
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	1960+ East of England, 1920+ WAMS or Essex, 1870+ East of England + WAMS, 1830+ Essex + WAMS. FSM/care-experienced applicants invited regardless of UCAT (provided academic + band 1–3 SJT)	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	-	-
Graduate cut-off	1830+ main, 1790+ East of England, 1740+ Essex	~2100+ /2700 (Graduate for Undergraduate Programme)
SJT band	Band 4 = auto reject	SJT used post-interview in offer making. Combined with MMI score → B1=15 pts, B2=10, B3=5, B4=none.
UCAT notes	International applicants not accepted. Band 4 SJT auto-rejected. ARU publishes hard cut-offs, ranked by UCAT.	Once the entry criteria are met, applicants are ranked by UCAT score and interview places are allocated from the top down until they run out. A minimum of 500/900 is required in each individual cognit…

Degree awarded	MBChB	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Integrated	Problem-based learning
Anatomy teaching	Mixed	Prosection
First patient contact	Year 1	-
Placement geography	Essex	-
Named placement sites	Colchester Hospital, Basildon Hospital, Harlow (Princess Alexandra) Hospital, Southend Hospital, Broomfield Hospital, St Andrew's Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns, Essex Cardiothoracic Centre	-
Intercalation	-	-
Course highlight	Essex's first medical school.	The MBBS puts unusual weight on clinical communication — drawing out a patient’s history, giving clear explanations, and negotiating with patients and relatives.

Interview window	December - March	November - February
Interview details	MMI format heavy on real-world scenarios and role-play. Practise reasoning out loud through clinical or ethical situations and showing critical thinking under follow-up questioning.	A six-station MMI, each station around five minutes with a 60-second break between, delivered through SAMMI (Scalable Automated Multiple Mini Interviews) software. Each station is assessed separately…

Specialities	Medicine, Community Medicine	Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Healthcare Sciences
Established	2018	1733
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Local applicants (East of England, especially Essex) get a UCAT cut-off reduction. Free School Meals or care-experienced applicants are invited to interview regardless of UCAT score, provided academic…	Strong holistic-care and soft-skills emphasis. SJT used post-interview in offer making (B1 = 15 pts, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = nothing). St George's is also generous with deferred-entry offers, often made…
Official course page	https://www.aru.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/medicine	https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/prospective-students/courses/undergraduate/medicine

Anglia Ruskin (ARU)

Chelmsford

Quick comparison

Location: Chelmsford, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. The third subject may not be General Studies or Critical Thinking.
TrueScore: Anglia Ruskin (ARU) TrueScore 2030
UCAT home cut-off: 2010+ /2700 (2026 entry main cut-off)
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: UK Applicants: 463/648 = 71% (2025)
Decision date: March onwards

St George's

London

Quick comparison

Location: London, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
TrueScore: St George's TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off: No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred)
Decision date: Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) vs St George's - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) requires AAA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. The third subject may not be General Studies or Critical Thinking.

St George's requires A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.

St George's is the stricter A-Level offer; Anglia Ruskin (ARU) is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Anglia Ruskin (ARU) carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Anglia Ruskin (ARU): Minimum 4 GCSEs at grade 5/B or above including Mathematics, English Language and two science subjects. St George's: Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted. Used only as minimum threshold -…

Interview formats

Both Anglia Ruskin (ARU) and St George's 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: Anglia Ruskin (ARU) interviews in December - March; St George's in November - February.

Post-interview offer rate

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

Anglia Ruskin (ARU): Local applicants (East of England, especially Essex) get a UCAT cut-off reduction. Free School Meals or care-experienced applicants are invited to interview regardless of UCAT score, provided academic and SJT minimums are met.

St George's: Strong holistic-care and soft-skills emphasis. SJT used post-interview in offer making (B1 = 15 pts, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = nothing). St George's is also generous with deferred-entry offers, often made to borderline applicants in lieu of rejection.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Anglia Ruskin (ARU) is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Anglia Ruskin (ARU) feeds into the England foundation programme network; St George's into the London 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. Anglia Ruskin (ARU) guidance: 2010+ /2700 (2026 entry main cut-off). St George's guidance: No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores..

Anglia Ruskin (ARU) uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). St George's uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The format is the same, so the same prep approach applies — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot topics, and (for MMI) structured 5-7 minute station answers. Interview windows: December - March (Anglia Ruskin (ARU)); November - February (St George's).

Anglia Ruskin (ARU)'s selection methodology: Newer programme (first cohort 2018). UCAT + academic + MMI interview. Strong East-of-England focus. St George's's selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. Understanding each school's exact algorithm is the single highest-leverage piece of pre-application research — it tells you whether your profile is competitive before you spend an application choice.

Anglia Ruskin (ARU): UK Applicants: 463/648 = 71% (2025). St George's: Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred). Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

You can — UCAS allows 4 medicine/dentistry choices in total, so listing both is feasible if your profile fits each school's selection algorithm. Apply to both only if your UCAT, GCSE and predicted-grade profile is competitive against each school's published weighting. A common mistake is using two of your four slots on similar schools when a more spread-out portfolio (one safe + one stretch) would maximise overall offer probability.

Where to go next

Anglia Ruskin (ARU)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

St George'sEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 19 September 2026.