Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Hull York (HYMS)

Barts and The London (Queen Mary)'s published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2000, while Hull York (HYMS) sits at approximately 2010.

Their UCAT bars are statistically indistinguishable (within 10 points), so the UCAT is unlikely to be your differentiator between them.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Barts and The London (Queen Mary): not separately disclosed; Hull York (HYMS): ~1700+ /2700 with WP eligibility (4th decile minimum + minimum entry requirements). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology/Physics/Mathematics.

Hull York (HYMS) requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) is the stricter A-Level offer; Hull York (HYMS) is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Hull York (HYMS) carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Barts and The London (Queen Mary): Min 6 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. Hull York (HYMS): Min 6 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) uses Panel (Panel interview with two senior academic or clinical staff, sometimes a lay selector (online)); Hull York (HYMS) uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)). These two formats reward different skills — Panel emphasises narrative coherence and the ability to develop a thread under follow-up questioning, while MMI rewards breadth and quick recovery.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Barts and The London (Queen Mary) may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Hull York (HYMS) is the better fit.

Interview windows: Barts and The London (Queen Mary) interviews in December - February; Hull York (HYMS) in December - March.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) runs a Integrated curriculum; Hull York (HYMS) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Barts and The London (Queen Mary) delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Hull York (HYMS) centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Five-year MBBS with integrated theory and clinical practice. Strong East London NHS placement network (Royal London, Whipps Cross, Newham, Mile End). Five-year MBBS jointly run by Hull and York universities. Clinical placements across Hull, York, Scarborough, and Yorkshire NHS sites.

Intake size: Barts and The London (Queen Mary) — ~290 home + ~30 international places per year (one of the larger UK medical schools).; Hull York (HYMS) — ~165 home + ~25 international places per year.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary): UK Undergrad: 948/1294 = 73% (2025); International: 61/159 = 38%; A101 Graduate Medicine: 55/127 = 43%. Hull York (HYMS): All (2024): 678/750 = 90%; Home: 655/695 = 94%; Overseas: 20/55 = 36%.

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.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary): No longer 50:50 weighted on A-level predictions and UCAT - anyone who exceeds the UCAT cut-off generally gets an interview regardless of predictions. SJT band adds bonus points to interview score post-interview (Band 1 = +2, Band 2 = +1, Band 3 = 0).

Hull York (HYMS): Points-based shortlisting: UCAT decile (/35) + SJT (/15) + GCSE top 6 subjects (/35) + contextual data (/15). The PBL group exercise is unusual among UK medical schools and reflects HYMS's problem-based curriculum.