Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Imperial College London

Barts and The London (Queen Mary)'s published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2000, while Imperial College London sits at approximately 2320.

That's a 320-point gap — large enough to put the two schools in completely different competitiveness tiers. An applicant scoring in the 2100-2200 band would be competitive at Barts and The London (Queen Mary) but borderline at Imperial College London.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Barts and The London (Queen Mary): not separately disclosed; Imperial College London: 2170+ /2700 (2026 entry official contextual cut-off). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

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

Imperial College London requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) is the stricter A-Level offer; Imperial College London is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Imperial College London 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. Imperial College London: Strong GCSE profile expected; not algorithmically scored but considered alongside UCAT and academic record.

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) uses Panel (Panel interview with two senior academic or clinical staff, sometimes a lay selector (online)); Imperial College London 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, Imperial College London is the better fit.

Interview windows: Barts and The London (Queen Mary) interviews in December - February; Imperial College London in December - February.

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

Specifics: Five-year MBBS with integrated theory and clinical practice. Strong East London NHS placement network (Royal London, Whipps Cross, Newham, Mile End). Six-year MBBS BSc with integrated science teaching from Year 1. Compulsory intercalated BSc in Year 4. Clinical placements from Year 3 across Imperial

Intake size: Barts and The London (Queen Mary) — ~290 home + ~30 international places per year (one of the larger UK medical schools).; Imperial College London — ~271 home + ~74 overseas fee status places per year (one of the largest international intakes in the UK)..

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%. Imperial College London: All Applicants: 662/852 = 78% (2025). 280 international interviews, ~2130 international applicants.

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).

Imperial College London: Heavy emphasis on scientific reasoning and the integrated London course structure. Around a quarter of places are now reserved for international applicants. UCAT is the primary shortlisting factor, with personal-statement use limited to exceptional cases.