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Medical school comparison

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Lancaster

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

Their A-Level requirements (A*AA vs AAA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers. The interview formats diverge — Panel vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. Barts and The London (Queen Mary) is the older institution (founded 1785); the other (founded 2020) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Barts and The London (Queen Mary)

London

Quick comparison

Location
London, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA at A-level achieved in one sitting over a study period of no longer than two years
TrueScore
Barts and The London (Queen Mary) TrueScore 2010
UCAT home cut-off
A hard floor at the fourth decile: Queen Mary states your application will not be considered beyond first shortlisting if your total UCAT falls below it. Clearing the fourth decile is no guarantee of an interview.
Interview format
Panel interview with two senior academic or clinical staff, sometimes a lay selector (online)
Post-interview chance
UK Undergrad: 948/1294 = 73% (2025); International: 61/159 = 38%; A101 Graduate Medicine: 55/127 = 43%
Decision date
March onwards

Lancaster

Lancaster

Quick comparison

Location
Lancaster, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level including any 2 of Biology, Chemistry and Psychology - OR AAB with grade B in a 4th subject or EPQ
TrueScore
Lancaster TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off
1920+ /2700 (2026 entry official cut-off, non-contextual)
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Home student: 261/587 = 44%; International: 6/19 = 32%
Decision date
March onwards

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Lancaster - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) requires A*AA at A-level achieved in one sitting over a study period of no longer than two years.

Lancaster requires AAA at A-level including any 2 of Biology, Chemistry and Psychology - OR AAB with grade B in a 4th subject or EPQ.

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

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Barts and The London (Queen Mary): At least 6 GCSEs at grades 777666 (AAABBB pre-2017) including Biology, Chemistry, English Language or English Literature, and Mathematics. Science Double Award may substitute all sciences. GCSEs not… Lancaster: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Biology, Chemistry, Physics (or 6-6 Combined Science) plus Mathematics and English Language.

Score calculated /16 across 8 GCSE subjects: 7+ = 2 pts, 6 = 1 pt; minimum 13/16…

Interview formats

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

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

Curriculum and teaching style

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) runs a Integrated curriculum; Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 MBChB built around problem-based learning. Distinct rural/community placement strand in Cumbria, Lancashire and Morecambe Bay.

Intake size: Barts and The London (Queen Mary) — 311 Home places and up to 24 Overseas expected for September 2026 entry on the five-year A100 - one of the larger UK medical schools.; Lancaster — ~64 home + ~10 international places per year (small intake).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Barts and The London (Queen Mary): UK Undergrad: 948/1294 = 73% (2025); International: 61/159 = 38%; A101 Graduate Medicine: 55/127 = 43%. Lancaster: Home student: 261/587 = 44%; International: 6/19 = 32%.

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

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).

Lancaster: Newer medical school with a focus on regional healthcare in north-west England. Personal statement is not used in selection and interviewers do not have access to it. SJT band 4 is auto-rejected - bands 1-3 are equal.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Lancaster is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Barts and The London (Queen Mary) feeds into the London foundation programme network; Lancaster into the England network.

If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Lancaster; 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. Barts and The London (Queen Mary) guidance: A hard floor at the fourth decile: Queen Mary states your application will not be considered beyond first shortlisting if your total UCAT falls below it. Clearing the fourth decile is no guarantee of an interview.. Lancaster guidance: 1920+ /2700 (2026 entry official cut-off, non-contextual).

Where to go next

Barts and The London (Queen Mary)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
LancasterEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

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