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Medical school comparison

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Leicester

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) and Leicester 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 Leicester sits in Leicester (England), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

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 1975) 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

Leicester

Leicester

Quick comparison

Location
Leicester, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Psychology - A* must be in one of the sciences
TrueScore
Leicester TrueScore 1750
UCAT home cut-off
Expressed in deciles, not raw scores. Applicants who meet the minimum GCSE requirement, achieved the A-level requirement within two years of their GCSEs, and sit in the TOP 5 DECILES with an SJT of Band 1-3 are automatically invited to interview.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
UK Undergraduate: 797/1351 = 59% (2025); UK Graduate: 19/32 = 59%; Overseas Undergraduate: 57/199 = 29%
Decision date
March onwards

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Leicester - 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.

Leicester requires A*AA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Psychology - A* must be in one of the sciences.

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 — 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… Leicester: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language, Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Science).

Resits in English Language and Maths accepted to meet minimums; resits in other subjects only with…

Interview formats

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

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

Curriculum and teaching style

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) runs a Integrated curriculum; Leicester 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 Leicester 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 with problem-based learning. Clinical placements across Leicestershire NHS hospitals (Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfield, Kettering,

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.; Leicester — ~270 home + ~30 international places per year (A100 standard 5-year programme)..

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%. Leicester: UK Undergraduate: 797/1351 = 59% (2025); UK Graduate: 19/32 = 59%; Overseas Undergraduate: 57/199 = 29%.

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).

Leicester: Combined UCAT + GCSE scoring out of 96. Predicted A-level applicants only need AAB UKWPMed; achieved-grade applicants assessed in top 5 deciles UCAT instead. Personal statement is not routinely used.

Which is right for you?

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; Leicester into the England network. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Leicester; 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.. Leicester guidance: Expressed in deciles, not raw scores. Applicants who meet the minimum GCSE requirement, achieved the A-level requirement within two years of their GCSEs, and sit in the TOP 5 DECILES with an SJT of Band 1-3 are automatically invited to interview..

Where to go next

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

Other medical school comparisons

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