Skip to main content
NextGen MedPrep logoNextGenMedPrep
Medical school comparison

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Pears Cumbria (GEM)

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) and Pears Cumbria (GEM) 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 Pears Cumbria (GEM) sits in Carlisle (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 2023) 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

Pears Cumbria (GEM)

Carlisle

Quick comparison

Location
Carlisle, UK
A-Level offer
Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree
TrueScore
Pears Cumbria (GEM) TrueScore 1700GEM
UCAT home cut-off
-
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
-
Decision date
March onwards

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) vs Pears Cumbria (GEM) - 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.

Pears Cumbria (GEM) requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree.

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… Pears Cumbria (GEM): GCSE English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade 4/C - assessed alongside degree.

Interview formats

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

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

Curriculum and teaching style

Barts and The London (Queen Mary) runs a Integrated curriculum; Pears Cumbria (GEM) 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 Pears Cumbria (GEM) 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). Four-year accelerated graduate-entry programme. Imperial College London partner. Clinical placements across Cumbria NHS sites (UHMBT, North Cumbria In

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.; Pears Cumbria (GEM) — ~58 places per year. Imperial reported an 11:1 applications-to-places ratio for 2025..

A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

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).

Pears Cumbria (GEM): The only medicine route in Carlisle, and graduate-entry only — there is no school-leaver course here. Restricted to home-fee applicants holding a 2:1 in biosciences or allied healthcare, with the MBBS awarded by Imperial College London.

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; Pears Cumbria (GEM) into the England network. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Pears Cumbria (GEM); 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.. Pears Cumbria (GEM) guidance: UCAT or GAMSAT — the applicant chooses one; MCAT is NOT accepted. Both are minimum-threshold hurdles rather than ranked scores. The UCAT must be sat in the same year as the UCAS submission; the GAMSAT within the two years before it..

Where to go next

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

Other medical school comparisons

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