Where are Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School located, and how does that affect cost?

Birmingham is in Birmingham, UK. Ulster University Medical School is in Londonderry, UK. Tuition is £9,250/year at both for UK home applicants; the main cost difference is accommodation (London accommodation typically runs 30-50% above the national average).

When does each school release decisions?

Birmingham typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. Ulster University Medical School releases medicine decisions March onwards. If one is earlier than the other, you may need to hold a decision while waiting for the second school — be ready to compare in real time.

Medical school comparison

Birmingham vs Ulster University Medical School

Q: How are GCSEs weighted at Birmingham vs Ulster University Medical School?

Birmingham — English Language at grade 6/B, Mathematics at grade 6/B, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science) at grade 6/B. Top GCSEs heavily scored: GCSE = 45% of pre-interview application score (UCAT 40%, contextual 15%) Ulster University Medical School — Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science.

Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Birmingham is based in Birmingham (England) while Ulster University Medical School sits in Londonderry (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

Birmingham is the older institution (founded 1900); the other (founded 2021) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School.
Comparison field	BirminghamBirmingham	Ulster University Medical SchoolLondonderry
Quick comparison
Location	Birmingham, UK	Londonderry, UK
A-Level offer	AAA including Chemistry and a second science from Biology/Human Biology, Physics or Mathematics, with a minimum prediction of AAB. Three A-levels are required.	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree
TrueScore	Birmingham TrueScore 2030	-
UCAT home cut-off	No cut-off. Birmingham states there is no minimum UCAT score - your total is converted to a national decile and fed into a combined application score.	-
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Strong. In the 2024-25 cycle Birmingham made 845 offers from 1,061 home interviews (80%) and 79 from 117 international interviews (68%). Getting to interview is the hard part.	-
Decision date	March onwards	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA including Chemistry and a second science from Biology/Human Biology, Physics or Mathematics, with a minimum prediction of AAB. Three A-levels are required.	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree
Contextual A-Level offer	AAB under the Contextual Offer scheme (one grade below standard), or ABB on completing a Pathways to Birmingham programme (two grades below), both including Chemistry and a second science from Biology/Human Biology, Physics or Mathematics	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry plus one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics, plus one other subject	-
A-Level resit policy	Birmingham does not publish a resit policy on its medicine selection pages, and its sibling dentistry programme states that resits are not considered. Applicants resitting any qualification should confirm their position with the Medical School before applying rather than assuming resits are accepted.	Resits accepted.
GCSE requirements	English Language at grade 6/B, Mathematics at grade 6/B, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science) at grade 6/B	-
GCSE scoring methodology	Top GCSEs heavily scored: GCSE = 45% of pre-interview application score (UCAT 40%, contextual 15%)	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	Minimum 32 points overall with 6,6,6 at Higher Level, including Chemistry and a second science from Biology / Physics / Mathematics	-
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above in any honours degree (Arts, Science, Humanities all accepted)
Alternative qualifications	-	Graduate-entry only. UCAT NOT used - Ulster uses GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test). Recent GAMSAT thresholds have been ~61. Plus 2:1 honours degree and MMI interview. Strong Northern Ireland regional focus.

Contextual cut-off	No cut-off. Contextual applicants gain up to 1.5 extra points on the application score, scaled to their POLAR4 quintile, which lets a lower UCAT decile still reach the interview threshold.	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	International applicants are not given an application score at all: they must meet an academic standard equivalent to A*AA and are then ranked on total UCAT alone.	-
Graduate cut-off	-	Not applicable - Ulster uses GAMSAT, not the UCAT. Recent thresholds have been around 61.
SJT band	Used post-interview as one of the interview stations. B1=3/3, B2=2/3, B3=1/3, B4=0/3.	-
UCAT notes	Application score = 45% GCSE + 40% UCAT + 15% contextual, out of 10. UCAT is scored by national decile, from 4.000 for the 10th decile down to 0.000 for the 1st, so a decile drop costs about 0.44 poin…	GAMSAT is scored out of 100. Do not sit the UCAT for this course.

Degree awarded	MBChB	MBBS
Course length	5 years	4 years (graduate entry)
Teaching style	Integrated	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	-	Imaging and models
First patient contact	Year 1	-
Placement geography	-	Across Northern Ireland
Named placement sites	-	-
Intercalation	Available, usually between year 2 and year 3.	-
Course highlight	-	Based at the Magee campus in Derry~Londonderry, alongside other healthcare programmes.

Interview window	December - February	December - March
Interview details	An MMI circuit of six or seven stations, each lasting 8 minutes including 2 minutes of preparation in which you are told the topic and, where relevant, the questions. The circuit mixes interview stati…	MMI format with multiple stations. Focus on serving Northern Ireland's healthcare needs alongside standard motivation, ethics and communication content.

Specialities	Medicine, Dentistry, Medical Sciences	Medicine, Community Medicine
Established	1900	2021
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Selection is GCSE-heavy: 45% GCSE / 40% UCAT / 15% contextual. UCAT scored by national decile, so a clear top-decile score makes a big difference. Birmingham was the first UK university to offer denti…	New medical school serving Northern Ireland. Strong regional focus, with the course oriented around local workforce needs. Cut-offs have not yet stabilised.
Official course page	https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/med/medicine	https://www.ulster.ac.uk/courses/202627/medicine-41407

Birmingham

Quick comparison

Location: Birmingham, UK
A-Level offer: AAA including Chemistry and a second science from Biology/Human Biology, Physics or Mathematics, with a minimum prediction of AAB. Three A-levels are required.
TrueScore: Birmingham TrueScore 2030
UCAT home cut-off: No cut-off. Birmingham states there is no minimum UCAT score - your total is converted to a national decile and fed into a combined application score.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Strong. In the 2024-25 cycle Birmingham made 845 offers from 1,061 home interviews (80%) and 79 from 117 international interviews (68%). Getting to interview is the hard part.
Decision date: March onwards

Ulster University Medical School

Londonderry

Quick comparison

Location: Londonderry, UK
A-Level offer: Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree
TrueScore: -
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March onwards

Birmingham vs Ulster University Medical School - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Birmingham requires AAA including Chemistry and a second science from Biology/Human Biology, Physics or Mathematics, with a minimum prediction of AAB. Three A-levels are required.

Ulster University Medical School requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Birmingham: English Language at grade 6/B, Mathematics at grade 6/B, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science) at grade 6/B. Top GCSEs heavily scored: GCSE = 45% of pre-interview application score (UCAT 40%… Ulster University Medical School: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science.

Interview formats

Both Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School use MMI interviews, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot-topic answers and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer.

Interview windows: Birmingham interviews in December - February; Ulster University Medical School in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

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

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with integrated science and clinical exposure from Year 1. Clinical placements across Birmingham-affiliated NHS hospitals (UHB, Russel Four-year accelerated MBBS for graduates. Clinical placements across Northern Ireland NHS sites (Magee Campus, Western HSC, Northern HSC).

Intake size: Birmingham — 380 home places and 28 international for 2025 entry, of which up to 6 international places are reserved for IMU-Malaysia students entering the clinical years.; Ulster University Medical School — ~70 places per year (small cohort, NI-focused).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

What makes each distinctive

Birmingham: Selection is GCSE-heavy: 45% GCSE / 40% UCAT / 15% contextual. UCAT scored by national decile, so a clear top-decile score makes a big difference. Birmingham was the first UK university to offer dentistry and medicine programmes side by side.

Ulster University Medical School: New medical school serving Northern Ireland. Strong regional focus, with the course oriented around local workforce needs. Cut-offs have not yet stabilised.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Birmingham feeds into the England foundation programme network; Ulster University Medical School into the London network.

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. Birmingham guidance: No cut-off. Birmingham states there is no minimum UCAT score - your total is converted to a national decile and fed into a combined application score.. Ulster University Medical School guidance: GAMSAT is scored out of 100. Do not sit the UCAT for this course..

Birmingham uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Ulster University Medical School uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The format is the same, so the same prep approach applies — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot topics, and (for MMI) structured 5-7 minute station answers. Interview windows: December - February (Birmingham); December - March (Ulster University Medical School).

Birmingham requires AAA including Chemistry and a second science from Biology/Human Biology, Physics or Mathematics, with a minimum prediction of AAB. Ulster University Medical School requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school. Resit policies differ: Birmingham — Birmingham does not publish a resit policy on its medicine selection pages, and its sibling dentistry programme states that resits are not c. Ulster University Medical School — Resits accepted..

Birmingham's selection methodology: Home applicants are ranked on a total application score out of 10: 45% GCSE (max 4.5), 40% UCAT by national decile (max 4.0) and 15% contextual (max 1.5). There is no fixed UCAT cut-off, so strong GCSEs genuinely compensate for a weaker UCAT. The personal statement is not scored, though it is read before and after interview and must evidence commitment to medicine. The threshold score moves each year and is only set once the whole pool is known. International applicants are handled separately, ranked on UCAT alone once they meet the academic bar. Ulster University Medical School's selection methodology: Graduate-entry only: a 2:1 honours degree in any discipline plus GAMSAT (recent threshold ~61 out of 100), then MMI. Strong Northern Ireland regional focus. Understanding each school's exact algorithm is the single highest-leverage piece of pre-application research — it tells you whether your profile is competitive before you spend an application choice.

Birmingham runs a Integrated curriculum. Ulster University Medical School runs a Integrated curriculum. Both schools deliver teaching in the same broad style, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar. Birmingham specifics: Five-year MBChB with integrated science and clinical exposure from Year 1. Clinical placements across Birmingham-affiliated NHS hospitals (UHB, Russell's Hall, Heartlands). Ulster University Medical School specifics: Four-year accelerated MBBS for graduates. Clinical placements across Northern Ireland NHS sites (Magee Campus, Western HSC, Northern HSC).

You can — UCAS allows 4 medicine/dentistry choices in total, so listing both is feasible if your profile fits each school's selection algorithm. Apply to both only if your UCAT, GCSE and predicted-grade profile is competitive against each school's published weighting. A common mistake is using two of your four slots on similar schools when a more spread-out portfolio (one safe + one stretch) would maximise overall offer probability.

Where to go next

BirminghamEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Ulster University Medical SchoolEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 19 September 2026.

Birmingham vs Ulster University Medical School

Side-by-side comparison

Birmingham vs Ulster University Medical School - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Birmingham vs Ulster University Medical School?

How do interviews differ between Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School?

What A-Level grades do Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Birmingham vs Ulster University Medical School?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Where are Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School use?

Should I apply to both Birmingham and Ulster University Medical School?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons