Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs Buckingham

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Buckingham requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

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 — Brighton & Sussex (BSMS): Min 6 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. Buckingham: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. UK's only private medical school - no UCAT/BMAT required.

Both Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and Buckingham 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.

That said, the specifics differ slightly: Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) runs multiple mini interviews (mmi); Buckingham runs three-stage selection: academic screening, digital multiple mini assessment (mma), then an mmi/osse task circuit. Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) interviews in December - March; Buckingham in December - March.

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) runs a PBL curriculum; Buckingham runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Buckingham uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBBS jointly run by Brighton and Sussex universities. Sussex-based pre-clinical years; clinical placements across Sussex NHS sites (Royal Su Four-and-a-half-year accelerated MB ChB (no UCAT required). Clinical placements at Milton Keynes, Stoke Mandeville and partner NHS sites.

Intake size: Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) — ~165 home + ~25 international places per year.; Buckingham — ~70 home + significant international places per year (UK's only private medical school).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS): Home: 394/737 = 53% (2025); International: 27/72 = 38%. Buckingham: Refused to state.

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.

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS): Wholly UCAT-based shortlisting. Offers made primarily on interview performance - UCAT is only used post-interview for borderline cases. Band 4 SJT auto-rejected; bands 1-3 are fine.

Buckingham: UCAT not used in selection - the MMA computer-based test replaces it. Private university with £40k tuition fees. Apply directly outside UCAS rather than via the standard route.