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Medical school comparison

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs Queen's University Belfast (QUB)

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and Queen's University Belfast (QUB) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) is based in Brighton (England) while Queen's University Belfast (QUB) sits in Belfast (Northern Ireland), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

On UCAT alone there is roughly a 1200-point gap between them — a substantial difference that should shape which you list as firm choice vs. insurance. Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is the older institution (founded 1849); the other (founded 2002) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)

Brighton

Quick comparison

Location
Brighton, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry
TrueScore
Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) TrueScore 1990
UCAT home cut-off
~1900+ /2700
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Home: 394/737 = 53% (2025); International: 27/72 = 38%
Decision date
March onwards

Queen's University Belfast (QUB)

Belfast

Quick comparison

Location
Belfast, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Maths/Physics - see subject rules)
TrueScore
Queen's University Belfast (QUB) TrueScore 1700
UCAT home cut-off
No cut-off published. Queen's ranks applicants on cognitive performance, with the overall UCAT score contributing points alongside GCSE attainment, and invites roughly the top 700 to interview.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Good. Queen's states that once you reach interview it anticipates at least a one-in-two chance of an offer, so the hard part is being among the roughly 700 selected.
Decision date
April onwards

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs Queen's University Belfast (QUB) - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)'s published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1900, while Queen's University Belfast (QUB) sits at approximately 700.

That's a 1200-point gap — large enough to put the two schools in completely different competitiveness tiers. An applicant scoring in the 1100-1500 band would be competitive at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) but borderline at Brighton & Sussex (BSMS).

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Brighton & Sussex (BSMS): ~1810+ /2700 (UK WP); Queen's University Belfast (QUB): not separately disclosed. Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

A-Level and academic profile

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) requires AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry.

Queen's University Belfast (QUB) requires A*AA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Maths/Physics - see subject rules).

Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is the stricter A-Level offer; Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Brighton & Sussex (BSMS): Minimum grade 6/B in Mathematics and English Language or English Literature. Grade 5s accepted with contextual data.

Used only as a minimum threshold - not used to rank applicants beyond meeting the… Queen's University Belfast (QUB): Minimum grade C/4 in GCSE Mathematics, English and Physics (or 4-4 in Double Science) if not offered at AS-level or A-level. Top 9 GCSEs scored /36: A*/9 = 4 pts, A/7-8 = 3 pts, B/6 = 2 pts, C/4-5 =…

Interview formats

Both Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and Queen's University Belfast (QUB) 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: Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) interviews in December - March; Queen's University Belfast (QUB) in January - February.

Post-interview offer rate

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS): Home: 394/737 = 53% (2025); International: 27/72 = 38%. Queen's University Belfast (QUB): Good. Queen's states that once you reach interview it anticipates at least a one-in-two chance of an offer, so the hard part is being among the roughly 700 selected.

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

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.

Queen's University Belfast (QUB): Less weight on NHS hot topics than most schools. Stronger emphasis on reflective examples of personal qualities. SJT may be used if borderline before or after interview, but in 2025 anyone with 30/42 received an interview regardless.

Which is right for you?

If your UCAT lands below the UK median (~1880/2700), Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is the more realistic firm-choice option. For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) is the lower-risk academic option.

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) feeds into the England foundation programme network; Queen's University Belfast (QUB) into the Northern Ireland 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

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)'s typical home cut-off is around 1900, while Queen's University Belfast (QUB) sits at approximately 700 — a 1200-point spread. That's a meaningful gap; Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is materially more accessible for an average-to-good UCAT, while Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) expects performance closer to the top 30% of test-takers. Cut-offs change year on year and vary by tier — check each school's latest published threshold before submitting your UCAS form.

Where to go next

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
Queen's University Belfast (QUB)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

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