Where are Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham located, and how does that affect cost?

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) is in Brighton, UK. St Mary's Twickenham is in Twickenham, London, 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?

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. St Mary's Twickenham 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

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs St Mary's Twickenham

Q: How are GCSEs weighted at Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs St Mary's Twickenham?

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 floor St Mary's Twickenham — Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science).

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham 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 St Mary's Twickenham sits in Twickenham, London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham.
Comparison field	Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)Brighton	St Mary's TwickenhamTwickenham, London
Quick comparison
Location	Brighton, UK	Twickenham, London, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
TrueScore	Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) TrueScore 1990	St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off	~1900+ /2700	-
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Home: 394/737 = 53% (2025); International: 27/72 = 38%	-
Decision date	March onwards	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
Contextual A-Level offer	AAB at A-level for UKWPMED-eligible (contextual) applicants, including Biology and Chemistry	-
Required A-Level subjects	Biology and Chemistry both required	Chemistry or Biology required, plus one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
A-Level resit policy	Resits considered with one dropped grade (i.e. AAB on first attempt then AAA at resit)	Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances
GCSE requirements	Minimum grade 6/B in Mathematics and English Language or English Literature. Grade 5s accepted with contextual data.	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science)
GCSE scoring methodology	Used only as a minimum threshold - not used to rank applicants beyond meeting the floor	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Biology and Chemistry	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Chemistry or Biology and a second science / Maths
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	-
Alternative qualifications	-	New international-only medicine course for 2026 entry - first cohort. Applied to directly outside standard UCAS medicine route. UCAT contributes to combined admissions test + academic ranking. No SJT use.

Contextual cut-off	~1810+ /2700 (UK WP)	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	~2030+ /2700	No cut-off exists yet. UCAT contributes to the shortlisting rank, but the first cohort is September 2026 so no historic threshold exists.
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	Band 4 autorejected - 1, 2, 3 are fine	No usage mentioned in any selection policy
UCAT notes	Wholly UCAT-based shortlisting (50th centile or above considered, then ranked downwards). Offers made on interview performance. Band 4 SJT auto-rejected.	International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only. No SJT use stated. Any quoted 'cut-off' for this school is guesswork - it has not yet completed an admissions cycle.

Degree awarded	BM BS	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Integrated	Case-based learning
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	Year 3	Year 1
Placement geography	Sussex	London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire
Named placement sites	Royal Sussex County Hospital	West London Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Basingstoke), Practice Plus Group (Ilford), Royal Trinity Hospice, Princess Alice Hospice, Meadow House
Intercalation	Optional. Numbers are capped at 40% of the cohort, with priority given to those without a prior degree.	-
Course highlight	The degree is awarded jointly by the Universities of Brighton and Sussex.	Currently accepts international students only.

Interview window	December - March	December - March
Interview details	MMI format. Questions feel closer to a typical job interview than a clinical viva - personal attributes feature heavily. There is usually time to spare in each station, so pace yourself.	Applications are scored on academic record and admissions tests to produce a shortlisting rank. Interviews are online Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs).

Specialities	Medicine, Medical Education	Medicine, International Medicine
Established	2002	2025
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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.	International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS medical choices. Weigh that against the accreditation risk: the MBBS is not y…
Official course page	https://www.bsms.ac.uk/undergraduate/our-course/index.aspx	https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mbbs-medicine-degree

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

St Mary's Twickenham

Twickenham, London

Quick comparison

Location: Twickenham, London, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
TrueScore: St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March onwards

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs St Mary's Twickenham - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

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

St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics.

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): 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… St Mary's Twickenham: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science).

Interview formats

Both Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham 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; St Mary's Twickenham in December - March.

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.

St Mary's Twickenham: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS medical choices. Weigh that against the accreditation risk: the MBBS is not yet GMC-accredited, and St Mary's contingency is that students would transfer to the University of Lancashire if accreditation is not achieved.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) feeds into the England foundation programme network; St Mary's Twickenham 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. Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) guidance: ~1900+ /2700. St Mary's Twickenham guidance: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only. No SJT use stated. Any quoted 'cut-off' for this school is guesswork - it has not yet completed an admissions cycle..

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). St Mary's Twickenham 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 - March (Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)); December - March (St Mary's Twickenham).

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) requires AAA including Biology and Chemistry. St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA prediction and offer requirements, must include chemistry or biology as well as one of biology/chemistry/physics/maths. Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances. GCSEs: grade 6 minimum in maths, English language, biology and chemistry (or dual award science).. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)'s selection methodology: Joint programme between University of Brighton and University of Sussex. UCAT + academic + Multiple Mini Interview. SJT used post-interview. St Mary's Twickenham's selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. 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.

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

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

St Mary's TwickenhamEntry 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.

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs St Mary's Twickenham

Side-by-side comparison

Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs St Mary's Twickenham - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs St Mary's Twickenham?

How do interviews differ between Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham?

What A-Level grades do Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) vs St Mary's Twickenham?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Where are Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

Should I apply to both Brighton & Sussex (BSMS) and St Mary's Twickenham?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons