Where are Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS) located, and how does that affect cost?

Bristol is in Bristol, UK. Kent and Medway (KMMS) is in Canterbury/Medway, 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?

Bristol typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. Kent and Medway (KMMS) 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

Bristol vs Kent and Medway (KMMS)

Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in England, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy.

On UCAT alone there is roughly a 215-point gap between them — a substantial difference that should shape which you list as firm choice vs. insurance. Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs AAB) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers. Bristol is the older institution (founded 1876); the other (founded 2020) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS).
Comparison field	BristolBristol	Kent and Medway (KMMS)Canterbury/Medway
Quick comparison
Location	Bristol, UK	Canterbury/Medway, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics	AAB minimum for applicants already holding their A-levels (Group B). Pre-A-level applicants (Group A) get a conditional offer set from their school's average attainment - typically AAA or AAB. Normally completed in two years.
TrueScore	Bristol TrueScore 2280	Kent and Medway (KMMS) TrueScore 1900
UCAT home cut-off	2240+ /2700 - the final threshold to be invited to interview for 2026 entry.	47th centile or above with SJT band 3 or better (2025-26 threshold was a 2490 total). KMMS explicitly does not commit to the same threshold for 2027 entry.
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Total: 650/968 = 67% (2024); A108 Gateway to Medicine: 63/88 = 72%	Home Fee Status: 176/404 = 44%; International: 14/32 = 44% (only 113 applicants); Graduate (2023): 52/83 = 63%
Decision date	March onwards	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics	AAB minimum for applicants already holding their A-levels (Group B). Pre-A-level applicants (Group A) get a conditional offer set from their school's average attainment - typically AAA or AAB. Normally completed in two years.
Contextual A-Level offer	ABB at A-level for contextual / WP-eligible applicants	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry required, plus one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics / Further Mathematics	Chemistry and/or Biology. If only one of the two is offered, one further subject from Physics, Mathematics, Psychology or Computer Science is required. Critical Thinking and General Studies are not accepted.
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted - no requirement that all three A-levels be sat in the same year	KMMS does not use predicted A-level or AS grades - selection is on achieved grades. Resit applicants are assessed on final achieved grades only.
GCSE requirements	Mathematics at minimum grade 7/A and English Language at minimum grade 4/C. GCSE resit applicants welcomed and may apply with results pending.	Five GCSEs at grade 9-6 (A*-B) including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Double Science plus one other). GCSE resits accepted.
GCSE scoring methodology	GCSEs and A-levels used only as minimum thresholds - 100% UCAT weighting for shortlisting once minimums are met	Selection driven by a contextualised GCSE Attainment 8 score /90 (Maths /18, English Language /9, English Literature /9, three EBacc subjects /27, three other subjects /27) benchmarked against the app…
Scottish Highers	AAAAB at Higher including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	AA at Advanced Higher including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 18 at Higher Level including 6,6 HL in Chemistry and one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics (either Analysis & Approaches or Applications & Interpretation)	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Chemistry and/or Biology
Graduate-entry degree requirement	A 2:1 in your degree plus BBB at A-level, including Chemistry and either Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or higher in any honours degree. Graduate applicants need SJT band 2 or better.
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	2270+ /2700 for 2026 entry.	Same admission-test threshold as home applicants; personal statement replaces GCSE in the scoring.
Graduate cut-off	-	47th centile or above, but graduates need SJT band 2 or better.
SJT band	Not used	Band 4 automatically rejected. Other bands treated equally for school leavers; graduates need B1 or B2.
UCAT notes	Shortlisting is wholly UCAT once the academic minimum is met, using the combined score from every subtest EXCEPT the Situational Judgement Test. Bristol states the threshold is subject to change year…	The centile matters more than the raw number here - KMMS republishes the threshold each cycle. Once it is met, selection is driven by a contextualised GCSE Attainment 8 score.

Degree awarded	MB ChB	BM BS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Case-based learning + Integrated	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	Prosection	-
First patient contact	Year 1	Year 1
Placement geography	-	Kent and Medway
Named placement sites	-	-
Intercalation	Offered between years 3 and 4, at bachelor's or master's level.	-
Course highlight	You choose the placement for your final-year elective.	The degree is awarded jointly by the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University.

Interview window	November - April	December - March
Interview details	Bristol calls this a structured interview rather than an MMI: around 30 minutes across six stations, each assessed by a panel of three, and hosted remotely. No reading or writing is required in any of…	Multi-station interview that differs significantly from standard UK MMIs. Stations of about 7 minutes covering data handling, situational judgement, role-play and values-based tasks, followed by a 40-…

Specialities	Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Sciences	Medicine, Community Medicine
Established	1876	2020
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Russell Group university with strong medical and dental programmes. Shortlisting is wholly UCAT-based - neither personal statement nor SJT is used in selection. Bristol has the highest UCAT cut-off of…	Selection by contextualised GCSE 'Attainment 8' score (/90) after UCAT minimum met - strong choice for high-GCSE / low-UCAT applicants. School performance averaged in to contextualise GCSE scoring (na…
Official course page	https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/2027/medicine/mb-chb-medicine/	https://kmms.ac.uk/study/

Bristol

Quick comparison

Location: Bristol, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics
TrueScore: Bristol TrueScore 2280
UCAT home cut-off: 2240+ /2700 - the final threshold to be invited to interview for 2026 entry.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Total: 650/968 = 67% (2024); A108 Gateway to Medicine: 63/88 = 72%
Decision date: March onwards

Kent and Medway (KMMS)

Canterbury/Medway

Quick comparison

Location: Canterbury/Medway, UK
A-Level offer: AAB minimum for applicants already holding their A-levels (Group B). Pre-A-level applicants (Group A) get a conditional offer set from their school's average attainment - typically AAA or AAB. Normally completed in two years.
TrueScore: Kent and Medway (KMMS) TrueScore 1900
UCAT home cut-off: 47th centile or above with SJT band 3 or better (2025-26 threshold was a 2490 total). KMMS explicitly does not commit to the same threshold for 2027 entry.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Home Fee Status: 176/404 = 44%; International: 14/32 = 44% (only 113 applicants); Graduate (2023): 52/83 = 63%
Decision date: March onwards

Bristol vs Kent and Medway (KMMS) - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

Bristol's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2240, while Kent and Medway (KMMS) sits at approximately 2025.

The 215-point spread matters: Kent and Medway (KMMS) offers slightly more headroom for an average-strong UCAT, while Bristol expects performance closer to the national 75th-90th percentile.

A-Level and academic profile

Bristol requires AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics.

Kent and Medway (KMMS) requires AAB minimum for applicants already holding their A-levels (Group B). Pre-A-level applicants (Group A) get a conditional offer set from their school's average attainment - typically AAA or AAB. Normally completed in two years.

Bristol is the stricter A-Level offer; Kent and Medway (KMMS) is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Kent and Medway (KMMS) carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Bristol: Mathematics at minimum grade 7/A and English Language at minimum grade 4/C. GCSE resit applicants welcomed and may apply with results pending.

GCSEs and A-levels used only as minimum thresholds -… Kent and Medway (KMMS): Five GCSEs at grade 9-6 (A*-B) including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Double Science plus one other). GCSE resits accepted. Selection driven by a contextualised…

Interview formats

Both Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS) 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: Bristol interviews in November - April; Kent and Medway (KMMS) in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Bristol runs a Spiral curriculum; Kent and Medway (KMMS) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Bristol delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Kent and Medway (KMMS) centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Five-year MB ChB spiral curriculum - concepts revisited with increasing complexity. Clinical exposure from Year 1. Five-year MBBS jointly run by University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University. Strong rural/community placement strand across Kent and Medw

Intake size: Bristol — ~220 home + ~30 international places per year (A100 Standard Entry Medicine).; Kent and Medway (KMMS) — ~125 home + ~25 international places per year.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

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

Bristol: Russell Group university with strong medical and dental programmes. Shortlisting is wholly UCAT-based - neither personal statement nor SJT is used in selection. Bristol has the highest UCAT cut-off of the major English schools.

Kent and Medway (KMMS): Selection by contextualised GCSE 'Attainment 8' score (/90) after UCAT minimum met - strong choice for high-GCSE / low-UCAT applicants. School performance averaged in to contextualise GCSE scoring (national average 45.9; ~25% above school average likely required).

Which is right for you?

If your UCAT lands below the UK median (~1880/2700), Kent and Medway (KMMS) is the more realistic firm-choice option. For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Kent and Medway (KMMS) is the lower-risk academic option. Both schools sit in the same England foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily.

If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Kent and Medway (KMMS); 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

Bristol's typical home cut-off is around 2240, while Kent and Medway (KMMS) sits at approximately 2025 — a 215-point spread. That's a meaningful gap; Kent and Medway (KMMS) is materially more accessible for an average-to-good UCAT, while Bristol expects performance closer to the top 17% 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.

Bristol uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Kent and Medway (KMMS) 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: November - April (Bristol); December - March (Kent and Medway (KMMS)).

Bristol requires AAA including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics. Kent and Medway (KMMS) requires AAB minimum including Chemistry and/or Biology - if only one is offered, a further subject from Physics, Maths, Psychology or Computer Science is required. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school. Resit policies differ: Bristol — Resits accepted; no requirement for three A-Levels in same year.. Kent and Medway (KMMS) — Resits considered..

Bristol — Mathematics at minimum grade 7/A and English Language at minimum grade 4/C. GCSE resit applicants welcomed and may apply with results pending. GCSEs and A-levels used only as minimum thresholds - 100% UCAT weighting for shortlisting once minimums are met Kent and Medway (KMMS) — Five GCSEs at grade 9-6 (A*-B) including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Double Science plus one other). GCSE resits accepted. Selection driven by a contextualised GCSE Attainment 8 score /90 (Maths /18, English Language /9, English Literature /9, three EBacc subjects /27, three other subjects /27) benchmarked against the applicant's school average. IGCSE treated equivalently to GCSE.

Bristol's selection methodology: Once the academic minimum is met, shortlisting is wholly on the UCAT total excluding the SJT. For 2026 entry the final thresholds to be invited were 2,240 (home) and 2,270 (overseas). Work experience is encouraged but is not a requirement. Kent and Medway (KMMS)'s selection methodology: KMMS does NOT use predicted A-Level grades or BMAT in selection. Does NOT use percentage weighting. Offers made in batches based on UCAT + academic minimums + MMI performance. Does not use AS levels. 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.

Bristol: Total: 650/968 = 67% (2024); A108 Gateway to Medicine: 63/88 = 72%. Kent and Medway (KMMS): Home Fee Status: 176/404 = 44%; International: 14/32 = 44% (only 113 applicants); Graduate (2023): 52/83 = 63%. Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

Bristol runs a Spiral curriculum. Kent and Medway (KMMS) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies differ — pick the style that matches how you learn best. Bristol specifics: Five-year MB ChB spiral curriculum - concepts revisited with increasing complexity. Clinical exposure from Year 1. Kent and Medway (KMMS) specifics: Five-year MBBS jointly run by University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University. Strong rural/community placement strand across Kent and Medway NHS sites.

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

BristolEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Kent and Medway (KMMS)Entry 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.

Bristol vs Kent and Medway (KMMS)

Side-by-side comparison

Bristol vs Kent and Medway (KMMS) - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Bristol vs Kent and Medway (KMMS)?

How do interviews differ between Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS)?

What A-Level grades do Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS) require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Bristol vs Kent and Medway (KMMS)?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Which has a higher post-interview offer rate, Bristol or Kent and Medway (KMMS)?

Where are Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS) located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS) use?

Should I apply to both Bristol and Kent and Medway (KMMS)?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons