How are GCSEs weighted at Bristol vs St Mary's Twickenham?

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

Where are Bristol and St Mary's Twickenham located, and how does that affect cost?

Bristol is in Bristol, 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?

Bristol 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

Bristol vs St Mary's Twickenham

Bristol and St Mary's Twickenham are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Bristol is based in Bristol (England) while St Mary's Twickenham sits in Twickenham, London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

The interview formats diverge — Panel vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. Bristol is the older institution (founded 1876); the other (founded 2025) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Bristol and St Mary's Twickenham.
Comparison field	BristolBristol	St Mary's TwickenhamTwickenham, London
Quick comparison
Location	Bristol, UK	Twickenham, London, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
TrueScore	Bristol TrueScore 2280	St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off	2240+ /2700 - the final threshold to be invited to interview for 2026 entry.	-
Interview format	Structured online panel interview (Zoom): six stations marked by two panels of three assessors	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Total: 650/968 = 67% (2024); A108 Gateway to Medicine: 63/88 = 72%	-
Decision date	March onwards	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics, Mathematics or Further Mathematics	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
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 or Biology required, plus one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted - no requirement that all three A-levels be sat in the same year	Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances
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.	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science)
GCSE scoring methodology	GCSEs and A-levels used only as minimum thresholds - 100% UCAT weighting for shortlisting once minimums are met	-
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 or Biology and a second science / Maths
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	-
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	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	2270+ /2700 for 2026 entry.	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	Not used	No usage mentioned in any selection policy
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…	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	MB ChB	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Case-based learning + Integrated	Spiral + Case-based learning
Anatomy teaching	Prosection	-
First patient contact	Year 1	Year 1
Placement geography	South West England	London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire
Named placement sites	Southmead Hospital, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Royal United Hospital Bath, Weston General Hospital, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, Yeovil District Hospital, Great Western Hospital, Swindon	West London NHS Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Practice Plus Group (Ilford), Royal Trinity Hospice, Princess Alice Hospice, Meadow House
Intercalation	Offered between years 3 and 4, at bachelor's or master's level.	Optional. Students who have successfully completed year 3 can apply for a one-year BSc, MSc or MRes at St Mary’s or another approved institution, then return to the MBBS in year 4. Additional tuition…
Course highlight	You choose the placement for your final-year elective.	Currently accepts international students only.

Interview window	November - April	December - March
Interview details	Bristol calls this a structured interview, not an MMI. In the format published for 2026 entry it lasts about 30 minutes on Zoom and has six stations. Each station is scored by three assessors, so you…	Applications are scored on academic record and admissions tests to produce a shortlisting rank. Interviews are online Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs).

Specialities	Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Sciences	Medicine, International Medicine
Established	1876	2025
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…	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.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/2027/medicine/mb-chb-medicine/	https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mbbs-medicine-degree

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: Structured online panel interview (Zoom): six stations marked by two panels of three assessors
Post-interview chance: Total: 650/968 = 67% (2024); A108 Gateway to Medicine: 63/88 = 72%
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

Bristol vs St Mary's Twickenham - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

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

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

Interview formats

Bristol uses Panel (Structured online panel interview (Zoom): six stations marked by two panels of three assessors); St Mary's Twickenham uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)). These two formats reward different skills — Panel emphasises narrative coherence and the ability to develop a thread under follow-up questioning, while MMI rewards breadth and quick recovery.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Bristol may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, St Mary's Twickenham is the better fit.

Interview windows: Bristol interviews in November - April; St Mary's Twickenham in December - March.

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.

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 — Bristol 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

Bristol: home applicants — 2240+ /2700 - the final threshold to be invited to interview for 2026 entry. St Mary's Twickenham: no published UCAT cut-off. These are the figures on record for 2027-entry applicants. Schools without a fixed cut-off rank UCAT inside a composite shortlisting score, so thresholds move with each year's applicant pool — confirm the latest figure on each school's admissions page.

Bristol uses Panel interview: Structured online panel interview (Zoom): six stations marked by two panels of three assessors. St Mary's Twickenham uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The two formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each, with at least 3 full mock interviews per format before sitting either. Interview windows: November - April (Bristol); December - March (St Mary's Twickenham).

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. 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

BristolEntry 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 11 September 2026.