Buckingham vs Hertfordshire

Buckingham requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Hertfordshire requires AAA offer including chemistry or biology, completed in one sitting across a maximum of two years. Applicants encouraged to consider arts/humanities for their 3rd A-level. GCSEs: minimum 5 subjects at grade 6 including English, maths, biology, chemistry and physics (or dual award).

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 — Buckingham: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. UK's only private medical school - no UCAT/BMAT required. Hertfordshire: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science.

Both Buckingham and Hertfordshire 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: Buckingham runs three-stage selection: academic screening, digital multiple mini assessment (mma), then an mmi/osse task circuit; Hertfordshire runs multiple mini interviews (mmi). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Buckingham interviews in December - March; Hertfordshire in December - March.

Buckingham runs a Integrated curriculum; Hertfordshire runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Buckingham delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Hertfordshire centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Four-and-a-half-year accelerated MB ChB (no UCAT required). Clinical placements at Milton Keynes, Stoke Mandeville and partner NHS sites. Five-year MBChB. Hertfordshire-based with East-of-England NHS placements.

Intake size: Buckingham — ~70 home + significant international places per year (UK's only private medical school).; Hertfordshire — ~50-100 places per year (newer cohort).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

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.

Hertfordshire: For international students only and new this year - can apply directly in addition to your 4 UCAS medical choices, so no harm in giving it a try. New medical school actively seeking links with international applicants.