Buckingham vs Lancaster

Buckingham requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Lancaster requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

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. Lancaster: Min grade 6 in English Language, Maths, dual-award Science (or Biology + Chemistry).

Both Buckingham and Lancaster 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; Lancaster 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; Lancaster in December - March.

Buckingham runs a Integrated curriculum; Lancaster runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Buckingham delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Lancaster 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 built around problem-based learning. Distinct rural/community placement strand in Cumbria, Lancashire and Morecambe Bay.

Intake size: Buckingham — ~70 home + significant international places per year (UK's only private medical school).; Lancaster — ~64 home + ~10 international places per year (small intake).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Buckingham: Refused to state. Lancaster: Home student: 261/587 = 44%; International: 6/19 = 32%.

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.

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.

Lancaster: Newer medical school with a focus on regional healthcare in north-west England. Personal statement is not used in selection and interviewers do not have access to it. SJT band 4 is auto-rejected - bands 1-3 are equal.