A-Level and academic profile
Buckingham requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology. Lincoln Medical School requires AAB including Chemistry and Biology. Buckingham is the stricter A-Level offer; Lincoln Medical School is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Lincoln Medical School carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview. 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. Lincoln Medical School: Min 6 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, Biology, Chemistry, Physics (or dual-award Science).
Interview formats
Buckingham uses Panel (Traditional Panel Interview); Lincoln Medical School 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, Buckingham may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Lincoln Medical School is the better fit. Interview windows: Buckingham interviews in December - March; Lincoln Medical School in December - March.
Curriculum and teaching style
Both schools deliver a Integrated-style curriculum, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar across years 1-3. 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 MBBChir partnered with Nottingham. Lincoln-based teaching with Lincolnshire NHS clinical placements (Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospit Intake size: Buckingham — ~70 home + significant international places per year (UK's only private medical school).; Lincoln Medical School — ~80 places per year (small cohort, focused on Lincolnshire placements).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.
Post-interview offer rate
Buckingham: Refused to state. Lincoln Medical School: All Students (2023): 159/229 = 69%. 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
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. Lincoln Medical School: Strong choice for low-UCAT, high-SJT applicants. SJT scored heavily (B1 = 15, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = 0). A band 1 SJT can offset a relatively modest UCAT score in the overall ranking.