Buckingham vs Lincoln Medical School

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).

Both Buckingham and Lincoln Medical School 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; Lincoln Medical School 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; Lincoln Medical School in December - March.

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.

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.

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.