What A-Level grades do Cambridge and King's College London (KCL) require?

Cambridge requires A*A*A including Chemistry, plus one or two further science or mathematics subjects from Mathematics, Biology/Human Biology, Physics or Further Mathematics (the number varies by College). King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Where are Cambridge and King's College London (KCL) located, and how does that affect cost?

Cambridge is in Cambridge, UK. King's College London (KCL) is in 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?

Cambridge typically releases medicine decisions January. King's College London (KCL) releases medicine decisions By the end of May. 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

Cambridge vs King's College London (KCL)

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

Their A-Level requirements (A*A*A vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers. The interview formats diverge — Panel vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. Cambridge is the older institution (founded 1209); the other (founded 1829) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Cambridge and King's College London (KCL).
Comparison field	CambridgeCambridge	King's College London (KCL)London
Quick comparison
Location	Cambridge, UK	London, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (typical offer; 92–95% of recent offer-holders predicted AAA*) including Chemistry and Biology / Mathematics / Physics	A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
TrueScore	Cambridge TrueScore 2150	King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150
UCAT home cut-off	No threshold. Cambridge states plainly: "There is no minimum threshold for UCAT score."	No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores".
Interview format	Traditional panel interviews with academic focus	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Home (predicted grades): 253/979 = 26% (2025); International (predicted): 8/58 = 14%. ~30 more offers to those with achieved grades.	Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).
Decision date	January	By the end of May

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (typical offer; 92–95% of recent offer-holders predicted AAA*) including Chemistry and Biology / Mathematics / Physics	A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry plus two of Biology / Mathematics / Physics / Further Mathematics is optimal. Most colleges have this as a fixed requirement. Some colleges (e.g. Corpus Christi, Fitzwilliam, Girton, Gonville & Caius, Homerton, Murray Edwards, Newnham, Selwyn, Trinity Hall) may consider applicants without Biology after admissions-tutor consultation. Three A-levels is sufficient - four not required.	Biology and Chemistry both required
A-Level resit policy	Resits considered case-by-case; competitive applicants typically achieve AAA in one sitting.	Resits accepted - KCL has clarified via FOI that "a first resit is considered equally to applicants taking their first sittings" (19 resit applicants received an interview in 2024, 16 received offers)
GCSE requirements	No specific GCSE requirement, but successful applicants typically achieve grade 7+ across all GCSEs. Mean offer-holder ≈ 9.7 grade A*/9 historically.	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics
GCSE scoring methodology	GCSE used contextually as part of holistic shortlisting (less algorithmically than Oxford). Sub-90% A*/9 applicants advised to favour Cambridge over Oxford.	GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance is read in the context of your educational background. King's…
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	A1, A1, A2 at Advanced Higher (per Cambridge banding system)	-
International Baccalaureate	41–42 points overall, 7,7,6 at Higher Level including HL Chemistry plus two of Biology / Mathematics / Physics	38 points overall (including TOK/EE), or an aggregate of 19 from three Higher Levels, and must include grade 6 in Higher Level Biology and Higher Level Chemistry
Graduate-entry degree requirement	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above - A-level Chemistry (normally passed within 7 years of entry) required. Accelerated A101 Graduate Course in Medicine offered at Lucy Cavendish, Hughes Hall, St Edmund's and Wolfson colleges only.	Graduate applicants typically hold 2:1 or above in any honours degree, plus required A-level Chemistry and Biology grades. KCL accepts graduates onto the standard 6-year MBBS A100.
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	No separate threshold published.	No separate cut-off published.
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	Not used. Cambridge assesses the overall cognitive subtest score only and states it will not use the situational judgement score for 2027 entry.	Band 4 automatically rejected. Band 3 riskier - only 37/360 band 3 applicants received interview in 2024.
UCAT notes	Cambridge looks at the overall cognitive subtest score only and weighs it alongside academic record and interview - it publishes no cut-off and no offer-holder averages. Colleges assess individually,…	King's shortlists on A-level grades, UCAT, personal statement and GCSE grades together, and says exam results and UCAT are "perhaps the most important factors". Its published UCAT statistics stop at t…

Degree awarded	MB BChir	MBBS
Course length	6 years	5 years (6 with intercalation)
Teaching style	Traditional / lecture-led	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	Full-body dissection	-
First patient contact	Year 1	-
Placement geography	Cambridge and the East of England	London and the south east of England
Named placement sites	Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital
Intercalation	Built in — year 3 is an intercalated year for every student.	Optional one-year BSc between Stages 2 and 3, spanning clinical and biomedical sciences and the humanities.
Course highlight	An optional seven-week study-abroad placement is available in year 5.	Twinned with medical schools around the world, offering clinical exchanges.

Interview window	December	November - May
Interview details	Usually two panel-style interviews, normally both at the College that is considering your application (the one you named, or the one you were allocated after an open application). Cambridge says most…	MMI format with stations covering ethical scenarios, communication and clinical problem-solving. No offer is made without an interview, and King's runs them across an unusually long window - November…

Specialities	Clinical Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Medical Sciences	Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences
Established	1209	1829
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	UCAT replaced the BMAT from 2025 entry. Variation between colleges in average UCAT scores and success rates, but the pooling system smooths over it - applying to "less popular" colleges does not meani…	Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.
Official course page	https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/medicine-mb-bchir	https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/medicine-mbbs

Cambridge

Quick comparison

Location: Cambridge, UK
A-Level offer: A*A*A at A-level (typical offer; 92–95% of recent offer-holders predicted A*A*A*) including Chemistry and Biology / Mathematics / Physics
TrueScore: Cambridge TrueScore 2150
UCAT home cut-off: No threshold. Cambridge states plainly: "There is no minimum threshold for UCAT score."
Interview format: Traditional panel interviews with academic focus
Post-interview chance: Home (predicted grades): 253/979 = 26% (2025); International (predicted): 8/58 = 14%. ~30 more offers to those with achieved grades.
Decision date: January

King's College London (KCL)

London

Quick comparison

Location: London, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
TrueScore: King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150
UCAT home cut-off: No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores".
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).
Decision date: By the end of May

Cambridge vs King's College London (KCL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Cambridge requires A*A*A at A-level (typical offer; 92–95% of recent offer-holders predicted A*A*A*) including Chemistry and Biology / Mathematics / Physics.

King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.

Cambridge is the stricter A-Level offer; King's College London (KCL) is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, King's College London (KCL) carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Cambridge: No specific GCSE requirement, but successful applicants typically achieve grade 7+ across all GCSEs. Mean offer-holder ≈ 9.7 grade A*/9 historically. GCSE used contextually as part of holistic… King's College London (KCL): Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics.

GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance…

Interview formats

Cambridge uses Panel (Traditional panel interviews with academic focus); King's College London (KCL) 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, Cambridge may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, King's College London (KCL) is the better fit.

Interview windows: Cambridge interviews in December; King's College London (KCL) in November - May.

Curriculum and teaching style

Intake size: Cambridge — 270 students accepted in the 2025 cycle across all Colleges (A100 Standard Entry Medicine), including a capped 22 overseas fee-status places.; King's College London (KCL) — Around 300 places on A100, within roughly 410 across all of King's medicine programmes.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Cambridge: Home (predicted grades): 253/979 = 26% (2025); International (predicted): 8/58 = 14%. ~30 more offers to those with achieved grades. King's College London (KCL): Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%).

The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).

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

Cambridge: UCAT replaced the BMAT from 2025 entry. Variation between colleges in average UCAT scores and success rates, but the pooling system smooths over it - applying to "less popular" colleges does not meaningfully change your odds. A100 is offered at every College except Hughes Hall.

King's College London (KCL): Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, King's College London (KCL) is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Cambridge feeds into the England foundation programme network; King's College London (KCL) 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

Neither school publishes a single fixed UCAT cut-off; both use UCAT as part of a composite shortlisting score alongside GCSE and personal-statement weighting. Cambridge guidance: No threshold. Cambridge states plainly: "There is no minimum threshold for UCAT score.". King's College London (KCL) guidance: No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores"..

Cambridge uses Traditional interview: Traditional panel interviews with academic focus. King's College London (KCL) 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: December (Cambridge); November - May (King's College London (KCL)).

Cambridge — No specific GCSE requirement, but successful applicants typically achieve grade 7+ across all GCSEs. Mean offer-holder ≈ 9.7 grade A*/9 historically. GCSE used contextually as part of holistic shortlisting (less algorithmically than Oxford). Sub-90% A*/9 applicants advised to favour Cambridge over Oxford. King's College London (KCL) — Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics. GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance is read in the context of your educational background. King's does not publish a points tariff for GCSEs.

Cambridge's selection methodology: Holistic assessment run by each College: "We assess applicants through a mixture of academic record, UCAT and interviews." There is no UCAT threshold and no published algorithm. Cambridge interviews a high proportion of applicants and therefore makes many post-interview rejections. King's College London (KCL)'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.

Cambridge: Home (predicted grades): 253/979 = 26% (2025); International (predicted): 8/58 = 14%. ~30 more offers to those with achieved grades.. King's College London (KCL): Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).. Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

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

CambridgeEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

King's College London (KCL)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 19 September 2026.