How do interviews differ between Cambridge and St George's?

Cambridge uses Traditional interview: Traditional panel interviews with academic focus. St George's 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 - February (St George's).

Where are Cambridge and St George's located, and how does that affect cost?

Cambridge is in Cambridge, UK. St George's 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. St George's releases medicine decisions Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished. 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 St George's

Cambridge and St George's are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Cambridge is based in Cambridge (England) while St George's 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 1733) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Cambridge and St George's.
Comparison field	CambridgeCambridge	St George'sLondon
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 or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
TrueScore	Cambridge TrueScore 2150	St George's TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off	No threshold. Cambridge states plainly: "There is no minimum threshold for UCAT score."	No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's 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.	Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred)
Decision date	January	Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished

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 or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
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.	Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) both required
A-Level resit policy	Resits considered case-by-case; competitive applicants typically achieve AAA in one sitting.	Resits or third year of study accepted with extenuating circumstances only
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 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted.
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.	Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met
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	37 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including HL Chemistry and HL Biology
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.	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above in any discipline. Graduate for Undergraduate Programme available - UCAT cut-off applies (~2100+ /2700).
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	No separate threshold published.	-
Graduate cut-off	-	~2100+ /2700 (Graduate for Undergraduate Programme)
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.	SJT used post-interview in offer making. Combined with MMI score → B1=15 pts, B2=10, B3=5, B4=none.
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,…	Once the entry criteria are met, applicants are ranked by UCAT score and interview places are allocated from the top down until they run out. A minimum of 500/900 is required in each individual cognit…

Degree awarded	MB BChir	MBBS
Course length	6 years	5 years
Teaching style	Traditional / lecture-led	Problem-based learning
Anatomy teaching	Full-body dissection	Prosection
First patient contact	Year 1	-
Placement geography	Cambridge and the East of England	-
Named placement sites	Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	-
Intercalation	Built in — year 3 is an intercalated year for every student.	-
Course highlight	An optional seven-week study-abroad placement is available in year 5.	The MBBS puts unusual weight on clinical communication — drawing out a patient’s history, giving clear explanations, and negotiating with patients and relatives.

Interview window	December	November - February
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…	A six-station MMI, each station around five minutes with a 60-second break between, delivered through SAMMI (Scalable Automated Multiple Mini Interviews) software. Each station is assessed separately…

Specialities	Clinical Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Medical Sciences	Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Healthcare Sciences
Established	1209	1733
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 holistic-care and soft-skills emphasis. SJT used post-interview in offer making (B1 = 15 pts, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = nothing). St George's is also generous with deferred-entry offers, often made…
Official course page	https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/medicine-mb-bchir	https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/prospective-students/courses/undergraduate/medicine

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

St George's

London

Quick comparison

Location: London, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
TrueScore: St George's TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off: No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred)
Decision date: Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished

Cambridge vs St George's - 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.

St George's requires A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.

Cambridge is the stricter A-Level offer; St George's is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, St George's 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… St George's: Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science).

GCSE resits accepted. Used only as minimum threshold -…

Interview formats

Cambridge uses Panel (Traditional panel interviews with academic focus); St George's 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, St George's is the better fit.

Interview windows: Cambridge interviews in December; St George's in November - February.

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. St George's: Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred).

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.

St George's: Strong holistic-care and soft-skills emphasis. SJT used post-interview in offer making (B1 = 15 pts, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = nothing). St George's is also generous with deferred-entry offers, often made to borderline applicants in lieu of rejection.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, St George's 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; St George's 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.". St George's guidance: No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores..

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). St George's requires A*AA or AAA including Chemistry and Biology/Human Biology (offer depends on cohort strength). Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

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. St George's — Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted. Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met

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. St George's'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.. St George's: Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred). 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

St George'sEntry 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.