Cardiff vs Dundee

Cardiff requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Dundee 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 — Cardiff: Top 9 GCSEs scored out of 27 points (must include Maths, English Language, Biology, Chemistry). A*/8/9 = 3 pts, A/7 = 2, B/6 = 1. Dundee: Biology, English and Maths required at GCSE grade 6/B (if not studied at A-Level). Higher GCSE/National 5 grades essential due to high academic weighting in shortlisting.

Cardiff uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)); Dundee uses Traditional (Two-part selection (~1h40m): observed 30-minute group discussion, then a structured traditional one-to-one discussion with an assessor). These two formats reward different skills — MMI emphasises breadth, station-recovery and structured answers under time pressure, while Traditional rewards malleability and intellectual honesty.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, either may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Cardiff is the better fit.

Interview windows: Cardiff interviews in December - February; Dundee in December - February.

Cardiff runs a Case-based curriculum; Dundee runs a Spiral curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Cardiff leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Dundee uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBBCh with case-based learning. Cardiff splits clinical placements across South Wales (Cardiff & Vale, Aneurin Bevan, Cwm Taf Morgannwg). Five-year MBChB spiral curriculum - concepts revisited with increasing complexity. Clinical placements across NHS Tayside, NHS Fife, NHS Highland, and

Intake size: Cardiff — ~270 home + ~30 international places per year (A100).; Dundee — Home (Scottish + Contextual) ~825 places; RUK ~130; International ~156 (2025 entry).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Cardiff: International (2024): 60/146 = 41%; Welsh: 232/349 = 66%; RUK: 347/664 = 52%; ~600 offers from 1000 interviews in 2025. Dundee: RUK Non-Contextual (2025): 73/130 = 56%; Scottish: 647/825 = 78%; International: 86/156 = 55%.

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.

Cardiff: Leading Welsh medical school with strong community-medicine and research focus. GCSE-heavy scoring (/27) - full points typically requires 9 grade 8/9s. UCAT is used to rank candidates only when there are too many at the maximum GCSE score.

Dundee: Scottish medical school renowned for anatomy teaching and medical research. Shortlisting weights 60% academic / 40% UCAT for school leavers (40/60 for graduates). Both A-level predictions and GCSEs feed the academic score.