Cardiff vs Edge Hill

Cardiff's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1700, while Edge Hill sits at approximately 2050.

That's a 350-point gap — large enough to put the two schools in completely different competitiveness tiers. An applicant scoring in the 1800-1900 band would be competitive at Cardiff but borderline at Edge Hill.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Cardiff: not separately disclosed; Edge Hill: ~1900+ /2700 (Foundation Year). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

Cardiff requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Edge Hill 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. Edge Hill: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science.

Both Cardiff and Edge Hill 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.

Interview windows: Cardiff interviews in December - February; Edge Hill in December - March.

Cardiff runs a Case-based curriculum; Edge Hill runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Cardiff leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Edge Hill centres learning around clinical cases.

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 with PBL and case-based learning. Clinical placements across Lancashire NHS sites (Southport & Ormskirk, Wirral, Mersey Care).

Intake size: Cardiff — ~270 home + ~30 international places per year (A100).; Edge Hill — ~100 places per year (small cohort).. 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. Edge Hill: Home Student (2023): 32/115 = 28% - chances may have improved with 63 places now (vs 30 in 2023, 50 in 2024).

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.

Edge Hill: Significant proportional increase in places - now 63 places, up from 30 in 2023 and 50 in 2024. UCAT thresholds may have softened with growth. International students not accepted. Band 4 SJT auto-rejected.