How do interviews differ between Cardiff and Edge Hill?

Cardiff uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Edge Hill uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The format is the same, so the same prep approach applies — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot topics, and (for MMI) structured 5-7 minute station answers. Interview windows: December - February (Cardiff); December - March (Edge Hill).

Where are Cardiff and Edge Hill located, and how does that affect cost?

Cardiff is in Cardiff, UK. Edge Hill is in Ormskirk, 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?

Cardiff typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. Edge Hill releases medicine decisions March onwards. 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

Cardiff vs Edge Hill

Cardiff and Edge Hill are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Cardiff is based in Cardiff (Wales) while Edge Hill sits in Ormskirk (England), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

Cardiff is the older institution (founded 1893); the other (founded 2020) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Cardiff and Edge Hill.
Comparison field	CardiffCardiff	Edge HillOrmskirk
Quick comparison
Location	Cardiff, UK	Ormskirk, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Biology OR Chemistry plus a second science from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. A pass in the science practical element is required where applicable.	AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR AAB / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above
TrueScore	Cardiff TrueScore 1700	Edge Hill TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off	No minimum. Cardiff states there is no minimum UCAT score, and that a cut-off is only introduced - and varies each cycle - when more applicants reach the highest academic scores than it can interview (around 1,000).	Edge Hill does not publish a UCAT cut-off. Shortlisting is UCAT-led once the minimum academic requirements are met, so the effective bar moves with the strength of each cohort.
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	International (2024): 60/146 = 41%; Welsh: 232/349 = 66%; RUK: 347/664 = 52%; ~600 offers from 1000 interviews in 2025	Home Student (2023): 32/115 = 28% - chances may have improved with 63 places now (vs 30 in 2023, 50 in 2024)
Decision date	March onwards	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Biology OR Chemistry plus a second science from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. A pass in the science practical element is required where applicable.	AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR AAB / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Biology and Chemistry both required	Biology and Chemistry both required
A-Level resit policy	Resits only considered for applicants who held a conditional offer in the previous cycle and provide evidence of exceptional circumstances. GCSE resits accepted within one year of original sitting (English Language any time). No use of predicted A-level grades - achieved grades only.	Resits accepted
GCSE requirements	Top 9 GCSEs scored /27, must include Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Chemistry (or Double Science): A/8/9 = 3 pts, A/7 = 2 pts, B/6 = 1 pt. Achieved A-levels add up to 3 further points (A = 3, A = 2). 27/27 typical for RUK.	At least 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above (or equivalent), including Biology, Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics. Double Science 6-6 accepted in lieu of separate Bio/Chem.
GCSE scoring methodology	GCSE-heavy: top 9 GCSEs scored /27. Welsh-domiciled and contextual applicants receive up to 3 additional points. UCAT only applied as tie-break when too many applicants reach 27/27.	Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Biology and Chemistry	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Biology and Chemistry
Graduate-entry degree requirement	Graduate applicants need a 2:1 (Hons) or to be working towards one, plus BBB/ABC at A-level including the subject requirements and the minimum GCSEs. Applicants who have completed a PhD need only BBC at A-level, with all other criteria still met.	-
Alternative qualifications	-	Edge Hill does NOT accept international students. Foundation Year (A104) route available with lower UCAT bar (~1750 /2700).

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	-	-
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	Not considered at all	No significant use, band 4 auto-rejected
UCAT notes	Cardiff is academically led: GCSE and UCAT decile scores are combined to rank applicants, with an extra point for academic achievement in further or higher education. The UCAT therefore acts as a sepa…	International students are not accepted. A Band 4 SJT is not accepted.

Degree awarded	MBBCh	MBChB
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Case-based learning + Spiral	Case-based learning + Team-based learning
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	-	Year 2
Placement geography	Across Wales	The north west of England
Named placement sites	-	-
Intercalation	-	-
Course highlight	You can spend all or part of the course based in north Wales and still graduate from Cardiff.	Students are allocated to a specific hospital for the whole of their training rather than rotating between sites.

Interview window	December - February	December - March
Interview details	MMI format with stations testing motivation for medicine, communication, ethics and understanding of the Welsh healthcare context. You are told the general topic of each station beforehand.	MMI format with 1 minute of prep outside each station and 7 minutes to answer. Probing follow-up questions are common - treat them as opportunities to develop your answer rather than signs you have go…

Specialities	Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy	Medicine, Community Medicine
Established	1893	2020
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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…	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-reje…
Official course page	https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/course/medicine-mbbch	https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/course/medicine/

Cardiff

Quick comparison

Location: Cardiff, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Biology OR Chemistry plus a second science from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. A pass in the science practical element is required where applicable.
TrueScore: Cardiff TrueScore 1700
UCAT home cut-off: No minimum. Cardiff states there is no minimum UCAT score, and that a cut-off is only introduced - and varies each cycle - when more applicants reach the highest academic scores than it can interview (around 1,000).
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: International (2024): 60/146 = 41%; Welsh: 232/349 = 66%; RUK: 347/664 = 52%; ~600 offers from 1000 interviews in 2025
Decision date: March onwards

Edge Hill

Ormskirk

Quick comparison

Location: Ormskirk, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR A*A*B / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above
TrueScore: Edge Hill TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off: Edge Hill does not publish a UCAT cut-off. Shortlisting is UCAT-led once the minimum academic requirements are met, so the effective bar moves with the strength of each cohort.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Home Student (2023): 32/115 = 28% - chances may have improved with 63 places now (vs 30 in 2023, 50 in 2024)
Decision date: March onwards

Cardiff vs Edge Hill - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Cardiff requires AAA at A-level including Biology OR Chemistry plus a second science from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. A pass in the science practical element is required where applicable.

Edge Hill requires AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR A*A*B / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above.

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 /27, must include Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Chemistry (or Double Science): A*/8/9 = 3 pts, A/7 = 2 pts, B/6 = 1 pt.

Achieved A-levels add up to 3 further points (A* =… Edge Hill: At least 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above (or equivalent), including Biology, Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics. Double Science 6-6 accepted in lieu of separate Bio/Chem. Used only as minimum…

Interview formats

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.

Curriculum and teaching style

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 — 63 places per year, up from 50 in 2024 and 30 in 2023.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

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

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.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Cardiff feeds into the Wales foundation programme network; Edge Hill into the England network. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Cardiff; if you prefer lecture-led foundations, the other suits better.

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. Cardiff guidance: No minimum. Cardiff states there is no minimum UCAT score, and that a cut-off is only introduced - and varies each cycle - when more applicants reach the highest academic scores than it can interview (around 1,000).. Edge Hill guidance: Edge Hill does not publish a UCAT cut-off. Shortlisting is UCAT-led once the minimum academic requirements are met, so the effective bar moves with the strength of each cohort..

Cardiff requires AAA including Biology or Chemistry plus a second science from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. Edge Hill requires AAA including Biology and Chemistry, OR A*A*B / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school. Resit policies differ: Cardiff — Cardiff considers resit applicants on a case-by-case basis.. Edge Hill — Resits accepted..

Cardiff — Top 9 GCSEs scored /27, must include Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Chemistry (or Double Science): A*/8/9 = 3 pts, A/7 = 2 pts, B/6 = 1 pt. Achieved A-levels add up to 3 further points (A* = 3, A = 2). 27/27 typical for RUK. GCSE-heavy: top 9 GCSEs scored /27. Welsh-domiciled and contextual applicants receive up to 3 additional points. UCAT only applied as tie-break when too many applicants reach 27/27. Edge Hill — At least 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above (or equivalent), including Biology, Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics. Double Science 6-6 accepted in lieu of separate Bio/Chem. Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met

Cardiff's selection methodology: Cardiff combines GCSE points with UCAT decile scores to rank applicants, adding a point for academic achievement in further or higher education. Points come from nine GCSE subjects, which must include Biology, Chemistry, English (first) or Welsh (first), and Mathematics or Numeracy. There is no minimum UCAT score: a cut-off is introduced only when the number of applicants with the highest academic scores exceeds the roughly 1,000 Cardiff can interview, and it moves every cycle. No offer is made without an MMI. Edge Hill's selection methodology: Newer programme (first cohort 2020). UCAT + academic + MMI interview. Strong North-West / Lancashire focus. 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.

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 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%.

Cardiff runs a Case-based curriculum. Edge Hill runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies differ — pick the style that matches how you learn best. Cardiff specifics: Five-year MBBCh with case-based learning. Cardiff splits clinical placements across South Wales (Cardiff & Vale, Aneurin Bevan, Cwm Taf Morgannwg). Edge Hill specifics: Five-year MBChB with PBL and case-based learning. Clinical placements across Lancashire NHS sites (Southport & Ormskirk, Wirral, Mersey Care).

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

CardiffEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Edge HillEntry 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.

Cardiff vs Edge Hill

Side-by-side comparison

Cardiff vs Edge Hill - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Cardiff vs Edge Hill?

How do interviews differ between Cardiff and Edge Hill?

What A-Level grades do Cardiff and Edge Hill require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Cardiff vs Edge Hill?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Which has a higher post-interview offer rate, Cardiff or Edge Hill?

Where are Cardiff and Edge Hill located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Cardiff and Edge Hill use?

Should I apply to both Cardiff and Edge Hill?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons