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

Cardiff is in Cardiff, 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?

Cardiff typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. 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

Cardiff vs King's College London (KCL)

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

Cardiff requires AAA including Biology or Chemistry plus a second science from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. 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.

Cardiff and King's College London (KCL) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Cardiff is based in Cardiff (Wales) 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 (AAA vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Cardiff and King's College London (KCL).
Comparison field	CardiffCardiff	King's College London (KCL)London
Quick comparison
Location	Cardiff, UK	London, 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.	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	Cardiff TrueScore 1700	King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150
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).	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)	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	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	March onwards	By the end of May

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.	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	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 - 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	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.	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics
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.	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	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Biology and Chemistry	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	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.	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 cut-off published.
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	Not considered at all	Band 4 automatically rejected. Band 3 riskier - only 37/360 band 3 applicants received interview in 2024.
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…	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	MBBCh	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years (6 with intercalation)
Teaching style	Case-based learning + Spiral	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	-	-
Placement geography	Across Wales	London and the south east of England
Named placement sites	-	Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital
Intercalation	-	Optional one-year BSc between Stages 2 and 3, spanning clinical and biomedical sciences and the humanities.
Course highlight	You can spend all or part of the course based in north Wales and still graduate from Cardiff.	Twinned with medical schools around the world, offering clinical exchanges.

Interview window	December - February	November - May
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 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	Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy	Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences
Established	1893	1829
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…	Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.
Official course page	https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/course/medicine-mbbch	https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/medicine-mbbs

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

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

Cardiff vs King's College London (KCL) - 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.

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.

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

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* =… 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

Both Cardiff and King's College London (KCL) 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; King's College London (KCL) in November - May.

Curriculum and teaching style

Intake size: Cardiff — ~270 home + ~30 international places per year (A100).; 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

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

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.

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, Cardiff is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Cardiff feeds into the Wales 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. 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).. 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"..

Cardiff uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). King's College London (KCL) 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); November - May (King's College London (KCL)).

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. 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.

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. 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.

Cardiff: International (2024): 60/146 = 41%; Welsh: 232/349 = 66%; RUK: 347/664 = 52%; ~600 offers from 1000 interviews in 2025. 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

CardiffEntry 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.

Cardiff vs King's College London (KCL)

Side-by-side comparison

Cardiff vs King's College London (KCL) - 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 King's College London (KCL)?

How do interviews differ between Cardiff and King's College London (KCL)?

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

How are GCSEs weighted at Cardiff vs King's College London (KCL)?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Which has a higher post-interview offer rate, Cardiff or King's College London (KCL)?

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

When does each school release decisions?

Should I apply to both Cardiff and King's College London (KCL)?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons