Cardiff vs Nottingham

Cardiff's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1700, while Nottingham sits at approximately 1850.

The 150-point spread matters: Cardiff offers slightly more headroom for an average-strong UCAT, while Nottingham expects performance closer to the national 75th-90th percentile.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Cardiff: not separately disclosed; Nottingham: ~1700+ /2700 (A108 Foundation Year - lower threshold). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

Cardiff requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Nottingham 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. Nottingham: GCSE results form part of the academic profile alongside A-Level predictions. Maths and English at minimum grade 6 typically expected.

Both Cardiff and Nottingham 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; Nottingham in December - March.

Cardiff runs a Case-based curriculum; Nottingham runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Cardiff leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Nottingham 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 with compulsory intercalated BMedSci built into the course (one of few UK schools to embed BMedSci as standard).

Intake size: Cardiff — ~270 home + ~30 international places per year (A100).; Nottingham — ~250 home + ~30 international places per year.. 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. Nottingham: All Students (2024): 519/913 = 57% (or 336/911 = 37% from another source); A108 WP Foundation Year: 61/188 = 32%.

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.

Nottingham: Scoring system is now distinct from Lincoln's, weighting GCSE (/32), UCAT (/40) and SJT (/10) - band 4 SJT auto-rejected. No use of predicted A-level grades.