Chester Medical School (GEM) and St Mary's Twickenham are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Chester Medical School (GEM) is based in Chester (England) while St Mary's Twickenham sits in Twickenham, London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination. Their A-Level requirements (Graduate vs AAA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.
| Comparison field | Chester Medical School (GEM)Chester | St Mary's TwickenhamTwickenham, London |
|---|---|---|
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| Location | Chester, UK | Twickenham, London, UK |
| A-Level offer | Graduate entry - degree required | AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics |
| TrueScoreTrueScore is our prediction of the UCAT score required to be invited to interview at this school for the upcoming cycle. Built from multi-year FOI data and applicant trends. Click any badge to see the full breakdown. | 1820GEM | 1700intl |
| UCAT home cut-off | - | - |
| Interview format | Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) | Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) |
| Post-interview chance | - | - |
| Decision date | March onwards | March onwards |
Chester
Quick comparison
Twickenham, London
Quick comparison
Chester Medical School (GEM) requires Graduate entry - degree required. St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA prediction and offer requirements, must include chemistry or biology as well as one of biology/chemistry/physics/maths. Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances. GCSEs: grade 6 minimum in maths, English language, biology and chemistry (or dual award science).. St Mary's Twickenham is the stricter A-Level offer; Chester Medical School (GEM) is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Chester Medical School (GEM) carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.
Both Chester Medical School (GEM) and St Mary's Twickenham 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: Chester Medical School (GEM) interviews in December - March; St Mary's Twickenham in December - March.
Chester Medical School (GEM): Graduate entry programme with focus on serving local communities. Newer course with a regional commitment to north-west England. St Mary's Twickenham: For international students only and new this year - apply directly in addition to your 4 UCAS medical choices, so no harm in giving it a try. The medical school is actively seeking links with international applicants.
For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Chester Medical School (GEM) is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Chester Medical School (GEM) feeds into the England foundation programme network; St Mary's Twickenham 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.
School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 20 June 2026.
