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Medical school comparison

Cumbria Medical School vs St George's

Cumbria Medical School and St George's are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Cumbria Medical School is based in Carlisle (England) while St George's sits in London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

On UCAT alone there is roughly a 250-point gap between them — a substantial difference that should shape which you list as firm choice vs. insurance. Their A-Level requirements (BBB vs AAA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers. St George's is the older institution (founded 1733); the other (founded 2024) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Cumbria Medical School

Carlisle

Quick comparison

Location
Carlisle, UK
A-Level offer
BBB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry
TrueScore
1700
UCAT home cut-off
~1700+ /2700 estimated (no published cut-off)
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
-
Decision date
March onwards

St George's

London

Quick comparison

Location
London, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
TrueScore
1950
UCAT home cut-off
~1950+ /2700 (2025 entry cut-off ≈ 1950; 2024 entry was 2018)
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred)
Decision date
Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished
Compare different schools

Cumbria Medical School vs St George's - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

Cumbria Medical School's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1700, while St George's sits at approximately 1950.

The 250-point spread matters: Cumbria Medical School offers slightly more headroom for an average-strong UCAT, while St George's expects performance closer to the national 75th-90th percentile.

A-Level and academic profile

Cumbria Medical School requires BBB including Chemistry and Biology.

St George's requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

St George's is the stricter A-Level offer; Cumbria Medical School is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Cumbria Medical School carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

Interview formats

Both Cumbria Medical School and St George's 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: Cumbria Medical School interviews in January - March; St George's in November - February.

What makes each distinctive

Cumbria Medical School: First medical school in Cumbria, focusing on rural and community healthcare to serve underserved areas in the region.

St George's: Strong holistic-care and soft-skills emphasis. SJT used post-interview in offer making (B1 = 15 pts, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = nothing). St George's is also generous with deferred-entry offers, often made to borderline applicants in lieu of rejection.

Which is right for you?

If your UCAT lands below the UK median (~1880/2700), Cumbria Medical School is the more realistic firm-choice option. For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Cumbria Medical School is the lower-risk academic option.

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Cumbria Medical School feeds into the England foundation programme network; St George's 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

Where to go next

Cumbria Medical SchoolEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in fullSt George'sEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 4 August 2026.