Dundee vs Edinburgh

Dundee requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Edinburgh requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology/Physics/Mathematics.

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 — Dundee: Biology, English and Maths required at GCSE grade 6/B (if not studied at A-Level). Higher GCSE/National 5 grades essential due to high academic weighting in shortlisting. Edinburgh: Strong GCSE/National 5 profile expected; not algorithmically scored.

Dundee uses Traditional (Two-part selection (~1h40m): observed 30-minute group discussion, then a structured traditional one-to-one discussion with an assessor); Edinburgh uses Assessment day (Assessment day: three 12-minute individual stations plus a 45-minute group exercise (Edinburgh describes it as 'not a typical MMI format')).

These two formats reward different skills — Traditional emphasises academic reasoning and thinking aloud through unfamiliar problems, while Assessment day rewards malleability and intellectual honesty.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, either may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, either is the better fit.

Interview windows: Dundee interviews in December - February; Edinburgh in December - February.

Dundee runs a Spiral curriculum; Edinburgh runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Dundee delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Edinburgh uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB spiral curriculum - concepts revisited with increasing complexity. Clinical placements across NHS Tayside, NHS Fife, NHS Highland, and Six-year MBChB with compulsory intercalated honours degree in Year 3 (one of the largest intercalated cohorts in the UK).

Intake size: Dundee — Home (Scottish + Contextual) ~825 places; RUK ~130; International ~156 (2025 entry).; Edinburgh — ~210 Scottish + RUK + ~22 international places per year.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Dundee: RUK Non-Contextual (2025): 73/130 = 56%; Scottish: 647/825 = 78%; International: 86/156 = 55%. Edinburgh: RUK student: 166/300 = 68%; Scottish student: 424/432 = 98% (effectively not interviewed); Overseas student: 45/98 = 46%.

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.

Dundee: Scottish medical school renowned for anatomy teaching and medical research. Shortlisting weights 60% academic / 40% UCAT for school leavers (40/60 for graduates). Both A-level predictions and GCSEs feed the academic score.

Edinburgh: Around 50% academic, 35% UCAT and 15% SJT in shortlisting; SJT band 4 is rejected outright. Scottish applicants face a much lower bar than RUK and are effectively guaranteed an interview if they meet minimums. Strong research focus and international reputation.