Dundee vs Newcastle

Dundee's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2025, while Newcastle sits at approximately 400.

That's a 1625-point gap — large enough to put the two schools in completely different competitiveness tiers. An applicant scoring in the 900-1500 band would be competitive at Newcastle but borderline at Dundee.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Dundee: not separately disclosed; Newcastle: Same points table, but contextual applicants are ranked as a separate stream from standard applicants.. Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

Dundee requires AAA at A-level (minimum) - A*A*A or A*A*A* recommended for non-contextual RUK due to use in shortlisting algorithm.

Newcastle requires AAA at A-level (excluding Use of Mathematics, World Development, Communication and Culture). Practical pass required for Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

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 Mathematics at minimum grade 6/B if not studied at A-level. GCSEs feed the academic score (60% of pre-interview ranking for school leavers); higher grades are essential due to… Newcastle: Best 8 GCSEs scored - applicant must have achieved at this level for academic competitiveness.

Not used if academic A-level criteria are met. Best 8 achieved GCSEs scored out of 40 - Newcastle names…

Dundee uses Traditional (Two-part selection (~1h40m): observed 30-minute group discussion, then a structured traditional one-to-one discussion with an assessor); Newcastle uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)). These two formats reward different skills — Traditional emphasises academic reasoning and thinking aloud through unfamiliar problems, while MMI rewards breadth and quick recovery.

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

Interview windows: Dundee interviews in December - February; Newcastle in December - January.

Dundee runs a Spiral curriculum; Newcastle runs a Case-based curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Dundee delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Newcastle centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB spiral curriculum - concepts revisited with increasing complexity. Clinical placements across NHS Tayside, NHS Fife, NHS Highland, and Five-year MBBS with case-based learning. Clinical placements across Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust and partner sites in the North East.

Intake size: Dundee — Home (Scottish + Contextual) ~825 places; RUK ~130; International ~156 (2025 entry).; Newcastle — Newcastle does not publish an A100 intake figure in its admissions policy. Note that NUMed Malaysia, the branch campus teaching the same MBBS, runs its own separate admissions route and is not part of the Newcastle intake..

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%. Newcastle: International: 82/88 = 93% (2025); Graduate Entry: 46/86 = 53%; Home Non-Contextual: 418/577 = 72%; Home Widening Participation: 194/350 = 55%.

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.

Newcastle: Newcastle publishes an unusually explicit scoring model: academic points out of 40 plus UCAT points out of 60, combined into one ranked academic-screen score. The UCAT table is published in full, so you can read your own score straight off it.

Standard and contextual applicants are ranked as separate streams, and PARTNERS is Newcastle's supported-entry route with its own eligibility conditions and a compulsory summer school.