Dundee vs North Wales (Bangor)

Dundee requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

North Wales (Bangor) 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 — 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. North Wales (Bangor): Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. Welsh-language ability welcomed but not required.

Dundee uses Traditional (Two-part selection (~1h40m): observed 30-minute group discussion, then a structured traditional one-to-one discussion with an assessor); North Wales (Bangor) 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, North Wales (Bangor) is the better fit.

Interview windows: Dundee interviews in December - February; North Wales (Bangor) in December - March.

Dundee runs a Spiral curriculum; North Wales (Bangor) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Dundee delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while North Wales (Bangor) 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 Four-year accelerated MBBCh (Cardiff) for graduates, or 5-year route. Strong rural/community placement strand across North Wales (Betsi Cadwaladr UHB)

Intake size: Dundee — Home (Scottish + Contextual) ~825 places; RUK ~130; International ~156 (2025 entry).; North Wales (Bangor) — ~30 places per year (small cohort, designed for local retention).. 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%. North Wales (Bangor): Refused to disclose. New medical school, has been in clearing in past years.

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.

North Wales (Bangor): Refused to disclose UCAT cut-offs or shortlisting weighting. Anecdotally lower thresholds, particularly for Welsh applicants. Has entered clearing in past years.