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Medical school comparison

Dundee vs Southampton

Dundee and Southampton are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Dundee is based in Dundee (Scotland) while Southampton sits in Southampton (England), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

The interview formats diverge — Traditional vs Panel — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different.

Side-by-side comparison

Dundee

Dundee

Quick comparison

Location
Dundee, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (minimum) - A*A*A or A*A*A* recommended for non-contextual RUK due to use in shortlisting algorithm
TrueScore
Dundee TrueScore 1700
UCAT home cut-off
No published threshold for the current scale. Dundee publishes admissions statistics by year of entry, but warns that because Abstract Reasoning was withdrawn in 2025 and the maximum moved from 3,600 to 2,700, the figures shown are not directly comparable with scores from 2025 onwards.
Interview format
Two-part selection (~1h40m): observed 30-minute group discussion, then a structured traditional one-to-one discussion with an assessor
Post-interview chance
RUK Non-Contextual (2025): 73/130 = 56%; Scottish: 647/825 = 78%; International: 86/156 = 55%
Decision date
March onwards

Southampton

Southampton

Quick comparison

Location
Southampton, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Biology and one of Chemistry / Physics / Psychology / Sociology / Environmental Studies / Geography
TrueScore
Southampton TrueScore 2000
UCAT home cut-off
No indication published. Southampton ranks applicants by UCAT and invites the top scorers, but states that the score needed varies year on year and that it is therefore not possible to tell applicants what it will be.
Interview format
Selection Day - Panel and Group
Post-interview chance
Home Students: 574/834 = 69%; International (2023): 17/59 = 30%
Decision date
March onwards

Dundee vs Southampton - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

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.

Southampton requires AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Biology and one of Chemistry / Physics / Psychology / Sociology / Environmental Studies / Geography.

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… Southampton: Minimum 7 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, and either Biology + Chemistry or 6-6 Combined Science. GCSE retakes permitted. Used only as minimum threshold -…

Interview formats

Dundee uses Traditional (Two-part selection (~1h40m): observed 30-minute group discussion, then a structured traditional one-to-one discussion with an assessor); Southampton uses Panel (Selection Day - Panel and Group). These two formats reward different skills — Traditional emphasises academic reasoning and thinking aloud through unfamiliar problems, while Panel rewards depth and consistency.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Southampton 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; Southampton in January - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Dundee runs a Spiral curriculum; Southampton runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Dundee delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Southampton 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 Five-year BM5 integrated programme with strong emphasis on research methodology. Clinical placements across Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester, Salis

Intake size: Dundee — Home (Scottish + Contextual) ~825 places; RUK ~130; International ~156 (2025 entry).; Southampton — ~210 home + ~25 international places per year (BM5 standard programme).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Dundee: RUK Non-Contextual (2025): 73/130 = 56%; Scottish: 647/825 = 78%; International: 86/156 = 55%. Southampton: Home Students: 574/834 = 69%; International (2023): 17/59 = 30%.

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.

What makes each distinctive

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.

Southampton: Personal statement carries unusual weight - selectors use it to drive the panel section if you reach Selection Day. SJT is not considered. Course updated for 2025: the integrated BMedSc award is being removed in favour of more clinical learning time.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Dundee feeds into the Scotland foundation programme network; Southampton into the England network. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Dundee; if you prefer lecture-led foundations, the other suits better.

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

Neither school publishes a single fixed UCAT cut-off; both use UCAT as part of a composite shortlisting score alongside GCSE and personal-statement weighting. Dundee guidance: No published threshold for the current scale. Dundee publishes admissions statistics by year of entry, but warns that because Abstract Reasoning was withdrawn in 2025 and the maximum moved from 3,600 to 2,700, the figures shown are not directly comparable with scores from 2025 onwards.. Southampton guidance: No indication published. Southampton ranks applicants by UCAT and invites the top scorers, but states that the score needed varies year on year and that it is therefore not possible to tell applicants what it will be..

Where to go next

DundeeEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
SouthamptonEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

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