Skip to main content
NextGen MedPrep logoNextGenMedPrep
Medical school comparison

Dundee vs UCL

Dundee and UCL are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Dundee is based in Dundee (Scotland) while UCL sits in London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination. Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

The interview formats diverge — Traditional vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. UCL is the older institution (founded 1826); the other (founded 1967) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

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 Dundee publishes admissions statistics by year of entry, but warns that because Abstract Reasoning was withdrawn in 2025 and the maximum moved from 3,600 to 2,700, the figures shown are not directly comparable with scores from 2025 onwards.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

UCL

London

Quick comparison

Location
London, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA including A*A in Chemistry and Biology in either order. The third subject is your own choice, other than General Studies or Critical Thinking.
TrueScore
UCL TrueScore 2190
UCAT home cut-off
2190+ /2700 (2026 entry threshold)
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Reasonable. Around 1,000 applicants are interviewed for 313 home and 24 overseas places, and UCL makes more offers than places because not every offer is taken up. Offers rest purely on interview performance, and UCL reviews home, international and Access UCL interview scores separately rather than applying an uplift to any group.
Decision date
Decisions are made after all the Interviews have been completed

Dundee vs UCL - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

Dundee's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2025, while UCL sits at approximately 2190.

The 165-point spread matters: Dundee offers slightly more headroom for an average-strong UCAT, while UCL expects performance closer to the national 75th-90th percentile.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Dundee: not separately disclosed; UCL: 2080+ /2700 (Access UCL, 2026 entry threshold). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

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.

UCL requires A*AA including A*A in Chemistry and Biology in either order. The third subject is your own choice, other than General Studies or Critical Thinking.

UCL is the stricter A-Level offer; Dundee is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Dundee carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

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… UCL: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics. No score or assessment of other GCSEs. GCSE resits accepted.

Used only as minimum threshold (Eng + Maths grade 6/B). Other GCSEs not scored…

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); UCL 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, UCL is the better fit.

Interview windows: Dundee interviews in December - February; UCL in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Dundee runs a Spiral curriculum; UCL runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Dundee delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while UCL 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 MBBS BSc with compulsory intercalated BSc in Year 3. Clinical placements at UCL-affiliated NHS sites including UCLH, Royal Free, and Whitting

Intake size: Dundee — Home (Scottish + Contextual) ~825 places; RUK ~130; International ~156 (2025 entry).; UCL — 313 home and 24 overseas fee-status places per year (337 in total).. 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%. UCL: Reasonable. Around 1,000 applicants are interviewed for 313 home and 24 overseas places, and UCL makes more offers than places because not every offer is taken up.

Offers rest purely on interview performance, and UCL reviews home, international and Access UCL interview scores separately rather than applying an uplift to any group.

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.

UCL: Cut-offs differ from Imperial - UCL's home threshold is lower while its international threshold is higher, partly because UCL holds more interviews relative to offers. SJT is only used as a tie-breaker between equally scored candidates.

Which is right for you?

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

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Dundee feeds into the Scotland foundation programme network; UCL into the London 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

Dundee's typical home cut-off is around 2025, while UCL sits at approximately 2190 — a 165-point spread. That's a meaningful gap; Dundee is materially more accessible for an average-to-good UCAT, while UCL expects performance closer to the top 19% of test-takers. Cut-offs change year on year and vary by tier — check each school's latest published threshold before submitting your UCAS form.

Where to go next

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

Other medical school comparisons

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