Where are Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL) located, and how does that affect cost?

Edge Hill is in Ormskirk, UK. King's College London (KCL) is in London, UK. Tuition is £9,250/year at both for UK home applicants; the main cost difference is accommodation (London accommodation typically runs 30-50% above the national average).

When does each school release decisions?

Edge Hill typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. King's College London (KCL) releases medicine decisions By the end of May. If one is earlier than the other, you may need to hold a decision while waiting for the second school — be ready to compare in real time.

Medical school comparison

Edge Hill vs King's College London (KCL)

Q: What A-Level grades do Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL) require?

Edge Hill requires AAA including Biology and Chemistry, OR A*A*B / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above. King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Edge Hill is based in Ormskirk (England) while King's College London (KCL) 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. King's College London (KCL) is the older institution (founded 1829); the other (founded 2020) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL).
Comparison field	Edge HillOrmskirk	King's College London (KCL)London
Quick comparison
Location	Ormskirk, UK	London, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR AAB / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above	A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
TrueScore	Edge Hill TrueScore 1950	King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150
UCAT home cut-off	Edge Hill does not publish a UCAT cut-off. Shortlisting is UCAT-led once the minimum academic requirements are met, so the effective bar moves with the strength of each cohort.	No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores".
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Home Student (2023): 32/115 = 28% - chances may have improved with 63 places now (vs 30 in 2023, 50 in 2024)	Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).
Decision date	March onwards	By the end of May

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR AAB / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above	A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Biology and Chemistry both required	Biology and Chemistry both required
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted	Resits accepted - KCL has clarified via FOI that "a first resit is considered equally to applicants taking their first sittings" (19 resit applicants received an interview in 2024, 16 received offers)
GCSE requirements	At least 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above (or equivalent), including Biology, Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics. Double Science 6-6 accepted in lieu of separate Bio/Chem.	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics
GCSE scoring methodology	Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met	GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance is read in the context of your educational background. King's…
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Biology and Chemistry	38 points overall (including TOK/EE), or an aggregate of 19 from three Higher Levels, and must include grade 6 in Higher Level Biology and Higher Level Chemistry
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	Graduate applicants typically hold 2:1 or above in any honours degree, plus required A-level Chemistry and Biology grades. KCL accepts graduates onto the standard 6-year MBBS A100.
Alternative qualifications	Edge Hill does NOT accept international students. Foundation Year (A104) route available with lower UCAT bar (~1750 /2700).	-

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	-	No separate cut-off published.
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	No significant use, band 4 auto-rejected	Band 4 automatically rejected. Band 3 riskier - only 37/360 band 3 applicants received interview in 2024.
UCAT notes	International students are not accepted. A Band 4 SJT is not accepted.	King's shortlists on A-level grades, UCAT, personal statement and GCSE grades together, and says exam results and UCAT are "perhaps the most important factors". Its published UCAT statistics stop at t…

Degree awarded	MBChB	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years (6 with intercalation)
Teaching style	Case-based learning + Team-based learning	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	Year 2	-
Placement geography	The north west of England	London and the south east of England
Named placement sites	-	Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital
Intercalation	-	Optional one-year BSc between Stages 2 and 3, spanning clinical and biomedical sciences and the humanities.
Course highlight	Students are allocated to a specific hospital for the whole of their training rather than rotating between sites.	Twinned with medical schools around the world, offering clinical exchanges.

Interview window	December - March	November - May
Interview details	MMI format with 1 minute of prep outside each station and 7 minutes to answer. Probing follow-up questions are common - treat them as opportunities to develop your answer rather than signs you have go…	MMI format with stations covering ethical scenarios, communication and clinical problem-solving. No offer is made without an interview, and King's runs them across an unusually long window - November…

Specialities	Medicine, Community Medicine	Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences
Established	2020	1829
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Significant proportional increase in places - now 63 places, up from 30 in 2023 and 50 in 2024. UCAT thresholds may have softened with growth. International students not accepted. Band 4 SJT auto-reje…	Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.
Official course page	https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/course/medicine/	https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/medicine-mbbs

Edge Hill

Ormskirk

Quick comparison

Location: Ormskirk, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR A*A*B / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above
TrueScore: Edge Hill TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off: Edge Hill does not publish a UCAT cut-off. Shortlisting is UCAT-led once the minimum academic requirements are met, so the effective bar moves with the strength of each cohort.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Home Student (2023): 32/115 = 28% - chances may have improved with 63 places now (vs 30 in 2023, 50 in 2024)
Decision date: March onwards

King's College London (KCL)

London

Quick comparison

Location: London, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
TrueScore: King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150
UCAT home cut-off: No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores".
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).
Decision date: By the end of May

Edge Hill vs King's College London (KCL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Edge Hill requires AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry, OR A*A*B / A*AB with Biology and Chemistry at grade A or above plus a third subject at grade B or above.

King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.

King's College London (KCL) is the stricter A-Level offer; Edge Hill is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Edge Hill carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Edge Hill: At least 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above (or equivalent), including Biology, Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics. Double Science 6-6 accepted in lieu of separate Bio/Chem. Used only as minimum… King's College London (KCL): Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics.

GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance…

Interview formats

Both Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL) use MMI interviews, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot-topic answers and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer.

Interview windows: Edge Hill interviews in December - March; King's College London (KCL) in November - May.

Curriculum and teaching style

Intake size: Edge Hill — 63 places per year, up from 50 in 2024 and 30 in 2023.; King's College London (KCL) — Around 300 places on A100, within roughly 410 across all of King's medicine programmes.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).

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

Edge Hill: Significant proportional increase in places - now 63 places, up from 30 in 2023 and 50 in 2024. UCAT thresholds may have softened with growth. International students not accepted. Band 4 SJT auto-rejected.

King's College London (KCL): Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Edge Hill is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Edge Hill feeds into the England foundation programme network; King's College London (KCL) into the London network.

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. Edge Hill guidance: Edge Hill does not publish a UCAT cut-off. Shortlisting is UCAT-led once the minimum academic requirements are met, so the effective bar moves with the strength of each cohort.. King's College London (KCL) guidance: No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores"..

Edge Hill uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). King's College London (KCL) uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The format is the same, so the same prep approach applies — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot topics, and (for MMI) structured 5-7 minute station answers. Interview windows: December - March (Edge Hill); November - May (King's College London (KCL)).

Edge Hill — At least 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above (or equivalent), including Biology, Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics. Double Science 6-6 accepted in lieu of separate Bio/Chem. Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met King's College London (KCL) — Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics. GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance is read in the context of your educational background. King's does not publish a points tariff for GCSEs.

Edge Hill's selection methodology: Newer programme (first cohort 2020). UCAT + academic + MMI interview. Strong North-West / Lancashire focus. King's College London (KCL)'s selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. Understanding each school's exact algorithm is the single highest-leverage piece of pre-application research — it tells you whether your profile is competitive before you spend an application choice.

Edge Hill: Home Student (2023): 32/115 = 28% - chances may have improved with 63 places now (vs 30 in 2023, 50 in 2024). King's College London (KCL): Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).. Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

You can — UCAS allows 4 medicine/dentistry choices in total, so listing both is feasible if your profile fits each school's selection algorithm. Apply to both only if your UCAT, GCSE and predicted-grade profile is competitive against each school's published weighting. A common mistake is using two of your four slots on similar schools when a more spread-out portfolio (one safe + one stretch) would maximise overall offer probability.

Where to go next

Edge HillEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

King's College London (KCL)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 19 September 2026.

Edge Hill vs King's College London (KCL)

Side-by-side comparison

Edge Hill vs King's College London (KCL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Edge Hill vs King's College London (KCL)?

How do interviews differ between Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL)?

What A-Level grades do Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL) require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Edge Hill vs King's College London (KCL)?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Which has a higher post-interview offer rate, Edge Hill or King's College London (KCL)?

Where are Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL) located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

Should I apply to both Edge Hill and King's College London (KCL)?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons