Where are Edge Hill and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) located, and how does that affect cost?

Edge Hill is in Ormskirk, UK. University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is in Preston, 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. University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) releases medicine decisions March - April. 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 University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

Edge Hill and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in England, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy. Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs AAB) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Edge Hill and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Comparison field	Edge HillOrmskirk	University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)Preston
Quick comparison
Location	Ormskirk, UK	Preston, 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	AAB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry (home applicants)
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.	UCAT used for home applicant shortlisting; no published cut-off
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)	-
Decision date	March onwards	March - April

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	AAB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry (home applicants)
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Biology and Chemistry both required	-
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted	-
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.	-
GCSE scoring methodology	Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Biology and Chemistry	-
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	-
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	-	Cognitive subtests considered alongside academic and personal-statement assessment
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	No significant use, band 4 auto-rejected	-
UCAT notes	International students are not accepted. A Band 4 SJT is not accepted.	UCLan publishes limited shortlisting detail. Threshold varies year-on-year; check the official course page closer to your application year.

Degree awarded	MBChB	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Case-based learning + Team-based learning	Spiral
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	Year 1	Year 1
Placement geography	North West England	Lancashire and Cumbria
Named placement sites	Whiston Hospital (Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust), Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan (Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)	East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
Intercalation	Optional: a 12-month master's taken between Years 3 and 4, open to students who pass all Year 3 summative assessments. Options include Edge Hill MRes, MSc and MA programmes, and a limited number of fu…	Optional and selective: after year 4, high-performing students may be offered an additional year to gain a master’s degree.
Course highlight	Under a home trust model, each student is based at one hospital trust for Years 3 to 5 (the clinical years) and keeps the same educational supervisor.	-

Interview window	December - March	December - February
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 of approximately 7-9 timed stations covering motivation, ethics, communication, role-play and data interpretation. Home and international applicants are interviewed on the same MMI structure.

Specialities	Medicine, Community Medicine	Medicine, Community Medicine
Established	2020	2014
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…	One of the first UK universities to run a privately-funded medical school open to international students; substantial international cohort blended with a smaller home intake. Strong Lancashire regiona…
Official course page	https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/course/medicine/	https://www.lancashire.ac.uk/

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

University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

Preston

Quick comparison

Location: Preston, UK
A-Level offer: AAB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry (home applicants)
TrueScore: -
UCAT home cut-off: UCAT used for home applicant shortlisting; no published cut-off
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March - April

Edge Hill vs University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) - 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.

University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) requires AAB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry (home applicants).

Edge Hill is the stricter A-Level offer; University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

Interview formats

Both Edge Hill and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) 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; University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in December - February.

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.

University of Central Lancashire (UCLan): One of the first UK universities to run a privately-funded medical school open to international students; substantial international cohort blended with a smaller home intake. Strong Lancashire regional placement network.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is the lower-risk academic option. Both schools sit in the same England foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily.

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

Edge Hill: no fixed home cut-off published; international students are not accepted. University of Central Lancashire (UCLan): home applicants — no published cut-off. These are the figures on record for 2027-entry applicants. Schools without a fixed cut-off rank UCAT inside a composite shortlisting score, so thresholds move with each year's applicant pool — confirm the latest figure on each school's admissions page.

Edge Hill uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) 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); December - February (University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)).

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. University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) requires AAB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry (home applicants). Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

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 University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) — GCSE performance considered as part of the broader academic profile; specific scoring not published.

Edge Hill's selection methodology: Newer programme (first cohort 2020). UCAT + academic + MMI interview. Strong North-West / Lancashire focus. University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)'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.

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

University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 14 August 2026.