Edinburgh vs Nottingham

Edinburgh requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology/Physics/Mathematics.

Nottingham 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 — Edinburgh: Strong GCSE/National 5 profile expected; not algorithmically scored. Nottingham: GCSE results form part of the academic profile alongside A-Level predictions. Maths and English at minimum grade 6 typically expected.

Edinburgh uses Assessment day (Assessment day: three 12-minute individual stations plus a 45-minute group exercise (Edinburgh describes it as 'not a typical MMI format')); Nottingham uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)). These two formats reward different skills — Assessment day 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, Nottingham is the better fit.

Interview windows: Edinburgh interviews in December - February; Nottingham in December - March.

Both schools deliver a Integrated-style curriculum, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar across years 1-3.

Specifics: Six-year MBChB with compulsory intercalated honours degree in Year 3 (one of the largest intercalated cohorts in the UK). Five-year MBChB with compulsory intercalated BMedSci built into the course (one of few UK schools to embed BMedSci as standard).

Intake size: Edinburgh — ~210 Scottish + RUK + ~22 international places per year.; Nottingham — ~250 home + ~30 international places per year.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Edinburgh: RUK student: 166/300 = 68%; Scottish student: 424/432 = 98% (effectively not interviewed); Overseas student: 45/98 = 46%. Nottingham: All Students (2024): 519/913 = 57% (or 336/911 = 37% from another source); A108 WP Foundation Year: 61/188 = 32%.

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.

Edinburgh: Around 50% academic, 35% UCAT and 15% SJT in shortlisting; SJT band 4 is rejected outright. Scottish applicants face a much lower bar than RUK and are effectively guaranteed an interview if they meet minimums. Strong research focus and international reputation.

Nottingham: Scoring system is now distinct from Lincoln's, weighting GCSE (/32), UCAT (/40) and SJT (/10) - band 4 SJT auto-rejected. No use of predicted A-level grades.