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Medical school comparison

Edinburgh vs St Mary's Twickenham

Edinburgh and St Mary's Twickenham are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Edinburgh is based in Edinburgh (Scotland) while St Mary's Twickenham sits in Twickenham, London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

The interview formats diverge — Assessment day vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. Edinburgh is the older institution (founded 1583); the other (founded 2025) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Quick comparison

Location
Edinburgh, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (theoretically minimum, but A*A*A* predictions ideal for RUK/English applicants to maximise post-interview chances) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics
TrueScore
Edinburgh TrueScore 1850
UCAT home cut-off
1850+ /2700 - a hard floor for 2027 entry. Edinburgh states that an applicant scoring below the cut-off will not be considered at all.
Interview format
Half-day assessment day, held at Edinburgh Medical School or online (Edinburgh describes it as 'not a typical MMI format')
Post-interview chance
Around 800 applicants reach the assessment day each cycle, competing for an intake in the low hundreds across the Scottish, RUK and international pools, so a substantial share of interviewees are unsuccessful. Edinburgh publishes per-cycle admissions statistics with the current breakdown.
Decision date
March onwards

St Mary's Twickenham

Twickenham, London

Quick comparison

Location
Twickenham, London, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
TrueScore
St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off
-
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
-
Decision date
March onwards

Edinburgh vs St Mary's Twickenham - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Edinburgh requires AAA at A-level (theoretically minimum, but A*A*A* predictions ideal for RUK/English applicants to maximise post-interview chances) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics.

St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics.

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: Minimum grade 7/A in Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and English. Edinburgh then scores your best 8 GCSEs as part of the academic component, applying proportional scoring where school policy meant… St Mary's Twickenham: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science).

Interview formats

Edinburgh uses Assessment day (Half-day assessment day, held at Edinburgh Medical School or online (Edinburgh describes it as 'not a typical MMI format')); St Mary's Twickenham 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, St Mary's Twickenham is the better fit.

Interview windows: Edinburgh interviews in December - February; St Mary's Twickenham in December - March.

What makes each distinctive

Edinburgh: Shortlisting is dominated by the academic score: the UCAT total contributes 17.5% and the SJT band 7.5%, with the academic assessment carrying the rest. Every application is read independently by two admissions staff, and only your FIRST attempt at a required subject counts - retaking it in a different qualification does not help.

An SJT of Band 4 ends the application outright, with no widening-access exemption. Strong research focus and international reputation.

St Mary's Twickenham: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS medical choices. Weigh that against the accreditation risk: the MBBS is not yet GMC-accredited, and St Mary's contingency is that students would transfer to the University of Lancashire if accreditation is not achieved.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Edinburgh feeds into the Scotland foundation programme network; St Mary's Twickenham 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. Edinburgh guidance: 1850+ /2700 - a hard floor for 2027 entry. Edinburgh states that an applicant scoring below the cut-off will not be considered at all.. St Mary's Twickenham guidance: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only. No SJT use stated. Any quoted 'cut-off' for this school is guesswork - it has not yet completed an admissions cycle..

Where to go next

EdinburghEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
St Mary's TwickenhamEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

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