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

Edinburgh is in Edinburgh, UK. University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is in Preston, UK. Scottish-domiciled applicants funded by SAAS pay no tuition fees at Scottish medical schools — a substantial funding advantage worth tens of thousands of pounds over the degree. Rest-of-UK applicants still pay £9,250/year.

When does each school release decisions?

Edinburgh 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

Edinburgh vs University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

Edinburgh and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Edinburgh is based in Edinburgh (Scotland) while University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) sits in Preston (England), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs AAB) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers. 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 2014) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Edinburgh and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Comparison field	EdinburghEdinburgh	University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)Preston
Quick comparison
Location	Edinburgh, UK	Preston, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (theoretically minimum, but AAA* predictions ideal for RUK/English applicants to maximise post-interview chances) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics	AAB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry (home applicants)
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.	UCAT used for home applicant shortlisting; no published cut-off
Interview format	Half-day assessment day, held at Edinburgh Medical School or online (Edinburgh describes it as 'not a typical MMI format')	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
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	March - April

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (theoretically minimum, but AAA* predictions ideal for RUK/English applicants to maximise post-interview chances) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics	AAB at A-level including Biology and Chemistry (home applicants)
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry plus one of Biology / Mathematics / Physics	-
A-Level resit policy	Resits considered with strong justification.	-
GCSE requirements	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 fewer than 8 were sat. It does not publish a target grade profile beyond the minimum.	-
GCSE scoring methodology	Best 8 GCSEs are scored as part of the academic component, which carries the large majority of the pre-assessment-day ranking (UCAT 17.5% and SJT 7.5% make up the rest). Proportional scoring applies w…	-
Scottish Highers	National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers are all considered, and the standard offer requires strong Higher and Advanced Higher performance. Edinburgh does not publish a separate Scottish UCAT minimum - the published cut-off of 1,850 for 2027 entry applies to all applicants except those carrying a Plus Flag.	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	Strong Advanced Higher performance expected for full academic points	-
International Baccalaureate	38 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including HL Chemistry plus one of Biology / Mathematics / Physics	-
Graduate-entry degree requirement	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above. UCAT still required - graduate applicants ranked alongside undergraduate by total academic + UCAT score.	-
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	Plus Flag applicants are exempt from the cut-off entirely and are considered with any UCAT total, and they receive a 10% uplift on their UCAT score.	-
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	The SJT band is worth 7.5% of the application score. Band 4 means you will not be considered for entry - Edinburgh applies this to everyone, including applicants eligible for widening-access concessions.	-
UCAT notes	The 1,850 cut-off is necessary but nowhere near sufficient - clearing it only keeps you in the ranking. The UCAT total is worth 17.5% of the application score and the SJT band a further 7.5%; the acad…	UCLan publishes limited shortlisting detail. Threshold varies year-on-year; check the official course page closer to your application year.

Degree awarded	MBChB with BMedSci (Hons)	MBBS
Course length	6 years	5 years
Teaching style	Integrated	Spiral
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	Year 2	Year 1
Placement geography	Lothian and the south of Scotland	Lancashire and Cumbria
Named placement sites	-	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	Built in — year 3 is the honours BMedSci research year.	Optional and selective: after year 4, high-performing students may be offered an additional year to gain a master’s degree.
Course highlight	A mandatory year 6 elective, with partners including the University of Sydney, Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medicine.	-

Interview window	December - February	December - February
Interview details	Edinburgh invites roughly the top 800 ranked applicants to a half-day assessment day, which it runs as a series of short interviews rather than a standard MMI circuit, and which includes a collaborati…	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, Veterinary Medicine, Biomedical Sciences	Medicine, Community Medicine
Established	1583	2014
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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…	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://study.ed.ac.uk/programmes/undergraduate/354-mbchb-medicine-6-year-programme	https://www.lancashire.ac.uk/

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

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

Edinburgh vs University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

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

Edinburgh 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

Edinburgh uses Assessment day (Half-day assessment day, held at Edinburgh Medical School or online (Edinburgh describes it as 'not a typical MMI format')); University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) 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, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is the better fit.

Interview windows: Edinburgh interviews in December - February; University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in December - February.

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.

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. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Edinburgh feeds into the Scotland foundation programme network; University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) into the England 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

Edinburgh: home applicants — 1850+ /2700 - a hard floor for 2027 entry. 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.

Edinburgh uses Assessment day: Half-day assessment day, held at Edinburgh Medical School or online (Edinburgh describes it as 'not a typical MMI format'). University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The two formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each, with at least 3 full mock interviews per format before sitting either. Interview windows: December - February (Edinburgh); December - February (University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)).

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. 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.

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 fewer than 8 were sat. It does not publish a target grade profile beyond the minimum. Best 8 GCSEs are scored as part of the academic component, which carries the large majority of the pre-assessment-day ranking (UCAT 17.5% and SJT 7.5% make up the rest). Proportional scoring applies where school policy meant fewer than 8 GCSEs were sat. University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) — GCSE performance considered as part of the broader academic profile; specific scoring not published.

Edinburgh's selection methodology: Each application is assessed independently by two members of admissions staff against the academic criteria, scoring the best 8 GCSEs plus A-level/Higher performance. Weighted UCAT (17.5%) and SJT (7.5%) points are added, applications are ranked, and roughly the top 800 are invited to a half-day assessment day - which Edinburgh itself calls an interview. Offers follow soon after the final assessment day. 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

EdinburghEntry 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 11 September 2026.