How do interviews differ between Exeter and Hertfordshire?

Exeter uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Hertfordshire 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 (Exeter); December - March (Hertfordshire).

Where are Exeter and Hertfordshire located, and how does that affect cost?

Exeter is in Exeter, Devon, England, UK, UK. Hertfordshire is in Hatfield, 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?

Exeter typically releases medicine decisions March onwards / mid-May. Hertfordshire releases medicine decisions March onwards. 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

Exeter vs Hertfordshire

Q: How are GCSEs weighted at Exeter vs Hertfordshire?

Exeter — Grade 6/B in English Language. No other GCSE requirements. Hertfordshire — Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Dual Award Science).

Exeter and Hertfordshire 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 (A*AA vs AAA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Exeter and Hertfordshire.
Comparison field	ExeterExeter, Devon, England, UK	HertfordshireHatfield
Quick comparison
Location	Exeter, Devon, England, UK, UK	Hatfield, UK
A-Level offer	A*AA at A-level including A in Chemistry and A in Biology	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) at grade A plus a third subject at grade A, completed in one sitting across a maximum of two years. General Studies and Critical Thinking excluded.
TrueScore	Exeter TrueScore 1900	Hertfordshire TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off	~1880+ /2700 with AAA* (5th decile) OR ~2100+ /2700 with AAA (8th decile). Points cut-off 74+/100.	-
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	International (2026 policy): ~33% (10 places, ~30 interviews); UK Undergrad: 366/696 = 53%	-
Decision date	March onwards / mid-May	March onwards

A-Level offer	A*AA at A-level including A in Chemistry and A in Biology	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) at grade A plus a third subject at grade A, completed in one sitting across a maximum of two years. General Studies and Critical Thinking excluded.
Contextual A-Level offer	AAB at A-level for contextual / WP-eligible applicants	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry and Biology both required at grade A or higher	Chemistry AND Biology (or Human Biology) both required, plus any third subject
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted - predicted grades can still be considered in shortlisting scores	Resits accepted.
GCSE requirements	Grade 6/B in English Language. No other GCSE requirements.	Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Dual Award Science)
GCSE scoring methodology	-	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	38 points overall, 7,6,6 at Higher Level including HL 6 in Chemistry and HL 6 in Biology. Contextual: 34 points overall, 6,6,5 at Higher Level.	36 points overall with Higher Level 6 in Chemistry or Biology and Higher Level 5 in a second science (Chemistry, Biology, Physics) or Mathematics
Graduate-entry degree requirement	Graduate applicants must sit GAMSAT (rather than UCAT) - no specific minimum degree class published; competitive applicants typically hold a 2:1 or above	-
Alternative qualifications	-	Access to Medicine Diploma accepted: 39 credits at distinction plus six at merit, with all biology and chemistry credits at distinction. International applicants only for the first cohort, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS choices. Applicants must be 18 by the start of the course.

Contextual cut-off	~1820+ /2700 with AAA* (4th decile) OR ~2010+ /2700 with AAA (7th decile)	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	~2100+ /2700 (points cut-off 80+)	No cut-off exists yet. Hertfordshire ranks applicants by UCAT and invites a fixed number to interview, but the first cohort is September 2026 so there is no historic lowest-invited score to quote.
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	SJT is not used - band 4 is appropriate	No usage mentioned in any selection policy
UCAT notes	Points-based system combining A-level prediction (75% weight) + UCAT decile (25% weight). Achieved A-level grades scored more generously than predictions.	International applicants only for the first intake. SJT not used. Any number circulating as a Hertfordshire 'cut-off' is guesswork - the school has not yet completed a cycle.

Degree awarded	BMBS	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Problem-based learning	Case-based learning + Problem-based learning
Anatomy teaching	Plastinated specimens	-
First patient contact	Year 1	Year 1
Placement geography	Devon and Cornwall	Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
Named placement sites	Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Exeter), Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (Knowledge Spa, Truro), Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Barnstaple (Year 5), GP practices across Devon and Cornwall	-
Intercalation	Optional and competitive, between Years 3 and 4. Roughly the top quartile on Year 3 assessments get an automatic offer, and the second quartile compete for any remaining places. There are ten BSc and…	An optional extra year between years 4 and 5 to take an MSc in any subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, open to students who have passed years 1 to 3.
Course highlight	Every student spends at least one year based in Cornwall, at the Knowledge Spa in Truro.	Initially open to international students only — around 70 places a year — with plans to admit UK fee-paying students soon after.

Interview window	December – March	December - March
Interview details	Online MMI via Zoom breakout rooms - typically 4 stations of 5 minutes each, with a few minutes between stations. Strong focus on ethics, personal qualities and motivation. Fewer follow-up questions t…	Applicants are ranked by UCAT score and a fixed number invited to an Interview Day, provided they meet academic minimums. Interview format includes typical MMI-style stations.

Specialities	Primary Care, Hospital Medicine, Community Medicine, Clinical Science, Rural & Regional Health	Medicine, International Medicine
Established	2013	2025
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Focus on non-academic qualities including communication, empathy, role-play and realistic insight into the course and career. Points-based shortlisting combining A-level prediction + UCAT decile (75%…	International applicants only for the first intake, with home entry planned later. Delivered with support from City St George's, University of London, and still working toward GMC accreditation - conf…
Official course page	https://www.exeter.ac.uk/undergraduate-degrees/bmbs-medicine/	https://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mbbs-medicine

Exeter

Exeter, Devon, England, UK

Quick comparison

Location: Exeter, Devon, England, UK, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA at A-level including A in Chemistry and A in Biology
TrueScore: Exeter TrueScore 1900
UCAT home cut-off: ~1880+ /2700 with A*A*A* (5th decile) OR ~2100+ /2700 with A*A*A (8th decile). Points cut-off 74+/100.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: International (2026 policy): ~33% (10 places, ~30 interviews); UK Undergrad: 366/696 = 53%
Decision date: March onwards / mid-May

Hertfordshire

Hatfield

Quick comparison

Location: Hatfield, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) at grade A plus a third subject at grade A, completed in one sitting across a maximum of two years. General Studies and Critical Thinking excluded.
TrueScore: Hertfordshire TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March onwards

Exeter vs Hertfordshire - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Exeter requires A*AA at A-level including A in Chemistry and A in Biology.

Hertfordshire requires AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) at grade A plus a third subject at grade A, completed in one sitting across a maximum of two years. General Studies and Critical Thinking excluded.

Exeter is the stricter A-Level offer; Hertfordshire is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Hertfordshire carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Exeter: Grade 6/B in English Language. No other GCSE requirements. Hertfordshire: Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Dual Award Science).

Interview formats

Both Exeter and Hertfordshire 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: Exeter interviews in December – March; Hertfordshire in December - March.

What makes each distinctive

Exeter: Focus on non-academic qualities including communication, empathy, role-play and realistic insight into the course and career. Points-based shortlisting combining A-level prediction + UCAT decile (75% academic / 25% UCAT). SJT not used - band 4 is fine.

Hertfordshire: International applicants only for the first intake, with home entry planned later. Delivered with support from City St George's, University of London, and still working toward GMC accreditation - confirm the accreditation position before accepting an offer. Applicants are ranked by UCAT with no published cut-off.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Hertfordshire 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

Exeter: home applicants — ~1880+ /2700 with A*A*A* (5th decile) OR ~2100+ /2700 with A*A*A (8th decile). Hertfordshire: no fixed home cut-off published; sJT not used. 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.

Exeter requires A*AA at A-level including A in Chemistry and A in Biology. Hertfordshire requires AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) at grade A plus a third subject at grade A, completed in one sitting across a maximum of two years. General Studies and Critical Thinking excluded.. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Exeter's selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. Hertfordshire's selection methodology: Newer programme. UCAT + academic + interview. Hertfordshire-based with strong widening-participation focus. 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

ExeterEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

HertfordshireEntry 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.