Glasgow vs Imperial College London

Glasgow requires AAA including Chemistry and one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics. International A-level applicants need AAA including Chemistry, Biology and one of Physics or Mathematics.

Grades must be achieved at one sitting and at the first attempt - resits and extra time to sit qualifications are not permitted, and a mix of qualifications at the same level is not accepted.

Imperial College London requires A*AA including A* and A in Biology and Chemistry (A* in either) plus A in a third subject. All qualifications must be taken in the same sitting; General Studies and Critical Thinking are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required.

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

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Glasgow: GCSE English Literature or English Language at grade 6/B or above. GCSE Biology at grade 6/B if not studied at A-level. GCSE retakes are accepted. Imperial College London: Grade 6/B in GCSE English Language. No further GCSE requirements.

GCSE used only as minimum threshold - not used to rank applicants beyond meeting the floor

Glasgow uses Panel (Panel interview); Imperial College London uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)). These two formats reward different skills — Panel emphasises narrative coherence and the ability to develop a thread under follow-up questioning, while MMI rewards breadth and quick recovery.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Glasgow may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Imperial College London is the better fit.

Interview windows: Glasgow interviews in December - February; Imperial College London in December - February.

Glasgow runs a PBL curriculum; Imperial College London runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Glasgow leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Imperial College London uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB built around problem-based learning groups, with early clinical exposure from Year 1. Six-year MBBS BSc with integrated science teaching from Year 1. Compulsory intercalated BSc in Year 4. Clinical placements from Year 3 across Imperial

Intake size: Glasgow — ~40-50 RUK + ~22 international + ~190 Scottish places per year (A100).; Imperial College London — A government-capped target intake of 345: 271 home places and 74 overseas, one of the largest international intakes in the UK.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Glasgow: Scottish: 473/565 = 84% (2025); RUK: 128/216 = 59%; International: 114/161 = 71%. Imperial College London: Good. Imperial interviews only about the top third of applicants, then makes offers against 345 places from the 852 (2025 entry) and 870 (2026 entry) candidates it invited - so well over half of interviewees receive an offer.

The offer threshold moves each year and is set separately for widening-participation applicants.

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.

Glasgow: One of the oldest medical schools in the English-speaking world. Your personal statement and reference are screened early, alongside achieved and predicted grades; UCAT scores arrive later in the cycle and are then used to allocate interviews among applicants who have already cleared that screen. Glasgow does not use the SJT at all.

Imperial College London: Heavy emphasis on scientific reasoning and the integrated London course structure. Around a quarter of places are now reserved for international applicants. UCAT is the primary shortlisting factor, with personal-statement use limited to exceptional cases.