Glasgow vs Keele

Glasgow requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Keele 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 — Glasgow: GCSE English at grade 6/B; Biology at grade 6/B if not studied at A-Level. GCSE retakes accepted. Keele: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science.

Glasgow uses MMI (MMI Format for Dentistry, Panel Interview for Medicine); Keele uses Traditional (Two 15-minute structured online interviews (traditional format, not MMI; Microsoft Teams), usually around two hours apart). These two formats reward different skills — MMI emphasises breadth, station-recovery and structured answers under time pressure, while Traditional rewards malleability and intellectual honesty.

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

Interview windows: Glasgow interviews in December - February; Keele in December - March.

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

Specifics: Five-year MBChB built around problem-based learning groups, with early clinical exposure from Year 1. Five-year MBChB with spiral curriculum. Strong rural/community placement strand across Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire.

Intake size: Glasgow — ~40-50 RUK + ~22 international + ~190 Scottish places per year (A100).; Keele — ~150 home + ~10 international places per year (5-year MBChB) + ~30 Health Foundation Year places.. 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%. Keele: International: 23/54 = 43%; Home Non-Contextual: 167/491 = 34%.

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. Personal statement and reference must meet minimum requirements but shortlisting is then driven by UCAT alone. Personal statement reviewed post-interview before offers.

Keele: Personal statement is heavily weighted (/15 of the /25 total score) - Keele has very specific PS criteria. Strong PS with band 1-2 SJT can compensate for relatively low UCAT. International applicants selected on UCAT only.