Glasgow vs Nottingham

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.

Nottingham requires AAA at A-level including Biology (or Human Biology) and Chemistry. No use of predicted grades - Nottingham considers achieved grades only.

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 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.

Nottingham: Minimum six GCSEs at grade 7/A including both Biology and Chemistry, plus at least grade 6/B in Mathematics and English Language (English and Maths do NOT need to be at grade 7). GCSEs feed the…

Glasgow uses Panel (Panel interview); Nottingham 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, Nottingham is the better fit.

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

Glasgow runs a PBL curriculum; Nottingham runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Glasgow leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Nottingham 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 compulsory intercalated BMedSci built into the course (one of few UK schools to embed BMedSci as standard).

Intake size: Glasgow — ~40-50 RUK + ~22 international + ~190 Scottish places per year (A100).; Nottingham — ~250 home + ~30 international places per year.. 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%. Nottingham: All Students (2024): 519/913 = 57% (or 336/911 = 37% from another source); A108 WP Foundation Year: 61/188 = 32%.

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.

Nottingham: Scoring system is now distinct from Lincoln's, weighting GCSE (/32), UCAT (/40) and SJT (/10) - band 4 SJT auto-rejected. No use of predicted A-level grades.