What A-Level grades do Keele and King's College London (KCL) require?

Keele requires A*AA, or AAA with an EPQ at grade A. King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Where are Keele and King's College London (KCL) located, and how does that affect cost?

Keele is in Staffordshire, UK. King's College London (KCL) is in London, 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?

Keele typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. King's College London (KCL) releases medicine decisions By the end of May. 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

Keele vs King's College London (KCL)

Keele and King's College London (KCL) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Keele is based in Staffordshire (England) while King's College London (KCL) sits in London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

The interview formats diverge — Traditional vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. King's College London (KCL) is the older institution (founded 1829); the other (founded 1978) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Keele and King's College London (KCL).
Comparison field	KeeleStaffordshire	King's College London (KCL)London
Quick comparison
Location	Staffordshire, UK	London, UK
A-Level offer	A*AA at A-level (or AAA + grade A in EPQ as alternative)	A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
TrueScore	Keele TrueScore 1900	King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150
UCAT home cut-off	~1700+ /2700 absolute minimum (with 15/25 total score or 14/25 + 600+ VR). Top 20% UCAT (~2100+) maximises points.	No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores".
Interview format	Two 15-minute structured online interviews (traditional format, not MMI; Microsoft Teams), usually around two hours apart	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	International: 23/54 = 43%; Home Non-Contextual: 167/491 = 34%	Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).
Decision date	March onwards	By the end of May

A-Level offer	A*AA at A-level (or AAA + grade A in EPQ as alternative)	A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
Contextual A-Level offer	AAA at A-level for contextual applicants	-
Required A-Level subjects	One of Biology / Chemistry required, plus a second from Chemistry / Biology / Mathematics / Physics / Economics / Psychology	Biology and Chemistry both required
A-Level resit policy	Resits only accepted with the new achieved grades after completion of A-level resits - predicted resit grades not used in shortlisting	Resits accepted - KCL has clarified via FOI that "a first resit is considered equally to applicants taking their first sittings" (19 resit applicants received an interview in 2024, 16 received offers)
GCSE requirements	Five GCSEs at grade 7/A or above, plus minimum grade 6 in English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (6-6 Combined Science accepted as equivalent)	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics
GCSE scoring methodology	-	GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance is read in the context of your educational background. King's…
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level - including HL Biology or Chemistry plus a second science / Maths / Economics / Psychology	38 points overall (including TOK/EE), or an aggregate of 19 from three Higher Levels, and must include grade 6 in Higher Level Biology and Higher Level Chemistry
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	Graduate applicants typically hold 2:1 or above in any honours degree, plus required A-level Chemistry and Biology grades. KCL accepts graduates onto the standard 6-year MBBS A100.
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	~1700+ /2700 with up to 3 contextual points (UCAT bursary, postcode, local school)	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	~1950+ /2700 minimum requirement; 2024 entry international avg 1882, lowest 1763	No separate cut-off published.
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	Band 4 automatically rejected. Band 3 can compensate with higher stats. Scored /2 (B1=2, B2=1, B3=0).	Band 4 automatically rejected. Band 3 riskier - only 37/360 band 3 applicants received interview in 2024.
UCAT notes	Points system /25: PS /15 + UCAT /5 (decile-based) + SJT /2 + contextual /3. Cut-off 15/25 (or 14/25 + 600+ VR).	King's shortlists on A-level grades, UCAT, personal statement and GCSE grades together, and says exam results and UCAT are "perhaps the most important factors". Its published UCAT statistics stop at t…

Degree awarded	MBChB	MBBS
Course length	5 years	5 years (6 with intercalation)
Teaching style	Spiral + Integrated	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	Dissection	-
First patient contact	Year 1	-
Placement geography	Staffordshire and Shropshire	London and the south east of England
Named placement sites	University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (Royal Stoke, County Hospital Stafford), Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (Bradwell, Haywood, St George’s Stafford, Redwoods Shrewsbury), North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust (Harplands, Stoke), Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (Royal Shrewsbury, Princess Royal Telford)	Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital
Intercalation	Available after year 2 at bachelor's level or year 4 at master's level, at Keele or another university.	Optional one-year BSc between Stages 2 and 3, spanning clinical and biomedical sciences and the humanities.
Course highlight	-	Twinned with medical schools around the world, offering clinical exchanges.

Interview window	December - March	November - May
Interview details	Keele's 2027-entry selection uses two 15-minute structured online interviews via Microsoft Teams, usually about two hours apart, discussing pre-released GMC 'Good Medical Practice' guidance and a case…	MMI format with stations covering ethical scenarios, communication and clinical problem-solving. No offer is made without an interview, and King's runs them across an unusually long window - November…

Specialities	Medicine, Community Medicine, Primary Care	Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences
Established	1978	1829
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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…	Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.
Official course page	https://www.keele.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/undergraduatecourses/medicine/	https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/medicine-mbbs

Keele

Staffordshire

Quick comparison

Location: Staffordshire, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA at A-level (or AAA + grade A in EPQ as alternative)
TrueScore: Keele TrueScore 1900
UCAT home cut-off: ~1700+ /2700 absolute minimum (with 15/25 total score or 14/25 + 600+ VR). Top 20% UCAT (~2100+) maximises points.
Interview format: Two 15-minute structured online interviews (traditional format, not MMI; Microsoft Teams), usually around two hours apart
Post-interview chance: International: 23/54 = 43%; Home Non-Contextual: 167/491 = 34%
Decision date: March onwards

King's College London (KCL)

London

Quick comparison

Location: London, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.
TrueScore: King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150
UCAT home cut-off: No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores".
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).
Decision date: By the end of May

Keele vs King's College London (KCL) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Keele requires A*AA at A-level (or AAA + grade A in EPQ as alternative).

King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including grade A in Biology and Chemistry. General Studies, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills and Global Perspectives are not accepted, and a pass in the science practical endorsement is required. The EPQ is not considered at any point in the assessment process.

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 — Keele: Five GCSEs at grade 7/A or above, plus minimum grade 6 in English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (6-6 Combined Science accepted as equivalent). King's College London (KCL): Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics.

GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance…

Interview formats

Keele uses Traditional (Two 15-minute structured online interviews (traditional format, not MMI; Microsoft Teams), usually around two hours apart); King's College London (KCL) uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)). These two formats reward different skills — Traditional 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, King's College London (KCL) is the better fit.

Interview windows: Keele interviews in December - March; King's College London (KCL) in November - May.

Curriculum and teaching style

Intake size: Keele — ~150 home + ~10 international places per year (5-year MBChB) + ~30 Health Foundation Year places.; King's College London (KCL) — Around 300 places on A100, within roughly 410 across all of King's medicine programmes.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

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.

What makes each distinctive

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.

King's College London (KCL): Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Keele feeds into the England foundation programme network; King's College London (KCL) into the London 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

Neither school publishes a single fixed UCAT cut-off; both use UCAT as part of a composite shortlisting score alongside GCSE and personal-statement weighting. Keele guidance: ~1700+ /2700 absolute minimum (with 15/25 total score or 14/25 + 600+ VR). Top 20% UCAT (~2100+) maximises points.. King's College London (KCL) guidance: No cut-off published. King's states that the minimum scores of interviewees and offer-holders "are not cut-off scores"..

Keele uses Traditional interview: Two 15-minute structured online interviews (traditional format, not MMI; Microsoft Teams), usually around two hours apart. King's College London (KCL) 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 - March (Keele); November - May (King's College London (KCL)).

Keele — Five GCSEs at grade 7/A or above, plus minimum grade 6 in English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (6-6 Combined Science accepted as equivalent). King's College London (KCL) — Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics. GCSEs are one of the four factors King's names in shortlisting, alongside A-level grades, UCAT and the personal statement, and performance is read in the context of your educational background. King's does not publish a points tariff for GCSEs.

Keele's selection methodology: UCAT + academic + Multiple Mini Interview. Keele's contextual route (Keele Health Foundation Year) provides extensive support for North Midlands widening-participation applicants. King's College London (KCL)'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.

Keele: International: 23/54 = 43%; Home Non-Contextual: 167/491 = 34%. King's College London (KCL): Strong. In the 2024 cycle King's interviewed 982 applicants and made 762 offers (78%) - 609 offers from 796 UK interviews (77%) and 153 from 186 non-UK interviews (82%). The 2023 cycle was tighter at 645 offers from 1,116 interviews (58%).. Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

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

KeeleEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

King's College London (KCL)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 19 September 2026.