Keele vs Lincoln Medical School

Keele's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1700, while Lincoln Medical School sits at approximately 1700.

Their UCAT bars are statistically indistinguishable (within 0 points), so the UCAT is unlikely to be your differentiator between them.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Keele: ~1700+ /2700 with up to 3 contextual points (UCAT bursary, postcode, local school); Lincoln Medical School: ~1500+ /2700 with WP uplifts (MEM2 Q1 = 8pts; care experienced = 15pts; UCAT bursary = 6pts). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

Keele requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Lincoln Medical School requires AAB including Chemistry and Biology.

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

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Keele: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. Lincoln Medical School: Min 6 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, Biology, Chemistry, Physics (or dual-award Science).

Keele uses Traditional (Two 15-minute structured online interviews (traditional format, not MMI; Microsoft Teams), usually around two hours apart); Lincoln Medical School 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, Lincoln Medical School is the better fit.

Interview windows: Keele interviews in December - March; Lincoln Medical School in December - March.

Keele runs a Spiral curriculum; Lincoln Medical School runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Keele delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Lincoln Medical School uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with spiral curriculum. Strong rural/community placement strand across Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. Five-year MBBChir partnered with Nottingham. Lincoln-based teaching with Lincolnshire NHS clinical placements (Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospit

Intake size: Keele — ~150 home + ~10 international places per year (5-year MBChB) + ~30 Health Foundation Year places.; Lincoln Medical School — ~80 places per year (small cohort, focused on Lincolnshire placements).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Keele: International: 23/54 = 43%; Home Non-Contextual: 167/491 = 34%. Lincoln Medical School: All Students (2023): 159/229 = 69%.

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.

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.

Lincoln Medical School: Strong choice for low-UCAT, high-SJT applicants. SJT scored heavily (B1 = 15, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = 0). A band 1 SJT can offset a relatively modest UCAT score in the overall ranking.