Keele vs North Wales (Bangor)

Keele's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1700, while North Wales (Bangor) 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); North Wales (Bangor): not separately disclosed. Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

Keele requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

North Wales (Bangor) 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 — Keele: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. North Wales (Bangor): Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. Welsh-language ability welcomed but not required.

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

Interview windows: Keele interviews in December - March; North Wales (Bangor) in December - March.

Keele runs a Spiral curriculum; North Wales (Bangor) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Keele delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while North Wales (Bangor) centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with spiral curriculum. Strong rural/community placement strand across Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. Four-year accelerated MBBCh (Cardiff) for graduates, or 5-year route. Strong rural/community placement strand across North Wales (Betsi Cadwaladr UHB)

Intake size: Keele — ~150 home + ~10 international places per year (5-year MBChB) + ~30 Health Foundation Year places.; North Wales (Bangor) — ~30 places per year (small cohort, designed for local retention).. 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%. North Wales (Bangor): Refused to disclose. New medical school, has been in clearing in past years.

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.

North Wales (Bangor): Refused to disclose UCAT cut-offs or shortlisting weighting. Anecdotally lower thresholds, particularly for Welsh applicants. Has entered clearing in past years.