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Medical school comparison

King's College London (KCL) vs Liverpool

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

On UCAT alone there is roughly a 220-point gap between them — a substantial difference that should shape which you list as firm choice vs. insurance. Their A-Level requirements (A*AA vs AAA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Side-by-side comparison

King's College London (KCL)

London

Quick comparison

Location
London, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA at A-level including A in Biology and Chemistry
TrueScore
2150
UCAT home cut-off
~2130+ /2700 (non-contextual) with B1 SJT and 8× grade 8s at GCSE; mean offer holder ≈ 2250
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
All Students: 760/981 = 77% (2024); Overall undergraduate (2023): 645/1115 = 58%
Decision date
March onwards

Liverpool

Liverpool

Quick comparison

Location
Liverpool, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level with Chemistry plus Biology, Physics or Mathematics. A*AB also accepted with A*A including Chemistry plus one of Biology / Physics / Mathematics. No use of predicted grades.
TrueScore
1900
UCAT home cut-off
~1910+ /2700 (2024 entry cut-off ≈ 1935)
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Home applicants (2024): 612/1870 = 33%; International: 22/138 = 16%. Low post-interview chances for both.
Decision date
March onwards
Compare different schools

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

UCAT thresholds compared

King's College London (KCL)'s published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2130, while Liverpool sits at approximately 1910.

The 220-point spread matters: Liverpool offers slightly more headroom for an average-strong UCAT, while King's College London (KCL) expects performance closer to the national 75th-90th percentile.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — King's College London (KCL): ~1900+ /2700 with WP flags (POLAR/ACORN/IMD, care experienced, K+ participation); Liverpool: ~1730+ /2700 (2024 entry contextual lowest invited ≈ 1733). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

A-Level and academic profile

King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology.

Liverpool requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

King's College London (KCL) is the stricter A-Level offer; Liverpool is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Liverpool carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

Interview formats

Both King's College London (KCL) and Liverpool use MMI interviews, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot-topic answers and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer.

Interview windows: King's College London (KCL) interviews in December - February; Liverpool in December - February.

Post-interview offer rate

King's College London (KCL): All Students: 760/981 = 77% (2024); Overall undergraduate (2023): 645/1115 = 58%. Liverpool: Home applicants (2024): 612/1870 = 33%; International: 22/138 = 16%. Low post-interview chances for both.

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

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

Liverpool: Historic medical school known for tropical medicine and global health. GCSE-heavy scoring (top 9 GCSEs counted). Personal statement not normally used in shortlisting but reserved for borderline cases. Low post-interview success rate compared with peers.

Which is right for you?

If your UCAT lands below the UK median (~1880/2700), Liverpool is the more realistic firm-choice option. For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Liverpool is the lower-risk academic option.

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

Where to go next

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

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 4 August 2026.