Skip to main content
NextGen MedPrep logoNextGenMedPrep
Back to Medical School Compare
Medical school comparison

King's College London (KCL) vs Nottingham

King's College London (KCL) and Nottingham 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 Nottingham sits in Nottingham (England), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

On UCAT alone there is roughly a 280-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.

King's College London (KCL) is the older institution (founded 1829); the other (founded 1948) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

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

Nottingham

Nottingham

Quick comparison

Location
Nottingham, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level including Biology and Chemistry. No use of predicted grades - Nottingham considers achieved grades only.
TrueScore
1850
UCAT home cut-off
~1850+ /2700 with B1 SJT and 8× grade 9s GCSE (2024 entry lowest invited ≈ 1830)
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
All Students (2024): 519/913 = 57% (or 336/911 = 37% from another source); A108 WP Foundation Year: 61/188 = 32%
Decision date
March onwards
Compare different schools

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

UCAT thresholds compared

King's College London (KCL)'s published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2130, while Nottingham sits at approximately 1850.

The 280-point spread matters: Nottingham 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); Nottingham: ~1700+ /2700 (A108 Foundation Year - lower threshold). 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.

Nottingham requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

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

Interview formats

Both King's College London (KCL) and Nottingham 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; Nottingham in December - March.

Post-interview offer rate

King's College London (KCL): All Students: 760/981 = 77% (2024); Overall undergraduate (2023): 645/1115 = 58%. 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.

What makes each distinctive

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

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.

Which is right for you?

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