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

King's College London (KCL) is in London, UK. Pears Cumbria (GEM) is in Carlisle, 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?

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

King's College London (KCL) vs Pears Cumbria (GEM)

Q: What A-Level grades do King's College London (KCL) and Pears Cumbria (GEM) require?

King's College London (KCL) requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology. Pears Cumbria (GEM) requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

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

King's College London (KCL) is the older institution (founded 1829); the other (founded 2023) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: King's College London (KCL) and Pears Cumbria (GEM).
Comparison field	King's College London (KCL)London	Pears Cumbria (GEM)Carlisle
Quick comparison
Location	London, UK	Carlisle, 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.	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree
TrueScore	King's College London (KCL) TrueScore 2150	Pears Cumbria (GEM) TrueScore 1700GEM
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)	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	March onwards

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.	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Biology and Chemistry both required	-
A-Level resit policy	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)	Not applicable to graduate entry - degree class is the academic measure.
GCSE requirements	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language and Mathematics	GCSE English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade 4/C - assessed alongside degree
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	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.	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree — e.g. anatomy, biochemistry, biomedical science, biology, nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, paramedic science, pharmacy, dentistry or veterinary science. NOT open to any-discipline graduates.
Alternative qualifications	-	Graduate-entry only, home fee status required (international applicants are not eligible). UCAT or GAMSAT accepted — the applicant chooses one; MCAT is not accepted. MBBS awarded by Imperial College London and taught at the University of Cumbria Fusehill Street campus, Carlisle.

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	No separate cut-off published.	-
Graduate cut-off	-	1960+ /2700 for 2026 entry (1910+ contextual). GAMSAT alternative: 59 overall (53 contextual).
SJT band	Band 4 automatically rejected. Band 3 riskier - only 37/360 band 3 applicants received interview in 2024.	-
UCAT notes	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…	UCAT or GAMSAT — the applicant chooses one; MCAT is NOT accepted. Both are minimum-threshold hurdles rather than ranked scores. The UCAT must be sat in the same year as the UCAS submission; the GAMSAT…

Degree awarded	MBBS	MBBS (awarded by Imperial College London)
Course length	5 years (6 with intercalation)	4 years (graduate entry)
Teaching style	Integrated	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	-	Year 1
Placement geography	London and the south east of England	North and south Cumbria
Named placement sites	Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital	-
Intercalation	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.	The MBBS is awarded by Imperial College London, delivered in partnership with the University of Cumbria.

Interview window	November - May	December - March
Interview details	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…	Graduate-entry MMI format with stations focused on clinical reasoning, ethics, communication and motivation for rural and community healthcare.

Specialities	Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences	Medicine, Rural Healthcare, Community Medicine
Established	1829	2023
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Strong clinical focus with emphasis on London healthcare system.	The only medicine route in Carlisle, and graduate-entry only — there is no school-leaver course here. Restricted to home-fee applicants holding a 2:1 in biosciences or allied healthcare, with the MBBS…
Official course page	https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/medicine-mbbs	https://cumbriamed.ac.uk/study/

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

Pears Cumbria (GEM)

Carlisle

Quick comparison

Location: Carlisle, UK
A-Level offer: Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree
TrueScore: Pears Cumbria (GEM) TrueScore 1700GEM
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March onwards

King's College London (KCL) vs Pears Cumbria (GEM) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

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.

Pears Cumbria (GEM) requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in a biosciences or allied healthcare degree.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — 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… Pears Cumbria (GEM): GCSE English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade 4/C - assessed alongside degree.

Interview formats

Both King's College London (KCL) and Pears Cumbria (GEM) 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 November - May; Pears Cumbria (GEM) in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Intake size: King's College London (KCL) — Around 300 places on A100, within roughly 410 across all of King's medicine programmes.; Pears Cumbria (GEM) — ~58 places per year. Imperial reported an 11:1 applications-to-places ratio for 2025.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

What makes each distinctive

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

Pears Cumbria (GEM): The only medicine route in Carlisle, and graduate-entry only — there is no school-leaver course here. Restricted to home-fee applicants holding a 2:1 in biosciences or allied healthcare, with the MBBS awarded by Imperial College London.

Which is right for you?

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; Pears Cumbria (GEM) 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

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. 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".. Pears Cumbria (GEM) guidance: UCAT or GAMSAT — the applicant chooses one; MCAT is NOT accepted. Both are minimum-threshold hurdles rather than ranked scores. The UCAT must be sat in the same year as the UCAS submission; the GAMSAT within the two years before it..

King's College London (KCL) uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Pears Cumbria (GEM) uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The format is the same, so the same prep approach applies — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot topics, and (for MMI) structured 5-7 minute station answers. Interview windows: November - May (King's College London (KCL)); December - March (Pears Cumbria (GEM)).

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. Pears Cumbria (GEM) — GCSE English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade 4/C - assessed alongside degree.

King's College London (KCL)'s selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. Pears Cumbria (GEM)'s selection methodology: Degree subject and class hurdle (2:1 in biosciences or allied healthcare), then a UCAT or GAMSAT threshold, then MMI. Home fee status is an eligibility requirement, not a preference. MBBS awarded by Imperial College London. 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.

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

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

Pears Cumbria (GEM)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.