How do interviews differ between Leeds and Nottingham?

Leeds uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Nottingham 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: December - February (Leeds); December - March (Nottingham).

Where are Leeds and Nottingham located, and how does that affect cost?

Leeds is in Leeds, UK. Nottingham is in Nottingham, 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?

Leeds typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. Nottingham 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

Leeds vs Nottingham

Leeds and Nottingham are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in England, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Leeds and Nottingham.
Comparison field	LeedsLeeds	NottinghamNottingham
Quick comparison
Location	Leeds, UK	Nottingham, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (predictions also AAA minimum). An A* cannot compensate for a B in another subject.	AAA at A-level including Biology (or Human Biology) and Chemistry. No use of predicted grades - Nottingham considers achieved grades only.
TrueScore	Leeds TrueScore 1950	Nottingham TrueScore 1850
UCAT home cut-off	No cut-off. Leeds states plainly: "There is no fixed UCAT cut-off score."	No fixed score. Nottingham states that the threshold varies year by year, cannot be predicted in advance, and that it does not share previous years' thresholds.
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Home student: 300/742 = 40% (2024); International: 12/32 = 38%	All Students (2024): 519/913 = 57% (or 336/911 = 37% from another source); A108 WP Foundation Year: 61/188 = 32%
Decision date	March onwards	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (predictions also AAA minimum). An A* cannot compensate for a B in another subject.	AAA at A-level including Biology (or Human Biology) and Chemistry. No use of predicted grades - Nottingham considers achieved grades only.
Contextual A-Level offer	ABB for Access to Leeds applicants. Chemistry and Biology must both be taken, with an A in either Chemistry or Biology.	Two contextual tiers, both requiring at least an A in Biology or Chemistry: standard contextual AAB, enhanced contextual ABB.
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry and Biology both required	Biology (or Human Biology) and Chemistry both required
A-Level resit policy	From 2026 entry: one A-Level resit attempt accepted without mitigating circumstances.	Resits considered case-by-case; standard expectation is one-sitting AAA.
GCSE requirements	Minimum 6 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above including Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or 6-6 Dual Science). Meeting the minimum alone is unlikely to shortlist - scoring uses the top 8 GCSEs.	Minimum six GCSEs at grade 7/A including both Biology and Chemistry, plus at least grade 6/B in Mathematics and English Language (English and Maths do NOT need to be at grade 7).
GCSE scoring methodology	Top 8 GCSEs scored as part of the ranking alongside UCAT.	GCSEs feed the combined points score used for shortlisting alongside UCAT.
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall with a mark of 6 in three Higher Level subjects, which must include Chemistry and Biology.	34 points overall including HL6 in Biology and HL6 in Chemistry; alternatively 6,6,6 across three HL Certificates with HL6 in Biology and HL6 in Chemistry.
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	-
Alternative qualifications	-	-

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	-	-
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	SJT not used or considered	Band 4 automatically rejected. SJT scored: B1=10, B2=6, B3=2, B4=0.
UCAT notes	Your UCAT total is one of four inputs to a points-based ranking, alongside your top eight GCSEs, your top three predicted grades and contextual information. Because applicants are ranked rather than f…	Nottingham scores each UCAT component raw score rather than working from the total alone, and combines that with GCSE scoring to select for interview. An SJT of Band 4 means you will not be considered…

Degree awarded	MBChB	BMBS
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Case-based learning + Integrated	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	-	-
First patient contact	Year 1	Year 2
Placement geography	West Yorkshire	Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire
Named placement sites	-	Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham City Hospital, Highbury Hospital, Royal Derby Hospital, King's Mill Hospital, Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust, Derbyshire Healthcare Trust
Intercalation	Available after year 2, 3 or 4.	-
Course highlight	The Patient, Carer Community (PCC) initiative provides learning alongside clinical placements.	The course was co-created with input from students, staff and practitioners.

Interview window	December - February	December - March
Interview details	Leeds uses a multiple mini-interview format but does not publish the number of stations or their timings, so treat any specific circuit description you see elsewhere as unofficial. Expect the usual MM…	An MMI of six scenarios, including at least one role play. Expect a strong emphasis on awareness of current NHS and healthcare issues alongside the usual motivation and ethics ground.

Specialities	Medicine, Dentistry, Healthcare Sciences	Medicine, Medical Sciences, Graduate Entry Medicine
Established	1904	1948
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Well-established medical school with strong community links and clinical training. Total shortlisting score combines UCAT, GCSE and A-level predictions. SJT is not used in selection.	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.
Official course page	https://courses.leeds.ac.uk/5580/medicine-and-surgery-mbchb	https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studywithus/ugstudy/courses/UG/2026/Medicine-BMBS.html

Leeds

Quick comparison

Location: Leeds, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (predictions also AAA minimum). An A* cannot compensate for a B in another subject.
TrueScore: Leeds TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off: No cut-off. Leeds states plainly: "There is no fixed UCAT cut-off score."
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: Home student: 300/742 = 40% (2024); International: 12/32 = 38%
Decision date: March onwards

Nottingham

Quick comparison

Location: Nottingham, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Biology (or Human Biology) and Chemistry. No use of predicted grades - Nottingham considers achieved grades only.
TrueScore: Nottingham TrueScore 1850
UCAT home cut-off: No fixed score. Nottingham states that the threshold varies year by year, cannot be predicted in advance, and that it does not share previous years' thresholds.
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

Leeds vs Nottingham - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Leeds requires AAA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (predictions also AAA minimum). An A* cannot compensate for a B in another subject.

Nottingham requires AAA at A-level including Biology (or Human Biology) and Chemistry. No use of predicted grades - Nottingham considers achieved grades only.

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 — Leeds: Minimum 6 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above including Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or 6-6 Dual Science).

Meeting the minimum alone is unlikely to shortlist - scoring uses the top 8… Nottingham: Minimum six GCSEs at grade 7/A including both Biology and Chemistry, plus at least grade 6/B in Mathematics and English Language (English and Maths do NOT need to be at grade 7). GCSEs feed the…

Interview formats

Both Leeds 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: Leeds interviews in December - February; Nottingham in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Both schools deliver a Integrated-style curriculum, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar across years 1-3.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with integrated theory and clinical placements from Year 1; clinical years across Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Five-year MBChB with compulsory intercalated BMedSci built into the course (one of few UK schools to embed BMedSci as standard).

Intake size: Leeds — Leeds does not publish an A100 intake figure.; Nottingham — ~250 home + ~30 international places per year.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Leeds: Home student: 300/742 = 40% (2024); International: 12/32 = 38%. 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

Leeds: Well-established medical school with strong community links and clinical training. Total shortlisting score combines UCAT, GCSE and A-level predictions. SJT is not used in selection.

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?

Both schools sit in the same England foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily. 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. Leeds guidance: No cut-off. Leeds states plainly: "There is no fixed UCAT cut-off score.". Nottingham guidance: No fixed score. Nottingham states that the threshold varies year by year, cannot be predicted in advance, and that it does not share previous years' thresholds..

Leeds requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology (predictions also AAA minimum). Nottingham requires AAA including Biology (or Human Biology) and Chemistry. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school. Resit policies differ: Leeds — From 2026 entry: one A-Level resit attempt accepted without mitigating circumstances.. Nottingham — Resits considered case-by-case; standard expectation is one-sitting AAA..

Leeds — Minimum 6 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above including Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or 6-6 Dual Science). Meeting the minimum alone is unlikely to shortlist - scoring uses the top 8 GCSEs. Top 8 GCSEs scored as part of the ranking alongside UCAT. Nottingham — Minimum six GCSEs at grade 7/A including both Biology and Chemistry, plus at least grade 6/B in Mathematics and English Language (English and Maths do NOT need to be at grade 7). GCSEs feed the combined points score used for shortlisting alongside UCAT.

Leeds's selection methodology: Eligible applicants are shortlisted on a points-based system combining the top eight GCSE results (including any required subjects), the top three predicted grades (including any required subjects), the overall UCAT score and contextual information. Applications are then ranked on that combined score, with extra points for applicants meeting contextual criteria. There is no fixed UCAT cut-off, and the personal statement is not part of shortlisting. Nottingham's selection methodology: Once you meet the academic entry requirements, Nottingham scores each of your UCAT component raw scores - not just the total - and combines that with GCSE scoring to select for interview. There is no fixed threshold: Nottingham says it varies year by year, cannot be predicted, and that it does not release previous years' figures. An SJT of Band 4 rules you out. 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.

Leeds: Home student: 300/742 = 40% (2024); International: 12/32 = 38%. Nottingham: All Students (2024): 519/913 = 57% (or 336/911 = 37% from another source); A108 WP Foundation Year: 61/188 = 32%. Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

Leeds runs a Integrated curriculum. Nottingham runs a Integrated curriculum. Both schools deliver teaching in the same broad style, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar. Leeds specifics: Five-year MBChB with integrated theory and clinical placements from Year 1; clinical years across Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Nottingham specifics: Five-year MBChB with compulsory intercalated BMedSci built into the course (one of few UK schools to embed BMedSci as standard).

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

LeedsEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

NottinghamEntry 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.

Leeds vs Nottingham

Side-by-side comparison

Leeds vs Nottingham - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Leeds vs Nottingham?

How do interviews differ between Leeds and Nottingham?

What A-Level grades do Leeds and Nottingham require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Leeds vs Nottingham?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Which has a higher post-interview offer rate, Leeds or Nottingham?

Where are Leeds and Nottingham located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Leeds and Nottingham use?

Should I apply to both Leeds and Nottingham?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons