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Medical school comparison

Leicester vs St Andrews

Leicester and St Andrews are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Leicester is based in Leicester (England) while St Andrews sits in St Andrews (Scotland), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination. Their A-Level requirements (A*AA vs AAA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

St Andrews is the older institution (founded 1413); the other (founded 1975) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Leicester

Leicester

Quick comparison

Location
Leicester, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Psychology - A* must be in one of the sciences
TrueScore
Leicester TrueScore 1750
UCAT home cut-off
Expressed in deciles, not raw scores. Applicants who meet the minimum GCSE requirement, achieved the A-level requirement within two years of their GCSEs, and sit in the TOP 5 DECILES with an SJT of Band 1-3 are automatically invited to interview.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
UK Undergraduate: 797/1351 = 59% (2025); UK Graduate: 19/32 = 59%; Overseas Undergraduate: 57/199 = 29%
Decision date
March onwards

St Andrews

St Andrews

Quick comparison

Location
St Andrews, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (offer and predicted) including Chemistry and one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics
TrueScore
St Andrews TrueScore 1850
UCAT home cut-off
No threshold published. Applicants who meet the requirements are ranked on their UCAT global score, and roughly the top 650 are invited to interview.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
RUK Student (2025): 123/162 = 74%; Scottish + RUK: 411/505 = 81%; International (2023): 56/82 = 68%
Decision date
March onwards

Leicester vs St Andrews - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Leicester requires A*AA at A-level including Chemistry or Biology, plus one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Psychology - A* must be in one of the sciences.

St Andrews requires AAA at A-level (offer and predicted) including Chemistry and one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics.

Leicester is the stricter A-Level offer; St Andrews is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, St Andrews carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Leicester: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE English Language, Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Science). Resits in English Language and Maths accepted to meet minimums; resits in other subjects only with… St Andrews: Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 7/A in one sitting (achieved A-level applicants may be considered with fewer).

GCSE grade 5 in Biology, Mathematics, and English (Language or Literature) required if not…

Interview formats

Both Leicester and St Andrews 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: Leicester interviews in December - March; St Andrews in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Leicester runs a PBL curriculum; St Andrews runs a Traditional curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Leicester leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while St Andrews uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with problem-based learning. Clinical placements across Leicestershire NHS hospitals (Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfield, Kettering, First 3 years at St Andrews leading to BSc (Hons) Medicine. Most students then transfer to a partner clinical school for years 4-6 of MBChB.

Intake size: Leicester — ~270 home + ~30 international places per year (A100 standard 5-year programme).; St Andrews — RUK ~24 places, Scottish ~150, International ~30 (3-year pre-clinical only - clinical years at partner schools).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Leicester: UK Undergraduate: 797/1351 = 59% (2025); UK Graduate: 19/32 = 59%; Overseas Undergraduate: 57/199 = 29%. St Andrews: RUK Student (2025): 123/162 = 74%; Scottish + RUK: 411/505 = 81%; International (2023): 56/82 = 68%.

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

Leicester: Combined UCAT + GCSE scoring out of 96. Predicted A-level applicants only need AAB UKWPMed; achieved-grade applicants assessed in top 5 deciles UCAT instead. Personal statement is not routinely used.

St Andrews: Three-year pre-clinical course at St Andrews followed by transfer to a partner medical school for clinical years. SJT not used (was used many years ago, not now or in future). Scottish students face much lower cut-offs than RUK applicants.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, St Andrews is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Leicester feeds into the England foundation programme network; St Andrews into the Scotland network.

If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Leicester; if you prefer lecture-led foundations, the other suits better. 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. Leicester guidance: Expressed in deciles, not raw scores. Applicants who meet the minimum GCSE requirement, achieved the A-level requirement within two years of their GCSEs, and sit in the TOP 5 DECILES with an SJT of Band 1-3 are automatically invited to interview.. St Andrews guidance: No threshold published. Applicants who meet the requirements are ranked on their UCAT global score, and roughly the top 650 are invited to interview..

Where to go next

LeicesterEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
St AndrewsEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

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