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Medical school comparison

Lincoln Medical School vs Newcastle

Lincoln Medical School and Newcastle 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.

On UCAT alone there is roughly a 1300-point gap between them — a substantial difference that should shape which you list as firm choice vs. insurance. Newcastle is the older institution (founded 1834); the other (founded 2019) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Lincoln Medical School

Lincoln

Quick comparison

Location
Lincoln, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level which must include Biology (or Human Biology) at grade A. Chemistry is NOT required at A-level.
TrueScore
Lincoln Medical School TrueScore 1700
UCAT home cut-off
~1700+ /2700 with B1 SJT and 6× grade 9s at GCSE (combined ~51/60 target). Lower UCAT viable with stronger GCSE/SJT mix.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
All Students (2023): 159/229 = 69%
Decision date
March onwards

Newcastle

Newcastle

Quick comparison

Location
Newcastle, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (excluding Use of Mathematics, World Development, Communication and Culture). Practical pass required for Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
TrueScore
Newcastle TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off
No cut-off - UCAT is converted to points on a published table and added to your academic score. 2,400 and above scores the maximum 60 points, falling by one point per 10 UCAT points down to 1 point at 1,810 and below.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
International: 82/88 = 93% (2025); Graduate Entry: 46/86 = 53%; Home Non-Contextual: 418/577 = 72%; Home Widening Participation: 194/350 = 55%
Decision date
March onwards

Lincoln Medical School vs Newcastle - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

Lincoln Medical School's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1700, while Newcastle sits at approximately 400.

That's a 1300-point gap — large enough to put the two schools in completely different competitiveness tiers. An applicant scoring in the 800-1300 band would be competitive at Newcastle but borderline at Lincoln Medical School.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Lincoln Medical School: ~1500+ /2700 with WP uplifts (MEM2 Q1 = 8pts; care experienced = 15pts; UCAT bursary = 6pts); Newcastle: Same points table, but contextual applicants are ranked as a separate stream from standard applicants.. Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

A-Level and academic profile

Lincoln Medical School requires AAA at A-level which must include Biology (or Human Biology) at grade A. Chemistry is NOT required at A-level.

Newcastle requires AAA at A-level (excluding Use of Mathematics, World Development, Communication and Culture). Practical pass required for Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

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 — Lincoln Medical School: At least six GCSEs at grade 7/A or above including Biology and Chemistry (or Double Science), plus a minimum of grade 6/B in English Language and Mathematics. GCSE resits accepted before the time of… Newcastle: Best 8 GCSEs scored - applicant must have achieved at this level for academic competitiveness.

Not used if academic A-level criteria are met. Best 8 achieved GCSEs scored out of 40 - Newcastle names…

Interview formats

Both Lincoln Medical School and Newcastle 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: Lincoln Medical School interviews in December - March; Newcastle in December - January.

Curriculum and teaching style

Lincoln Medical School runs a Integrated curriculum; Newcastle runs a Case-based curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Lincoln Medical School delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Newcastle centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Five-year MBBChir partnered with Nottingham. Lincoln-based teaching with Lincolnshire NHS clinical placements (Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospit Five-year MBBS with case-based learning. Clinical placements across Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust and partner sites in the North East.

Intake size: Lincoln Medical School — ~80 places per year (small cohort, focused on Lincolnshire placements).; Newcastle — Newcastle does not publish an A100 intake figure in its admissions policy. Note that NUMed Malaysia, the branch campus teaching the same MBBS, runs its own separate admissions route and is not part of the Newcastle intake..

A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Lincoln Medical School: All Students (2023): 159/229 = 69%. Newcastle: International: 82/88 = 93% (2025); Graduate Entry: 46/86 = 53%; Home Non-Contextual: 418/577 = 72%; Home Widening Participation: 194/350 = 55%.

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

Lincoln Medical School: Strong choice for low-UCAT, high-SJT applicants. SJT scored heavily (B1 = 15, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = 0). A band 1 SJT can offset a relatively modest UCAT score in the overall ranking.

Newcastle: Newcastle publishes an unusually explicit scoring model: academic points out of 40 plus UCAT points out of 60, combined into one ranked academic-screen score. The UCAT table is published in full, so you can read your own score straight off it.

Standard and contextual applicants are ranked as separate streams, and PARTNERS is Newcastle's supported-entry route with its own eligibility conditions and a compulsory summer school.

Which is right for you?

If your UCAT lands below the UK median (~1880/2700), Newcastle is the more realistic firm-choice option. Both schools sit in the same England foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Newcastle; 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

Lincoln Medical School's typical home cut-off is around 1700, while Newcastle sits at approximately 400 — a 1300-point spread. That's a meaningful gap; Newcastle is materially more accessible for an average-to-good UCAT, while Lincoln Medical School expects performance closer to the top 37% of test-takers. Cut-offs change year on year and vary by tier — check each school's latest published threshold before submitting your UCAS form.

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