Lincoln Medical School vs St Andrews

Lincoln Medical School's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1700, while St Andrews sits at approximately 650.

That's a 1050-point gap — large enough to put the two schools in completely different competitiveness tiers. An applicant scoring in the 1000-1400 band would be competitive at St Andrews 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); St Andrews: Widening-access applicants receive a 10% uplift on their UCAT score.. Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

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.

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

Both Lincoln Medical School 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: Lincoln Medical School interviews in December - March; St Andrews in December - March.

Lincoln Medical School runs a Integrated curriculum; St Andrews runs a Traditional curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Lincoln Medical School delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while St Andrews uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBBChir partnered with Nottingham. Lincoln-based teaching with Lincolnshire NHS clinical placements (Lincoln County Hospital, Pilgrim Hospit 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: Lincoln Medical School — ~80 places per year (small cohort, focused on Lincolnshire placements).; 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.

Lincoln Medical School: All Students (2023): 159/229 = 69%. 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.

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.

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.