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Medical school comparison

Nottingham vs Peninsula (Plymouth)

Nottingham and Peninsula (Plymouth) 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. Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Side-by-side comparison

Nottingham

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

Peninsula (Plymouth)

Plymouth

Quick comparison

Location
Plymouth, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on strength of applicant pool - historically usually AAA prediction required) including A in Biology and A in a second science from Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Psychology
TrueScore
Peninsula (Plymouth) TrueScore 1900
UCAT home cut-off
Not published in advance. Peninsula states the threshold alters each year with the number and quality of applications, and that it cannot confirm the cut-off until all applications have been received and assessed.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
All Applicants: 434/761 = 57% (2025)
Decision date
Not available

Nottingham vs Peninsula (Plymouth) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

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

Peninsula (Plymouth) requires A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on strength of applicant pool - historically usually AAA prediction required) including A in Biology and A in a second science from Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Psychology.

Peninsula (Plymouth) is the stricter A-Level offer; Nottingham is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Nottingham carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — 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… Peninsula (Plymouth): Seven GCSEs at grade 4/C or above, including English Language, Mathematics and two science subjects (or Dual Award). Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once academic…

Interview formats

Both Nottingham and Peninsula (Plymouth) 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: Nottingham interviews in December - March; Peninsula (Plymouth) in Not available.

Curriculum and teaching style

Nottingham runs a Integrated curriculum; Peninsula (Plymouth) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Nottingham delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Peninsula (Plymouth) centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Five-year MBChB with compulsory intercalated BMedSci built into the course (one of few UK schools to embed BMedSci as standard). Five-year MBBS with PBL and case-based learning. Distinctive rural/coastal placement strand across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset.

Intake size: Nottingham — ~250 home + ~30 international places per year.; Peninsula (Plymouth) — ~140 home + ~25 international places per year (Plymouth University Peninsula MBChB).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Nottingham: All Students (2024): 519/913 = 57% (or 336/911 = 37% from another source); A108 WP Foundation Year: 61/188 = 32%. Peninsula (Plymouth): All Applicants: 434/761 = 57% (2025).

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

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.

Peninsula (Plymouth): Plymouth publishes the qualities they assess: communication, decision making, reflection and self-insight, motivation and commitment, integrity and inclusivity, resilience and adaptability, and teamwork. Personal statement and work experience are NOT considered in interview selection.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Nottingham is the lower-risk academic 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 Peninsula (Plymouth); 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. 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.. Peninsula (Plymouth) guidance: Not published in advance. Peninsula states the threshold alters each year with the number and quality of applications, and that it cannot confirm the cut-off until all applications have been received and assessed..

Where to go next

NottinghamEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
Peninsula (Plymouth)Entry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

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