How do interviews differ between Oxford and St Mary's Twickenham?

Oxford uses Traditional interview: Traditional or Panel Interviews. St Mary's Twickenham uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The two formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each, with at least 3 full mock interviews per format before sitting either. Interview windows: December (Oxford); December - March (St Mary's Twickenham).

Where are Oxford and St Mary's Twickenham located, and how does that affect cost?

Oxford is in Oxford, UK. St Mary's Twickenham is in Twickenham, London, 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?

Oxford typically releases medicine decisions January. St Mary's Twickenham 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

Oxford vs St Mary's Twickenham

Oxford and St Mary's Twickenham are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Oxford is based in Oxford (England) while St Mary's Twickenham sits in Twickenham, London (London), 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. The interview formats diverge — Panel vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. Oxford is the older institution (founded 1096); the other (founded 2025) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Oxford and St Mary's Twickenham.
Comparison field	OxfordOxford	St Mary's TwickenhamTwickenham, London
Quick comparison
Location	Oxford, UK	Twickenham, London, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (and AAA predictions) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics, Further Mathematics or Physics	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
TrueScore	Oxford TrueScore 2230	St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off	No published cut-off. For 2026 entry the mean UCAT was 2,217.5 across all applicants, 2,377.5 among those shortlisted and 2,407.1 among offer-holders.	-
Interview format	Traditional or Panel Interviews	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	Strong. Of ~425 shortlisted for 2026 entry, 175 received offers - roughly 42% of home-fee interviewees (about 167 offers from ~393 interviews) and 8 of the 32 international interviewees (25%).	-
Decision date	January	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (and AAA predictions) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics, Further Mathematics or Physics	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry plus one of Biology / Mathematics / Further Mathematics / Physics. Combinations like Chemistry + Biology + Psychology are acceptable - Maths/Physics is not a barrier. Students can in theory be selected without Biology (interview prep would be more challenging).	Chemistry or Biology required, plus one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted with extenuating circumstances - must resit all 3 subjects in the same sitting	Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances
GCSE requirements	No minimum is published. 2026 entry means: 10.1 grade A*/9/8 (96% of grades) for shortlisted applicants and 10.3 (97%) for offer-holders, against 8.9 (86%) across all applicants. Contextualised to school performance.	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science)
GCSE scoring methodology	Oxford scores the number of A/9/8 grades and the mean proportion of grades at A/9/8, contextualised against school-level performance data; grades 8 and 9 are treated alike. The relative weighting of…	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	39 points overall, 7,6,6 at Higher Level including HL Chemistry plus one of Biology / Mathematics / Physics	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Chemistry or Biology and a second science / Maths
Graduate-entry degree requirement	Two routes. Graduates may apply to the standard six-year A100, and Oxford also runs A101, a four-year accelerated Graduate-Entry course of roughly 30 places, open to applicants with a 2:1 or above (or GPA above 3.5) in an applied or experimental science. A101 needs A-levels of at least AAB with an A/A* in Chemistry - waived for Chemistry or Biochemistry graduates - plus one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics; the A-level grade rule relaxes if exams were sat more than five years ago. IB route: 36 points with 6s at Higher Level.	-
Alternative qualifications	4 A-levels and/or EPQ are not beneficial in the shortlisting algorithm. Three A-levels is sufficient.	New international-only medicine course for 2026 entry - first cohort. Applied to directly outside standard UCAS medicine route. UCAT contributes to combined admissions test + academic ranking. No SJT use.

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	Mean 2,537.2 among the 32 international-fee applicants shortlisted for 2026 entry, of whom 8 received offers.	No cut-off exists yet. UCAT contributes to the shortlisting rank, but the first cohort is September 2026 so no historic threshold exists.
Graduate cut-off	-	-
SJT band	Not used for shortlisting. Theoretically post-interview alongside other factors. Bands 1, 2, 3 no cause for concern; band 4 also selected last year.	No usage mentioned in any selection policy
UCAT notes	Shortlisting combines UCAT with a contextualised GCSE score. Around 425 applicants are interviewed each year (~2.5 per place): the bulk are ranked in automatically, and the Shortlisting Committee adde…	International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only. No SJT use stated. Any quoted 'cut-off' for this school is guesswork - it has not yet completed an admissions cycle.

Degree awarded	BM BCh	MBBS
Course length	6 years (3 pre-clinical + 3 clinical)	5 years
Teaching style	Traditional / lecture-led	Case-based learning
Anatomy teaching	Prosection	-
First patient contact	-	Year 1
Placement geography	Oxford	London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire
Named placement sites	John Radcliffe Hospital	West London Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Basingstoke), Practice Plus Group (Ilford), Royal Trinity Hospice, Princess Alice Hospice, Meadow House
Intercalation	Built in — the BA in Medical Sciences is taken as year 3 by every student on the standard course.	-
Course highlight	-	Currently accepts international students only.

Interview window	December	December - March
Interview details	Two college-based panel interviews held in December, each typically 20-30 minutes. Tutors push you on scientific reasoning rather than rehearsed answers - expect questions that build on what you say a…	Applications are scored on academic record and admissions tests to produce a shortlisting rank. Interviews are online Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs).

Specialities	Clinical Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Medical Research	Medicine, International Medicine
Established	1096	2025
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	Pooling system means each applicant is assessed at two colleges, with a centralised shortlist - applying to a "less competitive" college gives no real advantage. GCSE performance is contextualised to…	International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS medical choices. Weigh that against the accreditation risk: the MBBS is not y…
Official course page	https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/medicine	https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mbbs-medicine-degree

Oxford

Quick comparison

Location: Oxford, UK
A-Level offer: A*AA at A-level (and A*AA predictions) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics, Further Mathematics or Physics
TrueScore: Oxford TrueScore 2230
UCAT home cut-off: No published cut-off. For 2026 entry the mean UCAT was 2,217.5 across all applicants, 2,377.5 among those shortlisted and 2,407.1 among offer-holders.
Interview format: Traditional or Panel Interviews
Post-interview chance: Strong. Of ~425 shortlisted for 2026 entry, 175 received offers - roughly 42% of home-fee interviewees (about 167 offers from ~393 interviews) and 8 of the 32 international interviewees (25%).
Decision date: January

St Mary's Twickenham

Twickenham, London

Quick comparison

Location: Twickenham, London, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
TrueScore: St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March onwards

Oxford vs St Mary's Twickenham - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Oxford requires A*AA at A-level (and A*AA predictions) including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Mathematics, Further Mathematics or Physics.

St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics.

Oxford is the stricter A-Level offer; St Mary's Twickenham is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, St Mary's Twickenham carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Oxford: No minimum is published. 2026 entry means: 10.1 grade A*/9/8 (96% of grades) for shortlisted applicants and 10.3 (97%) for offer-holders, against 8.9 (86%) across all applicants. Contextualised to… St Mary's Twickenham: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science).

Interview formats

Oxford uses Panel (Traditional or Panel Interviews); St Mary's Twickenham uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)). These two formats reward different skills — Panel emphasises narrative coherence and the ability to develop a thread under follow-up questioning, while MMI rewards breadth and quick recovery.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Oxford may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, St Mary's Twickenham is the better fit.

Interview windows: Oxford interviews in December; St Mary's Twickenham in December - March.

What makes each distinctive

Oxford: Pooling system means each applicant is assessed at two colleges, with a centralised shortlist - applying to a "less competitive" college gives no real advantage. GCSE performance is contextualised to your school. Tutors prize lateral reasoning and willingness to engage with the unfamiliar.

St Mary's Twickenham: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS medical choices. Weigh that against the accreditation risk: the MBBS is not yet GMC-accredited, and St Mary's contingency is that students would transfer to the University of Lancashire if accreditation is not achieved.

Which is right for you?

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

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. Oxford guidance: No published cut-off. For 2026 entry the mean UCAT was 2,217.5 across all applicants, 2,377.5 among those shortlisted and 2,407.1 among offer-holders.. St Mary's Twickenham guidance: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only. No SJT use stated. Any quoted 'cut-off' for this school is guesswork - it has not yet completed an admissions cycle..

Oxford requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology/Physics/Mathematics. St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA prediction and offer requirements, must include chemistry or biology as well as one of biology/chemistry/physics/maths. Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances. GCSEs: grade 6 minimum in maths, English language, biology and chemistry (or dual award science).. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Oxford — No minimum is published. 2026 entry means: 10.1 grade A*/9/8 (96% of grades) for shortlisted applicants and 10.3 (97%) for offer-holders, against 8.9 (86%) across all applicants. Contextualised to school performance. Oxford scores the number of A*/9/8 grades and the mean proportion of grades at A*/9/8, contextualised against school-level performance data; grades 8 and 9 are treated alike. The relative weighting of GCSE against UCAT is not published. Applicants with five or fewer GCSEs, or who sat them in summer 2020-2021, are handled separately. St Mary's Twickenham — Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science).

Oxford's selection methodology: Initial shortlisting is algorithmic, combining UCAT with a GCSE measure (number and proportion of A*/9/8) contextualised to the applicant's school. Tutors then review every non-shortlisted applicant and nominate any the algorithm may have underrated; those plus the 80 candidates just below the cut-off go to the A100 Shortlisting Committee, which added 80 applicants in the 2025 round. Roughly 425 are interviewed from ~1,026 eligible applicants. St Mary's Twickenham's selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. 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.

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

OxfordEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

St Mary's TwickenhamEntry 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.