Pears Cumbria (GEM) and Queen's University Belfast (QUB) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Pears Cumbria (GEM) is based in Carlisle (England) while Queen's University Belfast (QUB) sits in Belfast (Northern Ireland), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.
Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is the older institution (founded 1849); the other (founded 2023) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.
| Comparison field | Pears Cumbria (GEM)Carlisle | Queen's University Belfast (QUB)Belfast |
|---|---|---|
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| Location | Carlisle, UK | Belfast, UK |
| A-Level offer | Graduate entry - degree required | A*AA at A-level including Chemistry and Biology (or Maths/Physics - see subject rules) |
| TrueScoreTrueScore is our prediction of the UCAT score required to be invited to interview at this school for the upcoming cycle. Built from multi-year FOI data and applicant trends. Click any badge to see the full breakdown. | 1700GEM | 1700 |
| UCAT home cut-off | - | ~1700+ /2700 with 9× grade 9s GCSE (~35/45 target). Lower UCAT viable with stronger GCSE. |
| Interview format | Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) | Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) |
| Post-interview chance | - | Home: 332/778 = 43%; International: 51/214 = 24% |
| Decision date | March onwards | April onwards |
Carlisle
Quick comparison
Belfast
Quick comparison
Pears Cumbria (GEM) requires Graduate entry - degree required.
Queen's University Belfast (QUB) requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.
Both Pears Cumbria (GEM) and Queen's University Belfast (QUB) 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: Pears Cumbria (GEM) interviews in December - March; Queen's University Belfast (QUB) in January - February.
Pears Cumbria (GEM): Graduate entry programme focusing on rural and community healthcare. Newer course oriented around regional workforce needs in Cumbria.
Queen's University Belfast (QUB): Less weight on NHS hot topics than most schools. Stronger emphasis on reflective examples of personal qualities. SJT may be used if borderline before or after interview, but in 2025 anyone with 30/42 received an interview regardless.
Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Pears Cumbria (GEM) feeds into the England foundation programme network; Queen's University Belfast (QUB) into the Northern Ireland 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.
School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 4 August 2026.
