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Medical school comparison

Peninsula (Plymouth) vs St Andrews

Peninsula (Plymouth) and St Andrews are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Peninsula (Plymouth) is based in Plymouth (England) while St Andrews sits in St Andrews (Scotland), 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. St Andrews is the older institution (founded 1413); the other (founded 2000) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

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

St Andrews

St Andrews

Quick comparison

Location
St Andrews, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (offer and predicted) including Chemistry and one of Biology, Mathematics or Physics
TrueScore
St Andrews TrueScore 1850
UCAT home cut-off
No threshold published. Applicants who meet the requirements are ranked on their UCAT global score, and roughly the top 650 are invited to interview.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
RUK Student (2025): 123/162 = 74%; Scottish + RUK: 411/505 = 81%; International (2023): 56/82 = 68%
Decision date
March onwards

Peninsula (Plymouth) vs St Andrews - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

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.

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

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

GCSE profile matters at both schools — 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… 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…

Interview formats

Both Peninsula (Plymouth) 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: Peninsula (Plymouth) interviews in Not available; St Andrews in December - March.

Curriculum and teaching style

Peninsula (Plymouth) runs a PBL curriculum; St Andrews runs a Traditional curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Peninsula (Plymouth) leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while St Andrews uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five-year MBBS with PBL and case-based learning. Distinctive rural/coastal placement strand across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset. 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: Peninsula (Plymouth) — ~140 home + ~25 international places per year (Plymouth University Peninsula MBChB).; 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.

Post-interview offer rate

Peninsula (Plymouth): All Applicants: 434/761 = 57% (2025). 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.

What makes each distinctive

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.

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.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, St Andrews is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Peninsula (Plymouth) feeds into the England foundation programme network; St Andrews into the Scotland network.

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. 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.. St Andrews guidance: No threshold published. Applicants who meet the requirements are ranked on their UCAT global score, and roughly the top 650 are invited to interview..

Where to go next

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

Other medical school comparisons

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