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Medical school comparison

Southampton vs St George's

Southampton and St George's are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Southampton is based in Southampton (England) while St George's sits in London (London), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination. Their UCAT thresholds are remarkably close (within ~50 points), so the deciding factors are GCSE weighting, interview format and personal-statement use. The interview formats diverge — Panel vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different. St George's is the older institution (founded 1733); the other (founded 1952) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Southampton

Southampton

Quick comparison

Location
Southampton, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Biology and one of Chemistry / Physics / Psychology / Sociology / Environmental Studies / Geography
TrueScore
2000
UCAT home cut-off
~2000+ /2700 (2024 entry lowest invited ≈ 1958)
Interview format
Selection Day - Panel and Group
Post-interview chance
Home Students: 574/834 = 69%; International (2023): 17/59 = 30%
Decision date
March onwards

St George's

London

Quick comparison

Location
London, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.
TrueScore
1950
UCAT home cut-off
~1950+ /2700 (2025 entry cut-off ≈ 1950; 2024 entry was 2018)
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance
Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred)
Decision date
Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished
Compare different schools

Southampton vs St George's - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

Southampton's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 2000, while St George's sits at approximately 1950. Their UCAT bars are statistically indistinguishable (within 50 points), so the UCAT is unlikely to be your differentiator between them. Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — Southampton: ~1850+ /2700 (WP - 2024 entry lowest invited ≈ 1778); St George's: not separately disclosed. Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

A-Level and academic profile

Southampton requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology. St George's requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology. 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.

Interview formats

Southampton uses Panel (Selection Day - Panel and Group); St George's 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, Southampton may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, St George's is the better fit. Interview windows: Southampton interviews in January - March; St George's in November - February.

Post-interview offer rate

Southampton: Home Students: 574/834 = 69%; International (2023): 17/59 = 30%. St George's: Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred). 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

Southampton: Personal statement carries unusual weight - selectors use it to drive the panel section if you reach Selection Day. SJT is not considered. Course updated for 2025: the integrated BMedSc award is being removed in favour of more clinical learning time. St George's: Strong holistic-care and soft-skills emphasis. SJT used post-interview in offer making (B1 = 15 pts, B2 = 10, B3 = 5, B4 = nothing). St George's is also generous with deferred-entry offers, often made to borderline applicants in lieu of rejection.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Southampton feeds into the England foundation programme network; St George's 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

Southampton's typical home cut-off is around 2000, while St George's sits at approximately 1950 — a 50-point spread. The spread is small enough that other factors (GCSE weighting, interview score, contextual flags) usually dominate the firm/insurance decision. Cut-offs change year on year and vary by tier — check each school's latest published threshold before submitting your UCAS form.

Southampton uses Panel interview: Selection Day - Panel and Group. St George's 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: January - March (Southampton); November - February (St George's).

Southampton requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology. St George's requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

Southampton — Strong GCSE profile expected - typically 6+ at grade 7+ including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. St George's — GCSE performance considered as part of the broader academic profile; specific scoring not published.

Southampton's selection methodology: UCAT-based shortlisting after academic minimums met. Historically uses a banding/decile-based UCAT approach. St George's'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.

Southampton: Home Students: 574/834 = 69%; International (2023): 17/59 = 30%. St George's: Home Undergrad (2024): 247/677 = 36% (or 423/686 = 62% inc. deferred); Overseas Undergrad: 25/146 = 17% (or 58/152 = 38% inc. deferred). Post-interview odds tell you how competitive each school is at the final stage. Two schools with similar UCAT thresholds can have very different post-interview rates — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%.

Southampton is in Southampton, UK. St George's is in 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).

Southampton typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. St George's releases medicine decisions Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished. 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.

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.

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 20 June 2026.