St Andrews vs Sunderland

St Andrews requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

Sunderland 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.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — St Andrews: Strong National 5 / GCSE profile. Biology required if not studied at A-Level (per Glasgow partnership rules). Sunderland: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 including Maths, English Language, Biology, Chemistry (or dual-award Science).

Both St Andrews and Sunderland 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: St Andrews interviews in December - March; Sunderland in December - January.

St Andrews runs a Traditional curriculum; Sunderland runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — St Andrews delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Sunderland centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: 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. Five-year MBChB with PBL and case-based learning. Strong North-East NHS placement network.

Intake size: St Andrews — RUK ~24 places, Scottish ~150, International ~30 (3-year pre-clinical only - clinical years at partner schools).; Sunderland — ~100 places per year (smaller cohort).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

St Andrews: RUK Student (2025): 123/162 = 74%; Scottish + RUK: 411/505 = 81%; International (2023): 56/82 = 68%. Sunderland: All Home Applicants: 353/731 = 48% (2025). Not for international students - home only.

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.

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.

Sunderland: No use of personal statement. The interview-selection tool reviews up to 4 examples of paid voluntary work or caring experience (shadowing doctors does not count). Numeracy test now part of the interview process.