How do interviews differ between St George's and Sunderland?

St George's uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Sunderland uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). The format is the same, so the same prep approach applies — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot topics, and (for MMI) structured 5-7 minute station answers. Interview windows: November - February (St George's); December - January (Sunderland).

Where are St George's and Sunderland located, and how does that affect cost?

St George's is in London, UK. Sunderland is in Sunderland, 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?

St George's typically releases medicine decisions Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished. Sunderland releases medicine decisions Until May. 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

St George's vs Sunderland

St George's and Sunderland are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. St George's is based in London (London) while Sunderland sits in Sunderland (England), 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 George's is the older institution (founded 1733); the other (founded 2019) has shaped its medical school around modern integrated-curriculum thinking.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: St George's and Sunderland.
Comparison field	St George'sLondon	SunderlandSunderland
Quick comparison
Location	London, UK	Sunderland, 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.	AAA at A-level including Biology or Chemistry, plus another designated science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics/Further Mathematics/Statistics) and a third academic subject. No use of predicted grades - Sunderland considers achieved grades only.
TrueScore	St George's TrueScore 1950	Sunderland TrueScore 1700
UCAT home cut-off	No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores.	Expressed in deciles: your score must fall within the top 8 deciles of the cohort, with an SJT in Bands 1-3.
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	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)	All Home Applicants: 353/731 = 48% (2025). Not for international students - home only.
Decision date	Rolling-basis after Interviews have finished	Until May

A-Level offer	A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.	AAA at A-level including Biology or Chemistry, plus another designated science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics/Further Mathematics/Statistics) and a third academic subject. No use of predicted grades - Sunderland considers achieved grades only.
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) both required	Biology or Chemistry required, plus a second designated science, plus a third academic subject
A-Level resit policy	Resits or third year of study accepted with extenuating circumstances only	Resits accepted.
GCSE requirements	Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted.	Five GCSEs at grade 7/A or above, with a minimum of grade 6/B in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Dual Science may not be accepted - confirm with the school. GCSE resits permitted before application (up to 2 attempts).
GCSE scoring methodology	Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	37 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including HL Chemistry and HL Biology	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including HL Biology or Chemistry plus a second science / Maths (not published on the course page - treat as unconfirmed).
Graduate-entry degree requirement	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above in any discipline. Graduate for Undergraduate Programme available - UCAT cut-off applies (~2100+ /2700).	-
Alternative qualifications	-	Sunderland does NOT accept international students - UK applicants only.

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	-	-
Graduate cut-off	~2100+ /2700 (Graduate for Undergraduate Programme)	-
SJT band	SJT used post-interview in offer making. Combined with MMI score → B1=15 pts, B2=10, B3=5, B4=none.	Band 4 is automatically rejected, no further use of SJT
UCAT notes	Once the entry criteria are met, applicants are ranked by UCAT score and interview places are allocated from the top down until they run out. A minimum of 500/900 is required in each individual cognit…	Sunderland shortlists on three things together - the interview selection tool, the academic requirements and the UCAT. The selection tool is a survey you must complete by the published October deadlin…

Degree awarded	MBBS	MBChB
Course length	5 years	5 years
Teaching style	Problem-based learning	Problem-based learning + Case-based learning
Anatomy teaching	Prosection	-
First patient contact	-	Year 3
Placement geography	-	The north east of England
Named placement sites	-	-
Intercalation	-	Available after year 2 as a BSc, or after year 4 as an MSc.
Course highlight	The MBBS puts unusual weight on clinical communication — drawing out a patient’s history, giving clear explanations, and negotiating with patients and relatives.	-

Interview window	November - February	December - January
Interview details	A six-station MMI, each station around five minutes with a 60-second break between, delivered through SAMMI (Scalable Automated Multiple Mini Interviews) software. Each station is assessed separately…	Series of short interview stations covering motivation, communication, reflection on work experience and reasoning. Includes a 30-minute online numeracy test as part of the selection day.

Specialities	Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Healthcare Sciences	Medicine, Community Medicine
Established	1733	2019
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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…	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 interv…
Official course page	https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/prospective-students/courses/undergraduate/medicine	https://www.sunderland.ac.uk/study/medicine/mbchb-medicine/

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: St George's TrueScore 1950
UCAT home cut-off: No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores.
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

Sunderland

Quick comparison

Location: Sunderland, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level including Biology or Chemistry, plus another designated science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics/Further Mathematics/Statistics) and a third academic subject. No use of predicted grades - Sunderland considers achieved grades only.
TrueScore: Sunderland TrueScore 1700
UCAT home cut-off: Expressed in deciles: your score must fall within the top 8 deciles of the cohort, with an SJT in Bands 1-3.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: All Home Applicants: 353/731 = 48% (2025). Not for international students - home only.
Decision date: Until May

St George's vs Sunderland - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

St George's requires A*AA or AAA at A-level (offer depends on cohort strength). Predicted AAA required including Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology.

Sunderland requires AAA at A-level including Biology or Chemistry, plus another designated science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics/Further Mathematics/Statistics) and a third academic subject. No use of predicted grades - Sunderland considers achieved grades only.

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

GCSE profile matters at both schools — St George's: Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted.

Used only as minimum threshold -… Sunderland: Five GCSEs at grade 7/A or above, with a minimum of grade 6/B in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Dual Science may not be accepted - confirm with the school. GCSE resits…

Interview formats

Both St George's 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 George's interviews in November - February; Sunderland in December - January.

Post-interview offer rate

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

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.

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.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Sunderland is the lower-risk academic option. Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — St George's feeds into the London foundation programme network; Sunderland into the England 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. St George's guidance: No predictable threshold. City St George's states that it is not possible to predict what the UCAT thresholds will be in any given year, nor to use previous years' data to predict them. The cut-off is set annually against the strength of that year's scores.. Sunderland guidance: Expressed in deciles: your score must fall within the top 8 deciles of the cohort, with an SJT in Bands 1-3..

St George's requires A*AA or AAA including Chemistry and Biology/Human Biology (offer depends on cohort strength). Sunderland requires AAA including Biology or Chemistry, plus another designated science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths/Further Maths/Statistics) and a third academic subject. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

St George's — Minimum 5 GCSEs at grade 6/B or above, including English Language, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or 6-6 Dual Award Science). GCSE resits accepted. Used only as minimum threshold - wholly UCAT-based shortlisting once met Sunderland — Five GCSEs at grade 7/A or above, with a minimum of grade 6/B in Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Dual Science may not be accepted - confirm with the school. GCSE resits permitted before application (up to 2 attempts).

St George's's selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. Sunderland's selection methodology: UCAT + academic + interview. Newer programme (intake from 2019) - selection algorithm being refined annually. 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.

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). Sunderland: All Home Applicants: 353/731 = 48% (2025). Not for international students - home only.. 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%.

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

St George'sEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

SunderlandEntry 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.