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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.

On UCAT alone there is roughly a 250-point gap between them — a substantial difference that should shape which you list as firm choice vs. insurance. 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

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

Sunderland

Sunderland

Quick comparison

Location
Sunderland, UK
A-Level offer
AAA at A-level (no use of predicted grades - Sunderland considers achieved grades only)
TrueScore
1700
UCAT home cut-off
~1700+ /2700 (2nd decile cut-off; 2025 entry lowest invited ≈ 1695). Stable around 1695-1710 for past 4 cycles.
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

UCAT thresholds compared

St George's's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1950, while Sunderland sits at approximately 1700.

The 250-point spread matters: Sunderland offers slightly more headroom for an average-strong UCAT, while St George's expects performance closer to the national 75th-90th percentile.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — St George's: not separately disclosed; Sunderland: ~1680+ /2700 (top 8 deciles required; AAB offer with local + contextual). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

A-Level and academic profile

St George's 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.

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

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 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?

If your UCAT lands below the UK median (~1880/2700), Sunderland is the more realistic firm-choice 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