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Medical school comparison

St George's vs UCL

St George's and UCL are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in London, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy. Their A-Level requirements (AAA vs A*AA) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

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

UCL

London

Quick comparison

Location
London, UK
A-Level offer
A*AA at A-level (offer and prediction) with the A* in Chemistry or Biology
TrueScore
2120
UCAT home cut-off
~2100+ /2700 (2025 entry cut-off ≈ 2100, first UCAT cycle replacing BMAT)
Interview format
MMI (Home), Traditional (International)
Post-interview chance
Home Fee Status (2024): 562/1032 = 54%; Contextual (2025): 58%; International (2023): 55/131 = 42%
Decision date
Decisions are made after all the Interviews have been completed
Compare different schools

St George's vs UCL - in detail

UCAT thresholds compared

St George's's published UCAT threshold for home applicants is around 1950, while UCL sits at approximately 2100.

The 150-point spread matters: St George's offers slightly more headroom for an average-strong UCAT, while UCL expects performance closer to the national 75th-90th percentile.

Contextual / widening-participation cut-offs differ — St George's: not separately disclosed; UCL: ~1950+ /2700 (Access UCL - 2025 cut-off ≈ 1950). Eligible applicants should weight this heavily when choosing.

A-Level and academic profile

St George's requires AAA including Chemistry and Biology.

UCL requires A*AA including Chemistry and Biology.

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

Interview formats

Both St George's and UCL 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.

That said, the specifics differ slightly: St George's runs multiple mini interviews (mmi); UCL runs mmi (home), traditional (international). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: St George's interviews in November - February; UCL in December - March.

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). UCL: Home Fee Status (2024): 562/1032 = 54%; Contextual (2025): 58%; International (2023): 55/131 = 42%.

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.

UCL: Cut-offs differ from Imperial - UCL's home threshold is lower while its international threshold is higher, partly because UCL holds more interviews relative to offers. SJT is only used as a tie-breaker between equally scored candidates.

Which is right for you?

If your UCAT lands below the UK median (~1880/2700), St George's is the more realistic firm-choice option. For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, St George's is the lower-risk academic option. Both schools sit in the same London foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily.

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

Where to go next

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

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 4 August 2026.