Where are St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM) located, and how does that affect cost?

St Mary's Twickenham is in Twickenham, London, UK. Surrey (GEM) is in Guildford, 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 Mary's Twickenham typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. Surrey (GEM) releases medicine decisions March onwards. 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 Mary's Twickenham vs Surrey (GEM)

Q: How are GCSEs weighted at St Mary's Twickenham vs Surrey (GEM)?

St Mary's Twickenham — Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science). Surrey (GEM) — GCSE Maths and English at grade C/5 or above.

St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. St Mary's Twickenham is based in Twickenham, London (London) while Surrey (GEM) sits in Guildford (England), and the regional context shapes everything from fee status to NHS-deanery destination.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM).
Comparison field	St Mary's TwickenhamTwickenham, London	Surrey (GEM)Guildford
Quick comparison
Location	Twickenham, London, UK	Guildford, UK
A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any subject
TrueScore	St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl	Surrey (GEM) TrueScore 1700GEM
UCAT home cut-off	-	-
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	-	-
Decision date	March onwards	March onwards

A-Level offer	AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any subject
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	Chemistry or Biology required, plus one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics	-
A-Level resit policy	Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances	Not applicable to graduate entry.
GCSE requirements	Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science)	GCSE Maths and English at grade C/5 or above
GCSE scoring methodology	-	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	36 points overall, 6,6,6 at Higher Level including Chemistry or Biology and a second science / Maths	-
Graduate-entry degree requirement	-	Minimum 2:1 UK honours degree (or equivalent) in any subject - all disciplines are given equal consideration.
Alternative qualifications	New international-only medicine course for 2026 entry - first cohort. Applied to directly outside standard UCAS medicine route. UCAT contributes to combined admissions test + academic ranking. No SJT use.	Graduate-entry only (4-year BMBS). GAMSAT is the general admission test; UCAT is accepted only from Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedical Science, Chemistry or Natural Sciences graduates. Open to UK and international applicants (IELTS 7.0 overall and in every component). The University of Exeter is the contingency awarding body while Surrey completes GMC accreditation.

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	No cut-off exists yet. UCAT contributes to the shortlisting rank, but the first cohort is September 2026 so no historic threshold exists.	-
Graduate cut-off	-	GAMSAT is the general route. UCAT is accepted ONLY from applicants holding a degree in Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedical Science, Chemistry or Natural Sciences.
SJT band	No usage mentioned in any selection policy	-
UCAT notes	International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only. No SJT use stated. Any quoted 'cut-off' for this school is guesswork - it has not yet completed an admissions cycle.	No numeric cut-off is published; scores sort applicants into interview, waitlist or rejection. Do not assume a UCAT route - for most degree subjects GAMSAT is the only option.

Degree awarded	MBBS	BMBS
Course length	5 years	4 years (graduate entry)
Teaching style	Case-based learning	Team-based learning
Anatomy teaching	-	Prosection
First patient contact	Year 1	Year 1
Placement geography	London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire	Surrey and the surrounding area
Named placement sites	West London Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Basingstoke), Practice Plus Group (Ilford), Royal Trinity Hospice, Princess Alice Hospice, Meadow House	Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Surrey Heartlands ICS, Frimley Health and Care ICS
Intercalation	-	-
Course highlight	Currently accepts international students only.	AI is integrated into the curriculum, and virtual reality surgical training runs through the VRiMS collaboration.

Interview window	December - March	December - March
Interview details	Applications are scored on academic record and admissions tests to produce a shortlisting rank. Interviews are online Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs).	MMI format with multiple stations assessing communication, ethical reasoning and problem-solving.

Specialities	Medicine, International Medicine	Medicine, Healthcare Technology, Clinical Practice
Established	2025	2024
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS medical choices. Weigh that against the accreditation risk: the MBBS is not y…	New graduate-entry school taking a technology-forward approach to teaching. Still under GMC review, so the University of Exeter acts as the contingency awarding body until Surrey's own accreditation c…
Official course page	https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mbbs-medicine-degree	https://www.surrey.ac.uk/undergraduate/medicine-graduate-entry

St Mary's Twickenham

Twickenham, London

Quick comparison

Location: Twickenham, London, UK
A-Level offer: AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics
TrueScore: St Mary's Twickenham TrueScore 1700intl
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March onwards

Surrey (GEM)

Guildford

Quick comparison

Location: Guildford, UK
A-Level offer: Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any subject
TrueScore: Surrey (GEM) TrueScore 1700GEM
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: March onwards

St Mary's Twickenham vs Surrey (GEM) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA at A-level (offer and prediction) including Chemistry or Biology and one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Mathematics.

Surrey (GEM) requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any subject.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — St Mary's Twickenham: Minimum grade 6/B in GCSE Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Chemistry (or Dual Award Science). Surrey (GEM): GCSE Maths and English at grade C/5 or above.

Interview formats

Both St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM) 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 Mary's Twickenham interviews in December - March; Surrey (GEM) in December - March.

What makes each distinctive

St Mary's Twickenham: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only, applying direct rather than through UCAS, so it costs none of your four UCAS medical choices. Weigh that against the accreditation risk: the MBBS is not yet GMC-accredited, and St Mary's contingency is that students would transfer to the University of Lancashire if accreditation is not achieved.

Surrey (GEM): New graduate-entry school taking a technology-forward approach to teaching. Still under GMC review, so the University of Exeter acts as the contingency awarding body until Surrey's own accreditation completes - worth confirming before you accept an offer.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — St Mary's Twickenham feeds into the London foundation programme network; Surrey (GEM) 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 Mary's Twickenham guidance: International (non-UK/Irish) applicants only. No SJT use stated. Any quoted 'cut-off' for this school is guesswork - it has not yet completed an admissions cycle.. Surrey (GEM) guidance: No numeric cut-off is published; scores sort applicants into interview, waitlist or rejection. Do not assume a UCAT route - for most degree subjects GAMSAT is the only option..

St Mary's Twickenham uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Surrey (GEM) 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: December - March (St Mary's Twickenham); December - March (Surrey (GEM)).

St Mary's Twickenham requires AAA prediction and offer requirements, must include chemistry or biology as well as one of biology/chemistry/physics/maths. Resits only considered in exceptional circumstances. GCSEs: grade 6 minimum in maths, English language, biology and chemistry (or dual award science).. Surrey (GEM) requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any subject. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school.

St Mary's Twickenham's selection methodology: shortlisting weight not fully disclosed; check the official admissions page. Surrey (GEM)'s selection methodology: Degree class hurdle (2:1, any subject), then GAMSAT - or UCAT for bioscience/chemistry graduates only - sorting applicants into interview, waitlist or reject, then a virtual MMI lasting under an hour. 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.

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 Mary's TwickenhamEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Surrey (GEM)Entry 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.

St Mary's Twickenham vs Surrey (GEM)

Side-by-side comparison

St Mary's Twickenham vs Surrey (GEM) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for St Mary's Twickenham vs Surrey (GEM)?

How do interviews differ between St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM)?

What A-Level grades do St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM) require?

How are GCSEs weighted at St Mary's Twickenham vs Surrey (GEM)?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Where are St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM) located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

Should I apply to both St Mary's Twickenham and Surrey (GEM)?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons