Where are Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM) located, and how does that affect cost?

Ulster University Medical School is in Londonderry, UK. Warwick (GEM) is in Coventry, 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?

Ulster University Medical School typically releases medicine decisions March onwards. Warwick (GEM) releases medicine decisions January 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

Ulster University Medical School vs Warwick (GEM)

Q: How are GCSEs weighted at Ulster University Medical School vs Warwick (GEM)?

Ulster University Medical School — Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. Warwick (GEM) — No specific GCSE requirements published for graduate-entry - applicant academic competence shown through degree.

Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM) are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Ulster University Medical School is based in Londonderry (London) while Warwick (GEM) sits in Coventry (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: Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM).
Comparison field	Ulster University Medical SchoolLondonderry	Warwick (GEM)Coventry
Quick comparison
Location	Londonderry, UK	Coventry, UK
A-Level offer	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree	Graduate entry only - minimum 2:1 honours degree. Warwick runs no undergraduate (A100) route.
TrueScore	-	Warwick (GEM) TrueScore 2150intl
UCAT home cut-off	-	-
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)	Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance	-	-
Decision date	March onwards	January onwards

A-Level offer	Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree	Graduate entry only - minimum 2:1 honours degree. Warwick runs no undergraduate (A100) route.
Contextual A-Level offer	-	-
Required A-Level subjects	-	-
A-Level resit policy	Resits accepted.	Not applicable to graduate entry - degree class is the academic measure.
GCSE requirements	-	No specific GCSE requirements published for graduate-entry - applicant academic competence shown through degree
GCSE scoring methodology	-	-
Scottish Highers	-	-
Scottish Advanced Highers	-	-
International Baccalaureate	-	-
Graduate-entry degree requirement	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above in any honours degree (Arts, Science, Humanities all accepted)	2:1 (Upper-second-class Honours) or above in any honours degree (Arts, Science, etc.) - completed by entry
Alternative qualifications	Graduate-entry only. UCAT NOT used - Ulster uses GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test). Recent GAMSAT thresholds have been ~61. Plus 2:1 honours degree and MMI interview. Strong Northern Ireland regional focus.	Graduate-entry only (4-year accelerated MBChB). UCAT used to rank applicants. CRITICAL: Verbal Reasoning must be at-or-above the cohort mean regardless of overall score; high overall UCAT will not be considered if VR is below mean. Selection-centre format (2 hours of timed exercises) means UCAT is one factor among several - group performance and individual stations matter.

Contextual cut-off	-	-
Scottish (where applicable)	-	-
Rest of UK (where applicable)	-	-
International cut-off	-	~2170+ /2700
Graduate cut-off	Not applicable - Ulster uses GAMSAT, not the UCAT. Recent thresholds have been around 61.	~2080+ /2700 minimum (typically 2170+ for safer chances). Graduate-entry only.
SJT band	-	-
UCAT notes	GAMSAT is scored out of 100. Do not sit the UCAT for this course.	Graduate entry only. UCAT used to rank graduate applicants. SJT considered.

Degree awarded	MBBS	MB ChB
Course length	4 years (graduate entry)	4 years (graduate entry)
Teaching style	Integrated	Integrated
Anatomy teaching	Imaging and models	Plastinated specimens
First patient contact	-	-
Placement geography	Across Northern Ireland	Coventry and Warwickshire
Named placement sites	-	University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, Warwick Hospital, George Eliot Hospital, Alexandra Hospital
Intercalation	-	-
Course highlight	Based at the Magee campus in Derry~Londonderry, alongside other healthcare programmes.	The UK’s largest graduate-entry medical programme, with around 203 graduates a year.

Interview window	December - March	December
Interview details	MMI format with multiple stations. Focus on serving Northern Ireland's healthcare needs alongside standard motivation, ethics and communication content.	Selection-centre format lasting about two hours with several timed exercises observed by assessors. Tasks cover team working, communication, empathy and clinical reasoning. Group exercises sit alongsi…

Specialities	Medicine, Community Medicine	Medicine, Graduate Entry Medicine, Medical Research
Established	2021	2000
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	New medical school serving Northern Ireland. Strong regional focus, with the course oriented around local workforce needs. Cut-offs have not yet stabilised.	Graduate entry ONLY - there is no A100 school-leaver route at Warwick, so A-level grades are not the entry currency here. All applicants sit the UCAT (not GAMSAT) and need a 2:1 or above.
Official course page	https://www.ulster.ac.uk/courses/202627/medicine-41407	https://warwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/mbchb-medicine/

Ulster University Medical School

Londonderry

Quick comparison

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

Warwick (GEM)

Coventry

Quick comparison

Location: Coventry, UK
A-Level offer: Graduate entry only - minimum 2:1 honours degree. Warwick runs no undergraduate (A100) route.
TrueScore: Warwick (GEM) TrueScore 2150intl
UCAT home cut-off: -
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: January onwards

Ulster University Medical School vs Warwick (GEM) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Ulster University Medical School requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree.

Warwick (GEM) requires Graduate entry only - minimum 2:1 honours degree. Warwick runs no undergraduate (A100) route.

GCSE profile matters at both schools — Ulster University Medical School: Min 5 GCSEs at grade 6 (B) including Maths, English Language, dual-award Science. Warwick (GEM): No specific GCSE requirements published for graduate-entry - applicant academic competence shown through degree.

Interview formats

Both Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (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: Ulster University Medical School interviews in December - March; Warwick (GEM) in December.

Curriculum and teaching style

Ulster University Medical School runs a Integrated curriculum; Warwick (GEM) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Ulster University Medical School delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Warwick (GEM) centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: Four-year accelerated MBBS for graduates. Clinical placements across Northern Ireland NHS sites (Magee Campus, Western HSC, Northern HSC). Four-year accelerated MBChB for graduate entrants. Problem-based learning with significant clinical exposure from Year 1.

Intake size: Ulster University Medical School — ~70 places per year (small cohort, NI-focused).; Warwick (GEM) — ~190 home + ~15 international places per year (4-year accelerated MBChB).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

What makes each distinctive

Ulster University Medical School: New medical school serving Northern Ireland. Strong regional focus, with the course oriented around local workforce needs. Cut-offs have not yet stabilised.

Warwick (GEM): Graduate entry ONLY - there is no A100 school-leaver route at Warwick, so A-level grades are not the entry currency here. All applicants sit the UCAT (not GAMSAT) and need a 2:1 or above.

Which is right for you?

Regionally, the choice often comes down to cost of living and NHS-deanery preferences — Ulster University Medical School feeds into the London foundation programme network; Warwick (GEM) into the England network. If you learn best in small-group case discussion, prefer Warwick (GEM); if you prefer lecture-led foundations, the other suits better.

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. Ulster University Medical School guidance: GAMSAT is scored out of 100. Do not sit the UCAT for this course.. Warwick (GEM) guidance: Graduate entry only. UCAT used to rank graduate applicants. SJT considered..

Ulster University Medical School uses Multiple Mini Interviews: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). Warwick (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 (Ulster University Medical School); December (Warwick (GEM)).

Ulster University Medical School requires Graduate entry - 2:1 or above in any honours degree. Warwick (GEM) requires Graduate entry only - minimum 2:1 honours degree. Warwick runs no undergraduate (A100) route.. Most successful applicants achieve these grades on first sitting with strong predicted grades from their school. Resit policies differ: Ulster University Medical School — Resits accepted.. Warwick (GEM) — Not applicable to graduate entry - degree class is the academic measure..

Ulster University Medical School's selection methodology: Graduate-entry only: a 2:1 honours degree in any discipline plus GAMSAT (recent threshold ~61 out of 100), then MMI. Strong Northern Ireland regional focus. Warwick (GEM)'s selection methodology: UCAT + degree class + work experience for shortlisting. Personal statement assessed. Multiple Mini Interview format. 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.

Ulster University Medical School runs a Integrated curriculum. Warwick (GEM) runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies differ — pick the style that matches how you learn best. Ulster University Medical School specifics: Four-year accelerated MBBS for graduates. Clinical placements across Northern Ireland NHS sites (Magee Campus, Western HSC, Northern HSC). Warwick (GEM) specifics: Four-year accelerated MBChB for graduate entrants. Problem-based learning with significant clinical exposure from Year 1.

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

Ulster University Medical SchoolEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Warwick (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.

Ulster University Medical School vs Warwick (GEM)

Side-by-side comparison

Ulster University Medical School vs Warwick (GEM) - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What UCAT score do I need for Ulster University Medical School vs Warwick (GEM)?

How do interviews differ between Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM)?

What A-Level grades do Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM) require?

How are GCSEs weighted at Ulster University Medical School vs Warwick (GEM)?

How does each school actually shortlist applicants?

Where are Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM) located, and how does that affect cost?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM) use?

Should I apply to both Ulster University Medical School and Warwick (GEM)?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons