Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

Starting a new thread for parents of prospective medical students looking to start in 2026.

@notsoperfect33 that's a great score and would think Bham a fair choice. When interims are out we'll have a better idea of this years deciles.

Here is some of the spreadsheet. To get whole thing DM me with an email (need to type it in blocked over several messages).

@mumsneedwine When do Universities publish their 2025 entry minimum UCAT scores/ points selected for interview? I had a look but can only see 2024 data, unless I am looking in the wrong place.

Most rank their applicants then fill interview slots from the highest score* down until they are full. So they won’t know their minimum UCAT until after they have completed the process.

*highest score may be UCAT or some other scoring system including UCAT and academics etc

Thanks, feeling hopeful

@alwaysontherunmum next July. Minimum scores will be already up, but that's just for them to look at your application. What you need to get an interview is unknown as it depends on what other students who apply to that Uni have. So it's always a bit of an educated guessing game I'm afraid.

@alwaysontherunmum how they select for interview is already on each website though. And there are a lot of different methods !

I imagine they'll publish UCAT cut-offs for 2025 entry very soon if they haven't already.

Bristol has already for example: "For 2025 entry, the final UCAT threshold score to be invited to interview was 3010 for home applicants and 3080 for overseas applicants."

@mumsneedwine I have a question about resitting GCSEs. Some med schools will accept a resit in GCSEs, but are there some that would not consider a candidate for having a resit, even if their original grade was sufficient to meet their criteria?

Basically, DD got a 6 in English language which is enough to meet most med school’s academic requirements - but if she wants a chance with the ones who score GCSEs she’d probably need a higher grade. If she treat this November to try and get an 8/9, could that work against her in other med schools if they see she did a resit, even if the original grade was within their requirements?

Do you know? TIA 😁

@SuperSue77 they don't mind one GCSE resits. This is Notts criteria who heavily score them. Pretty standard.

@RMsome never let you know previous UCAT cut offs. It's a question of asking, FOI & if in doubt trawling TSR !

That is for 2025 entry - so those who put their applications in last year.

It is also important to remember the minimum UCAT score interviewed/admitted may be from a contextual candidate or a candidate with other special consideration.

Yes. They can't give cut offs for this years entry as it depends on who applies !

Thank you!!
Do other med schools penalise you for a GCSE resit, or is it only at A level? Also, just looked at your spreadsheet for this year and it says that Notts only scores GCSEs 21% this year - is that right? I thought it was 50:50 between GCSE and UCAT, or have they changed that now? If so, it could help DD! She is also waiting on a remark of her English language, so a resit may not be required - she is not keen to!

Yes, that's what @alwaysontherunmum was asking for 🙂

@SuperSue77 GCSE, UCAT and SJT are all scored. It's quite complicated as VR worth double. Here's the 2026 selection criteria

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/study-with-us/undergraduate/undergraduate-medicine/undergraduate-selection-process.aspx

So GCSE /36
UCAT/40
SJT/10

@RM26 minimum accepted ucats are v misleading. As has been said they are v often contextual. And a bit meaningless for this year as we have no idea his losing AR is going to affect scores.
Interims v important this year, out v soon.

True. I was just responding to the query about when they would be published really. You said July next year but that sounded very late to me!

Bristol doesn't mention a lower UCAT cut-off for contextual candidates - only a lowered A-level grade offer. I must say, 3010 certainly doesn't sound like a contextual UCAT score, but who knows!

@RM26 for 2026 the cycle doesn't finish until June. Some still interview until then ! And so final
ucats can't be given correctly until then.

Bristol have so many contextual schemes ! The 3010 is stupidly high.

The query was about 2025 entry stats, not 2026 entry stats though. It's all useful info though 🙂

So much easier for Scottish students who just need to pick which one NOT to apply for (assuming they don’t want to incur £50k extra debt)

Tbf the whole date nomenclature is horribly confusing - when universities give data for “2024 admissions”, say, it should mean for students applying in October 2023 to start in 2024, but it doesn’t always, so it is no wonder mere punters get confused 😀

@mumsneedwine or anyone else, do you have experience of using The Medic Portal (TMP) for UCAT prep please. My daugther's school asked everyone doing UCAT to get this and they did a one day training session in school. (Parents pay). However, it seems Medify or Medentry is what most people use. Should she ditch TMP or if anyone's successfully used it please.