Newcastle

Medicine has been taught at Newcastle since 1834 and the university is now home to one of the largest integrated medical teaching and hospital complexes in the country.

Newcastle is currently ranked 17th in the UK for medicine by the Complete University Guide 2026, and 29th by the Guardian 2026.

About The Course

Newcastle University’s Medicine MBBS course is 5 years long and prepares you for a career as a compassionate and skilled practitioner.

In the first half of the course, you will learn about key areas of medicine on campus. In the second half of the course, you’ll gain clinical experience through placements in their clinical base units across the region.

Medicine at Newcastle is split roughly into two major parts; years 1 & 2, and years 3-5.

Structure Of The Course

Year 1-2

The first two years of the course focus on the foundations of medicine, including topics such as; medical sciences, clinical skills and ethics. This will be primarily taught on campus, however students will receive early patient contact, with regular short placements to hospitals and GPs. Teaching focuses around 24 clinical cases to help put learning into context.

Year 3-5

In the latter three years, students transition to mainly clinical based teaching through various hospital and community placements, covering a range of areas within surgery and medicine. Students will also have the opportunity to study subjects of further interest and complete an eight week medical elective. Finallly, students are prepared for their first role as a foundation 1 doctor.

Academic Requirements

GCSEs: Six GCSEs at a minimum grade of 7/A including Mathematics and two science subjects. Additionally, an English Language GCSE at grade 6/B or above is required.

A-levels: AAA in any subject excluding General Studies, Use of Mathematics, World Development, Communication and Culture and Critical Thinking. Once the academic criteria have been met, academic achievement is not considered further in subsequent parts of the application process eg additional A Levels or A* results or additional GCSE results are not considered.

Scottish Higher: AAAAA. Scottish qualifications can be taken in more than one sitting.

Scottish Advanced Higher: AA at Advanced Higher Grade.

International Baccalaureate: A minimum of 36 points including minimum of grade 5 in all subjects. To include Biology and Chemistry

IELTs (International applicants only): An overall score of IELTS 6.5 or equivalent. You will also need at least IELTS 5.5 or equivalent in each of the four sub-skills.

Bachelor's Degree (Graduates only): Applicants must have achieved, or expect to achieve, an honours degree in any discipline to at least an upper second class or first class Honours or integrated master’s degree.

Mitigating Circumstances

Resits policy: Applicants ideally should have achieved the necessary A Level grades at the first attempt as an indicator that they will be able to manage the intensity of the course. Newcastle University recognises that sometimes circumstances mean that students underperform. As a result, they allow a subject to be repeated once. If a subject is being undertaken for a second time after further study the expectation is of a higher level of performance, the grade requirement from the University will also increase by a grade eg A to A*.

Extenuating circumstances: Newcastle will usually not alter any offers that they make as a result of extenuating circumstances, but if an applicant misses their offer, they will take any extenuating circumstances into consideration if applicants miss out on their offer and may still be able to offer the applicant a place.

Deferred entry: Admissions tutors in all subject areas are happy to consider applicants who wish to defer entry by one year. You can apply for deferred entry while you are still at school or college, or you can request deferred entry after submitting your UCAS application.

Transfers: Successful applicants transfer into the first year of the Medicine or Dentistry programmes. You can apply to transfer from any degree programme in their suite of biomedical and biomolecular programmes in the School of Biomedical, Nutritional, and Sport Sciences.

Further Entry Requirements

Work experience: Relevant experience is essential for applying to medical school. You will need to be able to show how you have developed interpersonal skills. You’ll also need to understand what makes good patient care. Patients often feel vulnerable, angry or distressed, and you’ll need to know how to respond. However, your experience doesn’t have to be shadowing a doctor or in a clinical setting.

Personal statement: Students are selected on the basis of their academic performance in stage one, UCAT score, personal statement and panel interview performance, so a good personal statement is important.

Admissions Process

The selection process involves three stages that follow the sequence below.

Stage 1: Academic Screen

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 3: Making offers

The academic screen considers both academic grades and total UCAT score, where up to 40 points are awarded based on the most recent set of qualifications (e.g. GCSEs) and up to 60 points are awarded for total UCAT score, giving a maximum total of 100 points. Any candidate not meeting the minimum academic requirements as outlined above will be automatically rejected. The minimum threshold score in 2025 was 50, and candidates with the highest total score will be invited to an interview.

Admissions Tests:

UCAT ✅
In 2025, the lowest UCAT score required to receive an interview offer was 2740, as the 2026 cohort is the first year to sit the UCAT without the Abstract Reasoning component, a comparable score is 2087. As the UCAT score is considered alongside academic grades, a score above this would not guarantee you an interview, as lower scores are compensated by high academic grades. Note that Newcastle will not consider candidates with an SJT band of 4.

Interview Type: MMI

Interview Topics: Newcastle uses the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format for the second stage of their selection process. Note that international students will be interviewed using a panel format, but will be asked similar questions as home students. Newcastle does not disclose details regarding their MMI format, however they will take place between December and January and will focus on the following areas:

Empathy and self-awareness
Motivation and commitment to be a doctor
Compatibility with the Newcastle MBBS programme
Teamwork (including leadership)
Personal organisation
Persistence and resilience
Integrity
Communication

In addition to a score for each station, candidates will also receive a score for their SJT band to count toward their overall interview performance. Applicants will be ranked according to their interview performance and the highest scoring will receive an offer conditional on achieving the required academic qualifications.

Admissions Statistics

Total number of applicants:	1350
Total number of places:	369
Total number of entrants:	369
Acceptance rate:	27.33%

Fees

Home students:	£9535 pa
Rest of UK:	TBC
International students:	£46997 pa

Teaching Methods

Teaching style: Newcastle’s Medical School uses an integrated case-led teaching style that focuses on looking at the patient as a whole. Their main focus is ‘case-based learning’ (CBL). For example a case of stroke can be used to learn and teach the nervous system, cardiovascular system, clinical skills, pharmacology, Public Health and
communication skills.

Intercalation mode: Their medical students have the opportunity to enrich their personal and professional development further by taking time out of their medical studies to pursue an intercalated degree.

Intercalation provides an opportunity to study a subject that interests and excites you as well as develop new perspectives on healthcare delivery, research and education. Newcastle offers a broad range of Biomedical Science BSc degrees and Masters degrees that cover all aspects of medical practice.

Graduate Prospects

In 2025, 99% of graduates from Newcastle medical school were in full time employment or further study 15 months after graduating, with average annual earnings of £37,000. Additionally, 96% felt they were using what they learnt on the course in their current work, with overall high satisfaction ratings for the program.

FAQs

Is Newcastle a Russell Group University?

Yes, Newcastle is a founding member of the Russell Group.

What rank is Newcastle medicine?

Newcastle is currently ranked 17th in the UK for medicine by the Complete University Guide 2026, and 29th by the Guardian 2026.

How many years is Medicine in Newcastle University?

Five years.

Does Newcastle look for GCSEs for medicine?

Once the academic criteria have been met, academic achievement is not considered further in subsequent parts of the application process eg additional A Levels or A* results or additional GCSE results are not considered.

Is Newcastle University hard to get into?

In 2025, Newcastle’s acceptance rate was 27.3% which is much higher than other medical schools in the UK, however their academic requirements are high (e.g. AAA for A-levels and high UCAT scores), so it is still considered hard to get into.