The University of Bristol Medical School is one of the UK’s top-ranked medical schools. Bristol is ranked 7th in the UK for Medicine in the Complete University Guide 2027 (up from 8th in 2026), and 12th out of 40 in the Guardian University Guide 2027, with over 90% of students satisfied with their teaching.
At the University of Bristol Medical School, the curriculum is taught through a mixture of lectures, case-based learning and practical work, integrating basic science and clinical work throughout. The course also includes inter-professional working with students from other healthcare degrees, including nursing and pharmacy.
The curriculum at Bristol Medical School offers early clinical experience within hospital, primary care and community settings. From Year 3, most of your learning will take place in clinical settings through your clinical attachments, with around half of your time spent in direct contact with patients. You’ll sit both parts of the national Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) at the end of Year 4, leaving Year 5 to focus on preparing you for your future role as a foundation doctor, with three nine-week ‘student assistantships’ and an eight-week elective. You’ll also need to pass the Prescribing Safety Assessment before you graduate.
The curriculum at Bristol Medical School also offers cadaveric prosections within its “state-of-the-art anatomy facilities”.
You can find a breakdown of Bristol Medical School’s course structure here.
After your first two years, you’ll undertake placements at ‘Clinical Academies’ across the South West, including:
You can find more information on the Clinical Academies page.
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Bristol Medical School offers “a substantial student choice programme” providing opportunities to explore and gain experience in areas of interest.
Within the programme, you’ll also complete a research project of your choice and undertake an eight-week elective in your final year, with the opportunity to carry this out abroad.
Bristol also offers students the opportunity to complete an intercalated degree, which allows you one year to complete an additional undergraduate (BSc or BA) or master’s level degree away from your medical study. More information about this can be found here.
Away from the curriculum, Bristol Medical Students’ Society (Galenicals) offers a wide variety of extracurricular opportunities, with over 1,500 members and more than 40 sub-societies covering sports teams, academic specialities and charities.
Bristol Medical School provides the opportunity to gain experience across different NHS trusts, within a variety of healthcare settings, ranging from smaller rural hospitals to large city ones, giving a diverse experience.
Other selling points you could mention at interview include:
The University of Bristol offers a Gateway to Medicine course, which allows you to automatically progress onto the five-year MB ChB Medicine course after successful completion of your first year of study. This may be a suitable entry route if you meet the widening participation criteria; for more information about this option see our ‘Medicine Entry Requirements’ blog.
The typical entry requirements for 2027 entry are:
You must also be at least 18 years old by 1 September in the year you start the course. You can find the full entry requirements on the course page.
Widening access: eligible applicants can receive a contextual offer of ABB (IB 32). The Gateway to Medicine course (A108) has a typical offer of BBC and is for students from under-represented backgrounds, such as those who have received free school meals, have been in care or live in an area with low participation in higher education. Bristol also offers guaranteed interviews to some applicants, including those from local postcodes and Bristol outreach programmes, provided they meet the UCAT threshold.
For 2026 entry, Bristol Medical School held its interviews online via Zoom, using a structured interview format with six short stations, lasting around 30 minutes in total. Each station was marked by three assessors, and interviews took place between December 2025 and February 2026.
For 2027 entry, interviews will again take place online, and are expected to run between December 2026 and February 2027. Bristol advises applicants to be available between November and April. More information can be found on their website here.
Most medical schools require you to pass an admissions exam before you’ll be invited for interview.
Admissions exam for Bristol: University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
The UCAT is used to assess your characteristics, attitudes and professional behaviours against those required for medical school. The exam is now made up of 4 subtests: Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Situational Judgement (SJT). Abstract Reasoning has been removed from the test.
For 2027 entry, the UCAT is being held between 13 July and 24 September 2026. Once you meet the minimum academic requirements, Bristol Medical School selects applicants for interview based solely on their UCAT score, using the total score from all subtests with the exception of SJT. Your personal statement isn’t scored. There’s no fixed cut-off, but for 2026 entry the final UCAT threshold for interview was 2240 for home applicants and 2270 for international applicants (1800 for Gateway to Medicine).
To help you prepare effectively for all subtests of the UCAT, we’ve developed the free Medibuddy UCAT question bank, which uses artificial intelligence to identify your strengths and weaknesses within the syllabus, and carefully selects questions to meet your individual learning needs.
You can also use the question bank dashboard (below) to see how you’re performing in each of the subtests, with your calculated skill level, response time, total number of questions answered and the number of questions answered correctly, for each section of the UCAT. So you can quickly and easily identify which areas you’ve “mastered” and which you need to dedicate more time to.
To achieve the best possible UCAT score and secure an interview at Bristol Medical School, it’s vital that you prepare well for all areas!
Check out our complete guide to the UCAT and our preparation advice for further help and support.
You can also see how other medical schools use the test in our guide to UCAT universities.
Tuition fees for students starting in 2026/27 are:
Fees for 2027/28 haven’t been confirmed yet, so check the fees and funding page for the latest information.
Good luck with your application to Bristol! For more help, take a look at our guides to applying to medical school and the best medical schools in the UK.
