The University of Nottingham School of Medicine opened in 1970 at the Queen’s Medical Centre – the first new medical school established in the UK in the 20th century – and teaches a newly redesigned five-year BMBS course from 2026 onwards. Nottingham has climbed to 29th for Medicine in the Complete University Guide 2027 (up from 33rd in 2026), and although it sits 35th out of 40 in the Guardian University Guide 2027, it scores 98 out of 100 there for career prospects, and the university reports that it’s top 15 in the UK for Medicine in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026.
The University of Nottingham has redesigned its BMBS medical degree programme from 2026 onwards, so if you’re applying for 2027 entry you’ll study the new course. It was co-created with input from students, university staff and doctors, and uses a spiral curriculum (a model which allows for revisiting of topics throughout the course) combined with early clinical exposure. Each year builds on the last, following a path from the Art of Medicine, through the Science of Medicine, to the practice of medicine.
Currently, the curriculum at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine is delivered using a range of teaching methods, including:
In Years 1 and 2 you’ll have around 14 to 20 contact hours a week, and you’ll have regular meetings with your educational supervisor throughout the course. You’ll be assessed through practical, oral and written examinations, including clinical and professional skills assessments, and you’ll build an electronic portfolio evidencing your progress towards your Entrustable Professional Activities milestones. The GMC’s Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) is embedded in your degree assessments, so you won’t need to sit any additional exams after completing the course.
During the programme, you’ll undertake the following clinical placements:
You can find more information about the learning and assessment at Nottingham School of Medicine here.
Placements take place at hospitals and over 200 GP surgeries across the region, including two of the largest hospital trusts in the NHS. Sites include:
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During the course, you’ll take an Enrichment module and Student Selected Modules, allowing you the opportunity to explore areas of interest – choosing clinical or non-clinical options from a wide range of offerings including languages for medics, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, emergency medicine, sustainability and global health.
Research runs through the course too. You’ll take a Research Skills and Critical Appraisal module covering research methodology, evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal of the literature, and in Year 4 a Project Student Selected Module, where you’ll either begin a new quality improvement project or develop a research project you started earlier in the course.
Nottingham School of Medicine also offers the opportunity to undertake an elective in your final year, either in the UK or abroad, giving you the chance to gain experience in a different healthcare setting and broaden your understanding of global medical practices or research.
Away from the curriculum, MedSoc is Nottingham’s lively student-run medics’ society, running everything from balls, the Medics’ Musical and sports clubs to peer teaching, revision sessions and the Medic Parents mentoring scheme, which pairs freshers with a student in the year above. There’s also WAMS (Widening Access to Medical School Society), through which you can become an e-mentor or deliver sessions in schools to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Nottingham School of Medicine offers Medicine with a Foundation Year (BMBS), which provides applicants who do not meet the entry requirements for the course an alternative route, allowing you to complete a one-year Foundation course before progressing on to the five-year BMBS Medicine programme. This six-year course (A108) is open to home applicants who meet the university’s contextual admissions criteria and haven’t previously studied at university.
There is also the option to study Graduate Entry Medicine BMBS (A101) if you already have, or are expecting to obtain, a degree in any discipline. For 2027 entry this four-year accelerated course requires a 2:1 and the UCAT, rather than the GAMSAT used for 2026 entry. You can apply for either A100 or A101 in a cycle, but not both.
Other selling points you could mention at interview include:
The typical entry requirements for 2027 entry are:
You must be 17 or older by 1 September of the year you start, and there are around 200 places for home students and around 20 for international students. BTEC Nationals and the Access to HE Diploma aren’t accepted for the five-year course, and predicted A level grades aren’t used in selection. You can find the full entry requirements on the course page, and compare them with other schools in our guide to medicine entry requirements.
Widening access: home applicants who meet the university’s contextual criteria and are successful at interview can receive a standard contextual offer of AAB, or an enhanced contextual offer of ABB, each with at least one A in biology or chemistry. For 2027 entry, the enhanced offer for A100 is open to applicants who have refugee status, have spent more than three months in care (evidenced by 8 December), have received free school meals, or have completed a Nottingham outreach programme such as the Sutton Trust Summer School, Sutton Trust Pathways to Medicine or Ambition 16-18. If you meet the contextual criteria but not the grades for A100, you may instead be eligible for Medicine with a Foundation Year (A108), which has a typical offer of BBC (IB 26) and around 27 places.
Nottingham School of Medicine adopts an MMI-style interview made up of six scenarios, including at least one role-play scenario, lasting up to one hour in total. For 2026 entry, each scenario lasted five minutes and the interview began with a one-minute “ice-breaker” which didn’t contribute to the overall score.
For 2027 entry, home fee status applicants are likely to be interviewed in person, while international fee status applicants will be interviewed online using Microsoft Teams. Interviews for Medicine BMBS (A100) are scheduled to take place between 15 December 2026 and 29 January 2027, and interviews for Medicine with a Foundation Year (A108) between 6 and 29 January 2027. You’ll need photo ID with you to be interviewed, and offers are typically released in March.
The following areas will be assessed during the interview:
These qualities are based on the Medical Schools Council’s ‘Statement on the core values and attributes needed to study medicine’. Offers are made on interview performance alone – your personal statement and reference aren’t scored, although they are reviewed after your interview. More information about the interview and selection process can be found here.
The majority of UK medical schools include an admissions test as part of their entry criteria, which you must pass before you’ll be considered for interview.
Admissions exam for Nottingham: University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
The UCAT is designed to assess the skills, characteristics and professional behaviours which are needed for medical school. The exam is divided into 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, and you must sit it in the same year you apply.
Nottingham medical school awards you points based on your UCAT score (including your SJT band) and your GCSE grades. These points are combined and used to determine if you’ll be selected for interview. You must achieve a band of 1 to 3 in the SJT to be considered – applicants who score Band 4 aren’t accepted. Your Verbal Reasoning score is doubled, because of published research evidence, so a maximum of 40 points is available for the cognitive subtests plus 10 for the SJT. Eight GCSEs are scored for A100 – biology (or human biology), chemistry (or double science), maths, English language and your four highest other GCSEs – with 4 points for a 9 or A*, 3 for an 8, 2 for a 7 or A, and 1 for a 6 or B.
| UCAT subtest score | Points (per subtest) |
|---|---|
| 801 to 900 | 10 |
| 701 to 800 | 8 |
| 601 to 700 | 6 |
| 501 to 600 | 4 |
| 401 to 500 | 2 |
| Under 400 | 0 |
| SJT band | Points |
|---|---|
| Band 1 | 10 |
| Band 2 | 6 |
| Band 3 | 2 |
| Band 4 | 0 – not considered |
Source: University of Nottingham undergraduate selection process.
There’s no fixed threshold score for interview – Nottingham says the threshold changes each year depending on applicant numbers and overall performance, and it doesn’t share previous years’ thresholds. It does publish competition data, though: over the past few years the A100 course has had 1,874 to 2,100 home and 190 to 327 international applicants meet the entry criteria, interviewed 823 to 1,219 home and 60 to 96 international applicants, and made 267 to 642 home and 28 to 60 international offers.
To achieve the best possible UCAT score you can, and increase the number of points you’ll be awarded by Nottingham medical school, it’s essential that you prepare well. Our adaptive UCAT question bank will help you. Powered by artificial intelligence, it automatically assesses your strengths and weaknesses, and provides questions to specifically develop these areas. This adaptive, personalised learning makes more efficient use of your UCAT revision and avoids wasting time answering questions that won’t develop your learning.
You can also use the question bank dashboard to identify any areas which may bring down your total UCAT score and affect your chances of being selected for interview.
With your calculated skill level, the number of questions you’ve answered correctly, and your response time, you can clearly see which areas you’ve “mastered” and which you need to dedicate more time to.
For more general information about the UCAT, check out our complete guide, which includes UCAT exam dates, fees and a breakdown of the different subtests. And for more preparation help, there’s our step-by-step preparation guide.
You can also see how other medical schools use the test in our guide to UCAT universities.
Tuition fees for students starting the five-year Medicine BMBS in 2027/28 are:
You’ll also need to budget for an enhanced DBS check, which costs around £50 and which you pay for yourself, plus £16 a year if you register it with the government Update Service. The university notes the home fee may increase for 2028/29, so check the tuition fees page for the latest information.
Good luck with your application to Nottingham! For more help, take a look at our guides to applying to medical school and the best medical schools in the UK.
