St Mary's University, Twickenham School of Medicine: The Complete Applicant's Admissions Guide

St Mary's University, Twickenham is not a new institution — it's been educating students since 1850 — but its School of Medicine is genuinely new: the five-year MBBS is opening for its first intake in September 2026, taught at a purpose-built medical school on the university's Twickenham campus, including a dedicated Integrated Skills and Simulation Centre. This makes St Mary's the newest medical school in London, and one of the newest in the UK.

Because the course has no graduating cohort yet, this guide leans more heavily than most on official St Mary's and UCAS material rather than on historical outcomes data, simply because that data doesn't exist yet. Anything describing "typical" thresholds or interview experience should be read with that caveat in mind.

Quick facts

Why this is a different kind of applicant decision

Applying to an entirely new medical school is a different proposition from applying to an established one. There's no track record of graduate outcomes, no historical UCAT threshold to benchmark against, and no returning students to compare notes with. What St Mary's does offer is a purpose-built facility, a values-led curriculum explicitly built around a "care" principle (compassion, ambition, and related themes the university sets out on its School of Medicine pages), and clinical placements with NHS trusts from Year 1 onward. Applicants weighing St Mary's against an established school should treat the newness itself as a genuine factor in the decision, not just a footnote.

Who can currently apply

This is the single most important practical fact for the current cycle: for September 2026 entry, St Mary's is accepting applications from international (non-UK, non-Ireland) students only. Home/UK applicants cannot currently apply, and the widely reported expectation is that Home places will open in a future cycle once the programme is established — but that isn't yet confirmed for any specific year, so UK-based applicants should check directly with St Mary's or watch the UCAS course page for updates rather than assuming a date.

Entry requirements

A-level: The typical offer is AAA, including Chemistry or Biology plus a further science subject.

GCSE: A minimum of six GCSEs at grade 6 or above is required, covering Mathematics, English Language, Biology, and Chemistry (or Dual Science). Applicants should be aware that meeting only this stated minimum is unlikely to be competitive: scoring for shortlisting is based on eight GCSEs, so a stronger and broader GCSE profile — more grade 7s and above — meaningfully improves an application's chances of reaching interview.

International Baccalaureate: An overall score of 36 points is required, with 6 at Higher Level in three subjects, one of which must be Chemistry or Biology. Where Mathematics and English aren't offered at Higher Level, they must be offered at Standard Level with a minimum grade of 5.

Graduate entry: There's no separate accelerated graduate-entry course, but graduates can apply through the standard MBBS route with a 2:1 Honours degree (or recognised international equivalent) obtained within the last three years, alongside ABB at A-level with at least one A grade.

English language: International applicants need to meet St Mary's standard English language requirements (commonly cited around IELTS 7.0 across all components for medicine, though applicants should confirm the current figure directly with St Mary's, since requirements can be revised between cycles).

Widening participation: St Mary's states inclusiveness and widening participation as core institutional values and takes background and circumstance into account more broadly across its admissions. However, for the 2026/27 cycle specifically, contextual admissions routes are described as applying to Home applicants — who aren't currently eligible to apply for this course at all — so the practical relevance of contextual admissions for this year's actual (international) applicant pool is limited.

How the UCAT is used

All applicants must sit the UCAT in the year they apply; unlike some medical schools, St Mary's does not accept an alternative admissions test, and only the result from an applicant's first sitting is considered. As with most UCAT-using medical schools, St Mary's does not publish a fixed historical cut-off — and because this is the school's first cycle, there is no prior year's threshold to reference at all. Treat any specific number quoted online as, at best, a general estimate rather than an official figure.

The interview: online MMI

Interviews are conducted as online Multiple Mini Interviews rather than in person. Meeting the stated academic and UCAT criteria does not guarantee an interview invitation — St Mary's is explicit that these are minimum thresholds, not a guarantee of shortlisting. Interviews are reported to run across several sessions through the cycle (with candidates scheduled into rounds depending on the volume of applications at that point), so invitation timing can vary meaningfully depending on when in the cycle an application is assessed.

Notably, offers of one of ten available international scholarships (£3,000 per year of study, applied as a tuition fee discount) are based specifically on MMI performance, and go to candidates who demonstrate strong alignment with the School of Medicine's stated values around social purpose and positive change — so the interview carries weight beyond simply the pass/fail decision on your place.

Course structure

The five-year MBBS is built around an integrated, patient-centred curriculum designed to meet GMC standards, combining scientific knowledge, clinical practice, and professional development from the outset. Students are taught in small classes and, per the university's own description, follow patient journeys "from home to GP to hospital" using the school's simulation suites before clinical placements in the NHS begin in Year 1. Placements increase in length and clinical intensity as students progress, with student-selected placement choices built into Years 2, 3, and 5.

Fees

International tuition fees for the MBBS should be confirmed directly with St Mary's, since medicine fees at a new school are set separately from the university's general undergraduate fee scale and are subject to change between cycles. All international applicants are required to pay a tuition fee deposit as a condition of their offer.

Application process

Applications can be made either through UCAS or directly to St Mary's, and international candidates can use either route. As with Medicine at any UK institution, applying through UCAS puts you on the earlier medicine deadline (mid-October the year before entry) rather than the general January deadline, so it's worth confirming which deadline applies to your chosen application route well in advance.

Tips

Because this is a first-cycle intake, be wary of any "typical offer" or "UCAT cut-off" figures you find outside St Mary's own official pages — there's no historical outcomes data yet, so third-party estimates are necessarily guesses rather than reported thresholds.

Don't stop at the stated GCSE minimum. Shortlisting is scored against eight GCSEs, so applicants presenting only the bare minimum of six qualifications at grade 6 are unlikely to be competitive against candidates with a broader, stronger set of results.

If you're a UK/Home applicant, don't assume you can apply this cycle — check the current UCAS course listing or contact St Mary's directly, since Home eligibility for this course is expected to change but isn't yet confirmed for any specific year.

Because the MMI is conducted online and scholarship decisions are explicitly tied to interview performance here, treat interview preparation as carrying slightly more weight in your overall outcome than it might elsewhere — it isn't only a pass/fail gate.

How Cambridge Clinical can help

Because St Mary's has no track record yet, we focus our support here on the things that are fixed regardless of the school's newness: building a strong, broad GCSE and A-level profile that clears the eight-GCSE scoring bar comfortably rather than just meeting the stated minimum, and preparing thoroughly for UCAT given the total absence of a historical threshold to benchmark against.

Our mock MMI practice is adapted to the online format St Mary's uses, with a particular focus on communicating genuine alignment with a values-led "care" curriculum — since at St Mary's, interview performance doesn't just decide your offer, it can also decide whether you're awarded one of the school's international scholarships.

If you'd like a hand with any stage, visit cambridgeclinical.co.uk to find out more about our UCAT tuition and interview coaching.

As a brand-new medical school with its first intake in September 2026, entry requirements, eligibility (including whether Home applicants can apply), fees, and the admissions process at St Mary's are especially likely to change between cycles — always confirm current details directly against St Mary's University's official School of Medicine page before finalising your application.