Medical School Rankings
Ranking tables for UK medical Schools
Different ranking tables exist for medical schools in the UK. The main league tables are produced by the Guardian, the Times, The Sunday Times and the Good University Guide. They each use a slightly different methodology so inevitably, they each get different results.
The Apply to Uni Medical School Rankings
In the top twenty table below, we have averaged out the placings in each of the different medical school rankings, to give an overview of where each medical school stands when all the different methodologies are added together.
|
Rank |
University |
The Times |
Sunday Times |
Guardian |
Good University Guide |
Average ranking |
|
1 |
Oxford |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1.5 |
|
2 |
Cambridge |
2 |
11 |
1 |
1 |
3.75 |
|
3 |
Aberdeen |
5 |
7 |
9 |
5 |
6.5 |
|
4= |
UCL |
4 |
17 |
4 |
4 |
7.25 |
|
4= |
Newcastle |
7 |
8 |
6 |
8 |
7.25 |
|
6 |
Edinburgh |
3 |
21 |
3 |
3 |
7.5 |
|
7 |
Queen Mary |
11 |
14 |
7= |
7 |
9.75 |
|
8 |
Imperial |
6 |
25 |
11 |
6 |
12 |
|
9 |
Hull / York |
10 |
2 |
10 |
27 |
12.25 |
|
10 |
Leeds |
13 |
9 |
14 |
14 |
12.5 |
|
11 |
Leicester |
17 |
12 |
7= |
15 |
12.75 |
|
12 |
Dundee |
9 |
13 |
5 |
26 |
13.25 |
|
13 |
St Andrews |
8 |
6 |
16= |
28 |
14.5 |
|
14 |
Plymouth |
15 |
5 |
12 |
29 |
15.25 |
|
15 |
Sheffield |
12 |
15 |
18 |
19 |
16 |
|
16 |
Queens Belfast |
23 |
4 |
27 |
11 |
16.25 |
|
17 |
Birmingham |
16 |
20 |
23 |
9 |
17 |
|
18 |
Southampton |
19 |
18 |
22 |
12 |
17.75 |
|
19 |
Nottingham |
20 |
19 |
15 |
20 |
18.5 |
|
20 |
Exeter |
14 |
16 |
20 |
25 |
18.75 |
Differences in medical school rankings
As you will see from the table above, there is general agreement that Oxford and Cambridge are the best, although the Sunday Times only ranks Cambridge as 11th. Edinburgh ranks third with all but the Sunday Times, but that ranking of 21st takes them down to 6th overall. The Sunday Times’ own 3rd placed medical school, Keele, does not even make the top twenty overall.
Using medical school rankings
It is important to remember that medical school rankings are just a small part of your decision making process.
In several of the main university guides, you can create medical school rankings of your own, based on your personal priorities, such as staff ratios, student satisfaction or entry standards, and this can be of enormous help when making your choice. Different priorities can mean big differences in the overall medical school rankings, so you need to decide what the most important factors are for you.
Medical school rankings won’t affect your qualification
At the end of the day, medical school rankings don’t have any effect on your qualification as a doctor. As the General Medical Council states: “In legal terms every primary UK qualification is equal, in that all allow graduates to apply for provisional registration with a licence to practise with the GMC”. So when it comes to qualifying as a doctor, it doesn’t matter where your university sits in the league tables.
