What are the UK Medical School Rankings for 2023?
The UK Medical School rankings have arrived for 2023 – at last! But with so many different organisations putting together lists of which Medical School is the best in the country, how do you know which ones to look at and believe?
We’ve put together a short guide to the rankings and the things to take into consideration when making your application.
Who makes the UK medical school rankings?
There are a number of different ranking guides which compile their lists using different measuring factors. The Guardian and The Complete University Guide are two of the most popular organisations that compile lists of the best universities in the UK for lots of courses, though there are also global rankings provided by different organisations like QS Top Universities.
Of course, these aren’t the only league tables around for UK Medical School rankings. A quick Google search can give you a lot more options if you’d like to compare and have multiple tables to back up your decision of which Medical School to apply to. For today though we will be focussing on just two tables.
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How Are UK Medical Schools Ranked?
There is no official way to rank the UK Medical Schools. There are roughly 36 of them in total, all varying in their teaching style, selection process, and education standard.
While many different Medical School ranking tables exist, they do not all agree. This is largely because the rankings are influenced by vague or indefinable aspects, such as the reputation of the university, or the level of student satisfaction for those studying there – both are difficult to accurately measure.
The Guardian Medical School Rankings
To compile their lists of Medical School rankings UK, the Guardian uses these headings to rank the schools:
- Satisfied with course (the overall rating given by final year students)
- Satisfied with teaching (quality of teaching rated by final year students)
- Satisfied with feedback (a rating for the quality of feedback and assessment by final year students)
- Student to staff ratio (the number of students per staff member)
- Spend per student (the amount of money spent on each student excluding academic staff costs)
- Value added score (a comparison of students’ degree results against the entry qualification, which shows how effectively they are taught)
- Career after 15 months (the percentage of graduates who find a job or continue further study within 15 months of graduating)
- Average entry tariff (the typical UCAS score of entrants)
- Continuation (the percentage of first year students who go on to the second year)
They then give each of these categories a score depending on the information they have collected. Finally, all Medical Schools are then given a Guardian Score out of 100, which determines the rank they receive.
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What does The Guardian results show?
The Guardian places the University of Cambridge at the top position with a score of 100 and has taken the spot from Edinburgh who ranked number one in 2022. Closely following is the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh in second and third. Aberdeen has come 2nd in these tables for 3 years in a row.
It is not common to see such a gap between Oxford and Cambridge in a university ranking table. However, we can see here that while Cambridge takes the top spot, Oxford is placed lower down at 6th.
The University of Central Lancashire takes the last position in 2023 with a score of 36.5. Anglia Ruskin has moved up one spot after being in last place in 2022.
The Complete University Guide Medical School Rankings
The second and equally respected university league table is produced by The Complete University Guide. Their Medical School rankings are based on a slightly different set of criteria, although there is a lot of overlap.
To compile their lists of UK Medical School rankings, these are the headings to rank the schools:
- Entry Standards (the average UCAS tariff of students joining the university)
- Student Satisfaction (how satisfied students are with the quality of teaching they receive)
- Research Quality (a measure of the quality of research undertaken in the university)
- Graduate Prospects (a measure of the employability of beyond graduation)
- Overall Score (an overall score that determines the rank of the medical school)
There are also a few other factors taken into consideration that have an impact on the overall score awarded to medical Schools. These aren’t displayed on the main ranking table but are as follows:
- Research intensity (the proportion of staff involved in research)
- Student:staff ratio (the number of students to staff)
- Academic services spend (the spend per student on all academic services)
- Facilities spend (the spend per student on staff and student facilities)
- Good honours (the number of students achieving first or 2:1 degrees)
As with The Guardian, each category has a weighting attached to it, which then feeds into the final “Overall Score” achieved by a university. This overall score is what determines the Medical School’s rank in the UK.
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What does The Complete University Guide results show?
In The Complete University Guide’s ranking, Cambridge takes the top spot again. Oxford, Glasgow and Edinburgh each follow with very high scores but Cambridge just edges them out with a 100% score.
While there is consistency between the top spots on each table, the only other medical school that features in the top five of both tables in Edinburgh. These differences are fairly common though, with the two tables looking fairly different from each other every year.
The University of Central Lancashire takes the last position in 2023 with a score of 89%, which still seems very high!
By considering just these two ranking tables of Medical Schools in the UK, we can see that there isn’t a “confirmed” ranking list that everyone can agree on.
The Best and Worst UK Medical Schools
It needs to be made clear that these rankings are not definitive in any sense, nor is there a way to calculate the definitive “best” medical school in the UK. While factors such as employment rates and student satisfaction can be measured to a certain degree, each person will have their own preferences as to how they want to study and live at university.
With that being said though, let’s round up the data and see which medical schools ranked highest and lowest between the two tables:
Best UK Medical Schools
The highest-ranked medical schools in the UK tend to stay consistent from year to year, although their placements may move around. In 2023, the University of Cambridge made the top spot on both lists, with it receiving a perfect 100 score on each. Of course, the overall score doesn’t mean Cambridge is literally perfect, but it was consistently high scoring in many of the metrics that are recorded.
Let’s look at the top five UK medical schools for each list:
Complete University Guide
- University of Cambridge
- University of Oxford
- University of Glasgow
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Bristol
The Guardian
- University of Cambridge
- University of Aberdeen
- University of Edinburgh
- Imperial College London
- University of St. Andrews
From this list, we can see that Scottish medical schools tend to do fairly well in the rankings, with two in each list and Edinburgh appearing on both.
Besides that, we can see The Guardian has not ranked the University of Oxford within the top 5, which is fairly uncommon for any UK university ranking. Oxford instead appears in the 8th position. The Guardian instead ranked two London medical schools, Imperial and St. Andrews, in 4th and 5th. Meanwhile, Bristol takes the 5th spot on the Completely University Guide ranking.
Worst UK Medical Schools
Any ranking must have a bottom rank, but in this case, the bottom ranking shouldn’t be taken as a list of medical schools to avoid. Worst is a very strong word to use in this context as none of the universities listed here are bad. They simply placed at the bottom of a highly competitive ranking.
Nonetheless, here are the lowest-ranked medical schools in the UK in ascending order:
Complete University Guide
- University of Central Lancashire
- University of Buckingham
- University of Warwick
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School
- University of Plymouth
The Guardian
- University of Central Lancashire
- Anglia Ruskin University
- St. George's University
- University of Nottingham
- University of Buckingham
UCLAN takes the bottom spot on both lists with Buckingham being the only other to appear on both. It’s worth noting that, especially with the Complete University Guide’s scoring system, none of these universities score particularly poorly. While they may not be exceptional in many areas, the education provided at these medical schools is of a high standard and will give you the best chance of employment afterwards. As we said before, these medical schools aren’t bad, they just had some truly exceptional competition.
Which Ranking Table Should I Follow?
That depends on what’s most important to you. For example, you may place more importance on ‘spend per student’ or career prospects. The Guardian have created their own way of ranking universities which is largely based on student perspective and The Complete University Guide, on the other hand, puts focus on student satisfaction.
You also need to consider that the ranking of the university as a whole is also based on the quality of research being produced by the postgraduate Masters and PhD students, which has little to do with the experience of a Medical undergraduate.
It can be easy to get very carried away with all these different ratings and rankings of the best Medical Schools in the UK. While it is true that these subtle differences may affect your experience at university, you should keep in mind that all of these Medical Schools are highly rated universities with excellent rankings across the board.
However, it is crucial to remember that no matter which Medical School you attend, you will graduate with the future of a fully respected career which is boundless in its opportunities. So don’t get too worried if you don’t end up being able to go to the medical schools at the very top of the list.
Ultimately, it’s a matter of what you are looking for in a University when it comes to how you choose which Medical School you want to apply to.
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