Best medical schools in UK (league table)
We all want to think we went to (or are at, or want to go) the ‘best’ medical school. But there is no one agreed way of making that judgement. There is also no one agreed league table. There are multiple league tables, including the Guardian one below.
How much you enjoyed (or enjoy, or will enjoy) – or benefit from – your medical school, depends on so many factors, not just how ‘good’ is the medical school/university. It may relate to the friends you make, the partner you find, your enjoyment or success in drama, music, or sport – the rugby or hockey pitch.
But we need some data. And below is the Guardian’s latest medical school league table in the UK (published on 7th September 2024).
What can we conclude? Oxbridge is still ‘up there’. The Scottish medical schools are all in the top third. Of the newer medical schools, Hull-York seems to be one to look at.
What else? There does seem to be a relationship between how much money is spent on each student, good teaching, and where that medical school is in the table. But staff-to-student ratio seems to be of little importance.
| 2025 | Institution | Guardian score/100 | Satisfied with teaching | Satisfied with feedback | Student to staff ratio | Spend per student/10 | Average entry tariff |
| 1 | Aberdeen | 100 | 94.1 | 77.1 | 7.5 | 3 | 244 |
| 2 | Oxford | 96 | 96.7 | 81.7 | 10.4 | 10 | 205 |
| 3 | Imperial College | 90.3 | 88.4 | 83.7 | 7.6 | 8 | 193 |
| 4 | Cambridge | 87.4 | 82.1 | 68.7 | 7.8 | 10 | 213 |
| 5 | Hull York Medical School | 85.8 | 88.8 | 78.9 | 6.1 | 9 | 167 |
| 6 | Edinburgh | 85.7 | 86.4 | 66 | 8.6 | 9 | 240 |
| 7 | St Andrews | 82 | 94.5 | 75.7 | 12.6 | 4 | 216 |
| 8 | Keele | 80.4 | 90.7 | 73.8 | 7.5 | 3 | 174 |
| 9 | Bristol | 77.3 | 89.6 | 79.5 | 9.5 | 6 | 189 |
| 10 | Leicester | 77.2 | 94.8 | 83.1 | 10.4 | 5 | 168 |
| 11 | UCL | 75.6 | 85.7 | 68.9 | 7.8 | 5 | 190 |
| 12 | Dundee | 74.1 | 90.6 | 65.3 | 11 | 4 | 250 |
| 13 | Glasgow | 71.7 | 85.1 | 66.4 | 10.5 | 3 | 245 |
| 14 | Newcastle | 70 | 90.2 | 68.2 | 8.7 | 8 | 180 |
| 15 | Cardiff | 68.5 | 86.9 | 73.3 | 9.8 | 7 | 191 |
| 16 | Swansea | 68.1 | 82.5 | 62.7 | 9 | 5 | n/a |
| 17 | Leeds | 67.8 | 89.2 | 68.4 | 9.1 | 4 | 175 |
| 18 | Sunderland | 67.2 | n/a | n/a | 9.1 | 6 | 168 |
| 19 | Queen’s, Belfast | 66.4 | 89.6 | 76.8 | 11.5 | 3 | 193 |
| 20 | Brighton Sussex Medical School | 66.4 | 89 | 70.7 | 10.9 | 8 | 175 |
| 21 | Warwick | 64 | 85.9 | 79.2 | 9.7 | 5 | 144 |
| 22 | Southampton | 62.5 | 83.7 | 67.1 | 8.8 | 5 | 169 |
| 23 | UEA | 61.9 | 85.6 | 59.7 | 7.8 | 4 | 170 |
| 24 | Queen Mary | 61.5 | 84.2 | 68.1 | 10.6 | 5 | 187 |
| 25 | Exeter | 60.7 | 87.3 | 71.7 | 10.2 | 4 | 168 |
| 26 | Manchester | 58.4 | 81.7 | 68.7 | 10.1 | 5 | 176 |
| 27 | Liverpool | 57.2 | 79.5 | 55.3 | 8.4 | 7 | 171 |
| 28 | Lancaster | 55.6 | 92.4 | 78.5 | 13.6 | 3 | 175 |
| 29 | King’s College London | 53.2 | 80.4 | 61.1 | 11.3 | 7 | 181 |
| 30 | Anglia Ruskin | 52.5 | 82 | 77.4 | n/a | 2 | 162 |
| 30 | Sheffield | 52.5 | 82.2 | 67.7 | 11.4 | 4 | 179 |
| 32 | Birmingham | 51.3 | 83.6 | 61 | 9.7 | 3 | 172 |
| 33 | St George’s | 49.2 | 81.9 | 65.6 | 12.2 | 4 | 177 |
| 34 | Plymouth | 42 | 78.2 | 54.2 | 11.4 | 4 | 170 |
| 35 | Central Lancashire | 40.4 | 87.8 | 73.3 | 13.4 | 3 | 151 |
| 36 | Nottingham | 37.1 | 78 | 46.8 | 10.7 | 4 | 167 |
| 37 | Buckingham | 34.9 | 79.6 | 57.8 | n/a | n/a | 147 |
| 38 | Aston | 33.1 | 83.3 | 61.9 | 14.2 | 4 | 162 |
Summary
We have provided a simplified Guardian league table for the best UK medical schools in 2024. We hope it has been helpful.
Other resource
This is another accepted league table: complete university guide table – medicine 2025. You may want to cross-check the two tables. You will see, again, Oxbridge and the Scottish medical schools score highly.
