Cardiff Medicine: the admissions numbers
Cardiff publishes a full FOI table every year: applications, interviews, offers and enrolments for international, Home and Welsh applicants, and the UCAT of everyone who applied, was interviewed and was offered a place, by category. 2026 entry is the first year on the current test: 1,071 interviews from 2,596 applications, 816 offers for 305 places, and Home interviewees averaging 2,017. Offer AAA, MMI, 7 stations of about 7 minutes.
How many were competing, 2026 entry
All applicants, as the school released them.
Applications
2,596
Interviews
1,071
Offers
816
Numbers move every cycle; this is the most recent one the school has released.
Where the UCAT line sits
On the current scale out of 2,700, against the preliminary 2026 decile boundaries. Hover or tab to a band for its figures.
Cardiff publishes no line. This is the band its own figures describe, which is the nearest thing to one.
How Cardiff selects
Eight GCSEs plus the UCAT decile, added and ranked
Ties and the UCAT
Predicted grades and the SJT
Personal statement
Entry requirements
Interview
Work out your Cardiff score
Enter your GCSEs and UCAT to score yourself out of 27 on Cardiff's rules. Everything is worked out from the published rules on this page; nothing is saved.
- Eight GCSEs
- 0 of 24
- 0 scored: 3 for a 9 or 8, 2 for a 7, 1 for a 6
- UCAT decile
- enter your total or decile
Enter your UCAT to complete the score.
Cardiff scores Biology, Chemistry, English Language, Mathematics as mandatory: add them to see a full score.
The arithmetic favours GCSEs: eight 8s and 9s are worth 24 points against 3 for a top-decile UCAT. A 7th-decile UCAT scores the same 3 as a 10th-decile one, and the gap between the 4th and 7th decile is a single point, the same as one GCSE moving from a 7 to an 8. Cardiff’s own averages bear this out: offer holders for 2025 entry had 8.4 GCSEs at 8/9 against 7.2 for applicants.
Applications, interviews, offers and enrolments, 2022 to 2026 entry
Cardiff's FOI table. Home includes Wales except in the interview columns, where Cardiff counts Welsh applicants separately.
2026 entry, applications
2,596
2,044 Home including 428 Welsh, 548 international
2026 entry, interviews
1,071
41% of applications
2026 entry, offers
816
76% of interviews, for 305 places
| Entry year | Applications | Interviews offered | Offers | Accepted / enrolled | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry year | Intl | Home (inc. Wales) | Wales | Total | Intl | Home (exc. Wales) | Wales | Cardiff’s total | Intl | Home (inc. Wales) | Wales | Total | Accepted | Enrolled |
| 2022/3,600 | 773 | 3,781 | 553 | 4,554 | 53 | 641 | 383 | 974 | 44 | 368 | 157 | 412 | 307 | 267 |
| 2023/3,600 | 751 | 3,673 | 486 | 4,424 | 58 | 587 | 402 | 1,312 | 43 | 469 | 204 | 512 | 389 | 299 |
| 2024/3,600 | 737 | 3,174 | 401 | 3,911 | 146 | 664 | 349 | 801 | 60 | 579 | 232 | 639 | 454 | 304 |
| 2025/3,600 | 590 | 2,127 | 385 | 2,717 | 139 | 632 | 334 | 1,105 | 52 | 608 | 226 | 660 | 551 | 281 |
| 2026/2,700 | 548 | 2,044 | 428 | 2,596 | 129 | 672 | 270 | 1,071 | 65 | 751 | 234 | 816 | 407 | pending |
Applications have fallen by more than 40% since 2022 while offers have doubled, so the overall offer rate went from 9% to 31%. Cardiff over-offers against its 305 places and runs a waiting list: 292 were on it for 2025 entry and 19 got an offer from it.
UCAT at each stage, by category
Highest / lowest / average. All applicants first, then those who received an interview and those made an offer, by category. Contextual is the subset of Home or Wales with a contextual flag.
2026 entry, Home interviewed
2,017 average
lowest 1,880, highest 2,630; current scale
2026 entry, Home offered
2,056 average
lowest 1,570; Home contextual average 1,994
2025 entry, Home interviewed
2,741 average
lowest 2,030; old scale out of 3,600
2026 entry: the UCAT range at each stage
Lowest to highest, with the dot at the average, on the current scale out of 2,700. Only 2026 is charted; the earlier years are out of 3,600 and cannot share an axis. Hover or tab to a row.
Every band starts low and ends high. Cardiff ranks on GCSEs and gives the UCAT 3 points out of 27, so a low score is survivable here in a way it is not at a school that screens on the total.
| Entry year | All applicants | Interviewed: All | Interviewed: International | Interviewed: Home | Interviewed: Wales | Interviewed: Home contextual | Interviewed: Wales contextual | Offered: All | Offered: International | Offered: Home | Offered: Wales | Offered: Home contextual | Offered: Wales contextual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/3,600 | 3,420 / 1,580 / 2,510 | 3,420 / 1,670 / 2,644 | 3,030 / 2,590 / 2,718 | 3,420 / 1,670 / 2,733 | 3,420 / 1,980 / 2,605 | 3,150 / 1,670 / 2,540 | 3,410 / 2,000 / 2,519 | 3,280 / 2,230 / 2,705 | 3,030 / 2,590 / 2,738 | 3,420 / 2,180 / 2,802 | 3,410 / 2,180 / 2,696 | 3,150 / 2,230 / 2,632 | 3,410 / 2,230 / 2,635 |
| 2023/3,600 | 3,460 / 1,610 / 2,536 | 3,460 / 1,980 / 2,695 | 3,110 / 2,170 / 2,751 | 3,460 / 2,190 / 2,767 | 3,210 / 1,980 / 2,581 | 3,370 / 2,230 / 2,617 | 3,160 / 1,980 / 2,541 | 3,460 / 2,110 / 2,730 | 3,050 / 2,400 / 2,770 | 3,460 / 2,230 / 2,804 | 3,210 / 2,110 / 2,612 | 3,370 / 2,240 / 2,653 | 3,160 / 2,110 / 2,597 |
| 2024/3,600 | 3,370 / 1,640 / 2,551 | 3,370 / 1,970 / 2,702 | 3,290 / 1,970 / 2,732 | 3,370 / 2,010 / 2,698 | 3,230 / 2,010 / 2,576 | 3,260 / 2,010 / 2,591 | 3,040 / 2,060 / 2,543 | 3,370 / 1,970 / 2,710 | 3,130 / 1,970 / 2,720 | 3,370 / 2,070 / 2,709 | 3,230 / 2,070 / 2,599 | 3,260 / 2,070 / 2,611 | 3,040 / 2,070 / 2,564 |
| 2025/3,600 | 3,430 / 1,680 / 2,566 | 3,400 / 2,030 / 2,690 | 3,230 / 2,470 / 2,737 | 3,400 / 2,030 / 2,741 | 3,400 / 2,030 / 2,576 | 3,220 / 2,120 / 2,648 | 3,140 / 2,030 / 2,531 | 3,400 / 2,140 / 2,715 | 3,230 / 2,520 / 2,753 | 3,270 / 2,480 / 2,764 | 3,400 / 2,140 / 2,622 | 3,160 / 2,210 / 2,678 | 3,140 / 2,200 / 2,593 |
| 2026/2,700 | 2,640 / 1,150 / 1,926 | 2,630 / 1,400 / 2,019 | 2,440 / 1,400 / 2,034 | 2,630 / 1,880 / 2,017 | 2,620 / 1,520 / 1,972 | 2,480 / 1,530 / 1,968 | 2,420 / 1,560 / 1,921 | 2,630 / 1,570 / 2,035 | 2,370 / 1,720 / 2,061 | 2,630 / 1,570 / 2,056 | 2,620 / 1,570 / 1,979 | 2,480 / 1,640 / 1,994 | 2,420 / 1,640 / 1,924 |
For 2026 entry the average Home applicant had 1,926 and the average Home interviewee 2,017, a gap of only 91: the GCSE score is doing most of the selecting. Welsh and contextual interviewees averaged lower (1,972 and 1,968) and were interviewed from lower scores (1,520 and 1,530).
GCSE and A-level averages
Average number of GCSEs at 8, 9 or A* and of A-levels at A or A*, per applicant and per offer made.
| Entry year | GCSEs at 8/9 or A*: per applicant | per offer made | A-levels at A/A*: per applicant | per offer made |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 2.4 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 5.6 | 6.7 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 6.2 | 7.3 | 2.6 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 7.2 | 8.4 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
The GCSE bar has risen every year: offer holders averaged 5.9 grades at 8/9 in 2022 and 8.4 in 2025, which on Cardiff’s scale is close to the full 24 points. Eight 8s or 9s is the profile to aim for; each 7 among them costs a point that the UCAT cannot easily replace.
Where this comes from
- Cardiff University, "A100 applications FOI FAQs 2026" (updated July 2026): places 2023 to 2027; applications, interviews, offers, acceptances, enrolments and deferrals for 2022 to 2026 entry; UCAT by stage and category; waiting list; GCSE and A-level averages.
- Cardiff's published selection process and entry requirements (GCSE and UCAT-decile scoring, predicted grades not used, personal statement screened only, SJT not considered), supplied by the site owner.
Compiled 17 September 2026. The figures are reproduced as tables and charts so nothing has to be downloaded. Check Cardiff’s current pages before you apply; they win if anything here differs.