Best A-Levels for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science: What the Courses Actually Require and How to Choose

If you remember one thing from this guide, make it this: for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, the decision is largely about Chemistry and Biology, and everything else is a refinement. Across UK medical schools the pattern — drawing on Medical Schools Council data as summarised by the main application-guide aggregators — is that Chemistry is required or strongly preferred almost everywhere, and Biology is the near-universal second science. A subset of schools will accept Biology plus another science instead of Chemistry, and a handful accept Psychology as a second science, but these are the exceptions rather than the rule.

I want to be careful with the numbers here. You will see figures quoted online — that roughly 24 schools require Chemistry, around 13 require both Chemistry and Biology, and about 16 do not strictly require Chemistry. Those counts come from aggregator summaries of Medical Schools Council data, not a single primary source, and they shift every admissions cycle. Treat them as a rough shape, not gospel, and check the live Medical Schools Council entry-requirements tool for the current picture.

The practical takeaway is simple and reassuring. If you take Chemistry and Biology together, you satisfy the science core for the overwhelming majority of medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses in the country. The genuine strategic question is not "Chemistry or Biology?" — for most applicants it is both — but "what do I choose as my third A-level, and does my grade profile clear the bar?" That is where the rest of this guide focuses.

Medicine offers are built on three A-levels — a fourth is neither required nor rewarded. Oxford is unusually explicit about this: its Medical Sciences page states that four-A-grade offers should not be made, and for applicants taking four subjects the third subject of the offer should not be specified. So the strategic move is depth in three, not breadth across four.

Here is where the top schools currently sit. Oxford's standard offer is A*AA, with grade A in Chemistry plus grade A in one of Biology, Physics, Maths or Further Maths. UCL asks for A*AA with both Biology and Chemistry required and one of the two at A* (either order), and the third A-level can be almost any subject except General Studies or Critical Thinking. Cambridge is the steepest, with a typical offer of A*A*A: Chemistry is mandatory, plus one or two further science or mathematics subjects — Biology, Human Biology, Physics, Maths or Further Maths — and note that some colleges want two further subjects, not one. Edinburgh asks for AAA including Chemistry plus one of Biology, Human Biology, Maths or Physics. Birmingham's standard offer is A*AA including Chemistry plus a second science from Biology, Human Biology, Physics or Maths (with AAA as the minimum predicted grade, not the offer itself).

The table below pulls these together, but read it as a snapshot. Grade requirements, the exact list of accepted second sciences, and UCAT weightings all vary by school and shift year to year. Every one of these carries an unspoken footnote: check the specific university's current entry-requirements page before you rely on it.

Dentistry follows medicine closely, with Chemistry and Biology again at the heart of it — but the exact wording differs school by school, so it is worth reading the requirement carefully rather than assuming it mirrors medicine.

King's College London's BDS offer is A*AA, and it must include grade A in Biology or Chemistry, plus grade A in one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths or Psychology. That phrasing is more flexible than medicine at some schools — Psychology can count as the second subject there. Birmingham's dental offer is stricter on the sciences: AAA including both Chemistry and Biology (Human Biology is accepted, but not alongside Biology), sat in one sitting, with General Studies excluded.

For a cross-school view, the Dental Schools Council publishes an entry-requirements guide for each admissions cycle — its 2026-entry guide is the sensible starting point for comparing dental schools side by side. As with medicine, the admissions test for dentistry is the UCAT, sat in the same year you apply. And as always, these grade and subject rules move over time, so confirm each school's current page before finalising your subjects.

Veterinary medicine is the most consistent of the three on subjects: Biology and Chemistry are the standard requirement at the major schools, and the third subject is where you have room to breathe.

The Royal Veterinary College asks for AAA including Biology (A) and Chemistry (A), plus a third A-level at A — and helpfully, it treats science and non-science third subjects equally, so an essay subject you love is not a disadvantage. An A* is not required and gives no advantage, and there is a widening-participation contextual offer of ABB (with an A in Biology or Chemistry). Edinburgh's BVM&S is similar: AAA including Chemistry and Biology (or Human Biology) both at grade A, with the third subject any approved subject. Cambridge's Veterinary Medicine (VetMB) requires Chemistry plus at least one — more often two — further science or maths subjects; the typical offer is A*AA, though 77% of recent entrants achieved at least A*A*A, so in practice the bar is high.

One important difference for Cambridge vets: the admissions test is not the UCAT but the ESAT (the Engineering and Science Admissions Test), registered for and sat in mid-October. Beyond grades, veterinary courses also lean heavily on evidence of commitment — the RVC, for instance, looks for substantial work experience (around 140 hours) and interviews applicants through a multiple mini-interview format. So the A-levels open the door, but the wider application does a lot of the deciding.

This is the part where old advice does real damage, so I want to be blunt. The BMAT no longer exists. Its final sitting was October 2023, after Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing withdrew it for operational and financial reasons. Every school that used to require it — Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Leeds, Brighton and Sussex, Lancaster — has moved to the UCAT. If you find a revision guide, a forum thread or a well-meaning relative telling you to prepare for the BMAT, ignore it: you must not plan to sit it.

For medicine and dentistry, the live test is the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test), sat in the year you apply. Cambridge's own Medicine page states applicants must take the UCAT, and King's Dentistry page confirms all applicants sit the UCAT in the same year they apply. What varies — and varies every cycle — is how each school uses the score: some set a threshold, some weight it heavily in shortlisting, some use it more softly alongside grades and interview. There is no single national cut-off, so check each school's current admissions page for how it treats the UCAT.

Veterinary medicine is the exception to watch. Cambridge Vet uses the ESAT, not the UCAT — a course-specific science and maths test sat in mid-October. This is the general Oxbridge pattern: on top of the standard tests, Oxford and Cambridge often set their own course-specific assessments. If you want the fuller picture of how these science and maths admissions tests work and when they are sat, I have written a companion guide on the MAT, TMUA, ESAT and PAT admissions tests that goes through each one.

Once Chemistry and Biology are in place, the third subject is where families agonise most — usually more than they need to. The truth is that most schools give you real latitude here, provided the subject is a recognised academic A-level and not on the excluded list (General Studies and Critical Thinking are the usual exclusions).

Maths and Physics are the most common third choices, and for good reason: Maths in particular keeps the widest range of science and medical-adjacent options open, and it satisfies the "second science or maths" clauses at schools that want more than Biology alongside Chemistry. But a third subject you will genuinely score an A in often serves you better than a technically "stronger" subject you will struggle with — remember that the RVC, for one, explicitly treats non-science third subjects equally, and many medical schools leave the third subject open. An essay subject can also make you a more rounded applicant and give you something to talk about at interview.

If you are still weighing up the shape of your three subjects more broadly — how many to take, what combinations keep doors open, and how the old "facilitating subjects" advice has changed — my general guide to which A-levels to choose covers the wider decision. And if you are wondering how tough the science pathway is once you are on it, the honest picture of how hard A-level Physics is is worth a read before you commit, since Physics is a frequent third choice for aspiring medics.

A-levels open the door, but for these courses the whole application is scrutinised — and it starts earlier than most families realise, at GCSE. Competitive medical schools look closely at GCSE profiles, and the bar is high. Oxford's own admissions statistics make the point starkly: the mean proportion of grades at 9, 8 or A* was around 0.86 for all medicine applicants, rising to about 0.97 for those who received offers. In plain terms, successful Oxford applicants held overwhelmingly top GCSEs — well above the "around 80%" figure that gets quoted loosely.

That does not mean a near-perfect GCSE sweep is required everywhere — requirements vary enormously by school, and many set specific GCSE thresholds (commonly grade 7/A or 6/B in sciences, English and Maths) rather than expecting a full set of 9s. Edinburgh, for example, looks for Biology, Chemistry, English and Maths at grade A/7; King's Dentistry asks for English and Maths at 6/B. But the direction of travel is clear: strong GCSEs, especially in the sciences and Maths, materially strengthen an application and, at the most selective schools, are close to a precondition.

Beyond grades, these courses assess more than academics — work experience, the UCAT (or ESAT for Cambridge vets), a personal statement and interviews (often multiple mini-interviews) all carry weight. The RVC's expectation of around 140 hours of animal work experience is a good example of how much sits outside the exam hall. If your child is building towards this from Year 10 or 11, getting the science and Maths foundation genuinely solid — not just passable — is the single most useful thing you can do early, which is exactly the ground my one-to-one Science tuition in Oxford is built to cover.

When a family in Oxford asks me to boil this down, I give them the same short sequence. It works because it puts the fixed requirements first and the personal choices second.

Start by taking Chemistry and Biology unless a specific school on your shortlist tells you otherwise — that combination clears the science core for almost every medicine, dentistry and vet course. Then build a shortlist of five or six target universities and read each one's current entry-requirements page, because the grade and subject detail is where schools differ and where the rules move yearly. Choose a third A-level that either satisfies a "second maths or science" clause (Maths and Physics are the safe bets) or, where the third subject is open, one you will genuinely achieve an A in. Register for the right admissions test — the UCAT for medicine and dentistry, the ESAT for Cambridge vets — and never the BMAT. Finally, keep an honest eye on GCSEs and the wider application, because for these courses grades are necessary but not sufficient.

None of this is about gaming the system; it is about not tripping over a technicality. The students I work with who get where they want to go are rarely the ones who found a clever combination — they are the ones who checked the real requirements early, chose subjects they could excel in, and built a rock-solid foundation in the sciences and Maths. If you would like a hand mapping that out, that is exactly what I do.