How Hard Is It to Get Into Queen's University Belfast? Acceptance Rates & Entry Requirements

Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is a strong, research-intensive Russell Group university, competitive but achievable for well-qualified applicants. It is a Russell Group member and Northern Ireland's leading university, particularly well regarded for medicine, pharmacy, law, engineering and the sciences. Getting in means understanding what the numbers mean for your specific course.

The real acceptance rate at Queen's Belfast

Queen's does not publish a single "acceptance rate", and the useful number is the offer rate for your course. Across most subjects, Queen's makes offers to a majority of applicants.

As always, the average hides the competitive courses. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law are considerably harder than the typical Queen's course, with strong grade requirements and, for medicine, admissions tests and interviews. For most other subjects, Queen's is a realistic achievable choice where meeting the grades is the main thing.

Entry requirements by course

Typical A-level offers at Queen's:

Competitive professional courses sit at AAA; most others at ABB–BBB. Queen's typical IB offers range from 32 to 36 points, higher for medicine. Note that for some competitive courses, especially medicine, GCSE performance is weighed heavily for Northern Ireland and other applicants. Check the course page.

Queen's strengths: medicine, pharmacy and law

Queen's is Northern Ireland's flagship for professional and research subjects. Its medical school and pharmacy courses are highly competitive and well regarded, its law school is the leading one in Northern Ireland, and its engineering and science research is strong. It also has notable strengths in areas like food security and cyber security.

Rankings and Russell Group standing

Queen's is a Russell Group university, ranks within the UK top 25–30 in domestic league tables, and sits in the global top 200. As Northern Ireland's leading research university, it has a strong regional pull and a solid international reputation.

Contextual offers at Queen's

Queen's makes contextual offers and runs widening-participation schemes, reducing requirements for eligible applicants from underrepresented backgrounds. Given the weight placed on GCSEs for some competitive courses, contextual data can matter here, so check Queen's admissions and access policies.

Who gets into Queen's Belfast?

For most courses, a successful applicant needs grades at or near the requirement, the required subjects, and a genuine personal statement. For medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law, the bar is much higher: top grades, strong GCSEs, and (for medicine) the UCAT and interview performance. Meeting the grades matters, and for competitive courses the wider profile does too.

Queen's vs. comparable universities

Queen's compares with universities like Cardiff, Newcastle and Liverpool as strong Russell Group civic universities. Within Northern Ireland it is the clear research leader. It is a realistic matched choice for many applicants and an aspirational one for its competitive professional courses.

The personal statement: what Queen's is looking for

Queen's weighs the personal statement, and for competitive courses it forms part of a wider assessment alongside grades, GCSEs and tests. It should show genuine subject engagement: for medicine, an understanding of the role and reflective work experience (see our medicine guide); for law, analytical interest (see our law guide).

To see how your statement reads to an admissions tutor, Statementory scores it out of 100 with line-by-line annotations and rewrites, in 5–10 minutes. It checks what you wrote and never writes it for you. For a balanced five-choice list, see our guide on choosing your universities.