How to get into ANU Medicine
Your 2027 Entry step-by-step guide
Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology (ANU) in Canberra, ACT runs a graduate-entry medicine program for 2027 entry. Admission tests listed: GAMSAT. Published hurdles: GPA — minimum weighted GPA 5.0 to be considered for interview; GAMSAT — minimum Overall 50 AND minimum 50 in each section to be considered for interview. ANU holds a panel interview.
- Interviews (2027 entry)
- Early-mid September (domestic); mid-late July (international); late July (Indigenous) — 2027 entry: domestic window 4-11 Sept 2026
- Decisions (2027 entry)
- November-December (domestic); August (international and Indigenous) — 2027 entry
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Photo: Russell Thomas · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo: Thennicke · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Chris Olszewski · CC BY-SA 4.0
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ANU expects a bachelor degree with AQF Level 7 bachelor degree of at least 3.0 FTE, normally completed within 10 years of the application closing date; no prerequisite subjects are listed and no particular degree is preferred.
Minimum 3-year weighted GPA 5.0/7.0 (4.5 for Indigenous applicants); GAMSAT overall 50+ with 50+ in every section (international applicants may substitute MCAT 125+ per section); online interview whose format ANU does not publish; rural sub-quota and a dedicated Indigenous entry pathway. for Medicine (MD) and uses Online interview, held in two parts (2027 entry) — ANU does not publish the format for interviews in the 2027 Entry cycle.
Entry is graduate-entry and selection uses GAMSAT; applications close through GEMSAS or your state TAC (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC), and CSP, BMP and full-fee places are all capped, so treat the standard above as a threshold to clear rather than a target to aim at.
This guide is written for 2027 Entry applicants and updated annually before each GEMSAS / UAC cycle. Sources include Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology's official course page, GEMSAS, the UCAT-ANZ Consortium, ACER (GAMSAT), and direct conversations with current students. Read time: ~12 minutes.
Checked field-by-field against Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology's official course page on 11 September 2026.
ANU at a glance
| GPA | Minimum weighted GPA 5.0 to be considered for interview |
|---|---|
| GAMSAT | Minimum Overall 50 AND minimum 50 in each section to be considered for interview |
| Interview format | Online interview, held in two parts (2027 entry) — ANU does not publish the format |
| Interviews (2027 entry) | Early-mid September (domestic); mid-late July (international); late July (Indigenous) — 2027 entry: domestic window 4-11 Sept 2026 |
| Decisions (2027 entry) | November-December (domestic); August (international and Indigenous) — 2027 entry |
ANU entry requirements
| Pathway | Graduate entry |
|---|---|
| GPA | Minimum weighted GPA 5.0 to be considered for interview — ANU states plainly that meeting it "does not guarantee an interview". The GPA is a 3-year weighted calculation over 3.0 FTE of the most recent eligible degree: final year x3, final-1 x2, final-2 x1. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander applicants have a lower published minimum weighted GPA of 4.5. The only published interview GUARANTEE is for INTERNATIONAL applicants: weighted GPA 6.0 plus GAMSAT 60 overall (50+ per section) or MCAT 515 (125+ per section). ANU publishes no 5.6 threshold and no median offer-holder GPA. |
| Admission tests | GAMSAT |
| GAMSAT | Minimum Overall 50 AND minimum 50 in each section to be considered for interview; meeting the minimum does not guarantee an interview. ANU accepts GAMSAT results as valid for four years. Used at 50% weight in the interview-ranking composite alongside the standardised weighted GPA (50%), with a higher-degree research bonus applied to the combined score (standalone Honours 2%, Masters by Research 2%, PhD 4%; highest only). ANU publishes no median or cut-off GAMSAT for offer-holders. International applicants have a published interview guarantee at GAMSAT 60 overall with 50+ per section (or MCAT 515 with 125+ per section) alongside weighted GPA 6.0. |
| Interview | Online interview, held in two parts (2027 entry) — ANU does not publish the format |
| Place types | 2027 cycle: 63 CSP + 26 BMP + up to 30 international + uncapped Indigenous places. ~40 places reserved for ANU undergraduate pathway graduates. |
| Indigenous pathway | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander places are uncapped — GEMSAS states they "may be offered in addition to the indicative CSP/BMP cap". Applicants may apply either directly to ANU or through GEMSAS. ANU publishes three Indigenous pathways — the Standard Indigenous pathway, Current ANU Students/Alumni, and Local Allied Health Professionals — and the latter two do not require the GAMSAT. The minimum weighted GPA is 4.5 (lower than the 5.0 standard minimum). A completed Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Declaration Form with supporting evidence is required for every pathway. Interviews run in late July with offers in August, ahead of the domestic round; successful applicants receive a Commonwealth Supported Place and every admitted Indigenous student is automatically considered for a scholarship. |
| Bonded / rural | GEMSAS states ANU "offers 29% of its domestic places to students from a rural background" (Modified Monash MM2-7; primary place of residence for 5 years consecutively or 10 years cumulatively, declared in the GEMSAS application with supporting evidence). Separately, 26 of the 2027-entry domestic places are Bonded Medical Places — a Commonwealth Supported Place carrying a return-of-service obligation in eligible regional, rural and remote areas after graduation. The two are distinct: a rural background does not make a place bonded, and a BMP is not restricted to rural-background applicants. |
AQF Level 7 bachelor degree of at least 3.0 FTE, normally completed within 10 years of the application closing date; no prerequisite subjects are listed and no particular degree is preferred.
Minimum 3-year weighted GPA 5.0/7.0 (4.5 for Indigenous applicants); GAMSAT overall 50+ with 50+ in every section (international applicants may substitute MCAT 125+ per section); online interview whose format ANU does not publish; rural sub-quota and a dedicated Indigenous entry pathway.
A completed bachelor degree (any discipline) with a competitive GPA is the academic gateway; admission-test performance and interview together carry most of the final ranking.
GAMSAT
GAMSAT is a 5.5-hour written test of Humanities & Social Sciences (Section I), Written Communication (Section II) and Biological & Physical Sciences (Section III). Run by ACER twice a year (March and September). Scores remain valid for ~4 years. Most competitive offer-holders score 60+ overall with each section above 50.
Written submissions
Australia has no equivalent of the UK's single UCAS personal statement. GEMSAS graduate-entry applications use GAMSAT + GPA without a written component; most state-TAC undergraduate applications use ATAR + UCAT-ANZ without a written component. The schools that DO require written content (JCU portfolio, Notre Dame Sydney/Fremantle questionnaire, Wollongong short answers, Bond essays) each ask different, school-specific questions. Treat each school's prompt set as a discrete short-answer test - do not recycle a single document across multiple schools.
Limits are school-specific. JCU portfolio responses: typically 250-500 words per question. Notre Dame questionnaire: 250-400 words per response. Wollongong short answers: ~300 words each. Bond essays: 500 words. Read the current cycle's prompt brief for each school carefully - limits and prompts shift cycle-to-cycle.
Five things that win
Four things that lose
Worked-example opener (do not copy — for shape only)
"At 14, watching the geriatrician on my rural placement explain a Goals of Care decision to a frightened daughter, I realised that medicine is as much about clarity in language as it is about clinical knowledge. The conversation lasted nine minutes; the silence afterwards lasted longer. Since then I have spent…"
Notice: a specific scene rather than a cliché, a precise detail (the nine-minute conversation), and a closing sentence that bridges to the next paragraph. We have a step-by-step written-submissions service if you want a tutor to help shape yours.
The Assessment interview at ANU
ANU uses Online interview, held in two parts (2027 entry) — ANU does not publish the format. For 2027 entry, interviews typically take place in Early-mid September (domestic); mid-late July (international); late July (Indigenous) — 2027 entry: domestic window 4-11 Sept 2026. Final decisions are released November-December (domestic); August (international and Indigenous) — 2027 entry.
At ANU, expect the following from the selection process. Assessment / recorded-interview format - some Australian schools (JCU's Kira Talent recording, Notre Dame Modern Hire) ask one-way recorded responses; others combine panel interviews with practical tasks (group work, written exercises, presentations). Allow 60-90 minutes for a recorded interview or 4-6 hours for a full in-person assessment day.
How the ANU interview actually runs
ANU does not publish its interview format.
GEMSAS states only that interviews are "held in two parts", and ANU says they "cover a range of topics and scenarios" — no station count, station length or reading time is published by the university or by GEMSAS, so any specific station model you read on a prep-company site is inference, not ANU policy.
What IS official: every interview is held ONLINE, and GEMSAS states there is "no requirement to be in Canberra for the interview".
For 2027 entry the domestic interview window ran Friday 4 to Friday 11 September 2026, with allocated dates and times sent to applicants in late August/early September; international interviews are conducted by Zoom in mid/late July and Indigenous interviews in late July. Prepare for a broad, scenario-based online interview rather than drilling a fixed station count.
What they assess
What ANU assessors are scoring: Multi-station assessment lets the school triangulate - assessors compare notes from each station to spot consistent strengths (and red flags).
Common station / question themes
- Group task observation (how you contribute, listen, lead)
- Written ethics scenario
- Panel interview or recorded one-way response
- Portfolio / personal-statement deep dive
- Hot topics in Australian healthcare (Medicare, rural workforce, Indigenous health)
- Academic curiosity questions
Sample questions you might face at ANU
Why medicine?
Tell us about your work experience.
In a group task, what role did you take and why?
How would you handle disagreement with a senior colleague?
Describe a recent biomedical news story and your view on it.
Model-answer guidance: “Why medicine?”
Our panel-interview prep covers ethics frameworks (SPIES, the four pillars), structured behavioural answers (STAR), and live mock interviews with admissions specialists.
Practise the ANU interview
Rehearse the real format before the day — on demand with our AI interviewers, or live with a tutor.
Sit a mock with photoreal AI interviewers — any time
A timed MMI or panel interview on video — Australian & international voices — with interviewers who listen, react and press with follow-ups. Rubric-scored feedback and a replay the moment you finish.
Live mocks with a tutor who’s been in the room
A full ANU-style mock with a medic or dentist tutor — honest scoring against real marking criteria, a station-by-station debrief and a written action plan.
Book a mock interviewMonth-by-month timeline for 2027 Entry
The cycle runs roughly January 2025 (start of prep) through GEMSAS preference lock and state-TAC deadlines in September 2026, MMIs in October-December 2026, to first-round offers in December 2026 and course start in late January / early February 2027. Here are the milestones you cannot miss.
Decide and start work / clinical experience
Confirm medicine or dentistry as your career direction. Start banking clinical exposure (hospital volunteering, GP shadowing, aged-care or disability-support roles) and non-clinical experience (research assistant, peer tutoring, leadership). Australian schools weight reflection over hours - track what each placement taught you.
Begin UCAT-ANZ / GAMSAT prep
Open your prep window 6-9 months before the test sitting. UCAT-ANZ candidates focus on the 4 sub-tests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Situational Judgement). GAMSAT candidates focus on Section I (Humanities), Section II (Written Communication) and Section III (Sciences) - the Section III sciences gap is the most common reason graduates under-perform.
GAMSAT March sitting
ACER GAMSAT March test date. Scores released early May. Most graduate-entry applicants sit GAMSAT in March of their apply year so results are available before GEMSAS preferences open.
UCAT-ANZ registration + GEMSAS portal info
UCAT-ANZ registration opens (test sat in July). GEMSAS portal information released for graduate-entry medicine. ATAR-tracking begins for current Year 12 applicants.
GEMSAS portal opens + UCAT-ANZ booking
GAMSAT March results released (late May). GEMSAS applications open 1 May and close 29 May across the ten consortium schools (ANU, Deakin, Griffith, Macquarie, Melbourne, Notre Dame Fremantle, Notre Dame Sydney, UQ, UWA, Wollongong). Sydney, Flinders and Monash are NOT in GEMSAS and need separate direct applications. UCAT-ANZ booking deadline is 15 May.
GEMSAS preference entry opens
Rank up to 6 preferences across the 8 GEMSAS schools. ACER GAMSAT September registration window opens (a second sitting option for applicants who under-performed in March).
UCAT-ANZ test window
Take UCAT-ANZ between early July and early August. There is one sitting per cycle - no retake until the following year. Results are released to state TACs (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC) in October. State TACs (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC) accept undergraduate medicine preferences from July onwards.
GEMSAS preferences lock + direct apps close
GEMSAS interview offers issued in early September; consortium interviews run September-October. ACER GAMSAT September sitting - too late for this cycle, results land mid-November. JCU QTAC + JCU-portal applications close 30 September. State-TAC medicine preferences close 25-30 September. (Bond's QTAC round does not open until January.)
MMI invitations issued
Most graduate-entry consortium schools issue MMI invitations through October. Bond runs its structured interview cycle. UCAT-ANZ results released to state TACs for undergraduate ranking. State TAC preference changes typically close late October.
MMIs run + ATAR results
MMIs run across consortium schools, Bond, JCU and Macquarie through October-December. ATAR results released to state TACs for school-leaver undergraduate applicants. GAMSAT September results released for applicants who sat the second window.
First-round offers
First-round offers released by GEMSAS, state TACs and direct-application schools. Acceptance deadlines are typically within 10 days of offer - reply on time or forfeit the place. Some schools release a second offer round in early January.
Late offers + course start
Late-round offers released through January. Deferral requests due. Orientation week is scheduled by most schools for late January or early February, with first-year teaching commencing late January / early February.
What makes ANU different
ANU runs a 4-year graduate-entry MChD (Doctor of Medicine and Surgery) with a research-intensive identity — students complete a research project in Years 1-2, and completed higher research degrees attract a selection bonus (standalone Honours 2%, Masters by Research 2%, PhD 4%; highest only). The Rural Clinical School runs six campuses — Eurobodalla, Bega, Cooma, Goulburn, Cowra and Young — alongside a Sydney Clinical School at Sydney Adventist Hospital, and GEMSAS states ANU offers 29% of its domestic places to students from a rural background. Predominantly CSP intake (63 CSP vs 26 BMP for 2027 entry). Pre-interview ranking is an exact 50:50 of standardised weighted GPA and standardised Overall GAMSAT (plus any research bonus), and the interview then counts for exactly 50% of the final offer score. Note that approximately 40 of the available places are reserved for students arriving via an ANU undergraduate pathway.
Notable research areas
Curriculum (Integrated)
4-year graduate Doctor of Medicine and Surgery (MChD), AQF Level 9, Semester 1 intake only. Years 1-2 are built around clinical case studies at Acton supported by lectures, practicals, tutorials and a weekly clinical day, with one week in a rural location in each year and a research project. From Year 3 students spend almost all contact hours in the health sector, rotating in four-week-plus blocks through the Canberra Clinical School (Canberra Hospital, North Canberra Hospital and University of Canberra Hospital), the Sydney Clinical School (Sydney Adventist Hospital) and the Rural Clinical School, including a six-week rural term in Year 3. Year 4 opens with an elective term of four or more weeks anywhere in the world. Placements also reach the Northern Territory and overseas. Offers cannot be deferred, and ANU does not consider direct transfers from other medical schools.
Location: Canberra, Australia
Founded in 2004. Whether the city suits you matters - five or six years is a long commitment. Visit on an open day if you can; current students will be the most honest assessors of culture and clinical placement quality.
Read the full ANU course guide — team-based learning + case-based learning, 4 years (graduate entry), with placements in Canberra, Sydney, south-east New South Wales and Central Australia.
Application statistics for ANU
ANU intake
2027 entry: 63 CSP + 26 BMP (89 domestic) + up to 30 international full-fee, plus uncapped Indigenous places offered in addition to that cap — so up to roughly 119, plus Indigenous entrants. Note that approximately 40 of the available places are reserved for students who came through an ANU undergraduate pathway (ANU's BHLTH page: "Up to 40 domestic students from the BHLTH will receive an offer to the MChD program each year"), so materially fewer than 89 domestic places are contested through GEMSAS.
How ANU selects, at a glance
Source: Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology admissions data; GEMSAS / state-TAC published statistics; ACER (GAMSAT) and UCAT-ANZ Consortium decile data; recent FOI responses.
Six mistakes that derail medicine applications
ANU — frequently asked questions
Sources for this ANU guide
Apply to ANU with confidence
We have helped hundreds of applicants turn their GAMSAT / UCAT-ANZ, portfolio and MMI prep into offers from ANU and other Australian medicine schools.