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Australian Medical school comparison

Adelaide vs Bond

Adelaide and Bond are both Australian medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Adelaide is in South Australia while Bond is in Queensland. State of origin matters here: several schools rank local applicants ahead of interstate ones. Adelaide uses UCAT-ANZ; Bond uses Bond-Test.

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. The interview formats diverge — MMI vs Panel — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different.

Side-by-side comparison

Adelaide

Adelaide

Quick comparison

Location
Adelaide, Australia
Entry pathway
Undergraduate
Admission tests
UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
Strong bonus-region effect: ~2730 SA applicants vs ~3140 interstate (2024-2026 entry on old /3600 scale; MedView aggregator consensus). ~410-point gap (~10th percentile) is the most material datapoint for SA applicants. Adelaide does not officially publish cut-offs. UCAT cognitive subtests drive interview shortlist; Situational Judgement used only as tiebreaker at the lowest rank.
ATAR
Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Successful applicants typically ~99.75 (commonly cited; not officially published). Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs.
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations)
Post-interview chance
~35% interview-to-offer.
Decision date
January

Bond

Gold Coast

Quick comparison

Location
Gold Coast, Australia
Entry pathway
Undergraduate
Admission tests
Bond-Test
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
Undergraduate (Year 12): ATAR 96+ / IB 38+ / OP 1-3. Graduate: cumulative GPA ≥ 6.0/7.0 from recognised tertiary program.
Interview format
Bond psychometric assessment + Multiple Mini Interview (in person at Gold Coast)
Post-interview chance
~35% interview-to-offer.
Decision date
24-26 March 2026 (Round 1 offers); rolling intakes May + September (no February intake)

Adelaide vs Bond - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Adelaide — Strong bonus-region effect: ~2730 SA applicants vs ~3140 interstate (2024-2026 entry on old /3600 scale; MedView aggregator consensus). ~410-point gap (~10th percentile) is the most material… Bond — no published cut-off.

Timing shapes the choice as much as the score. GAMSAT is graduate-only and sits in March and September; UCAT-ANZ is mostly undergraduate and sits in July. A few schools run their own selection model with no national test at all.

ATAR and academic profile

Adelaide requires Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted) + UCAT-ANZ cognitive + MMI. English and Chemistry prerequisites; Wirltu Yarlu Aboriginal Education Access Pathway for ATSI applicants.

Bond requires Undergraduate (Year 12) ATAR 96+ / IB 38+ / OP 1-3, OR Graduate cumulative GPA ≥ 6.0/7.0 from recognised tertiary program. English (Units 3/4, C) or equivalent prerequisite. Bond psychometric test (~$346.50 inc. GST, 2025) + MMI in person at Gold Coast.

Lateral entry available from Bond BBiomedSci PHP / MOT / DPT / MNDP / MHI with GPA ≥ 3.00/4.00 (Bond scale) → Year 2 BMedSt.

ATAR. Adelaide — Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Successful applicants typically ~99.75 (commonly cited; not officially published). Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs. Bond — Undergraduate (Year 12): ATAR 96+ / IB 38+ / OP 1-3. Graduate: cumulative GPA ≥ 6.0/7.0 from recognised tertiary program.

Read every ATAR figure as a selection rank, not a raw score. Educational access bonuses, rural-origin uplift and Indigenous pathways all adjust it, so the published number is rarely the one that decides your application.

Interview formats

Adelaide uses MMI (Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations)); Bond uses Panel (Bond psychometric assessment + Multiple Mini Interview (in person at Gold Coast)). These two formats reward different skills — MMI emphasises breadth, station-recovery and structured answers under time pressure, while Panel rewards depth and consistency.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Bond may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Adelaide is the better fit.

Interview windows: Adelaide interviews in November-December; Bond in Early March (MMI; 2026 cycle); psychometric testing 7-12 Feb 2026; MMI invitations 21 Feb 2026.

Curriculum and teaching style

Both schools deliver a Integrated-style curriculum, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar across years 1-3.

Specifics: 6-year undergraduate Bachelor of Medical Studies + Doctor of Medicine (BMS/MD; 3 + 3). Years 1-3 foundations and clinical skills at North Terrace. Yea ~4.5-year accelerated Bachelor of Medical Studies (BMedSt) + Doctor of Medicine (MD) on a three-semester (Jan/May/Sep teaching) calendar — though inta

Intake size: Adelaide — 136 domestic places per year (Adelaide degree finder); ~600 applicants invited to interview annually. Admission offer weighting: Academic 40% + UCAT cognitive 20% + Interview 40%.; Bond — Up to ~180 places/year across two intakes (May + September), 80% undergraduate / 20% graduate. Full-fee only — does NOT participate in BMP..

A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Adelaide: ~35% interview-to-offer. Bond: ~35% interview-to-offer.

Post-interview odds give you the clearest signal of how competitive each school is at the final stage — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%, even if the interview thresholds look identical on paper.

What makes each distinctive

Adelaide: Adelaide runs South Australia's oldest medical school (est. 1885) as a 6-year undergraduate BMS+MD (3+3). Admission offer weighting: Academic 40% + UCAT cognitive 20% + Interview 40%. Strong rural pipeline via the Rural Clinical School (Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Mount Gambier). Indigenous entry via Wirltu Yarlu Aboriginal Education Access Pathway.

The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia MERGED into "Adelaide University" on 1 January 2026; both predecessor schools stopped accepting applications on 4 August 2025, and all current cycles run under the merged entity.

Bond: Bond is Australia's only private medical school with two intakes per year (May, September — NO February intake) on an accelerated calendar (~3 semesters/year, 14 semesters total, about 4 years 8 months end to end). No UCAT-ANZ or GAMSAT — Bond runs its own psychometric test (Clinical Personality + Emotional Intelligence).

All places are full-fee (no CSP, FEE-HELP eligible for domestic; no BMP). 2026 fees: $33,610/semester × 14 = ~$470,540 total program.

ELIGIBILITY: direct entry is limited to Australian citizens and permanent residents, Australian Humanitarian visa holders, and New Zealand CITIZENS (not NZ permanent residents) — it is NOT open to international students applying for a student visa, who must instead complete a prerequisite Bond degree and enter at Year 2.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Adelaide needs UCAT-ANZ, Bond needs Bond-Test. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two. Check your state of origin before you apply — Adelaide draws heavily on South Australia applicants and Bond on Queensland, and an interstate application often faces a materially higher bar.

Your preference list should ultimately weight: which admission test you can realistically score well in, whether your state of origin gives you a bonus at either school, and where you'd actually want to live for four to six years.

Common questions

Adelaide uses UCAT-ANZ. Bond uses Bond-Test. The test mismatch means you may need to prep two assessments simultaneously, or you can pick the school whose admission test you're stronger in. GAMSAT is graduate-only and sat in March/September; UCAT-ANZ is undergraduate-leaning and sat in July; some schools (notably Bond and JCU) run their own selection model with no national test.

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 25 August 2026.