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Australian Medical school comparison

Adelaide vs Deakin

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

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. They also recruit at different stages: Adelaide runs school-leaver (undergraduate) entry, Deakin runs graduate entry.

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

Deakin

Geelong

Quick comparison

Location
Geelong, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT
GAMSAT
Minimum 50 in each section + 50 overall. Aggregated average accepted GAMSAT (Fraser's): 66 (2024), 62 (2023), 68.4 (2022), 66.9 (2021). General-stream interview shortlist: GPA + GAMSAT + adjustments equally weighted.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (~8 stations)
Post-interview chance
~38% interview-to-offer.
Decision date
November-December

Adelaide vs Deakin - 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… Deakin — no published cut-off.

GAMSAT cut-offs. Adelaide — not used or not published. Deakin — Minimum 50 in each section + 50 overall. Aggregated average accepted GAMSAT (Fraser's): 66 (2024), 62 (2023), 68.4 (2022), 66.9 (2021). General-stream interview shortlist: GPA + GAMSAT + adjustments…

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.

Deakin requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT overall 50+ with section minima; MMI; rural pathway available.

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. Deakin — no published cut-off.

Graduate-entry GPA. Adelaide — not applicable or not published. Deakin — Minimum 5.0/7.0 weighted. GEMSAS weighting (Final-2 × 1 + Final-1 × 2 + Final × 3) / 6. Aggregated average accepted GPA: 6.67 (2024), 6.6 (2023), 6.76 (2022), 6.74 (2021).

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

Both Adelaide and Deakin use MMI interviews, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, Australian health-system topics (Medicare, rural workforce, Indigenous health) and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer.

That said, the specifics differ slightly: Adelaide runs multi-mini interview (8 stations); Deakin runs multi-mini interview (~8 stations). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Adelaide interviews in November-December; Deakin in September-October.

Curriculum and teaching style

Adelaide runs a Integrated curriculum; Deakin runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Adelaide delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Deakin centres learning around clinical cases.

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-year graduate MD with problem-based learning. Years 1-2 foundations and clinical skills at Waurn Ponds. Year 3 Rural Community Clinical School — stu

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%.; Deakin — 2027: ~160 total (up to 100 CSP + 45 BMP + 15 international + 30 RTS reserved subset).

Maximum 220 interview offers; implied interview-to-place ratio ≈ 1.6:1 (GEMSAS Deakin page; Fraser's Deakin 2027 guide).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Adelaide: ~35% interview-to-offer. Deakin: ~38% 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.

Deakin: Deakin was established as a rural-focused graduate-entry MD and remains one of the strongest pipelines into Victorian rural practice. The program partners closely with the Rural Workforce Agency Victoria and GP Education programs. A substantial proportion of places are reserved for rural-origin applicants, with bonded service options. Year 3 includes the distinctive Rural Community Clinical School experience.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Adelaide needs UCAT-ANZ, Deakin needs GAMSAT. 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 Deakin on Victoria, and an interstate application often faces a materially higher bar.

They suit different stages too: Adelaide is school-leaver (undergraduate) entry, Deakin is graduate entry. 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. Deakin uses GAMSAT. 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 27 August 2026.