Australian Medical school comparison

Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP

Q: What admission tests do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP use?

Adelaide uses UCAT-ANZ. Newcastle / JMP uses UCAT-ANZ. Both schools share the same test stack — your single sitting can support both applications. 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.

Q: What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP?

Adelaide — UCAT ANZ alone decides who is interviewed (except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway and Northern Community Care Stream applicants, who do not sit it): Sections 1–3 carry equal weight, and Section 4 (Situational Judgement, reported separately on 300–900 and not part of the /2700 cognitive total) separates only lower-ranked candidates with equal totals across the other three. UCAT ANZ then carries 20% of the final domestic offer ranking, alongside Interview 40% and Academic 40%. Adelaide publishes no cut-off and will not comment on score competitiveness; the South Australian advantage is structural — a minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations must go to South Australian applicants — not a published score gap. For national calibration only (not an Adelaide threshold), the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting used for 2027 entry had a total cognitive mean of 1,964, median 1,950, 8th decile 2,220 and 9th decile 2,340 across 17,341 candidates. Newcastle / JMP — No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. UCAT-ANZ cut-offs are cohort-dependent, so the headline number from one cycle is not guaranteed for the next — use it as a planning anchor, not a guarantee.

Q: What ATAR do I need for Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP?

Adelaide — Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Adelaide states that 'the actual ATAR required for entry is typically much higher' than the 90.00 eligibility floor but 'does not disclose ATAR cut-off scores from previous years'. Its published ATAR profile for Semester 1 2026 (ABP171 and ABP271) suppresses every figure as '<5', because almost all offers are made on ATAR plus additional criteria rather than ATAR alone — so no median, lowest or guaranteed selection rank exists in the public record, and figures such as 99.75 are unsourced. Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs. Newcastle / JMP — ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. Selection rank typically includes Educational Access Scheme bonuses, rural-origin uplift, and (where applicable) Indigenous-pathway adjustments — your raw ATAR is rarely the final figure used.

Q: How do interviews differ between Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP?

Adelaide uses: Multiple Mini Interview — a minimum of six stations of 10 minutes each, one interviewer per station, held online over Zoom (2027 entry; Adelaide states there is no in-person, telephone or alternative-platform option).. Newcastle / JMP uses: Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide). Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: November-December (Adelaide); Late November - early December (30 Nov - 11 Dec 2026 for 2027 entry); mid-January 2027 for interstate non-rural applicants, and w/c 11 Jan 2027 for Excellence through Equity and Regional Excellence Pathway applicants. Invitations go out early-to-mid November. International applicants sit the MSA online 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2026. (Newcastle / JMP).

Q: What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP offer?

Adelaide — Two Commonwealth Supported Place types with separate SATAC codes — non-bonded (ABP171) and Bonded Medical Program (ABP271, carrying a Return of Service Obligation); the split is not published. Adelaide publishes no annual place count; its official student profile shows 160 students commencing the program in Semester 1 2026, of whom 28 (17.5%) were international — a commencement count, not a place allocation. Indicative international tuition is AUD $103,000 per year. The previously cited 136 does not appear on any current Adelaide University page. Newcastle / JMP — 170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined), for more than 3,000 applicants. Published sub-quotas: up to 17 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, 30 starting at the Central Coast Clinical School, a minimum 30% rural/remote target (33 at Newcastle, 18 at UNE), up to 6 Excellence through Equity places and up to 10 Regional Health Professional places. The JMP does not publish a BMP count; the national 28.5% CSP rule implies roughly 48. International places are a separate, smaller quota. CSP (Commonwealth Supported Place) is the lowest student contribution; BMP (Bonded Medical Program) adds a 1-year return-of-service obligation in a Modified Monash Model 2-7 area after Fellowship; Full-fee places carry no bond but the highest tuition.

Q: What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP offer?

Adelaide — Entry is via the School of Medicine's own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway, documented on the Bachelor of Medical Studies page — not via the old Wirltu Yarlu Access Pathway, whose URLs now redirect to Adelaide University's First Nations page, which lists the Bachelor of Medical Studies among degrees with their own dedicated entry routes rather than under the general Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pathway. Applicants apply through SATAC with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statutory Declaration uploaded within five working days and are not required to sit the UCAT ANZ. A number of places are reserved — Adelaide does not publish the count — and all eligible applicants are invited to interview: a panel of three to four people (academics, clinicians and alumni, largely Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander), around 20 minutes long, preceded by an informal yarn. The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences no longer exists; the program sits in the College of Health, School of Medicine. Newcastle / JMP — Miroma Bunbilla is a separate admission process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, with up to 17 places set aside each year. Applicants are NOT required to sit the UCAT ANZ and do not lodge the direct JMP application, but they DO sit both the Multiple Skills Assessment and the Personal Qualities Assessment, and must attend the Miroma Bunbilla pre-admission program (a five-day series of activities, 30 November - 4 December 2026 for 2027 entry). UAC applications close 31 October 2026 and offers are released in UAC December Round 2. Both schools accept ATSI applicants through the standard pathway as well; the dedicated pathway typically offers adjusted academic thresholds plus wrap-around academic support.

Q: When does each school release decisions?

Adelaide typically releases medicine offers January. Newcastle / JMP releases medicine offers January (UAC Round 1, offer information 8 Jan 2027; a later January round for applicants assessed in mid-January). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants receive offers in UAC December Round 2.. AU MD offers run through GEMSAS (graduate consortium) or direct school portals; if one is earlier than the other you may need to defer a decision while waiting for the second.

Q: What curriculum style do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP use?

Adelaide runs a Integrated curriculum. Newcastle / JMP runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies differ — pick the style that matches how you learn best. Adelaide specifics: 6-year undergraduate Bachelor of Medical Studies + Doctor of Medicine (BMS/MD; 3 + 3). Taught at the Adelaide City Campus (Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences building, corner of North Terrace and Ge Newcastle / JMP specifics: Five years, two degrees taken consecutively: Bachelor of Medical Science in years 1-3, Doctor of Medicine in years 4-5. Campus-based problem-based learning dominates years 1-2, at Callaghan (Newcastle

Q: Should I apply to both Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP?

Yes — AU medical applicants typically lodge preferences across multiple schools via GEMSAS (graduate) or direct-undergraduate portals + state TACs (UAC for NSW, VTAC for VIC, QTAC for QLD, etc.). The two schools' selection mechanics differ enough that listing both is a legitimate diversification strategy. A common mistake is over-indexing on schools with the same test-and-interview profile; Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP are both Australian medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Adelaide is in South Australia while Newcastle / JMP is in New South Wales. State of origin matters here: several schools rank local applicants ahead of interstate ones.

Both select on UCAT-ANZ, so a single sitting can support both applications.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP.
Comparison field	AdelaideAdelaide	Newcastle / JMPNewcastle
Quick comparison
Location	Adelaide, Australia	Newcastle, Australia
Entry pathway	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Admission tests	UCAT-ANZ	UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT	-	-
UCAT-ANZ	UCAT ANZ alone decides who is interviewed (except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway and Northern Community Care Stream applicants, who do not sit it): Sections 1–3 carry equal weight, and Section 4 (Situational Judgement, reported separately on 300–900 and not part of the /2700 cognitive total) separates only lower-ranked candidates with equal totals across the other three. UCAT ANZ then carries 20% of the final domestic offer ranking, alongside Interview 40% and Academic 40%. Adelaide publishes no cut-off and will not comment on score competitiveness; the South Australian advantage is structural — a minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations must go to South Australian applicants — not a published score gap. For national calibration only (not an Adelaide threshold), the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting used for 2027 entry had a total cognitive mean of 1,964, median 1,950, 8th decile 2,220 and 9th decile 2,340 across 17,341 candidates.	No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.
ATAR	Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Adelaide states that 'the actual ATAR required for entry is typically much higher' than the 90.00 eligibility floor but 'does not disclose ATAR cut-off scores from previous years'. Its published ATAR profile for Semester 1 2026 (ABP171 and ABP271) suppresses every figure as '<5', because almost all offers are made on ATAR plus additional criteria rather than ATAR alone — so no median, lowest or guaranteed selection rank exists in the public record, and figures such as 99.75 are unsourced. Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs.	ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.
Interview format	Multiple Mini Interview — a minimum of six stations of 10 minutes each, one interviewer per station, held online over Zoom (2027 entry; Adelaide states there is no in-person, telephone or alternative-platform option).	Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide)
Post-interview chance	Not published by Adelaide, and no admissions centre or Medical Deans report gives an interview-to-offer rate for this program. The only Tier-1 figures are approximately 600 domestic applicants invited to interview and 160 students commencing in Semester 1 2026 (28 of them international) — enough to show that a ~35% domestic conversion is unsupported, but not enough to state a rate, since commencements are not offers and the same interview also covers Dentistry and Oral Health applicants.	Not published - the JMP discloses 170 places against more than 3,000 applicants, but not how many are invited to the assessment day, so no interview-to-offer rate can be stated.
Decision date	January	January (UAC Round 1, offer information 8 Jan 2027; a later January round for applicants assessed in mid-January). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants receive offers in UAC December Round 2.

ATAR	Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Adelaide states that 'the actual ATAR required for entry is typically much higher' than the 90.00 eligibility floor but 'does not disclose ATAR cut-off scores from previous years'. Its published ATAR profile for Semester 1 2026 (ABP171 and ABP271) suppresses every figure as '<5', because almost all offers are made on ATAR plus additional criteria rather than ATAR alone — so no median, lowest or guaranteed selection rank exists in the public record, and figures such as 99.75 are unsourced. Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs.	ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.
Contextual ATAR	Adjustment factors for the Bachelor of Medical Studies are available only under the Universities Equity Scheme — the medicine program does not consider subject adjustment factors, so the Universities Language, Literacy and Mathematics Scheme does not apply. A minimum 50% of school-leaver applicants invited to interview will be from South Australia (an interview-invitation quota, not an offer quota).	Rural Bonus Scheme drops the ATAR floor to 85.00, based on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the school where you sat Year 12. The Educational Access Scheme adds up to four adjustment points, applied to academic eligibility. The Regional Excellence Pathway offers an assessment place with no UCAT ANZ score at all to school leavers who complete Year 12 at a school in the Hunter New England or Central Coast LHD footprint and achieve an ATAR of 99.00 or higher, in the intake year immediately following.
GAMSAT	-	-
UCAT-ANZ	UCAT ANZ alone decides who is interviewed (except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway and Northern Community Care Stream applicants, who do not sit it): Sections 1–3 carry equal weight, and Section 4 (Situational Judgement, reported separately on 300–900 and not part of the /2700 cognitive total) separates only lower-ranked candidates with equal totals across the other three. UCAT ANZ then carries 20% of the final domestic offer ranking, alongside Interview 40% and Academic 40%. Adelaide publishes no cut-off and will not comment on score competitiveness; the South Australian advantage is structural — a minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations must go to South Australian applicants — not a published score gap. For national calibration only (not an Adelaide threshold), the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting used for 2027 entry had a total cognitive mean of 1,964, median 1,950, 8th decile 2,220 and 9th decile 2,340 across 17,341 candidates.	No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.
CASPer	-	-
ISAT	-	-
GPA	-	-
Prerequisites	-	-
Place types	Two Commonwealth Supported Place types with separate SATAC codes — non-bonded (ABP171) and Bonded Medical Program (ABP271, carrying a Return of Service Obligation); the split is not published. Adelaide publishes no annual place count; its official student profile shows 160 students commencing the program in Semester 1 2026, of whom 28 (17.5%) were international — a commencement count, not a place allocation. Indicative international tuition is AUD $103,000 per year. The previously cited 136 does not appear on any current Adelaide University page.	170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined), for more than 3,000 applicants. Published sub-quotas: up to 17 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, 30 starting at the Central Coast Clinical School, a minimum 30% rural/remote target (33 at Newcastle, 18 at UNE), up to 6 Excellence through Equity places and up to 10 Regional Health Professional places. The JMP does not publish a BMP count; the national 28.5% CSP rule implies roughly 48. International places are a separate, smaller quota.
Indigenous pathway	Entry is via the School of Medicine's own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway, documented on the Bachelor of Medical Studies page — not via the old Wirltu Yarlu Access Pathway, whose URLs no…	Miroma Bunbilla is a separate admission process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, with up to 17 places set aside each year. Applicants are NOT required to sit the UCAT ANZ and do n…
Bonded / rural	Bonded Medical Program places sit under their own SATAC code (ABP271) with a Return of Service Obligation in eligible regional, rural or remote areas; the count is not published. Separately, approxima…	Rural Bonus Scheme (ATAR 85). The JMP does not publish a Bonded Medical Program place count. The national rule requires universities to allocate 28.5% of commencing medical Commonwealth Supported Plac…

Interview window	November-December	Late November - early December (30 Nov - 11 Dec 2026 for 2027 entry); mid-January 2027 for interstate non-rural applicants, and w/c 11 Jan 2027 for Excellence through Equity and Regional Excellence Pathway applicants. Invitations go out early-to-mid November. International applicants sit the MSA online 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2026.
Interview details	Adelaide runs a Multiple Mini Interview with a minimum of six stations lasting 10 minutes each, one interviewer per station, held entirely online over Zoom — there is no in-person, telephone or altern…	The JMP Assessment is a half-day, in-person session held at the University of Newcastle (Callaghan) or the University of New England (Armidale) - you nominate a preferred location on the direct applic…

Specialities	Rural Medicine, Clinical Research, Reproductive Medicine, Indigenous Health, General Practice	Rural Medicine, Indigenous Health, Population Health, General Practice
Established	1885	1978
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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 pip…	The Joint Medical Program is delivered jointly by the University of Newcastle and the University of New England, but admission is administered at Newcastle through one common process: a direct JMP app…
Official course page	https://adelaide.edu.au/study/degrees/bachelor-of-medical-studies/dom/	https://www.newcastle.edu.au/degrees/bachelor-of-medical-science-doctor-of-medicine-joint-medical-program

Adelaide

Quick comparison

Location: Adelaide, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is interviewed (except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway and Northern Community Care Stream applicants, who do not sit it): Sections 1–3 carry equal weight, and Section 4 (Situational Judgement, reported separately on 300–900 and not part of the /2700 cognitive total) separates only lower-ranked candidates with equal totals across the other three. UCAT ANZ then carries 20% of the final domestic offer ranking, alongside Interview 40% and Academic 40%. Adelaide publishes no cut-off and will not comment on score competitiveness; the South Australian advantage is structural — a minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations must go to South Australian applicants — not a published score gap. For national calibration only (not an Adelaide threshold), the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting used for 2027 entry had a total cognitive mean of 1,964, median 1,950, 8th decile 2,220 and 9th decile 2,340 across 17,341 candidates.
ATAR: Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Adelaide states that 'the actual ATAR required for entry is typically much higher' than the 90.00 eligibility floor but 'does not disclose ATAR cut-off scores from previous years'. Its published ATAR profile for Semester 1 2026 (ABP171 and ABP271) suppresses every figure as '<5', because almost all offers are made on ATAR plus additional criteria rather than ATAR alone — so no median, lowest or guaranteed selection rank exists in the public record, and figures such as 99.75 are unsourced. Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs.
Interview format: Multiple Mini Interview — a minimum of six stations of 10 minutes each, one interviewer per station, held online over Zoom (2027 entry; Adelaide states there is no in-person, telephone or alternative-platform option).
Post-interview chance: Not published by Adelaide, and no admissions centre or Medical Deans report gives an interview-to-offer rate for this program. The only Tier-1 figures are approximately 600 domestic applicants invited to interview and 160 students commencing in Semester 1 2026 (28 of them international) — enough to show that a ~35% domestic conversion is unsupported, but not enough to state a rate, since commencements are not offers and the same interview also covers Dentistry and Oral Health applicants.
Decision date: January

ATAR: Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Adelaide states that 'the actual ATAR required for entry is typically much higher' than the 90.00 eligibility floor but 'does not disclose ATAR cut-off scores from previous years'. Its published ATAR profile for Semester 1 2026 (ABP171 and ABP271) suppresses every figure as '<5', because almost all offers are made on ATAR plus additional criteria rather than ATAR alone — so no median, lowest or guaranteed selection rank exists in the public record, and figures such as 99.75 are unsourced. Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs.
Contextual ATAR: Adjustment factors for the Bachelor of Medical Studies are available only under the Universities Equity Scheme — the medicine program does not consider subject adjustment factors, so the Universities Language, Literacy and Mathematics Scheme does not apply. A minimum 50% of school-leaver applicants invited to interview will be from South Australia (an interview-invitation quota, not an offer quota).
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is interviewed (except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway and Northern Community Care Stream applicants, who do not sit it): Sections 1–3 carry equal weight, and Section 4 (Situational Judgement, reported separately on 300–900 and not part of the /2700 cognitive total) separates only lower-ranked candidates with equal totals across the other three. UCAT ANZ then carries 20% of the final domestic offer ranking, alongside Interview 40% and Academic 40%. Adelaide publishes no cut-off and will not comment on score competitiveness; the South Australian advantage is structural — a minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations must go to South Australian applicants — not a published score gap. For national calibration only (not an Adelaide threshold), the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting used for 2027 entry had a total cognitive mean of 1,964, median 1,950, 8th decile 2,220 and 9th decile 2,340 across 17,341 candidates.
CASPer: -
ISAT: -
GPA: -
Prerequisites: -
Place types: Two Commonwealth Supported Place types with separate SATAC codes — non-bonded (ABP171) and Bonded Medical Program (ABP271, carrying a Return of Service Obligation); the split is not published. Adelaide publishes no annual place count; its official student profile shows 160 students commencing the program in Semester 1 2026, of whom 28 (17.5%) were international — a commencement count, not a place allocation. Indicative international tuition is AUD $103,000 per year. The previously cited 136 does not appear on any current Adelaide University page.
Indigenous pathway: Entry is via the School of Medicine's own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway, documented on the Bachelor of Medical Studies page — not via the old Wirltu Yarlu Access Pathway, whose URLs no…
Bonded / rural: Bonded Medical Program places sit under their own SATAC code (ABP271) with a Return of Service Obligation in eligible regional, rural or remote areas; the count is not published. Separately, approxima…

Newcastle / JMP

Newcastle

Quick comparison

Location: Newcastle, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.
ATAR: ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.
Interview format: Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide)
Post-interview chance: Not published - the JMP discloses 170 places against more than 3,000 applicants, but not how many are invited to the assessment day, so no interview-to-offer rate can be stated.
Decision date: January (UAC Round 1, offer information 8 Jan 2027; a later January round for applicants assessed in mid-January). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants receive offers in UAC December Round 2.

ATAR: ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.
Contextual ATAR: Rural Bonus Scheme drops the ATAR floor to 85.00, based on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the school where you sat Year 12. The Educational Access Scheme adds up to four adjustment points, applied to academic eligibility. The Regional Excellence Pathway offers an assessment place with no UCAT ANZ score at all to school leavers who complete Year 12 at a school in the Hunter New England or Central Coast LHD footprint and achieve an ATAR of 99.00 or higher, in the intake year immediately following.
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.
CASPer: -
ISAT: -
GPA: -
Prerequisites: -
Place types: 170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined), for more than 3,000 applicants. Published sub-quotas: up to 17 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, 30 starting at the Central Coast Clinical School, a minimum 30% rural/remote target (33 at Newcastle, 18 at UNE), up to 6 Excellence through Equity places and up to 10 Regional Health Professional places. The JMP does not publish a BMP count; the national 28.5% CSP rule implies roughly 48. International places are a separate, smaller quota.
Indigenous pathway: Miroma Bunbilla is a separate admission process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, with up to 17 places set aside each year. Applicants are NOT required to sit the UCAT ANZ and do n…
Bonded / rural: Rural Bonus Scheme (ATAR 85). The JMP does not publish a Bonded Medical Program place count. The national rule requires universities to allocate 28.5% of commencing medical Commonwealth Supported Plac…

Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs.

Adelaide — UCAT ANZ alone decides who is interviewed (except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway and Northern Community Care Stream applicants, who do not sit it): Sections 1–3 carry equal weight, and… Newcastle / JMP — No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no…

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 Adjusted ATAR / selection rank of 90.00 minimum (an eligibility floor, not a cut-off) + UCAT ANZ + MMI. The prerequisite is any ONE of SACE Stage 2 Biology, Chemistry or Mathematical Methods (or equivalent); high proficiency in written and spoken English is assumed knowledge, not a prerequisite.

The medicine program does not apply subject adjustment factors — only the Universities Equity Scheme.

Separate routes: a dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway (no UCAT ANZ; all eligible applicants interviewed), a Rural Background pathway (approximately 41 places), a Northern Community Care Stream (up to 20 places, no UCAT ANZ, SATAC codes ABP292 non-bonded / ABP293 bonded), a Higher Education pathway (minimum 10 places, open only to applicants whose sole tertiary record is at Adelaide University or an antecedent institution, with 1–2 years completed at a credit average / GPA 5.0), and a Work and Life Experience route via a competitive STAT score.

Adelaide notes entry requirements for this degree are provisional and subject to change.

Newcastle / JMP requires Minimum ATAR 94.30 (85.00 if you sat Year 12 at an MM2-7 rural/remote school under the Rural Bonus Scheme), or tertiary results at roughly credit level after one full-time year of university study; no subject prerequisites.

UCAT ANZ decides who is invited; the half-day in-person JMP Assessment - a rotating-station Multiple Skills Assessment plus an online Personal Qualities Assessment - then sets the final rank. 2027 entry.

ATAR. Adelaide — Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank).

Adelaide states that 'the actual ATAR required for entry is typically much higher' than the 90.00 eligibility floor but 'does not disclose ATAR… Newcastle / JMP — ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live.

Applicants with at…

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 Newcastle / JMP 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 multiple mini interview — a minimum of six stations of 10 minutes each, one interviewer per station, held online over zoom (2027…; Newcastle / JMP runs multiple skills assessment (msa) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the jmp's applicant assessment guide).

Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Adelaide interviews in November-December; Newcastle / JMP in Late November - early December (30 Nov - 11 Dec 2026 for 2027 entry); mid-January 2027 for interstate non-rural applicants, and w/c 11 Jan 2027 for Excellence through Equity and Regional Excellence Pathway applicants. Invitations go out early-to-mid November.

International applicants sit the MSA online 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2026..

Curriculum and teaching style

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

Specifics: 6-year undergraduate Bachelor of Medical Studies + Doctor of Medicine (BMS/MD; 3 + 3). Taught at the Adelaide City Campus (Adelaide Health and Medical Five years, two degrees taken consecutively: Bachelor of Medical Science in years 1-3, Doctor of Medicine in years 4-5. Campus-based problem-based lea

Intake size: Adelaide — Adelaide does not publish a total place count, though it publishes sub-pathway reservations (approximately 41 Rural Background, up to 20 Northern Community…; Newcastle / JMP — 170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined) for more than 3,000 applicants. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Adelaide: Not published by Adelaide, and no admissions centre or Medical Deans report gives an interview-to-offer rate for this program.

The only Tier-1 figures are approximately 600 domestic applicants invited to interview and 160 students commencing in Semester 1 2026 (28 of them international) — enough to show that a ~35% domestic conversion is unsupported, but not enough to state a rate, since commencements are not offers and the same interview also covers Dentistry and Oral Health applicants.

Newcastle / JMP: Not published - the JMP discloses 170 places against more than 3,000 applicants, but not how many are invited to the assessment day, so no interview-to-offer rate can be stated.

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).

Dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway with no UCAT ANZ requirement (the former Wirltu Yarlu Access Pathway is not the route into this degree).

The University of Adelaide and UniSA amalgamated into Adelaide University on 1 January 2026, and the program now sits in Adelaide University's College of Health, School of Medicine; applications for 2027 entry opened via SATAC on 3 August 2026 and close 30 September 2026.

New for 2027 entry: a Northern Community Care Stream of up to 20 places (SATAC ABP292 non-bonded, ABP293 bonded) for applicants schooled in Adelaide's northern suburbs, ranked on ATAR or IB plus interview with no UCAT ANZ; applicants with any prior higher education record are excluded from this stream for the 2027 intake.

Newcastle / JMP: The Joint Medical Program is delivered jointly by the University of Newcastle and the University of New England, but admission is administered at Newcastle through one common process: a direct JMP application plus a single UAC preference (code 785000). You nominate a preferred enrolment location, and there is no guarantee you get it.

The program targets a minimum 30% rural or remote background intake (33 places at Newcastle, 18 at UNE) and sets aside up to 17 places a year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.

Invitation to the assessment day is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate alone; the final selection rank then comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to break ties.

Which is right for you?

Check your state of origin before you apply — Adelaide draws heavily on South Australia applicants and Newcastle / JMP on New South Wales, 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. Newcastle / JMP uses UCAT-ANZ. Both schools share the same test stack — your single sitting can support both applications. 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.

Adelaide — UCAT ANZ alone decides who is interviewed (except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway and Northern Community Care Stream applicants, who do not sit it): Sections 1–3 carry equal weight, and Section 4 (Situational Judgement, reported separately on 300–900 and not part of the /2700 cognitive total) separates only lower-ranked candidates with equal totals across the other three. UCAT ANZ then carries 20% of the final domestic offer ranking, alongside Interview 40% and Academic 40%. Adelaide publishes no cut-off and will not comment on score competitiveness; the South Australian advantage is structural — a minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations must go to South Australian applicants — not a published score gap. For national calibration only (not an Adelaide threshold), the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting used for 2027 entry had a total cognitive mean of 1,964, median 1,950, 8th decile 2,220 and 9th decile 2,340 across 17,341 candidates. Newcastle / JMP — No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. UCAT-ANZ cut-offs are cohort-dependent, so the headline number from one cycle is not guaranteed for the next — use it as a planning anchor, not a guarantee.

Adelaide — Minimum entry ATAR 90.00 (adjusted selection rank). Adelaide states that 'the actual ATAR required for entry is typically much higher' than the 90.00 eligibility floor but 'does not disclose ATAR cut-off scores from previous years'. Its published ATAR profile for Semester 1 2026 (ABP171 and ABP271) suppresses every figure as '<5', because almost all offers are made on ATAR plus additional criteria rather than ATAR alone — so no median, lowest or guaranteed selection rank exists in the public record, and figures such as 99.75 are unsourced. Adelaide explicitly does not publish ATAR cut-offs. Newcastle / JMP — ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. Selection rank typically includes Educational Access Scheme bonuses, rural-origin uplift, and (where applicable) Indigenous-pathway adjustments — your raw ATAR is rarely the final figure used.

Adelaide uses: Multiple Mini Interview — a minimum of six stations of 10 minutes each, one interviewer per station, held online over Zoom (2027 entry; Adelaide states there is no in-person, telephone or alternative-platform option).. Newcastle / JMP uses: Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide). Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: November-December (Adelaide); Late November - early December (30 Nov - 11 Dec 2026 for 2027 entry); mid-January 2027 for interstate non-rural applicants, and w/c 11 Jan 2027 for Excellence through Equity and Regional Excellence Pathway applicants. Invitations go out early-to-mid November. International applicants sit the MSA online 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2026. (Newcastle / JMP).

Adelaide — Two Commonwealth Supported Place types with separate SATAC codes — non-bonded (ABP171) and Bonded Medical Program (ABP271, carrying a Return of Service Obligation); the split is not published. Adelaide publishes no annual place count; its official student profile shows 160 students commencing the program in Semester 1 2026, of whom 28 (17.5%) were international — a commencement count, not a place allocation. Indicative international tuition is AUD $103,000 per year. The previously cited 136 does not appear on any current Adelaide University page. Newcastle / JMP — 170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined), for more than 3,000 applicants. Published sub-quotas: up to 17 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, 30 starting at the Central Coast Clinical School, a minimum 30% rural/remote target (33 at Newcastle, 18 at UNE), up to 6 Excellence through Equity places and up to 10 Regional Health Professional places. The JMP does not publish a BMP count; the national 28.5% CSP rule implies roughly 48. International places are a separate, smaller quota. CSP (Commonwealth Supported Place) is the lowest student contribution; BMP (Bonded Medical Program) adds a 1-year return-of-service obligation in a Modified Monash Model 2-7 area after Fellowship; Full-fee places carry no bond but the highest tuition.

Adelaide — Entry is via the School of Medicine's own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway, documented on the Bachelor of Medical Studies page — not via the old Wirltu Yarlu Access Pathway, whose URLs now redirect to Adelaide University's First Nations page, which lists the Bachelor of Medical Studies among degrees with their own dedicated entry routes rather than under the general Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pathway. Applicants apply through SATAC with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statutory Declaration uploaded within five working days and are not required to sit the UCAT ANZ. A number of places are reserved — Adelaide does not publish the count — and all eligible applicants are invited to interview: a panel of three to four people (academics, clinicians and alumni, largely Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander), around 20 minutes long, preceded by an informal yarn. The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences no longer exists; the program sits in the College of Health, School of Medicine. Newcastle / JMP — Miroma Bunbilla is a separate admission process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, with up to 17 places set aside each year. Applicants are NOT required to sit the UCAT ANZ and do not lodge the direct JMP application, but they DO sit both the Multiple Skills Assessment and the Personal Qualities Assessment, and must attend the Miroma Bunbilla pre-admission program (a five-day series of activities, 30 November - 4 December 2026 for 2027 entry). UAC applications close 31 October 2026 and offers are released in UAC December Round 2. Both schools accept ATSI applicants through the standard pathway as well; the dedicated pathway typically offers adjusted academic thresholds plus wrap-around academic support.

Adelaide — Bonded Medical Program places sit under their own SATAC code (ABP271) with a Return of Service Obligation in eligible regional, rural or remote areas; the count is not published. Separately, approximately 41 places are reserved for the Rural Background pathway, open to applicants who lived in a Modified Monash Model (MMM 2019) MM 2–7 area for at least five consecutive years or ten years cumulatively, with a Rural Entry Pathway Statutory Declaration uploaded to SATAC within five days; interview places are filled in four priority categories (MM 2–7 applicant at an SA rural school, then at any SA school, then at a rural school in any state, then anywhere in Australia) and ranked on UCAT ANZ within each. All Commonwealth Supported students must complete at least four weeks of rural placement, and 30% of domestic students must spend a full clinical year rurally — allocated by random ballot if not filled voluntarily. A minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations go to South Australians. Newcastle / JMP — Rural Bonus Scheme (ATAR 85). The JMP does not publish a Bonded Medical Program place count. The national rule requires universities to allocate 28.5% of commencing medical Commonwealth Supported Places to the BMP (and allows that to be averaged over three consecutive years), which on the JMP's 170 places would imply roughly 48 - a derivation, not a published figure, and one the two universities apply separately. You lodge a BMP expression of interest with the direct application, with 4 December 2026 the last date to submit one for 2027 entry. The main rural route is the Rural and Remote Admissions Scheme: five consecutive or ten cumulative years living in an MM2-7 location, verified by a rural community leader, which lowers your UCAT ANZ threshold rather than your final rank. JMP is one of Australia's longest-standing rural-focused programs. Note: Situational Judgement Test excluded for 2026 entry applicants. The federal BMP allocates ~28.5% of CSP places nationally; individual schools sit above or below that benchmark depending on their workforce remit.

Adelaide typically releases medicine offers January. Newcastle / JMP releases medicine offers January (UAC Round 1, offer information 8 Jan 2027; a later January round for applicants assessed in mid-January). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants receive offers in UAC December Round 2.. AU MD offers run through GEMSAS (graduate consortium) or direct school portals; if one is earlier than the other you may need to defer a decision while waiting for the second.

Adelaide runs a Integrated curriculum. Newcastle / JMP runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies differ — pick the style that matches how you learn best. Adelaide specifics: 6-year undergraduate Bachelor of Medical Studies + Doctor of Medicine (BMS/MD; 3 + 3). Taught at the Adelaide City Campus (Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences building, corner of North Terrace and Ge Newcastle / JMP specifics: Five years, two degrees taken consecutively: Bachelor of Medical Science in years 1-3, Doctor of Medicine in years 4-5. Campus-based problem-based learning dominates years 1-2, at Callaghan (Newcastle

Yes — AU medical applicants typically lodge preferences across multiple schools via GEMSAS (graduate) or direct-undergraduate portals + state TACs (UAC for NSW, VTAC for VIC, QTAC for QLD, etc.). The two schools' selection mechanics differ enough that listing both is a legitimate diversification strategy. A common mistake is over-indexing on schools with the same test-and-interview profile; Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Where to go next

AdelaideEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Newcastle / JMPEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP

Side-by-side comparison

Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP - in detail

Admission tests compared

ATAR and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What admission tests do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP use?

What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP?

What ATAR do I need for Adelaide vs Newcastle / JMP?

How do interviews differ between Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP?

What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP offer?

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP offer?

Does Adelaide or Newcastle / JMP offer bonded / rural-entry places?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP use?

Should I apply to both Adelaide and Newcastle / JMP?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons