When does each school release decisions?

Adelaide typically releases medicine offers January. UNSW releases medicine offers January-February (UAC offer rounds). 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.

Australian Medical school comparison

Adelaide vs UNSW

Q: What admission tests do Adelaide and UNSW use?

Adelaide uses UCAT-ANZ. UNSW uses UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. 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.

Q: What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Adelaide vs UNSW?

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. UNSW — UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total. 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 UNSW?

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. UNSW — Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off. 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 UNSW?

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).. UNSW uses: Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI). Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: November-December (Adelaide); November (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December-January (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January round for NZ applicants with late results (UNSW).

Q: What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Adelaide and UNSW 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. UNSW — Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown. 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 UNSW 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. UNSW — Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage, evidence of academic capability, communication and interpersonal skills, and commitment to Indigenous health, assessed via the three-week residential Pre-Medicine & Health Program. No quota is published - the AMC 2024 accreditation report notes roughly 10 Indigenous students enrol each year. Entrants may be allocated to Kensington, Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga and are not offered bonded places. 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: What curriculum style do Adelaide and UNSW use?

Adelaide runs a Integrated curriculum. UNSW runs a Integrated curriculum. Both schools deliver teaching in the same broad style, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar. 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 UNSW specifics: 6-year Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine, 288 units of credit, taught in three vertically integrated phases. Phase 1 (years 1-2): scenario-based basic medical sciences, clinical skills,

Q: Should I apply to both Adelaide and UNSW?

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 UNSW differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

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

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

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Adelaide and UNSW.
Comparison field	AdelaideAdelaide	UNSWSydney
Quick comparison
Location	Adelaide, Australia	Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Admission tests	UCAT-ANZ	UCAT-ANZ + ISAT
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.	UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
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.	Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
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).	Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI)
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 by UNSW. For scale only: UNSW offers approximately 350 General Entry interview places a year, plus about 60 Gateway and 30 Lateral, against the domestic commencing quota of 198 recorded by the AMC in 2024 - shared across all entry schemes.
Decision date	January	January-February (UAC offer rounds)

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.	Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
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).	Medicine is explicitly excluded from HSC Plus, and the Medicine ATAR minimums must be met without EAS/adjustment points. Contextual access runs through separate schemes instead: the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile) and the Gateway Entry Scheme for applicants at a Gateway school and/or living in a low-SEIFA (IEO) area (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 50th percentile, approximately 20 offers a year).
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.	UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
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.	Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown.
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…	Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres St…
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…	The Rural Entry Admission Pathway (REAP) lowers the minimum to ATAR 91.00 without adjustment and UCAT ANZ 40th percentile for applicants who lived in an MMM 2-7 area for five consecutive or ten cumula…

Interview window	November-December	November (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December-January (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January round for NZ applicants with late results
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…	UNSW does not run an MMI. Selected applicants attend a single structured interview with two interviewers - academic staff, medical practitioners or community representatives, balanced where possible b…

Specialities	Rural Medicine, Clinical Research, Reproductive Medicine, Indigenous Health, General Practice	Global Health, Indigenous Health, Infectious Disease, Rural Medicine, Health Equity
Established	1885	1961
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…	UNSW runs a 6-year direct-entry Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine (BMed MD): two foundation years, a clinical third year, a dedicated research fourth year (Independent Learning Project…
Official course page	https://adelaide.edu.au/study/degrees/bachelor-of-medical-studies/dom/	https://www.unsw.edu.au/study/undergraduate/bachelor-of-medical-studies-doctor-of-medicine

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…

UNSW

Sydney

Quick comparison

Location: Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: UCAT-ANZ + ISAT
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
ATAR: Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
Interview format: Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI)
Post-interview chance: Not published by UNSW. For scale only: UNSW offers approximately 350 General Entry interview places a year, plus about 60 Gateway and 30 Lateral, against the domestic commencing quota of 198 recorded by the AMC in 2024 - shared across all entry schemes.
Decision date: January-February (UAC offer rounds)

ATAR: Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
Contextual ATAR: Medicine is explicitly excluded from HSC Plus, and the Medicine ATAR minimums must be met without EAS/adjustment points. Contextual access runs through separate schemes instead: the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile) and the Gateway Entry Scheme for applicants at a Gateway school and/or living in a low-SEIFA (IEO) area (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 50th percentile, approximately 20 offers a year).
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
CASPer: -
ISAT: -
GPA: -
Prerequisites: -
Place types: Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown.
Indigenous pathway: Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres St…
Bonded / rural: The Rural Entry Admission Pathway (REAP) lowers the minimum to ATAR 91.00 without adjustment and UCAT ANZ 40th percentile for applicants who lived in an MMM 2-7 area for five consecutive or ten cumula…

Adelaide vs UNSW - 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… UNSW — UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway.

It…

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.

UNSW requires Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (91.00 for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme) plus a UCAT ANZ result at or above the 50th percentile (40th for rural); these are hurdles, not competitive marks. English Standard assumed knowledge only - no maths, chemistry or biology prerequisite.

Selection concludes with a structured interview with two interviewers.

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… UNSW — Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme.

For 2026 entry UNSW…

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 (Multiple Mini Interview — a minimum of six stations of 10 minutes each, one interviewer per station, held online over Zoom (2027…); UNSW uses Panel (Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI)). 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, UNSW 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; UNSW in November (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December-January (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January round for NZ applicants with late results.

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). Taught at the Adelaide City Campus (Adelaide Health and Medical 6-year Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine, 288 units of credit, taught in three vertically integrated phases. Phase 1 (years 1-2): scena

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…; UNSW — The AMC's February 2024 UNSW accreditation report records a government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing students and a Faculty-agreed quota of 100….

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.

UNSW: Not published by UNSW. For scale only: UNSW offers approximately 350 General Entry interview places a year, plus about 60 Gateway and 30 Lateral, against the domestic commencing quota of 198 recorded by the AMC in 2024 - shared across all entry schemes.

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.

UNSW: UNSW runs a 6-year direct-entry Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine (BMed MD): two foundation years, a clinical third year, a dedicated research fourth year (Independent Learning Project or Medicine Honours) and two final clinical years.

Four schemes sit alongside general entry - the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile, end-to-end study at Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga), the Gateway Entry Scheme for low-SES applicants (~20 offers), the Lateral Entry Scheme from the UNSW BMedSc (up to 10 offers) and the Indigenous Entry Scheme via Nura Gili.

Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total score only; the final rank then adds a structured two-interviewer interview score. UNSW states it does not disclose the ranking algorithm and does not average the three components.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Adelaide needs UCAT-ANZ, UNSW needs UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. 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 UNSW 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. UNSW uses UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. 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.

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. UNSW — UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total. 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. UNSW — Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off. 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).. UNSW uses: Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI). Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: November-December (Adelaide); November (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December-January (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January round for NZ applicants with late results (UNSW).

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. UNSW — Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown. 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. UNSW — Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage, evidence of academic capability, communication and interpersonal skills, and commitment to Indigenous health, assessed via the three-week residential Pre-Medicine & Health Program. No quota is published - the AMC 2024 accreditation report notes roughly 10 Indigenous students enrol each year. Entrants may be allocated to Kensington, Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga and are not offered bonded places. 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. UNSW — The Rural Entry Admission Pathway (REAP) lowers the minimum to ATAR 91.00 without adjustment and UCAT ANZ 40th percentile for applicants who lived in an MMM 2-7 area for five consecutive or ten cumulative years between ages 5 and 18. UNSW states that all applicants meeting the rurality eligibility are offered an interview because academic results are not assessed until later in the year, though its FAQ adds that the UCAT ANZ cut-off must also be met. Offer-holders are allocated to Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga (a small group to Kensington). The AMC 2024 accreditation report records a separate rural quota of at least 28% of UNSW's yearly domestic intake. Separately, the Australian Government requires 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places to be Bonded Medical Program places; UNSW fills unbonded places from the top of the ranking first, then bonded, with no separate application. Bonded places are not available to New Zealand citizens and are not offered to Indigenous or Gateway entrants. The federal BMP allocates ~28.5% of CSP places nationally; individual schools sit above or below that benchmark depending on their workforce remit.

Adelaide runs a Integrated curriculum. UNSW runs a Integrated curriculum. Both schools deliver teaching in the same broad style, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar. 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 UNSW specifics: 6-year Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine, 288 units of credit, taught in three vertically integrated phases. Phase 1 (years 1-2): scenario-based basic medical sciences, clinical skills,

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 UNSW differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Where to go next

AdelaideEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

UNSWEntry 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 UNSW

Side-by-side comparison

Adelaide vs UNSW - 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 UNSW use?

What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Adelaide vs UNSW?

What ATAR do I need for Adelaide vs UNSW?

How do interviews differ between Adelaide and UNSW?

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

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Adelaide and UNSW offer?

Does Adelaide or UNSW offer bonded / rural-entry places?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Adelaide and UNSW use?

Should I apply to both Adelaide and UNSW?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons