Skip to main content
Australian Medical school comparison

ANU vs Flinders

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

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. They also recruit at different stages: ANU runs graduate entry, Flinders runs both undergraduate and graduate entry.

Side-by-side comparison

ANU

Canberra

Quick comparison

Location
Canberra, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT
GAMSAT
Minimum Overall 50 AND minimum 50 in each section to be considered for interview; meeting the minimum does not guarantee an interview. ANU accepts GAMSAT results as valid for four years. Used at 50% weight in the interview-ranking composite alongside the standardised weighted GPA (50%), with a higher-degree research bonus applied to the combined score (standalone Honours 2%, Masters by Research 2%, PhD 4%; highest only). ANU publishes no median or cut-off GAMSAT for offer-holders. International applicants have a published interview guarantee at GAMSAT 60 overall with 50+ per section (or MCAT 515 with 125+ per section) alongside weighted GPA 6.0.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
Online interview, held in two parts (2027 entry) — ANU does not publish the format
Post-interview chance
ANU does not publish interview-to-offer conversion. On the standard graduate pathway, offers are ranked on 50% interview score + 50% GPA/GAMSAT composite, so a strong pre-interview composite still carries half the final rank.
Decision date
November-December (domestic); August (international and Indigenous) — 2027 entry

Flinders

Bedford Park

Quick comparison

Location
Bedford Park, Australia
Entry pathway
Dual (UG + Grad)
Admission tests
GAMSAT + UCAT-ANZ + MCAT
GAMSAT
Minimum 50 in each section (a hurdle, not a competitive score). Flinders publishes the realised cut-offs on the MD course page: for 2027 entry the overall GAMSAT score cut-offs to be INVITED TO INTERVIEW were Rural Bedford Park 61, Humanitarian Visa Holders 60, Flinders Graduate 64, Flinders Graduate Reserved 64, and Non-Flinders Graduates/Non-Rural/Non-Humanitarian 76. SARM and NTMP cut-offs are not published because selection there is also priority-based. These are interview cut-offs, not offer cut-offs; Flinders notes they are 'based on the main round of interview offers' and will be updated if further interview offers are made, and that they 'are dependent upon the profile of the applicant pool and places available for each sub-quota, and therefore vary every year'. The overall GAMSAT score is calculated as ((1 x Section I) + (1 x Section II) + (2 x Section III)) / 4.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
Semi-structured panel interview, normally approximately 45-50 minutes (NOT MMI); must be passed as a hurdle
Post-interview chance
Not published — Flinders does not release an interview-to-offer conversion rate. What is published is that the interview is a pass/fail hurdle (fail it and the application ends there, whatever the academic profile) and that, once passed, the interview score carries an equally weighted third of the final selection rank alongside wGPA and overall GAMSAT.
Decision date
Late October to mid-February (2027 entry: outcomes notified from late October 2026, with offers possible right up to course commencement in mid-February 2027; waitlisted applicants also notified)

ANU vs Flinders - in detail

Admission tests compared

GAMSAT cut-offs. ANU — Minimum Overall 50 AND minimum 50 in each section to be considered for interview; meeting the minimum does not guarantee an interview. ANU accepts GAMSAT results as valid for four years. Used at 50%… Flinders — Minimum 50 in each section (a hurdle, not a competitive score).

Flinders publishes the realised cut-offs on the MD course page: for 2027 entry the overall GAMSAT score cut-offs to be INVITED TO…

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

ANU requires AQF Level 7 bachelor degree of at least 3.0 FTE, normally completed within 10 years of the application closing date; no prerequisite subjects are listed and no particular degree is preferred.

Minimum 3-year weighted GPA 5.0/7.0 (4.5 for Indigenous applicants); GAMSAT overall 50+ with 50+ in every section (international applicants may substitute MCAT 125+ per section); online interview whose format ANU does not publish; rural sub-quota and a dedicated Indigenous entry pathway.

Flinders requires Graduate entry (4-year MD): completed or final-year Bachelor degree (or One-year Honours) with a minimum Flinders-equivalent non-weighted GPA of 5.00; valid GAMSAT with a minimum of 50 in EACH section (normally valid for four consecutive intakes; international applicants may use GAMSAT or MCAT, normally 124 per section / 496 overall); a semi-structured panel interview of approximately 45-50 minutes that must be passed.

No prerequisite subjects and no 10-year rule. SARM (rural South Australia) and NTMP (Northern Territory) pathways available, plus Rural, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and Humanitarian Visa sub-quotas; Indigenous Entry Stream (IES) for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander graduates without a valid GAMSAT (applications open early November and close end of February).

Direct entry (6-year Bachelor of Clinical Sciences / Doctor of Medicine): Year 12 with a minimum ATAR of 95.00 plus UCAT ANZ, applied for through SATAC, no interview, and applicants must not have a record of study at higher education level; a GPA of 5.0 is required to progress into the MD component.

Graduate-entry GPA. ANU — Minimum weighted GPA 5.0 to be considered for interview — ANU states plainly that meeting it "does not guarantee an interview".

The GPA is a 3-year weighted calculation over 3.0 FTE of the most… Flinders — Minimum Flinders-equivalent non-weighted GPA of 5.00 from the most recent Bachelor degree to be ELIGIBLE to apply (2027 Domestic Application Guide). Flinders does not publish the GPA profile of…

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 ANU and Flinders use Panel 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: ANU runs online interview, held in two parts (2027 entry) — anu does not publish the format; Flinders runs semi-structured panel interview, normally approximately 45-50 minutes (not mmi); must be passed as a hurdle. Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: ANU interviews in Early-mid September (domestic); mid-late July (international); late July (Indigenous) — 2027 entry: domestic window 4-11 Sept 2026; Flinders in 2027 entry: SA interviews 21 September - 2 October 2026; NT interviews 21-24 September 2026. Flinders notes the interview timeline may change for the 2026-2027 admission cycle..

Curriculum and teaching style

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

Specifics: 4-year graduate Doctor of Medicine and Surgery (MChD), AQF Level 9, Semester 1 intake only. Years 1-2 are built around clinical case studies at Acton 4-year graduate MD organised around domains of medical practice — health and illness, the doctor-patient relationship, health and society, professiona

Intake size: ANU — 2027 entry: 63 CSP + 26 BMP (89 domestic) + up to 30 international full-fee, plus uncapped Indigenous places offered in addition…; Flinders — Flinders does not publish a single total MD intake figure; the intake is assembled from Bedford Park (Flinders Graduates max 75%, Non-Flinders….

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

Post-interview offer rate

ANU: ANU does not publish interview-to-offer conversion. On the standard graduate pathway, offers are ranked on 50% interview score + 50% GPA/GAMSAT composite, so a strong pre-interview composite still carries half the final rank. Flinders: Not published — Flinders does not release an interview-to-offer conversion rate.

What is published is that the interview is a pass/fail hurdle (fail it and the application ends there, whatever the academic profile) and that, once passed, the interview score carries an equally weighted third of the final selection rank alongside wGPA and overall GAMSAT.

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

ANU: ANU runs a 4-year graduate-entry MChD (Doctor of Medicine and Surgery) with a research-intensive identity — students complete a research project in Years 1-2, and completed higher research degrees attract a selection bonus (standalone Honours 2%, Masters by Research 2%, PhD 4%; highest only).

The Rural Clinical School runs six campuses — Eurobodalla, Bega, Cooma, Goulburn, Cowra and Young — alongside a Sydney Clinical School at Sydney Adventist Hospital, and GEMSAS states ANU offers 29% of its domestic places to students from a rural background. Predominantly CSP intake (63 CSP vs 26 BMP for 2027 entry).

Pre-interview ranking is an exact 50:50 of standardised weighted GPA and standardised Overall GAMSAT (plus any research bonus), and the interview then counts for exactly 50% of the final offer score. Note that approximately 40 of the available places are reserved for students arriving via an ANU undergraduate pathway.

Flinders: Flinders runs one of Australia's first graduate-entry medical program in Australia (the medical school opened in 1974 with an intake of 64; four-year graduate entry followed in 1996) with a case-based, domain-organised curriculum, a semi-structured panel interview of approximately 45-50 minutes (not MMI), and a flagship Northern Territory Medical Program (NTMP).

The NT Government funds NTMP tuition under the NT Bonded Medical Scheme in exchange for a return-of-service commitment to work in the Northern Territory for at least two years after graduation; Flinders states that this return of service cannot be transferred to South Australia.

NTMP cumulative output 251 graduates since 2011 (10% Indigenous); Flinders reports 88% of its NT medical graduates are Territorians and more than half go on to practise in the NT (February 2026).

Which is right for you?

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

They suit different stages too: ANU is graduate entry, Flinders is both undergraduate and graduate entry. Your preference list should ultimately weight: which admission test you can realistically score well in, whether your state of origin gives you a bonus at either school, and where you'd actually want to live for four to six years.

Common questions

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

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