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Australian Medical school comparison

ANU vs UNSW

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

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, UNSW runs school-leaver (undergraduate) 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

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)

ANU vs UNSW - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. ANU — no published cut-off. 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…

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%… UNSW — not used or not published.

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.

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. ANU — no published cut-off. 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…

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… UNSW — not applicable or not published.

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 UNSW 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; UNSW runs structured interview with two interviewers (not an mmi). 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; 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: 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 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: ANU — 2027 entry: 63 CSP + 26 BMP (89 domestic) + up to 30 international full-fee, plus uncapped Indigenous places offered in addition…; 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

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. 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

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.

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: ANU needs GAMSAT, UNSW needs UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. 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 UNSW on New South Wales, and an interstate application often faces a materially higher bar.

They suit different stages too: ANU is graduate entry, UNSW is school-leaver (undergraduate) 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. 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.

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