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Australian Medical school comparison

Bond vs Griffith

Bond and Griffith are both Australian medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in Queensland, so the state bonus schemes and clinical-placement networks broadly overlap — the differentiation comes from selection, interview and curriculum. Bond uses Bond-Test; Griffith uses GAMSAT.

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. They also recruit at different stages: Bond runs both undergraduate and graduate entry, Griffith runs graduate entry. The interview formats diverge — Assessment day vs MMI — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different.

Side-by-side comparison

Bond

Gold Coast

Quick comparison

Location
Gold Coast, Australia
Entry pathway
Dual (UG + Grad)
Admission tests
Bond-Test
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
Undergraduate (Year 12): minimum competitive academic rank OP 1-3 / ATAR 96+ / IB Dip 38+ — Bond frames this as the bar to be competitive for psychometric-test selection, not a guaranteed offer. Graduate: cumulative GPA greater than 6.0 on a 7-point scale, converted to an academic rank by QTAC. For the 2025 intake Bond published a cut-off academic rank of 96.75 (undergraduate) and 98.50 (graduate); Bond states the final cut-off depends on the strength of each applicant pool and does not say whether that rank is the threshold to progress or the final entry rank.
Interview format
Bond psychometric assessment + online selection interview (~90 min including registration and debriefing; Bond does not publish the interview structure)
Post-interview chance
Bond does not publish an interview-to-offer rate. Inferring from its own figures — the 2026 guide's approximately 400 applicants invited to interview against up to 180-200 domestic places — roughly half of interviewees end up with a place, but that is an inference across two separately published numbers, offers are not places, and Bond publishes no conversion figure.
Decision date
23 March 2027 (Round 1 / QTAC Round 650 offers, lapsing 30 March 2027; further direct offers from 5 April 2027); one annual selection round feeding two fixed intakes — classes commence 17 May or 13 September 2027 (no February intake)

Griffith

Gold Coast

Quick comparison

Location
Gold Coast, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT
GAMSAT
Minimum 50 in each section AND 50 overall. Interview shortlist rank: 50:50 unweighted GPA (as %) + overall GAMSAT (out of 100). Final offer rank: 50% interview-selection rank + 50% GUMSAA interview score. Minimum GAMSAT 50 in each section (Griffith MD 5099 page), with GEMSAS additionally requiring an overall score of at least 50; scores must be no more than four years old at the time of application. Griffith does not publish an intake average — it publishes the median GAMSAT for a GUMSAA interview invitation, which was 69 for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 intakes. GEMSAS: 'there is no discrete cut-off point for GAMSAT.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
GUMSAA — an asynchronous, one-way recorded online MMI delivered on the SAMMI (Scalable Automated Multiple Mini Interviews) platform, self-scheduled within a set window. Griffith's 2026-27 SAMMI applicant guide specifies 6 pre-recorded scenario questions with a 60-second break between each and roughly 1 hour allowed end to end (including sound/Wi-Fi checks and an upload of up to 15 minutes). There is no live interviewer. The guide gives the response time inconsistently (an overview stating 'up to 5 minutes' per question and a later page stating the station 'will last 4 minutes'), so treat per-question timing as approximately 4-5 minutes and check the guide issued for your own cycle.
Post-interview chance
Griffith publishes the ratio rather than a conversion rate: around 200 candidates are interviewed at GUMSAA for approximately 110-120 places (2027 cycle). Note places are not offers — top-up offers are made in later rounds to cover declines — and the final rank is a 50:50 combination of interview score and GPA/GAMSAT selection rank, so this is a cohort ratio, not an individual applicant's odds. The ~38% figure is not published by Griffith or GEMSAS.
Decision date
November

Bond vs Griffith - in detail

Admission tests compared

GAMSAT cut-offs. Bond — not used or not published. Griffith — Minimum 50 in each section AND 50 overall. Interview shortlist rank: 50:50 unweighted GPA (as %) + overall GAMSAT (out of 100). Final offer rank: 50% interview-selection rank + 50% GUMSAA interview…

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

Bond requires Undergraduate (Year 12) ATAR 96+ / IB 38+ / OP 1-3, OR Graduate cumulative GPA ≥ 6.0/7.0 from recognised tertiary program. English (Units 3/4, C) or equivalent prerequisite. Bond psychometric test (two assessments, ~90 min, online and webcam-proctored; $346.50 inc. GST in 2025) + an online selection interview.

Direct entry is open only to Australian citizens and permanent residents, Australian Humanitarian visa holders and New Zealand citizens (not NZ permanent residents).

Lateral entry into Year 2 BMedSt is available to graduates of Bond's BBiomedSci (Pre-Health Professional major), MOT, DPT or MNDP at GPA ≥ 3.00/4.00 (Bond scale) — and to Master of Healthcare Innovations graduates only if they completed a Bond BBiomedSci first, assessed case-by-case on transcripts. Lateral entry is the only route open to international students.

Griffith requires Bachelor/key degree with a minimum unweighted GEMSAS-schema GPA of 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT 50+ overall and 50+ in each section (valid 4 years) or MCAT 123+ in every section (valid 2 years); plus GUMSAA — an online MMI in Griffith's own terminology, but delivered as a self-scheduled recorded assessment rather than a live in-person station circuit.

Apply via GEMSAS (domestic) or direct to Griffith (international).

ATAR. Bond — Undergraduate (Year 12): minimum competitive academic rank OP 1-3 / ATAR 96+ / IB Dip 38+ — Bond frames this as the bar to be competitive for psychometric-test selection, not a guaranteed offer… Griffith — no published cut-off.

Graduate-entry GPA. Bond — not applicable or not published. Griffith — Minimum 5.0/7.0. Griffith explicitly states "a GPA required for interview selection is likely to be significantly higher than 5.0". Minimum eligibility is an unweighted GEMSAS-schema GPA of 5.0/7.0…

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

Bond uses Assessment day (Bond psychometric assessment + online selection interview (~90 min including registration and debriefing; Bond does not publish the interview structure)); Griffith uses MMI (GUMSAA — an asynchronous, one-way recorded online MMI delivered on the SAMMI (Scalable Automated Multiple Mini Interviews) platform, self-scheduled within a set…).

These two formats reward different skills — Assessment day emphasises academic reasoning and thinking aloud through unfamiliar problems, while MMI rewards breadth and quick recovery.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, either may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Griffith is the better fit.

Interview windows: Bond interviews in 2027 entry: online interviews 9-12 March 2027 (technical checks 4, 5 and 8 March); psychometric testing online 12-17 Feb 2027; psychometric invitations 9 Feb 2027; interview invitations 26 Feb 2027; Griffith in Late September.

For 2027 entry, a self-scheduled slot between 9am Mon 21 and 5pm Fri 25 September 2026 (AEST) — a single five-day window, not a September-October season. GEMSAS describes the window as tentative, so confirm before booking travel or leave. Offers of interview must be accepted by 9am Friday 4 September 2026..

Curriculum and teaching style

Bond runs a PBL curriculum; Griffith runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Bond leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Griffith uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: 4-year-8-month accelerated Bachelor of Medical Studies (BMedSt, 8 semesters) + Doctor of Medicine (MD, 6 semesters, AQF extended Level 9) on a three-s 4-year graduate MD run in phases: Phase 1 Foundations (1.5 years) and Phase 2 Transitions (1.5 years) before the final clinical phase. Years 1-2 (Phas

Intake size: Bond — Up to 180-200 domestic places a year across two intakes (May + September) — Bond's entry-requirements page says "up to 180 domestic…; Griffith — 2027 cycle: 208 domestic places (148 CSP + 60 BMP), of which about 80 are reserved for Griffith and UniSC Bachelor of….

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

Post-interview offer rate

Bond: Bond does not publish an interview-to-offer rate. Inferring from its own figures — the 2026 guide's approximately 400 applicants invited to interview against up to 180-200 domestic places — roughly half of interviewees end up with a place, but that is an inference across two separately published numbers, offers are not places, and Bond publishes no conversion figure.

Griffith: Griffith publishes the ratio rather than a conversion rate: around 200 candidates are interviewed at GUMSAA for approximately 110-120 places (2027 cycle).

Note places are not offers — top-up offers are made in later rounds to cover declines — and the final rank is a 50:50 combination of interview score and GPA/GAMSAT selection rank, so this is a cohort ratio, not an individual applicant's odds. The ~38% figure is not published by Griffith or GEMSAS.

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

Bond: Bond is a private, not-for-profit university and its medical program is entirely full-fee — no Commonwealth Supported Places and no Bonded Medical Program participation (Macquarie's MD is the other Australian medicine program with no CSPs).

It is unusual in running two intakes a year (May, September — NO February intake) on an accelerated calendar: 3 semesters per year, 14 semesters over 4 years 8 months.

No UCAT-ANZ, GAMSAT or UMAT — Bond runs its own online psychometric sitting (a personality test and an emotional intelligence test; the instruments were changed in October 2025 and Bond does not name them). All places are full-fee (no CSP, FEE-HELP eligible for domestic students but capped well below the total cost; no BMP).

At 2026 rates that is $33,610/semester × 14 ≈ $470,540 — Bond has not published 2027 rates and warns fees "are subject to change on an annual basis", so a 2027 starter should expect to pay more than that.

Griffith: Griffith's 4-year graduate MD is based at the Gold Coast campus (next to Gold Coast University Hospital) or the Sunshine Coast Health Institute at Birtinya.

A new Toowoomba teaching location carries 10 unencumbered CSPs from 2027, but it is not selectable at application — students who have already accepted Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast offers are invited to transfer in early November 2026. Early clinical contact in Phase 1 is through the General Practice Longitudinal Program and community placements; hospital rotations start in Year 3.

Strong rural (GURPAS) and First Peoples pathways — but neither is a separate interview stream. GURPAS gives competitive rural applicants priority access to the MD and does not itself make a place bonded; First Peoples applicants sit no GAMSAT and no GUMSAA at all, going instead to a dedicated panel interview.

Pre-interview ranking weights GAMSAT and GPA broadly equally; the MMI then carries substantial weight in the final composite.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Bond needs Bond-Test, Griffith needs GAMSAT. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two. Both sit in Queensland, so a local applicant gets the same state bonus at each. They suit different stages too: Bond is both undergraduate and graduate entry, Griffith is graduate entry.

Your preference list should ultimately weight: which admission test you can realistically score well in, whether your state of origin gives you a bonus at either school, and where you'd actually want to live for four to six years.

Common questions

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

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