Skip to main content
Back to Australian Medical School Compare
Australian Medical school comparison

Bond vs Notre Dame Fremantle

Bond and Notre Dame Fremantle are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in England, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy. Their A-Level requirements (Undergraduate vs Bachelor) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers. The interview formats diverge — Panel 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
Undergraduate
Admission tests
Bond-Test
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
Undergraduate (Year 12): ATAR 96+ / IB 38+ / OP 1-3. Graduate: cumulative GPA ≥ 6.0/7.0 from recognised tertiary program.
Interview format
Bond psychometric assessment + Multiple Mini Interview (in person at Gold Coast)
Post-interview chance
~35% interview-to-offer.
Decision date
24-26 March 2026 (Round 1 offers); rolling intakes May + September (no February intake)

Notre Dame Fremantle

Fremantle

Quick comparison

Location
Fremantle, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT + CASPer
GAMSAT
Minimum 52 overall + 50 in each subsection (UNDA averages the three sections rather than using the overall weighted GAMSAT). 2023 intake average successful GAMSAT 66 (3-year avg ~60+).
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
MMI (asynchronous online via Modern Hire)
Post-interview chance
Not publicly disclosed; aggregator estimate ~200-250 interviewed for ~100 places.
Decision date
November-December

Bond vs Notre Dame Fremantle - in detail

A-Level 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 (~$346.50 inc. GST, 2025) + MMI in person at Gold Coast. Lateral entry available from Bond BBiomedSci PHP / MOT / DPT / MNDP / MHI with GPA ≥ 3.00/4.00 (Bond scale) → Year 2 BMedSt.. Notre Dame Fremantle requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.2/7.0; GAMSAT 52 overall + 50 in each subsection (unweighted average of 3 sections); CASPer; MMI (Modern Hire asynchronous).. Notre Dame Fremantle is the stricter A-Level offer; Bond is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Bond carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

Interview formats

Bond uses Panel (Bond psychometric assessment + Multiple Mini Interview (in person at Gold Coast)); Notre Dame Fremantle uses MMI (MMI (asynchronous online via Modern Hire)). These two formats reward different skills — Panel emphasises narrative coherence and the ability to develop a thread under follow-up questioning, while MMI rewards breadth and quick recovery. If your strengths lie in conversational depth, Bond may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Notre Dame Fremantle is the better fit. Interview windows: Bond interviews in Early March (MMI; 2026 cycle); psychometric testing 7-12 Feb 2026; MMI invitations 21 Feb 2026; Notre Dame Fremantle in September-November.

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: ~4.5-year accelerated Bachelor of Medical Studies (BMedSt) + Doctor of Medicine (MD) on a three-semester (Jan/May/Sep teaching) calendar — though inta 4-year graduate MD. Years 1-2 foundations and clinical skills at Fremantle with early clinical immersion. Years 3-4 hospital and rural placements acro Intake size: Bond — Up to ~180 places/year across two intakes (May + September), 80% undergraduate / 20% graduate. Full-fee only — does NOT participate in BMP.; Notre Dame Fremantle — 2027 cycle ~127 total: 80 CSP (60 Fremantle + 20 KCRMT Broome) + 32 BMP + up to 15 international + uncapped Indigenous. Significant +17 expansion vs 2026 (110) driven by KCRMT Broome pathway and Commonwealth Indigenous policy change.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Bond: ~35% interview-to-offer.. Notre Dame Fremantle: Not publicly disclosed; aggregator estimate ~200-250 interviewed for ~100 places.. 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 Australia's only private medical school with two intakes per year (May, September — NO February intake) on an accelerated calendar (~3 semesters/year, 14 semesters total over ~4.5 years). No UCAT-ANZ or GAMSAT — Bond runs its own psychometric test (Clinical Personality + Emotional Intelligence). All places are full-fee (no CSP, FEE-HELP eligible for domestic; no BMP). 2026 fees: $33,610/semester × 14 = ~$470,540 total program. Notre Dame Fremantle: Notre Dame Fremantle replaced its portfolio + panel system with CASPer from the 2024 intake — one of the heaviest CASPer weightings in Australian medicine (30% of pre-interview composite). 2027 cycle introduces 20 new CSP places at the Kimberley Centre for Rural and Remote Medicine and Training (KCRMT) Broome — Kimberley-region remote-workforce expansion. From 1 January 2026 Indigenous CSP allocation is uncapped (Commonwealth policy change). Assured Pathway: from 2024, 40 places nationally (20 Fremantle + 20 Sydney) reserved for Assured Pathway undergraduate pre-MD applicants.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Bond is the lower-risk academic option. Both schools sit in the same England foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily. Your firm/insurance choice should ultimately weight: where your UCAT and predicted grades sit relative to each school's threshold, which interview format you can prepare for most credibly, and where you'd actually want to live for five or six years.

Common questions