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Australian Medical school comparison

Charles Darwin University vs UNSW

Charles Darwin University and UNSW are both Australian medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Charles Darwin University is in the Northern Territory while UNSW is in New South Wales. State of origin matters here: several schools rank local applicants ahead of interstate ones.

Charles Darwin University uses no national admission test; UNSW uses UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you.

Side-by-side comparison

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Side-by-side comparison: Charles Darwin University and UNSW.
Comparison field	Charles Darwin UniversityDarwin, Northern Territory	UNSWSydney
Quick comparison
Location	Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia	Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Admission tests	None	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	85 or above after adjustment factors (recent school leavers).	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	Panel interview, 30 minutes	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	85 or above after adjustment factors (recent school leavers).	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	No Year 12 subject prerequisites are published.	-
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	NT First Nations 40% and non-NT First Nations 10% of the 40 Commonwealth Supported Places.	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	Quota-based: NT residency 30%, NT residency MMM 4–7 15%, rural and remote 5%.	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 (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	A 30-minute panel interview at CDU’s Casuarina campus, with an online Teams option. 160 candidates are interviewed for the 40 Commonwealth Supported Places. For 2027 entry interviews run 16–20 Novembe…	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	Remote and rural medicine, First Nations health, Tropical health	Global Health, Indigenous Health, Infectious Disease, Rural Medicine, Health Equity
Established	2003	1961
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	-	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://www.cdu.edu.au/study/course/bachelor-clinical-science-medicinedoctor-medicine-smed01	https://www.unsw.edu.au/study/undergraduate/bachelor-of-medical-studies-doctor-of-medicine

Charles Darwin University

Darwin, Northern Territory

Quick comparison

Location: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: None
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: -
ATAR: 85 or above after adjustment factors (recent school leavers).
Interview format: Panel interview, 30 minutes
Post-interview chance: -
Decision date: -

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…

Compare different schools

Charles Darwin University vs UNSW - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Charles Darwin University — 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…

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

Charles Darwin University requires Recent school leavers need an ATAR of 85 or above after the addition of any relevant adjustment factors. Applications go through SATAC (code 113371) and must be accompanied by a CDU Menzies Medical Program Application Pack.

40 Commonwealth Supported Places, allocated NT First Nations 40%, NT residency 30%, NT residency MMM 4–7 15%, non-NT First Nations 10%, rural and remote 5%. Not available to international students.

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. Charles Darwin University — 85 or above after adjustment factors (recent school leavers). 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

Both Charles Darwin University 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: Charles Darwin University runs panel interview, 30 minutes; UNSW runs structured interview with two interviewers (not an mmi). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Curriculum and teaching style

Intake size: Charles Darwin University — 40 Commonwealth Supported Places; 160 candidates interviewed.; 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 international students, with about 90% of the commencing cohort school leavers; UNSW has not published an updated figure since.

UNSW does not publish a current-cycle CSP/BMP/international split; 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are Bonded Medical Program places.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Charles Darwin University needs no national admission test, UNSW needs UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two.

Check your state of origin before you apply — Charles Darwin University draws heavily on the Northern Territory 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

Charles Darwin University uses no admission test. 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.

Charles Darwin University — does not publish a UCAT-ANZ cut-off (may not use UCAT-ANZ; check the admission-test question above). 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. 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.

Charles Darwin University — 85 or above after adjustment factors (recent school leavers). 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. 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.

Charles Darwin University uses: Panel interview, 30 minutes. UNSW uses: Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI). Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: see school page (Charles Darwin University); 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).

Charles Darwin University — place-type breakdown not published. 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.

Charles Darwin University — NT First Nations 40% and non-NT First Nations 10% of the 40 Commonwealth Supported Places. 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.

Charles Darwin University — Quota-based: NT residency 30%, NT residency MMM 4–7 15%, rural and remote 5%. 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.

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; Charles Darwin University and UNSW differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Where to go next

Charles Darwin UniversityEntry 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 13 September 2026.

Charles Darwin University vs UNSW

Side-by-side comparison

Charles Darwin University vs UNSW - in detail

Admission tests compared

ATAR and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What admission tests do Charles Darwin University and UNSW use?

What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Charles Darwin University vs UNSW?

What ATAR do I need for Charles Darwin University vs UNSW?

How do interviews differ between Charles Darwin University and UNSW?

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

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Charles Darwin University and UNSW offer?

Does Charles Darwin University or UNSW offer bonded / rural-entry places?

Should I apply to both Charles Darwin University and UNSW?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons