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Australian Medical school comparison

Flinders vs Griffith

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

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

Side-by-side comparison

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)

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

Flinders vs Griffith - in detail

Admission tests compared

GAMSAT cut-offs. 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… 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

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.

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).

Graduate-entry GPA. 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… 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

Flinders uses Panel (Semi-structured panel interview, normally approximately 45-50 minutes (NOT MMI); must be passed as a hurdle); 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 — 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, Flinders may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Griffith is the better fit.

Interview windows: Flinders interviews 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.; 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

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

Specifics: 4-year graduate MD organised around domains of medical practice — health and illness, the doctor-patient relationship, health and society, professiona 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: Flinders — Flinders does not publish a single total MD intake figure; the intake is assembled from Bedford Park (Flinders Graduates max 75%, Non-Flinders…; 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

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.

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

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).

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

They suit different stages too: Flinders 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

Flinders uses GAMSAT, UCAT-ANZ and MCAT. 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 .