Flinders vs Macquarie

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… Macquarie — Minimum 50 overall, 50 in each section. Used at 50% weight (alongside 50% GPA) for interview shortlist.

Minimum 50 overall and 50 in each of the three sections, sat within four years of intended…

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.

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.

Macquarie requires AQF Level 7 bachelor degree (or NOOSR-recognised equivalent) completed within 10 years of intended enrolment; minimum weighted GPA 5.0/7.0, or WAM 65, to be considered for interview; GAMSAT minimum 50 overall AND 50 in each of the three sections, sat within four years of intended enrolment (domestic applicants and international applicants residing in Australia or New Zealand) — international applicants residing outside Australia may submit MCAT 500+ instead, within three years; satisfactory Multiple Mini Interview performance; IELTS 7.0 overall with 7.0 in every band where English proficiency is not met through prior study.

Human anatomy and human physiology are assumed knowledge, not prerequisites. Macquarie states that "interview opportunity and offers are competitive, meeting minimum requirements does not guarantee offer of admission". (2027 entry.).

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… Macquarie — Minimum 5.0/7.0 (or WAM 65).

Minimum weighted GPA 5.0/7.0, or WAM 65, to be considered for interview; weighted 50% for the shortlist and 50% again for the offer. GEMSAS notes only that "entry is…

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.

Flinders uses Panel (Semi-structured panel interview, normally approximately 45-50 minutes (NOT MMI); must be passed as a hurdle); Macquarie uses MMI (Multiple Mini Interview — Macquarie's published 2027 admission guides describe four short stations of up to 8 minutes each, with a different…).

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, Macquarie 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.; Macquarie in Domestic: one fixed Saturday — 26 September 2026 for 2027 entry, face-to-face on the Macquarie campus (no alternative date or online option).

International: three videoconference rounds in June, August and October 2026 (Macquarie's 2027 international guide timeline graphic says July, August and October, inconsistently with its own requirements table). Indigenous Australian Pathway: July, August or October, in person or online..

Flinders runs a Case-based curriculum; Macquarie runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Flinders leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while Macquarie 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 MD taught within Macquarie University Health; foundations and systems-based units in years 1-2, core clinical placements in year 3 and advanced

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…; Macquarie — 2027: ~60 full-fee domestic + ~20 international. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

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.

Macquarie: Not published — Macquarie releases no interview-to-offer conversion data, and no admissions centre or accredited body publishes one for this programme.

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.

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).

Macquarie: Every place in the Macquarie MD is full-fee — for 2027 entry it is the only GEMSAS graduate-entry medical school whose quota table shows no Commonwealth Supported Places and no Bonded Medical Places at all (indicative 2027 domestic fee AUD $90,200 for a standard full-time year, reviewed annually, FEE-HELP eligible) and is co-located with Macquarie University Hospital; core clinical placements begin in year 3, with earlier years built on foundations and systems-based units.

Small cohort (~60) gives a high-touch teaching model. Selection is purely academic until interview: on the standard pathway, 50% weighted GPA + 50% GAMSAT/MCAT for the shortlist, then 50% weighted GPA + 50% MMI for offers.

There is no portfolio, CV, Casper or work-experience score at any stage — the only non-academic document is a supplementary form acknowledging the programme's requirements, which is not scored. Rural applicants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants and Macquarie Bachelor of Clinical Science graduates each receive an automatic 3% bonus on the weighted GPA (5% maximum in combination).

The Indigenous Australian Pathway works differently: GAMSAT is optional and both interview and offer decisions are made case by case with Walanga Muru.