A-Level and academic profile
Griffith requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT overall 50+ with section minima 50; MMI.. Macquarie requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT overall 60+; MMI; English prerequisites.. Both demand the same A-Level grade band, so academic prediction is unlikely to differentiate your application between them — provided you meet the required subject combination at each.
Interview formats
Both Griffith and Macquarie use MMI interviews, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot-topic answers and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer. That said, the specifics differ slightly: Griffith runs multi-mini interview (typically 8-10 stations; exact count varies cycle to cycle per gumsaa framework); Macquarie runs multi-mini interview (~8 stations). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep. Interview windows: Griffith interviews in September-October; Macquarie in September-October.
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-year graduate MD. Years 1-2 hospital-integrated foundations at the Gold Coast (Southport) campus and Gold Coast University Hospital. Years 3-4 clini 4-year MD with hospital-integrated placements from year 1 at Macquarie University Hospital. Years 3-4 expand to broader Sydney clinical school network Intake size: Griffith — 2027 cycle: 148 CSP + 60 BMP + 80 BMedSci pathway + up to 35 international = ~323 total (GEMSAS Griffith).; Macquarie — 2027: ~60 full-fee domestic + ~20 international. No CSP/BMP at Macquarie (full-fee program; no Commonwealth-mandated bonded allocation).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.
Post-interview offer rate
Griffith: ~38% interview-to-offer.. Macquarie: ~56% (2024 cycle: 125 offers from 223 interviews — 79 domestic, 46 international). 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
Griffith: Griffith's 4-year graduate MD is co-located with Gold Coast University Hospital, giving students hospital-integrated training from year 1. Strong rural and Indigenous pathways with bespoke MMI streams. Pre-interview ranking weights GAMSAT and GPA broadly equally; the MMI then carries substantial weight in the final composite. Macquarie: Macquarie is Australia's first fully full-fee graduate MD (no CSP places) and is co-located with Macquarie University Hospital — students train alongside private practice from year 1. Small cohort (~60) gives a high-touch teaching model. GAMSAT and prior clinical exposure are weighted heavily.
