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Australian Medical school comparison

Griffith vs Notre Dame Sydney

Griffith and Notre Dame Sydney are both Australian medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Griffith is in Queensland while Notre Dame Sydney is in New South Wales. State of origin matters here: several schools rank local applicants ahead of interstate ones. Griffith uses GAMSAT; Notre Dame Sydney uses GAMSAT, CASPer and MCAT.

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you.

Side-by-side comparison

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

Notre Dame Sydney

Sydney

Quick comparison

Location
Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT + CASPer + MCAT
GAMSAT
Minimum total of 52 with at least 50 in each subsection; UNDA uses the unweighted average of the three GAMSAT sections, not the overall weighted score. Notre Dame publishes the average GAMSAT of applicants OFFERED AN INTERVIEW at Sydney: 67.84 (2024 entry), 68.08 (2025 entry), 68.23 (2026 entry). These are interview-shortlist averages, not the scores of applicants who received a place, and UNDA states they exclude applicants considered on additional criteria including rurality and facilitated interview pathway eligibility. No cut-off is published.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
MMI (recorded/asynchronous online); live online panel for international applicants
Post-interview chance
Not publicly disclosed.
Decision date
Late October-early November (main round); additional offers November 2026-January 2027

Griffith vs Notre Dame Sydney - in detail

Admission tests compared

GAMSAT cut-offs. 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… Notre Dame Sydney — Minimum total of 52 with at least 50 in each subsection; UNDA uses the unweighted average of the three GAMSAT sections, not the overall weighted score. Notre Dame publishes the average GAMSAT of…

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

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).

Notre Dame Sydney requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.2/7.0 (weighted from 3 years FTE); GAMSAT 52 overall + 50 in each subsection; Casper (mandatory — applicants without a Casper score are not considered; last accepted sitting 11 June 2026 for the 2026-27 cycle); recorded/asynchronous online MMI.

Graduate-entry GPA. 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… Notre Dame Sydney — Minimum weighted GPA of 5.2/7.0 over three FTE years, with GPA years progressively weighted Final-minus-2 x1, Final-minus-1 x2, Final x3.

Notre Dame publishes the average GPA of applicants OFFERED AN…

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 Griffith and Notre Dame Sydney use MMI 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: Griffith runs gumsaa — an asynchronous, one-way recorded online mmi delivered on the sammi (scalable automated multiple mini interviews) platform, self-scheduled within a set…; Notre Dame Sydney runs mmi (recorded/asynchronous online); live online panel for international applicants. Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Griffith interviews 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.; Notre Dame Sydney in September-October (GEMSAS: interview offers released early September 2026).

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 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 4-year graduate MD. Foundation Years 1-2 are delivered principally through Problem Based Learning in small groups led by a clinician; Clinical Years 3

Intake size: Griffith — 2027 cycle: 208 domestic places (148 CSP + 60 BMP), of which about 80 are reserved for Griffith and UniSC Bachelor of…; Notre Dame Sydney — 2027 cycle: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + up to 57 full-fee domestic (via GEMSAS) + up to 35 full-fee international (direct….

A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

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. Notre Dame Sydney: Not publicly disclosed.

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 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.

Notre Dame Sydney: Notre Dame retired its selection Portfolio from the 2024 intake and put Casper in its place as the non-academic component; the interview format was not part of that change.

Casper is 30% of the pre-interview composite — the same weighting Notre Dame Fremantle uses — while Wollongong leans on Casper harder still, ranking for interview on 50% Casper plus 50% UOW admissions bonuses. Catholic ethos shapes the curriculum (medical ethics, end-of-life care, social justice) but the program is open to applicants of all faiths and none.

Strong placement network in Sydney Catholic and public hospitals, extending to Werribee Mercy and St John of God Ballarat in Victoria.

Notre Dame also runs entry pathways no other Australian medical school offers: a Priority Entry Pathway reserving MD places for its own Bachelor of Biomedical Science graduates (first Priority Entry in the 2026-27 intake, for students admitted to that degree from 2024 onwards; GPA >=6.0, unweighted GAMSAT >=55, Casper no lower than 1 SD below the mean, Notre Dame preferenced first through GEMSAS), plus facilitated interview pathways reaching the Sydney campus for Notre Dame undergraduate graduates (up to 10 across Fremantle and Sydney), Notre Dame Graduate Diploma or Master of Health and Medical Sciences graduates (up to 25) and ACU Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences graduates (up to 5, Sydney only).

Notre Dame's Pre-Medicine Certificate facilitated pathway is a Fremantle pathway and does not apply at Sydney. 2027 cycle: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + up to 57 full-fee domestic through GEMSAS, plus up to 35 full-fee international places that are NOT offered through GEMSAS in 2027 — international applicants must apply direct to Notre Dame's International Admissions Office.

GEMSAS notes the numbers are subject to change and that the quota includes the assured and priority pathways.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Griffith needs GAMSAT, Notre Dame Sydney needs GAMSAT, CASPer and MCAT. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two. Check your state of origin before you apply — Griffith draws heavily on Queensland applicants and Notre Dame Sydney 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

Griffith uses GAMSAT. Notre Dame Sydney uses GAMSAT, CASPer and MCAT. 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.