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Australian Medical school comparison

Griffith vs UWA

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

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. They also recruit at different stages: Griffith runs graduate entry, UWA runs both undergraduate and graduate entry.

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. 2025 intake average GAMSAT 66.39.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (typically 8-10 stations; exact count varies cycle to cycle per GUMSAA framework)
Post-interview chance
~38% interview-to-offer.
Decision date
November

UWA

Crawley

Quick comparison

Location
Crawley, Australia
Entry pathway
Dual (UG + Grad)
Admission tests
UCAT-ANZ + GAMSAT
GAMSAT
Graduate Pathway: minimum 55 overall, 50 each section. 2027 interview shortlist: 60% GPA + 40% GAMSAT (changed from prior 50/50). 2026 successful interview cohort average GAMSAT 68.53.
UCAT-ANZ
Direct Pathway only — competitive UCAT ~3000+ with effective cut-off ~2970 for local WA applicants (old /3600 scale; aggregator-derived). UCAT cut-off year-on-year not officially published.
ATAR
Direct Pathway: HAA / Broadway / Rural streams require ATAR 98 minimum; Indigenous Pathway via CAMDH ATAR 90. Underlying Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) UP056 TISC ranks: 92.00 minimum / lowest selected 96.65 (2024) → 97.50 (2025) — a +0.85 year-on-year tightening.
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations)
Post-interview chance
Not publicly disclosed.
Decision date
December-January

Griffith vs UWA - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Griffith — no published cut-off. UWA — Direct Pathway only — competitive UCAT ~3000+ with effective cut-off ~2970 for local WA applicants (old /3600 scale; aggregator-derived). UCAT cut-off year-on-year not officially published.

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… UWA — Graduate Pathway: minimum 55 overall, 50 each section. 2027 interview shortlist: 60% GPA + 40% GAMSAT (changed from prior 50/50).

2026 successful interview cohort average GAMSAT 68.53.

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 degree with minimum GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT overall 50+ with section minima 50; MMI.

UWA requires Direct Pathway: ATAR 98 minimum for the HAA / Broadway / Rural streams (Indigenous Pathway via CAMDH is ATAR 90), plus UCAT-ANZ for domestic applicants or ISAT for international applicants, plus MMI.

Graduate MD: bachelor degree with sGPA 5.5/7.0, plus GAMSAT at 55 overall with no section below 50 (international applicants may instead submit MCAT at 500 overall with no section below 124), plus interview. English and Chemistry prerequisites apply to the Direct Pathway.

ATAR. Griffith — no published cut-off. UWA — Direct Pathway: HAA / Broadway / Rural streams require ATAR 98 minimum; Indigenous Pathway via CAMDH ATAR 90. Underlying Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) UP056 TISC ranks: 92.00 minimum / lowest…

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". 2025 intake average GPA 6.68. UWA — Graduate Pathway minimum 5.5 unweighted. 2026 successful interview cohort average GPA 6.82. Direct Pathway: students enrol in Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) UG056 for 2 years, then progress to…

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 UWA 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 multi-mini interview (typically 8-10 stations; exact count varies cycle to cycle per gumsaa framework); UWA 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; UWA in October-November.

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 Direct Pathway: Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) (UG056) 2 years with GPA 5.5 minimum to progress, then MD. Graduate Pathway: 4-year MD. Both con

Intake size: Griffith — 2027 cycle: 148 CSP + 60 BMP + 80 BMedSci pathway + up to 35 international = ~323 total (GEMSAS Griffith).; UWA — 2027 cycle (Graduate): 74 CSP + 29 BMP + up to 40 international ≈ 143-145 domestic.

Note: gradready reports ~103 domestic and Fraser's reports 143 — discrepancy likely reflects different counting bases (graduate-only vs combined Direct + Graduate). Direct Pathway via UP056 Bachelor of Biomedicine TISC ranks 96.65 (2024) → 97.50 (2025).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Griffith: ~38% interview-to-offer. UWA: 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 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.

UWA: UWA is one of only a handful of Australian medical schools with a true dual-pathway entry: a 7-year combined Bachelor + MD Direct Pathway from school (UCAT-ANZ + ATAR 96.00 + interview) and a 4-year Graduate MD (GAMSAT). Both streams converge into the same MD clinical years.

Strong rural pipeline via the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia (one of the largest rural clinical networks in Australia, spanning Albany, Bunbury, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, and the Kimberley). Aboriginal Health entry stream with bespoke MMI.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Griffith needs GAMSAT, UWA needs UCAT-ANZ and GAMSAT. 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 UWA on Western Australia, and an interstate application often faces a materially higher bar.

They suit different stages too: Griffith is graduate entry, UWA is both undergraduate and 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

Griffith uses GAMSAT. UWA uses UCAT-ANZ and 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 25 August 2026.