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Australian Medical school comparison

Macquarie vs Newcastle / JMP

Macquarie and Newcastle / JMP are both Australian medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in New South Wales, so the state bonus schemes and clinical-placement networks broadly overlap — the differentiation comes from selection, interview and curriculum. Macquarie uses GAMSAT; Newcastle / JMP uses UCAT-ANZ.

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. They also recruit at different stages: Macquarie runs graduate entry, Newcastle / JMP runs school-leaver (undergraduate) entry.

Side-by-side comparison

Macquarie

Sydney

Quick comparison

Location
Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT
GAMSAT
Minimum 50 overall, 50 in each section. Used at 50% weight (alongside 50% GPA) for interview shortlist. 2024 intake average successful GAMSAT ~66.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations, live online)
Post-interview chance
~56% (2024 cycle: 125 offers from 223 interviews — 79 domestic, 46 international)
Decision date
November

Newcastle / JMP

Newcastle

Quick comparison

Location
Newcastle, Australia
Entry pathway
Undergraduate
Admission tests
UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
No published cut-off; first-stage interview selection is essentially 100% weighted on UCAT-ANZ after the ATAR hurdle is met. Lowest recorded UCAT for a JMP interview (non-rural, 2022/2023 cycle) ~95th percentile.
ATAR
ATAR hurdle: Standard / metropolitan 94.30; Rural Bonus Scheme 85.00. Once met, ATAR no longer ranks — UCAT and interview drive ranking.
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (~10 stations)
Post-interview chance
~35% interview-to-offer.
Decision date
December-January
Compare different schools

Macquarie vs Newcastle / JMP - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Macquarie — no published cut-off. Newcastle / JMP — No published cut-off; first-stage interview selection is essentially 100% weighted on UCAT-ANZ after the ATAR hurdle is met. Lowest recorded UCAT for a JMP interview (non-rural, 2022/2023 cycle)…

GAMSAT cut-offs. Macquarie — Minimum 50 overall, 50 in each section. Used at 50% weight (alongside 50% GPA) for interview shortlist. 2024 intake average successful GAMSAT ~66. Newcastle / JMP — not used or not published.

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

Macquarie requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT overall 60+; MMI; English prerequisites.

Newcastle / JMP requires ATAR 94.30+ (lowest selection rank 2025) plus UCAT-ANZ plus Personal Qualities Assessment; rural pathway available with reduced ATAR threshold; MMI.

ATAR. Macquarie — no published cut-off. Newcastle / JMP — ATAR hurdle: Standard / metropolitan 94.30; Rural Bonus Scheme 85.00. Once met, ATAR no longer ranks — UCAT and interview drive ranking.

Graduate-entry GPA. Macquarie — Minimum 5.0/7.0 (or WAM 65). 2024 intake average successful GPA ~6.7/7.0. Newcastle / JMP — not applicable or not published.

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 Macquarie and Newcastle / JMP 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: Macquarie runs multi-mini interview (8 stations, live online); Newcastle / JMP runs multi-mini interview (~10 stations). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Macquarie interviews in September-October; Newcastle / JMP in October-November.

Curriculum and teaching style

Macquarie runs a Integrated curriculum; Newcastle / JMP runs a PBL curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Macquarie delivers more didactic lectures with structured systems-based progression, while Newcastle / JMP centres learning around clinical cases.

Specifics: 4-year MD with hospital-integrated placements from year 1 at Macquarie University Hospital. Years 3-4 expand to broader Sydney clinical school network 5-year joint program (BMedSci + MD). Years 1-2 foundations and PBL at Callaghan or Armidale; years 3-5 clinical placements across Hunter New England L

Intake size: Macquarie — 2027: ~60 full-fee domestic + ~20 international. No CSP/BMP at Macquarie (full-fee program; no Commonwealth-mandated bonded allocation).; Newcastle / JMP — ~170 CSP per year across JMP (UoN + UNE combined), including ~48 BMP. International stream separate (AskUON: How many places are available in the JMP?)..

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

Post-interview offer rate

Macquarie: ~56% (2024 cycle: 125 offers from 223 interviews — 79 domestic, 46 international). Newcastle / JMP: ~35% interview-to-offer.

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

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.

Newcastle / JMP: The Joint Medical Program is run jointly by University of Newcastle and University of New England — applicants apply through either institution but the curriculum is shared. JMP has one of the highest proportions of rural-origin and Indigenous students in Australia. Pre-interview ranking uses a personal qualities assessment plus UCAT-ANZ.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Macquarie needs GAMSAT, Newcastle / JMP needs UCAT-ANZ. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two. Both sit in New South Wales, so a local applicant gets the same state bonus at each. They suit different stages too: Macquarie is graduate entry, Newcastle / JMP is school-leaver (undergraduate) 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

Macquarie uses GAMSAT. Newcastle / JMP uses UCAT-ANZ. 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.

Where to go next

MacquarieEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in fullNewcastle / JMPEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team — last reviewed 25 August 2026.