Macquarie vs UNSW

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Macquarie — no published cut-off. UNSW — No official minimum; competitive 2024-cycle cut-off ~3060 total on old /3600 scale (~90th percentile) for non-rural local applicants. UCAT-ANZ feeds the pre-interview composite alongside ATAR.

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. UNSW — 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.

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

UNSW requires ATAR 96.00+ (lowest selection rank 2025) plus UCAT-ANZ; English and Mathematics or Science prerequisites; MMI.

ATAR. Macquarie — no published cut-off. UNSW — Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00; competitive interview shortlist ~99.55; median offer-holder >99.60. Rural pathway minimum ~91.05.

Graduate-entry GPA. Macquarie — Minimum 5.0/7.0 (or WAM 65). 2024 intake average successful GPA ~6.7/7.0. UNSW — 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.

Macquarie uses MMI (Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations, live online)); UNSW uses Panel (Structured panel interview with two interviewers (academic staff, clinicians or community representatives)). These two formats reward different skills — MMI emphasises breadth, station-recovery and structured answers under time pressure, while Panel rewards depth and consistency.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, UNSW may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Macquarie is the better fit.

Interview windows: Macquarie interviews in September-October; UNSW in November-December.

Both schools deliver a Integrated-style curriculum, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar across years 1-3.

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 6-year integrated MD. Phase 1 (years 1-2): foundations and scientific basis. Phase 2 (years 3-4): clinical practice with rotations. Phase 3 (years 5-6

Intake size: Macquarie — 2027: ~60 full-fee domestic + ~20 international. No CSP/BMP at Macquarie (full-fee program; no Commonwealth-mandated bonded allocation).; UNSW — ~189 domestic offers (~135 CSP + ~54 BMP) plus ~40-60 international = ~230-250 total annual cohort (Fraser's UNSW Undergraduate Medicine Guide).. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Macquarie: ~56% (2024 cycle: 125 offers from 223 interviews — 79 domestic, 46 international). UNSW: ~40% of interviewees receive an 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.

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.

UNSW: UNSW runs a 6-year direct-from-school MD with two pre-clinical years followed by integrated clinical and research years. The Indigenous Entry Program offers an alternative pathway; rural-origin applicants gain Rural Admission Scheme bonus weighting. Pre-interview ranking weights ATAR (or equivalent) and UCAT-ANZ; the MMI then carries roughly a third of the final composite.