Macquarie vs Western Sydney

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Macquarie — no published cut-off. Western Sydney — No published cut-off. WSU states the threshold "is not made public to applicants since it is determined each year according to the performance of all other applicants for the program" (FAQ), and that…

GAMSAT cut-offs. Macquarie — Minimum 50 overall, 50 in each section. Used at 50% weight (alongside 50% GPA) for interview shortlist. Minimum 50 overall and 50 in each of the three sections, sat within four years of intended… Western Sydney — 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 AQF Level 7 bachelor degree (or NOOSR-recognised equivalent) completed within 10 years of intended enrolment; minimum weighted GPA 5.0/7.0, or WAM 65, to be considered for interview; GAMSAT minimum 50 overall AND 50 in each of the three sections, sat within four years of intended enrolment (domestic applicants and international applicants residing in Australia or New Zealand) — international applicants residing outside Australia may submit MCAT 500+ instead, within three years; satisfactory Multiple Mini Interview performance; IELTS 7.0 overall with 7.0 in every band where English proficiency is not met through prior study.

Human anatomy and human physiology are assumed knowledge, not prerequisites. Macquarie states that "interview opportunity and offers are competitive, meeting minimum requirements does not guarantee offer of admission". (2027 entry.).

Western Sydney requires Academic threshold ATAR 95.50 (93.50 Greater Western Sydney, 91.50 Rural Entry Admission Scheme, 93.50-equivalent international) plus UCAT-ANZ sat in the application year; no prerequisite or assumed-knowledge subjects are published; MMI online in late November.

95.50 is a minimum threshold, not a lowest selection rank — UAC records "N/A" for 725505 in its January Round 1 2026 lowest-selection-rank table because selection criteria other than ATAR are used. UAC location and subject adjustment factors do not apply to 725505.

ATAR. Macquarie — no published cut-off. Western Sydney — Academic threshold, assessed only after the MMI: non-Greater Western Sydney applicants 95.50 (this band, not a lower one, catches interstate and regional applicants who are not REAS-eligible)…

Graduate-entry GPA. Macquarie — Minimum 5.0/7.0 (or WAM 65). Minimum weighted GPA 5.0/7.0, or WAM 65, to be considered for interview; weighted 50% for the shortlist and 50% again for the offer. GEMSAS notes only that "entry is… Western Sydney — 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.

Both Macquarie and Western 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: Macquarie runs multiple mini interview — macquarie's published 2027 admission guides describe four short stations of up to 8 minutes each, with a different…; Western Sydney runs multi-mini interview (mmi), online via zoom — approximately 8 minutes per station; station count not published by wsu.

Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Macquarie interviews in Domestic: one fixed Saturday — 26 September 2026 for 2027 entry, face-to-face on the Macquarie campus (no alternative date or online option). International: three videoconference rounds in June, August and October 2026 (Macquarie's 2027 international guide timeline graphic says July, August and October, inconsistently with its own requirements table).

Indigenous Australian Pathway: July, August or October, in person or online.; Western Sydney in Late November (2027 entry: late November 2026; invitations end October). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway: early November. No alternative interview dates are offered. International applicants are interviewed in rounds throughout the year rather than in this window..

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

Specifics: 4-year MD taught within Macquarie University Health; foundations and systems-based units in years 1-2, core clinical placements in year 3 and advanced 5-year integrated MD with problem-based learning. Years 1-2 foundations and clinical skills, years 3-5 clinical placements across Western Sydney teach

Intake size: Macquarie — 2027: ~60 full-fee domestic + ~20 international; Western Sydney — ~120 places total per year (CSP + BMP + ~20 international); specific split not published by WSU (WSU MD Enrolment Places page). A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Macquarie: Not published — Macquarie releases no interview-to-offer conversion data, and no admissions centre or accredited body publishes one for this programme. Western Sydney: Not published. WSU releases neither the number of applicants interviewed nor the number of offers made, so no interview-to-offer rate can be stated.

WSU publishes only that there are approximately 120 places across Commonwealth Supported, Bonded Medical and International categories, and UAC records "N/A" for the course's lowest selection rank because non-ATAR criteria are used.

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: Every place in the Macquarie MD is full-fee — for 2027 entry it is the only GEMSAS graduate-entry medical school whose quota table shows no Commonwealth Supported Places and no Bonded Medical Places at all (indicative 2027 domestic fee AUD $90,200 for a standard full-time year, reviewed annually, FEE-HELP eligible) and is co-located with Macquarie University Hospital; core clinical placements begin in year 3, with earlier years built on foundations and systems-based units.

Small cohort (~60) gives a high-touch teaching model. Selection is purely academic until interview: on the standard pathway, 50% weighted GPA + 50% GAMSAT/MCAT for the shortlist, then 50% weighted GPA + 50% MMI for offers.

There is no portfolio, CV, Casper or work-experience score at any stage — the only non-academic document is a supplementary form acknowledging the programme's requirements, which is not scored. Rural applicants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants and Macquarie Bachelor of Clinical Science graduates each receive an automatic 3% bonus on the weighted GPA (5% maximum in combination).

The Indigenous Australian Pathway works differently: GAMSAT is optional and both interview and offer decisions are made case by case with Walanga Muru.

Western Sydney: WSU was established with an explicit rural and outer-metropolitan workforce mission. The Greater Western Sydney admissions pathway prioritises applicants with a postcode link to the catchment.

The Rural Entry Admission Scheme reserves a minimum of 15 places at a lower academic threshold (ATAR 91.50) and is a mutually exclusive application category — you cannot apply as both REAS and General. WSU attaches no return-of-service obligation to REAS itself.

The only bonded places at WSU are Bonded Medical Program places, which the University allocates on final ranking with no separate application, and which carry the Commonwealth Return of Service Obligation; any applicant may receive one. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway is a separate panel-interview route and is likewise not bonded of itself.