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Australian Medical school comparison

Monash vs UQ

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

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

Side-by-side comparison

Monash

Clayton

Quick comparison

Location
Clayton, Australia
Entry pathway
Dual (UG + Grad)
Admission tests
UCAT-ANZ + ISAT
GAMSAT
Not required and not accepted on any Monash pathway - both Graduate Entry pages state applicants are not required to sit the GAMSAT, and Direct Entry has never used it. Monash publishes no date for its removal.
UCAT-ANZ
Domestic Direct Entry only (international applicants sit ISAT). Monash publishes its December-round interview cut-offs. On the current three-subtest /2700 scale, 2026 entry cleared at 2380 (94th percentile, 192 interview offers) for Victorian-based non-DRL applicants and 2050 (66th percentile, 193 offers) for Dean's Rural List applicants. The 2027-entry cut-offs are not yet published - invitations are scheduled for release on 12 and 14 October 2026. Earlier cycles sat on the retired /3600 four-subtest scale (2025 entry 3140 non-DRL / 2730 DRL; 2024 entry 3020 / 2670; 2023 entry 2990 / 2620) and are NOT convertible: UCAT-ANZ dropped Abstract Reasoning from the test sat in 2025 (first used for 2026 entry), so no ratio conversion between the scales is valid. Situational Judgement is banded separately and is used only to break ties on equal cognitive totals.
ATAR
Direct Entry minimum eligibility ATAR 90. Monash publishes lowest-offer ATARs rather than a competitive cut-off: for 2026 entry the lowest ATAR to receive an offer was 96.10 (standard School Leaver Entry), 95.05 (CSP Extended Rural Cohort) and 91.25 (CSP Bonded School Leaver Entry). Monash notes these are the lowest ATAR BEFORE equity-scheme/Dean's Rural List adjustment, while ranking itself uses the adjusted ATAR. No median and no guaranteed ATAR is published.
Interview format
Multiple Mini Interview, online via Zoom (6 stations × 8 min interview + 2 min reading; 4 stations for international applicants)
Post-interview chance
Monash does not publish an interview-to-offer conversion rate. It does publish round volumes: for 2026 entry it made 192 December interview offers to Victorian-based non-DRL applicants and 193 to Dean's Rural List applicants, before two further interview rounds in January, against approximately 234 domestic places - so more applicants are interviewed than there are places. January-round interview volumes are not published, so no conversion percentage can be stated.
Decision date
Direct Entry mid-to-late January (VTAC January Rounds 1 and 2); Graduate Entry early December

UQ

St Lucia

Quick comparison

Location
St Lucia, Australia
Entry pathway
Dual (UG + Grad)
Admission tests
GAMSAT + UCAT-ANZ + MCAT
GAMSAT
Minimum 50 in each of Sections I, II, III (any section below 50 = ineligible). Interview shortlist: 50% unweighted GAMSAT (mean of 3 sections) + 50% GPA, GPA as tiebreaker. Final offer: UQ does not publish a weighting. Interviewed applicants are ranked by tier and merit order within each pathway, with CQ-WB RMP and DD-SW MP offers determined first; where final scores tie, the MMI score is the tiebreaker; non-bonded (CSP) places are offered before bonded (BMP).
UCAT-ANZ
Required for Provisional Entry (school-leaver) and for the new 6-year BMedSc/MD direct-entry dual; must be sat in the year you apply. Latest published figures are for the 2026 intake: the lowest UCAT ANZ score invited to interview was 2290/2700 for applicants not eligible for the Rural Background Sub-Quota and 1960/2700 for those who were. No 2027-entry threshold has been published, and UQ has said it is reviewing how the recent UCAT ANZ format change affects interview selection. Shortlisting is on the UCAT ANZ aggregate, subject to a minimum 50% of domestic MMI invitees being Queensland Year 12 students. The final offer rank is a combined score of ATAR, MMI total and UCAT ANZ aggregate — UQ and QTAC publish no weightings.
ATAR
Adjusted ATAR 95 (or equivalent) is the published MINIMUM for both school-leaver routes — provisional entry (QTAC 721302 / 721402) and the 6-year BMedSc/MD dual (QTAC 721502) — and meeting it guarantees nothing. Actual Semester 1 2026 provisional-entry offer profile (latest published cycle), non-bonded: highest 99.95, median 99.65, lowest 95.00 excluding adjustments (99.95 / 99.95 / 98.10 including adjustments). Bonded: highest 99.95, median 99.20, lowest 93.25 excluding adjustments (99.95 / 99.95 / 97.25 including adjustments).
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations)
Post-interview chance
Not published. Neither UQ, GEMSAS nor QTAC publishes the number of MMI invitations issued or an interview-to-offer conversion rate for the UQ MD. Treat any quoted percentage as an unsourced estimate.
Decision date
Graduate (GEMSAS): November 2026, with a small number in December and January. Graduate direct/MCAT: emailed w/b 3 August 2026 (Round 1) or w/b 5 October 2026 (Round 2). Provisional entry: UQ emails offers mid-December 2026, ahead of the QTAC offer round on 14 January 2027 (which also covers the 6-year BMedSc/MD dual).

Monash vs UQ - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Monash — Domestic Direct Entry only (international applicants sit ISAT). Monash publishes its December-round interview cut-offs. On the current three-subtest /2700 scale, 2026 entry cleared at 2380 (94th… UQ — Required for Provisional Entry (school-leaver) and for the new 6-year BMedSc/MD direct-entry dual; must be sat in the year you apply.

Latest published figures are for the 2026 intake: the lowest UCAT…

GAMSAT cut-offs. Monash — Not required and not accepted on any Monash pathway - both Graduate Entry pages state applicants are not required to sit the GAMSAT, and Direct Entry has never used it. Monash publishes no date for… UQ — Minimum 50 in each of Sections I, II, III (any section below 50 = ineligible).

Interview shortlist: 50% unweighted GAMSAT (mean of 3 sections) + 50% GPA, GPA as tiebreaker. Final offer: UQ does not…

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

Monash requires Direct Entry (domestic): school-leavers only - Year 12 completed no more than two years earlier and NO commenced tertiary study (Certificate IV and above disqualifies). Minimum ATAR 90 (2026-entry lowest offers: 96.10 standard, 95.05 ERC, 91.25 BMP); VCE English (study score 35 EAL or 30 non-EAL) and Chemistry (30) prerequisites, Biology not required; UCAT-ANZ; MMI.

Monash states the three components - ATAR aggregate (including adjustment factors), UCAT-ANZ total and MMI - are equally weighted. Direct Entry (international): ISAT (170 overall, 165 per section) instead of UCAT-ANZ, with published equivalents of VCE 97.50 / IB 39.

Graduate Entry (domestic): a nominated Monash degree (Bachelor of Biomedical Science, Pharmacy (Hons), Physiotherapy (Hons), or Bachelor of Science with five specified units) or Federation University's Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Gippsland Partnership Program), WAM ≥ 70, ranked on WAM 40% + MMI 60%; at least 70% of places are reserved for Monash Bachelor of Biomedical Science graduates.

Graduate Entry (international): any internationally recognised bachelor degree with significant, broad biomedical science content at GPA ≥ 6.0/7.0. No GAMSAT and no SJT on any pathway; Graduate Entry applicants can be considered only twice, and the MMI may be attended only once per course.

UQ requires Graduate entry: bachelor (key degree) completed in the last 10 years with minimum GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT minimum 50 in EACH section (no overall threshold is published), or MCAT 504, taken within 4 years before you commence; 8-station online MMI.

UQ also assumes — but does not require as a prerequisite — prior tertiary study in cell and tissue biology and systems physiology (UQ BIOM2011 and BIOM2012, or equivalent). Provisional entry instead needs an adjusted ATAR 95, Queensland Year 12 English, a UCAT ANZ score from the year you apply, and the MMI.

ATAR. Monash — Direct Entry minimum eligibility ATAR 90.

Monash publishes lowest-offer ATARs rather than a competitive cut-off: for 2026 entry the lowest ATAR to receive an offer was 96.10 (standard School Leaver… UQ — Adjusted ATAR 95 (or equivalent) is the published MINIMUM for both school-leaver routes — provisional entry (QTAC 721302 / 721402) and the 6-year BMedSc/MD dual (QTAC 721502) — and meeting it…

Graduate-entry GPA. Monash — Graduate Entry (domestic): minimum WAM 70 to be eligible, but Monash publishes the non-DRL WAM cut-off to be INVITED TO INTERVIEW - 82.313 for 2026 entry (81.179 for 2025, 80.313 for 2024, 82.386 for… UQ — Minimum 5.0/7.0 in key degree.

Currency rule: degrees > 10 years before commencement require ≥ 0.50 FTE subsequent coursework at GPA ≥ 5.0.

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 Monash and UQ 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: Monash runs multiple mini interview, online via zoom (6 stations × 8 min interview + 2 min reading; 4 stations for international applicants); UQ runs multi-mini interview (8 stations). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: Monash interviews in Direct Entry December-January; Graduate Entry September (2027-entry cycle); UQ in Graduate (GEMSAS): mid-September 2026 for 2027 entry. Graduate direct/MCAT: w/b 13 July 2026 (Round 1) or w/b 14 September 2026 (Round 2). Provisional entry and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander provisional pathway: mid-late November 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: Both pathways award the same degree, Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine, and share the same four clinical schools. Direct Entry (5 yea 4-year graduate MD. Years 1-2 foundations and clinical skills at the Herston Health Sciences precinct. Years 3-4 clinical placements distributed acros

Intake size: Monash — Direct Entry (Clayton): approximately 234 domestic places, inclusive of 30 Extended Rural Cohort and approximately 67 Bonded Medical Program places; UQ — 2027 graduate intake: 107 CSP + 43 BMP + up to 190 international = up to 340 across the GEMSAS graduate route….

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

Post-interview offer rate

Monash: Monash does not publish an interview-to-offer conversion rate. It does publish round volumes: for 2026 entry it made 192 December interview offers to Victorian-based non-DRL applicants and 193 to Dean's Rural List applicants, before two further interview rounds in January, against approximately 234 domestic places - so more applicants are interviewed than there are places.

January-round interview volumes are not published, so no conversion percentage can be stated. UQ: Not published. Neither UQ, GEMSAS nor QTAC publishes the number of MMI invitations issued or an interview-to-offer conversion rate for the UQ MD. Treat any quoted percentage as an unsourced estimate.

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

Monash: Monash says it is the only Victorian university offering both a direct-entry school-leaver pathway and a graduate-entry pathway to the SAME degree - Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine.

Direct Entry (M6011) is 5 years from Clayton on equally weighted ATAR + UCAT-ANZ + MMI; Graduate Entry (M6018) is 4 years with Year A at Monash Rural Health Churchill, selected on WAM 40% + MMI 60% with no admission test.

DOMESTIC graduate entry is closed to outside graduates - only nominated Monash degrees plus Federation University's Gippsland Partnership Bachelor of Biomedical Science qualify - but INTERNATIONAL graduate entry is open to any recognised bachelor degree with substantial biomedical content.

Direct Entry interviews run in three rounds: a first round in December ranked on UCAT-ANZ alone (Dean's Rural List applicants, then Victorian-based non-DRL applicants), a second round in January for Victorian and DRL applicants ranked on equally weighted UCAT-ANZ and ATAR aggregate, and a third January round for applicants who completed Year 12 interstate or overseas.

UQ: UQ runs Australia's largest 4-year graduate-entry MD (~470 places), anchored at the St Lucia MD Learning Hub and the Greater Brisbane Clinical School's eight clinical units — Children's Health Queensland, General Practice, Greenslopes, Ipswich, Mater, Northside, PA-Southside and Royal Brisbane.

The UQ-Ochsner Clinical School runs Years 1-2 in Brisbane and Years 3-4 in New Orleans, but it is open only to US citizens and permanent residents and selects on the MCAT (minimum 504).

Pre-interview ranking for graduate entry is a flat 50:50 of unweighted average GAMSAT and assessed GPA; after the MMI, applicants are ranked in merit order by pathway and tier, with the MMI score as the tiebreaker.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Monash needs UCAT-ANZ and ISAT, UQ needs GAMSAT, UCAT-ANZ and MCAT. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two. Check your state of origin before you apply — Monash draws heavily on Victoria applicants and UQ on Queensland, 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

Monash uses UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. UQ uses GAMSAT, UCAT-ANZ 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 — last reviewed .