Australian Medical school comparison

Newcastle / JMP vs UNSW

Newcastle / JMP and UNSW 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. Newcastle / JMP uses UCAT-ANZ; UNSW uses UCAT-ANZ and ISAT.

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. The interview formats diverge — MMI vs Panel — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Newcastle / JMP and UNSW.
Comparison field	Newcastle / JMPNewcastle	UNSWSydney
Quick comparison
Location	Newcastle, Australia	Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Admission tests	UCAT-ANZ	UCAT-ANZ + ISAT
GAMSAT	-	-
UCAT-ANZ	No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.	UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
ATAR	ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.	Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
Interview format	Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide)	Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI)
Post-interview chance	Not published - the JMP discloses 170 places against more than 3,000 applicants, but not how many are invited to the assessment day, so no interview-to-offer rate can be stated.	Not published by UNSW. For scale only: UNSW offers approximately 350 General Entry interview places a year, plus about 60 Gateway and 30 Lateral, against the domestic commencing quota of 198 recorded by the AMC in 2024 - shared across all entry schemes.
Decision date	January (UAC Round 1, offer information 8 Jan 2027; a later January round for applicants assessed in mid-January). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants receive offers in UAC December Round 2.	January-February (UAC offer rounds)

ATAR	ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.	Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
Contextual ATAR	Rural Bonus Scheme drops the ATAR floor to 85.00, based on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the school where you sat Year 12. The Educational Access Scheme adds up to four adjustment points, applied to academic eligibility. The Regional Excellence Pathway offers an assessment place with no UCAT ANZ score at all to school leavers who complete Year 12 at a school in the Hunter New England or Central Coast LHD footprint and achieve an ATAR of 99.00 or higher, in the intake year immediately following.	Medicine is explicitly excluded from HSC Plus, and the Medicine ATAR minimums must be met without EAS/adjustment points. Contextual access runs through separate schemes instead: the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile) and the Gateway Entry Scheme for applicants at a Gateway school and/or living in a low-SEIFA (IEO) area (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 50th percentile, approximately 20 offers a year).
GAMSAT	-	-
UCAT-ANZ	No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.	UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
CASPer	-	-
ISAT	-	-
GPA	-	-
Prerequisites	-	-
Place types	170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined), for more than 3,000 applicants. Published sub-quotas: up to 17 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, 30 starting at the Central Coast Clinical School, a minimum 30% rural/remote target (33 at Newcastle, 18 at UNE), up to 6 Excellence through Equity places and up to 10 Regional Health Professional places. The JMP does not publish a BMP count; the national 28.5% CSP rule implies roughly 48. International places are a separate, smaller quota.	Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown.
Indigenous pathway	Miroma Bunbilla is a separate admission process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, with up to 17 places set aside each year. Applicants are NOT required to sit the UCAT ANZ and do n…	Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres St…
Bonded / rural	Rural Bonus Scheme (ATAR 85). The JMP does not publish a Bonded Medical Program place count. The national rule requires universities to allocate 28.5% of commencing medical Commonwealth Supported Plac…	The Rural Entry Admission Pathway (REAP) lowers the minimum to ATAR 91.00 without adjustment and UCAT ANZ 40th percentile for applicants who lived in an MMM 2-7 area for five consecutive or ten cumula…

Interview window	Late November - early December (30 Nov - 11 Dec 2026 for 2027 entry); mid-January 2027 for interstate non-rural applicants, and w/c 11 Jan 2027 for Excellence through Equity and Regional Excellence Pathway applicants. Invitations go out early-to-mid November. International applicants sit the MSA online 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2026.	November (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December-January (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January round for NZ applicants with late results
Interview details	The JMP Assessment is a half-day, in-person session held at the University of Newcastle (Callaghan) or the University of New England (Armidale) - you nominate a preferred location on the direct applic…	UNSW does not run an MMI. Selected applicants attend a single structured interview with two interviewers - academic staff, medical practitioners or community representatives, balanced where possible b…

Specialities	Rural Medicine, Indigenous Health, Population Health, General Practice	Global Health, Indigenous Health, Infectious Disease, Rural Medicine, Health Equity
Established	1978	1961
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	The Joint Medical Program is delivered jointly by the University of Newcastle and the University of New England, but admission is administered at Newcastle through one common process: a direct JMP app…	UNSW runs a 6-year direct-entry Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine (BMed MD): two foundation years, a clinical third year, a dedicated research fourth year (Independent Learning Project…
Official course page	https://www.newcastle.edu.au/degrees/bachelor-of-medical-science-doctor-of-medicine-joint-medical-program	https://www.unsw.edu.au/study/undergraduate/bachelor-of-medical-studies-doctor-of-medicine

Newcastle / JMP

Newcastle

Quick comparison

Location: Newcastle, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.
ATAR: ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.
Interview format: Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide)
Post-interview chance: Not published - the JMP discloses 170 places against more than 3,000 applicants, but not how many are invited to the assessment day, so no interview-to-offer rate can be stated.
Decision date: January (UAC Round 1, offer information 8 Jan 2027; a later January round for applicants assessed in mid-January). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants receive offers in UAC December Round 2.

ATAR: ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties.
Contextual ATAR: Rural Bonus Scheme drops the ATAR floor to 85.00, based on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the school where you sat Year 12. The Educational Access Scheme adds up to four adjustment points, applied to academic eligibility. The Regional Excellence Pathway offers an assessment place with no UCAT ANZ score at all to school leavers who complete Year 12 at a school in the Hunter New England or Central Coast LHD footprint and achieve an ATAR of 99.00 or higher, in the intake year immediately following.
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700.
CASPer: -
ISAT: -
GPA: -
Prerequisites: -
Place types: 170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined), for more than 3,000 applicants. Published sub-quotas: up to 17 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, 30 starting at the Central Coast Clinical School, a minimum 30% rural/remote target (33 at Newcastle, 18 at UNE), up to 6 Excellence through Equity places and up to 10 Regional Health Professional places. The JMP does not publish a BMP count; the national 28.5% CSP rule implies roughly 48. International places are a separate, smaller quota.
Indigenous pathway: Miroma Bunbilla is a separate admission process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, with up to 17 places set aside each year. Applicants are NOT required to sit the UCAT ANZ and do n…
Bonded / rural: Rural Bonus Scheme (ATAR 85). The JMP does not publish a Bonded Medical Program place count. The national rule requires universities to allocate 28.5% of commencing medical Commonwealth Supported Plac…

UNSW

Sydney

Quick comparison

Location: Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: UCAT-ANZ + ISAT
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
ATAR: Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
Interview format: Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI)
Post-interview chance: Not published by UNSW. For scale only: UNSW offers approximately 350 General Entry interview places a year, plus about 60 Gateway and 30 Lateral, against the domestic commencing quota of 198 recorded by the AMC in 2024 - shared across all entry schemes.
Decision date: January-February (UAC offer rounds)

ATAR: Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off.
Contextual ATAR: Medicine is explicitly excluded from HSC Plus, and the Medicine ATAR minimums must be met without EAS/adjustment points. Contextual access runs through separate schemes instead: the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile) and the Gateway Entry Scheme for applicants at a Gateway school and/or living in a low-SEIFA (IEO) area (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 50th percentile, approximately 20 offers a year).
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total.
CASPer: -
ISAT: -
GPA: -
Prerequisites: -
Place types: Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown.
Indigenous pathway: Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres St…
Bonded / rural: The Rural Entry Admission Pathway (REAP) lowers the minimum to ATAR 91.00 without adjustment and UCAT ANZ 40th percentile for applicants who lived in an MMM 2-7 area for five consecutive or ten cumula…

Newcastle / JMP vs UNSW - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs.

Newcastle / JMP — No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no… UNSW — UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway.

It…

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

Newcastle / JMP requires Minimum ATAR 94.30 (85.00 if you sat Year 12 at an MM2-7 rural/remote school under the Rural Bonus Scheme), or tertiary results at roughly credit level after one full-time year of university study; no subject prerequisites.

UCAT ANZ decides who is invited; the half-day in-person JMP Assessment - a rotating-station Multiple Skills Assessment plus an online Personal Qualities Assessment - then sets the final rank. 2027 entry.

UNSW requires Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (91.00 for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme) plus a UCAT ANZ result at or above the 50th percentile (40th for rural); these are hurdles, not competitive marks. English Standard assumed knowledge only - no maths, chemistry or biology prerequisite.

Selection concludes with a structured interview with two interviewers.

ATAR. Newcastle / JMP — ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live.

Applicants with at… UNSW — Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW…

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

Newcastle / JMP uses MMI (Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide)); UNSW uses Panel (Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI)). 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, Newcastle / JMP is the better fit.

Interview windows: Newcastle / JMP interviews in Late November - early December (30 Nov - 11 Dec 2026 for 2027 entry); mid-January 2027 for interstate non-rural applicants, and w/c 11 Jan 2027 for Excellence through Equity and Regional Excellence Pathway applicants. Invitations go out early-to-mid November.

International applicants sit the MSA online 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2026.; UNSW in November (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December-January (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January round for NZ applicants with late results.

Curriculum and teaching style

Newcastle / JMP runs a PBL curriculum; UNSW runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies are different — Newcastle / JMP leans on small-group case-based learning from year 1, while UNSW uses a more traditional lecture-led structure.

Specifics: Five years, two degrees taken consecutively: Bachelor of Medical Science in years 1-3, Doctor of Medicine in years 4-5. Campus-based problem-based lea 6-year Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine, 288 units of credit, taught in three vertically integrated phases. Phase 1 (years 1-2): scena

Intake size: Newcastle / JMP — 170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined) for more than 3,000 applicants; UNSW — The AMC's February 2024 UNSW accreditation report records a government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing students and a Faculty-agreed quota of 100…. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Newcastle / JMP: Not published - the JMP discloses 170 places against more than 3,000 applicants, but not how many are invited to the assessment day, so no interview-to-offer rate can be stated. UNSW: Not published by UNSW.

For scale only: UNSW offers approximately 350 General Entry interview places a year, plus about 60 Gateway and 30 Lateral, against the domestic commencing quota of 198 recorded by the AMC in 2024 - shared across all entry schemes.

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

Newcastle / JMP: The Joint Medical Program is delivered jointly by the University of Newcastle and the University of New England, but admission is administered at Newcastle through one common process: a direct JMP application plus a single UAC preference (code 785000). You nominate a preferred enrolment location, and there is no guarantee you get it.

The program targets a minimum 30% rural or remote background intake (33 places at Newcastle, 18 at UNE) and sets aside up to 17 places a year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.

Invitation to the assessment day is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate alone; the final selection rank then comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to break ties.

UNSW: UNSW runs a 6-year direct-entry Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine (BMed MD): two foundation years, a clinical third year, a dedicated research fourth year (Independent Learning Project or Medicine Honours) and two final clinical years.

Four schemes sit alongside general entry - the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile, end-to-end study at Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga), the Gateway Entry Scheme for low-SES applicants (~20 offers), the Lateral Entry Scheme from the UNSW BMedSc (up to 10 offers) and the Indigenous Entry Scheme via Nura Gili.

Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total score only; the final rank then adds a structured two-interviewer interview score. UNSW states it does not disclose the ranking algorithm and does not average the three components.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Newcastle / JMP needs UCAT-ANZ, UNSW needs UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. 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.

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

Newcastle / JMP uses UCAT-ANZ. UNSW uses UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. 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.

Newcastle / JMP — No published cut-off: once the ATAR hurdle is met, invitation to the JMP Assessment is decided on the UCAT ANZ aggregate of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alone, with no minimum on any individual subtest. The JMP states the cut-off is not set until after direct applications close because it depends on the applicant cohort that year, and that separate, lower thresholds apply to rural (RRAS), Communities Entry List and UoN Biomedical Science Pathway applicants. It does not publish past cut-offs, and no lowest-UCAT-to-interview figure is published by the university, UAC or UCAT ANZ. For scale, UCAT ANZ 2026 (2027 entry) had a mean total of 1,964 and a 9th decile of 2,340 out of 2,700. UNSW — UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. UCAT-ANZ cut-offs are cohort-dependent, so the headline number from one cycle is not guaranteed for the next — use it as a planning anchor, not a guarantee.

Newcastle / JMP — ATAR hurdle: 94.30 standard; 85.00 under the Rural Bonus Scheme, which turns on the Modified Monash MM2-7 location of the high school where you sat Year 12, not where you live. Applicants with at least one full-time year of university study are assessed on their tertiary results instead (UAC describes the bar as results averaging close to credit level; the JMP Admission and Selection Policy states a UAC (ATAR-based) Rank of 88.40 or better). Once the hurdle is met, academic results no longer rank at all: UCAT ANZ alone decides who is invited, and the final selection rank comes from assessment-day performance, with UCAT used only to sub-rank ties. UNSW — Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. Selection rank typically includes Educational Access Scheme bonuses, rural-origin uplift, and (where applicable) Indigenous-pathway adjustments — your raw ATAR is rarely the final figure used.

Newcastle / JMP uses: Multiple Skills Assessment (MSA) - rotating 8-minute stations (six, per the JMP's Applicant Assessment Guide). UNSW uses: Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI). Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: Late November - early December (30 Nov - 11 Dec 2026 for 2027 entry); mid-January 2027 for interstate non-rural applicants, and w/c 11 Jan 2027 for Excellence through Equity and Regional Excellence Pathway applicants. Invitations go out early-to-mid November. International applicants sit the MSA online 30 Sep - 2 Oct 2026. (Newcastle / JMP); November (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December-January (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January round for NZ applicants with late results (UNSW).

Newcastle / JMP — 170 places a year across the JMP (UoN + UNE combined), for more than 3,000 applicants. Published sub-quotas: up to 17 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, 30 starting at the Central Coast Clinical School, a minimum 30% rural/remote target (33 at Newcastle, 18 at UNE), up to 6 Excellence through Equity places and up to 10 Regional Health Professional places. The JMP does not publish a BMP count; the national 28.5% CSP rule implies roughly 48. International places are a separate, smaller quota. UNSW — Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown. CSP (Commonwealth Supported Place) is the lowest student contribution; BMP (Bonded Medical Program) adds a 1-year return-of-service obligation in a Modified Monash Model 2-7 area after Fellowship; Full-fee places carry no bond but the highest tuition.

Newcastle / JMP — Miroma Bunbilla is a separate admission process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, with up to 17 places set aside each year. Applicants are NOT required to sit the UCAT ANZ and do not lodge the direct JMP application, but they DO sit both the Multiple Skills Assessment and the Personal Qualities Assessment, and must attend the Miroma Bunbilla pre-admission program (a five-day series of activities, 30 November - 4 December 2026 for 2027 entry). UAC applications close 31 October 2026 and offers are released in UAC December Round 2. UNSW — Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage, evidence of academic capability, communication and interpersonal skills, and commitment to Indigenous health, assessed via the three-week residential Pre-Medicine & Health Program. No quota is published - the AMC 2024 accreditation report notes roughly 10 Indigenous students enrol each year. Entrants may be allocated to Kensington, Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga and are not offered bonded places. Both schools accept ATSI applicants through the standard pathway as well; the dedicated pathway typically offers adjusted academic thresholds plus wrap-around academic support.

Newcastle / JMP — Rural Bonus Scheme (ATAR 85). The JMP does not publish a Bonded Medical Program place count. The national rule requires universities to allocate 28.5% of commencing medical Commonwealth Supported Places to the BMP (and allows that to be averaged over three consecutive years), which on the JMP's 170 places would imply roughly 48 - a derivation, not a published figure, and one the two universities apply separately. You lodge a BMP expression of interest with the direct application, with 4 December 2026 the last date to submit one for 2027 entry. The main rural route is the Rural and Remote Admissions Scheme: five consecutive or ten cumulative years living in an MM2-7 location, verified by a rural community leader, which lowers your UCAT ANZ threshold rather than your final rank. JMP is one of Australia's longest-standing rural-focused programs. Note: Situational Judgement Test excluded for 2026 entry applicants. UNSW — The Rural Entry Admission Pathway (REAP) lowers the minimum to ATAR 91.00 without adjustment and UCAT ANZ 40th percentile for applicants who lived in an MMM 2-7 area for five consecutive or ten cumulative years between ages 5 and 18. UNSW states that all applicants meeting the rurality eligibility are offered an interview because academic results are not assessed until later in the year, though its FAQ adds that the UCAT ANZ cut-off must also be met. Offer-holders are allocated to Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga (a small group to Kensington). The AMC 2024 accreditation report records a separate rural quota of at least 28% of UNSW's yearly domestic intake. Separately, the Australian Government requires 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places to be Bonded Medical Program places; UNSW fills unbonded places from the top of the ranking first, then bonded, with no separate application. Bonded places are not available to New Zealand citizens and are not offered to Indigenous or Gateway entrants. The federal BMP allocates ~28.5% of CSP places nationally; individual schools sit above or below that benchmark depending on their workforce remit.

Newcastle / JMP typically releases medicine offers January (UAC Round 1, offer information 8 Jan 2027; a later January round for applicants assessed in mid-January). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants receive offers in UAC December Round 2.. UNSW releases medicine offers January-February (UAC offer rounds). AU MD offers run through GEMSAS (graduate consortium) or direct school portals; if one is earlier than the other you may need to defer a decision while waiting for the second.

Newcastle / JMP runs a PBL curriculum. UNSW runs a Integrated curriculum. The teaching philosophies differ — pick the style that matches how you learn best. Newcastle / JMP specifics: Five years, two degrees taken consecutively: Bachelor of Medical Science in years 1-3, Doctor of Medicine in years 4-5. Campus-based problem-based learning dominates years 1-2, at Callaghan (Newcastle UNSW specifics: 6-year Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine, 288 units of credit, taught in three vertically integrated phases. Phase 1 (years 1-2): scenario-based basic medical sciences, clinical skills,

Yes — AU medical applicants typically lodge preferences across multiple schools via GEMSAS (graduate) or direct-undergraduate portals + state TACs (UAC for NSW, VTAC for VIC, QTAC for QLD, etc.). The two schools' selection mechanics differ enough that listing both is a legitimate diversification strategy. A common mistake is over-indexing on schools with the same test-and-interview profile; Newcastle / JMP and UNSW differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Where to go next

Newcastle / JMPEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

UNSWEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other medical school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team.

Newcastle / JMP vs UNSW

Side-by-side comparison

Newcastle / JMP vs UNSW - in detail

Admission tests compared

ATAR and academic profile

Interview formats

Curriculum and teaching style

Post-interview offer rate

What makes each distinctive

Which is right for you?

Common questions

What admission tests do Newcastle / JMP and UNSW use?

What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Newcastle / JMP vs UNSW?

What ATAR do I need for Newcastle / JMP vs UNSW?

How do interviews differ between Newcastle / JMP and UNSW?

What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Newcastle / JMP and UNSW offer?

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Newcastle / JMP and UNSW offer?

Does Newcastle / JMP or UNSW offer bonded / rural-entry places?

When does each school release decisions?

What curriculum style do Newcastle / JMP and UNSW use?

Should I apply to both Newcastle / JMP and UNSW?

Where to go next

Other medical school comparisons