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Australian Medical school comparison

Notre Dame Fremantle vs UNSW

Notre Dame Fremantle and UNSW are both UK medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in England, so location and clinical-placement breadth are similar — the differentiation comes from selection methodology, interview style and curriculum philosophy. Their A-Level requirements (Bachelor vs ATAR) place them in slightly different academic-strictness tiers.

Side-by-side comparison

Notre Dame Fremantle

Fremantle

Quick comparison

Location
Fremantle, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT + CASPer
GAMSAT
Minimum 52 overall + 50 in each subsection (UNDA averages the three sections rather than using the overall weighted GAMSAT). 2023 intake average successful GAMSAT 66 (3-year avg ~60+).
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
MMI (asynchronous online via Modern Hire)
Post-interview chance
Not publicly disclosed; aggregator estimate ~200-250 interviewed for ~100 places.
Decision date
November-December

UNSW

Sydney

Quick comparison

Location
Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway
Undergraduate
Admission tests
UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
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.
ATAR
Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00; competitive interview shortlist ~99.55; median offer-holder >99.60. Rural pathway minimum ~91.05.
Interview format
Multi-Mini Interview (~10 stations)
Post-interview chance
~40% of interviewees receive an offer.
Decision date
January

Notre Dame Fremantle vs UNSW - in detail

A-Level and academic profile

Notre Dame Fremantle requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.2/7.0; GAMSAT 52 overall + 50 in each subsection (unweighted average of 3 sections); CASPer; MMI (Modern Hire asynchronous).. UNSW requires ATAR 96.00+ (lowest selection rank 2025) plus UCAT-ANZ; English and Mathematics or Science prerequisites; MMI.. UNSW is the stricter A-Level offer; Notre Dame Fremantle is slightly more forgiving. If your predicted grades are borderline, Notre Dame Fremantle carries the lower academic-rejection risk pre-interview.

Interview formats

Both Notre Dame Fremantle and UNSW use MMI interviews, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, NHS hot-topic answers and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer. That said, the specifics differ slightly: Notre Dame Fremantle runs mmi (asynchronous online via modern hire); UNSW runs multi-mini interview (~10 stations). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep. Interview windows: Notre Dame Fremantle interviews in September-November; UNSW in November-December.

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: 4-year graduate MD. Years 1-2 foundations and clinical skills at Fremantle with early clinical immersion. Years 3-4 hospital and rural placements acro 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: Notre Dame Fremantle — 2027 cycle ~127 total: 80 CSP (60 Fremantle + 20 KCRMT Broome) + 32 BMP + up to 15 international + uncapped Indigenous. Significant +17 expansion vs 2026 (110) driven by KCRMT Broome pathway and Commonwealth Indigenous policy change.; 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.

Post-interview offer rate

Notre Dame Fremantle: Not publicly disclosed; aggregator estimate ~200-250 interviewed for ~100 places.. 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.

What makes each distinctive

Notre Dame Fremantle: Notre Dame Fremantle replaced its portfolio + panel system with CASPer from the 2024 intake — one of the heaviest CASPer weightings in Australian medicine (30% of pre-interview composite). 2027 cycle introduces 20 new CSP places at the Kimberley Centre for Rural and Remote Medicine and Training (KCRMT) Broome — Kimberley-region remote-workforce expansion. From 1 January 2026 Indigenous CSP allocation is uncapped (Commonwealth policy change). Assured Pathway: from 2024, 40 places nationally (20 Fremantle + 20 Sydney) reserved for Assured Pathway undergraduate pre-MD applicants. 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.

Which is right for you?

For applicants with predicted A-Level grades at the lower end of the AAA-A*AA range, Notre Dame Fremantle is the lower-risk academic option. Both schools sit in the same England foundation-programme catchment, so post-graduation training paths overlap heavily. Your firm/insurance choice should ultimately weight: where your UCAT and predicted grades sit relative to each school's threshold, which interview format you can prepare for most credibly, and where you'd actually want to live for five or six years.

Common questions