Notre Dame Fremantle vs Western Sydney

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Notre Dame Fremantle — 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. Notre Dame Fremantle — Minimum 52 overall + 50 in each subsection (UNDA averages the three sections rather than using the overall weighted GAMSAT). Notre Dame publishes the average GAMSAT of applicants OFFERED AN INTERVIEW… 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.

Notre Dame Fremantle requires General domestic applicants apply through GEMSAS (applications 1-29 May 2026, closing 5pm AEST 29 May 2026).

Bachelor degree at AQF Level 7 completed within the last 10 years of the closing date — or be in the final year of one; the 10-year rule may be waived where an additional AQF Level 7 or higher qualification has been completed by 31 July 2026.

Weighted GPA of at least 5.2 as calculated by GEMSAS over three FTE years, progressively weighted final-minus-2 x1, final-minus-1 x2, final x3, with no more than one year of credit below AQF Level 7. Unweighted GAMSAT average of the three sections of at least 52, with a minimum of 50 in each subsection.

A Casper score is mandatory — 'Applicants without a Casper score will not be considered.' Shortlisted applicants then sit an online Multiple Mini Interview. GEMSAS states: 'no considerations outside the published entry requirements will be taken into account. Strictly no additional factors, including but not limited to work experience, field experience, or other extracurricular achievements will be considered.

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. Notre Dame Fremantle — 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. Notre Dame Fremantle — Minimum weighted GPA 5.2/7.0 as calculated by GEMSAS over the three most recent FTE years, progressively weighted final-minus-2 x1, final-minus-1 x2, final x3. Notre Dame's published average GPA of… 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 Notre Dame Fremantle 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: Notre Dame Fremantle runs mmi delivered on a recorded (asynchronous) online platform for domestic applicants; a live online panel interview for international applicants; 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: Notre Dame Fremantle interviews in September-October (domestic GEMSAS route: interview offers early September 2026, interviews held September/October 2026). Separate timetables apply to the direct pathways: Indigenous-pathway interviews commence from June 2026, and international online panel interviews run 18 May - 30 November 2026.; 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..

Both schools deliver a PBL-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 are clinical rotations in public a 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: Notre Dame Fremantle — 2027 cycle ~127 total: 80 CSP (60 Fremantle + 20 KCRMT Broome) + 32 BMP + up to 15 international + uncapped…; 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.

Notre Dame Fremantle: Not publicly disclosed. Notre Dame publishes no interview-to-offer ratio for the 2027 cycle, and GEMSAS states that individual scores and rankings are never released to applicants. 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.

Notre Dame Fremantle: Notre Dame Fremantle dropped its written Notre Dame Portfolio and replaced it with Casper from the 2024 intake — but the interview itself did not change: it was a Multiple Mini Interview before and after, delivered on a recorded online platform since 2020. There was never a panel format for domestic applicants.

— one of the heaviest CASPer weightings in Australian medicine (30% of pre-interview composite). The Kimberley Centre for Remote Medical Training (KCRMT), Broome, is a Commonwealth-funded end-to-end rural stream that took its first cohort in Semester 1 2025 — it is not a 2027 innovation.

It carries up to 20 CSP places a year; students spend Years 1-2 on Notre Dame's Broome campus and Years 3-4 in regional training hubs across WA in partnership with the Rural Clinical School of WA. Rural and metropolitan applicants preference it inside the same GEMSAS application as Fremantle; long-term Kimberley/Pilbara residents apply direct to Notre Dame.

Note the centre's name — it is not the 'Kimberley Centre for Rural and Remote Medicine and Training'. From 1 January 2026 Indigenous CSP allocation is uncapped (Commonwealth policy change). Two reserved-entry routes exist, and Notre Dame publishes a number for neither.

(1) Assured Pathway — a school-leaver route: applicants apply to the Bachelor of Biomedical Science and Doctor of Medicine (Assured Pathway) at Fremantle or Sydney at the same time and secure an MD place on completing the bachelor degree, provided a minimum GPA of 2.5 is maintained each semester; it is closed to anyone who has already commenced tertiary study.

(2) Priority Entry Pathway — a graduate route reserving places for Notre Dame's own Bachelor of Biomedical Science graduates (including double degrees) first admitted from 2024 onwards, first entering in the 2026-2027 intake; these applicants still apply through GEMSAS and must achieve a GEMSAS-calculated GPA of 6.0 or higher, an unweighted GAMSAT of 55 or higher, and a Casper score no lower than 1 SD below the mean.

Notre Dame states only that reserved places are 'distributed nationally between campuses and fee types in a similar pattern to the distribution of general places'; GEMSAS notes the published place numbers already include both — 'Quota includes assured and priority pathways.' No 40 / 20+20 split is published anywhere official.

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.