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Australian Medical school comparison

Notre Dame Sydney vs Tasmania

Notre Dame Sydney and Tasmania are both Australian medical schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Notre Dame Sydney is in New South Wales while Tasmania is in Tasmania. State of origin matters here: several schools rank local applicants ahead of interstate ones.

Notre Dame Sydney uses GAMSAT, CASPer and MCAT; Tasmania uses UCAT-ANZ, GAMSAT, ISAT and MCAT. That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. They also recruit at different stages: Notre Dame Sydney runs graduate entry, Tasmania runs both undergraduate and graduate entry.

The interview formats diverge — MMI vs Interview — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different.

Side-by-side comparison

Notre Dame Sydney

Sydney

Quick comparison

Location
Sydney, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT + CASPer + MCAT
GAMSAT
Minimum total of 52 with at least 50 in each subsection; UNDA uses the unweighted average of the three GAMSAT sections, not the overall weighted score. Notre Dame publishes the average GAMSAT of applicants OFFERED AN INTERVIEW at Sydney: 67.84 (2024 entry), 68.08 (2025 entry), 68.23 (2026 entry). These are interview-shortlist averages, not the scores of applicants who received a place, and UNDA states they exclude applicants considered on additional criteria including rurality and facilitated interview pathway eligibility. No cut-off is published.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
MMI (recorded/asynchronous online); live online panel for international applicants
Post-interview chance
Not publicly disclosed.
Decision date
Late October-early November (main round); additional offers November 2026-January 2027

Tasmania

Hobart

Quick comparison

Location
Hobart, Australia
Entry pathway
Dual (UG + Grad)
Admission tests
UCAT-ANZ + GAMSAT + ISAT + MCAT
GAMSAT
Previous-higher-education route: minimum score of 50 in all three sections of GAMSAT. Accepted sittings are the same as those used by GEMSAS, although the application itself goes direct to UTAS, not through GEMSAS. From 2027 the UTAS Bachelor of Biomedicine (M3X) quota also requires GAMSAT 50 in all three sections; the retiring BMedRes (53E) pathway required no admission test. UTAS publishes no offer-holder GAMSAT score.
UCAT-ANZ
No published domestic cut-off — UCAT-ANZ only separates applicants who share an ATAR, so there is no threshold to quote. UTAS sums the three cognitive subtests only (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning); Situational Judgement is excluded. International applicants must reach the 50th percentile or above: on the official UCAT ANZ 2026 distribution — the sitting used for 2027 entry — the 5th decile (median) total was 1,950/2700 (mean 1,964; 9th decile 2,340; 17,341 candidates).
ATAR
Domestic: minimum adjusted ATAR 95 — explicitly the minimum needed for an application to be considered, not a guarantee of an offer (UTAS: "achieving the minimum entry requirements does not guarantee an offer of a place"). International: minimum ATAR or equivalent rank 90. UTAS publishes no competitive cut-off, median or lowest-offer ATAR for this course, and no ATAR/selection-rank or student profile is published for it on CourseSeeker.
Interview format
No interview in standard selection — ATAR-first ranking with UCAT-ANZ tiebreaker (Aboriginal Entry Pathway applicants are interviewed; UTAS publishes no format)
Post-interview chance
N/A — no interview.
Decision date
Mid-December (first-round offers to Tasmanian Year 12 applicants on ATAR); January (interstate Year 12 and IB applicants) — the pattern UTAS publishes on its application-dates table each cycle. International applicants are handled in four offer rounds across the preceding year (rounds closing 30 May, 31 July, 30 September and 30 November), with offers made within two weeks of each round closing.

Notre Dame Sydney vs Tasmania - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Notre Dame Sydney — no published cut-off. Tasmania — No published domestic cut-off — UCAT-ANZ only separates applicants who share an ATAR, so there is no threshold to quote. UTAS sums the three cognitive subtests only (Verbal Reasoning, Decision…

GAMSAT cut-offs. Notre Dame Sydney — Minimum total of 52 with at least 50 in each subsection; UNDA uses the unweighted average of the three GAMSAT sections, not the overall weighted score. Notre Dame publishes the average GAMSAT of… Tasmania — Previous-higher-education route: minimum score of 50 in all three sections of GAMSAT.

Accepted sittings are the same as those used by GEMSAS, although the application itself goes direct to UTAS, 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

Notre Dame Sydney requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.2/7.0 (weighted from 3 years FTE); GAMSAT 52 overall + 50 in each subsection; Casper (mandatory — applicants without a Casper score are not considered; last accepted sitting 11 June 2026 for the 2026-27 cycle); recorded/asynchronous online MMI.

Tasmania requires School-leaver: minimum adjusted ATAR 95 (the bar to be considered — UTAS publishes no competitive cut-off or ATAR profile) + a valid UCAT-ANZ score, used only to separate applicants sitting on the same ATAR.

International school leavers need an ATAR-equivalent of 90 plus one of UCAT-ANZ at or above the 50th percentile, ISAT 170 overall (165 in each section), or MCAT 491 from the last five years; ISAT and MCAT are not accepted from domestic applicants. Applicants with previous higher education: minimum unweighted GPA 5.25 + GAMSAT minimum 50 in all three sections.

Year 12 English and Chemistry (within the last 5 years) are prerequisites. No interview in standard selection — the Aboriginal Entry Pathway is the one exception.

ATAR. Notre Dame Sydney — no published cut-off. Tasmania — Domestic: minimum adjusted ATAR 95 — explicitly the minimum needed for an application to be considered, not a guarantee of an offer (UTAS: "achieving the minimum entry requirements does not guarantee…

Graduate-entry GPA. Notre Dame Sydney — Minimum weighted GPA of 5.2/7.0 over three FTE years, with GPA years progressively weighted Final-minus-2 x1, Final-minus-1 x2, Final x3. Notre Dame publishes the average GPA of applicants OFFERED AN… Tasmania — Previous-higher-education entry: minimum unweighted GPA 5.25 — the bar for an application to be considered, not a competitive GPA.

Calculated across all tertiary study at AQF 7 and above (the first…

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

Notre Dame Sydney uses MMI (MMI (recorded/asynchronous online); live online panel for international applicants); Tasmania uses Interview (No interview in standard selection — ATAR-first ranking with UCAT-ANZ tiebreaker (Aboriginal Entry Pathway applicants are interviewed; UTAS publishes no format)).

These two formats reward different skills — MMI emphasises breadth, station-recovery and structured answers under time pressure, while Interview rewards malleability and intellectual honesty.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, either may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Notre Dame Sydney is the better fit.

Interview windows: Notre Dame Sydney interviews in September-October (GEMSAS: interview offers released early September 2026); Tasmania in No interview (standard entry). Aboriginal Entry Pathway applicants are interviewed by representatives of the Medicine Admissions Committee; UTAS does not publish an interview window..

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. Foundation Years 1-2 are delivered principally through Problem Based Learning in small groups led by a clinician; Clinical Years 3 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine (course code H3X; minimum 5 years, maximum 7; AQF level 7; 500 credit points —

Intake size: Notre Dame Sydney — 2027 cycle: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + up to 57 full-fee domestic (via GEMSAS) + up to 35 full-fee international (direct…; Tasmania — UTAS does not publish a total intake for the BMedScMD, and no ATAR/selection-rank or student profile is published for the course on….

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

Post-interview offer rate

Notre Dame Sydney: Not publicly disclosed. Tasmania: N/A — no interview.

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 Sydney: Notre Dame retired its selection Portfolio from the 2024 intake and put Casper in its place as the non-academic component; the interview format was not part of that change.

Casper is 30% of the pre-interview composite — the same weighting Notre Dame Fremantle uses — while Wollongong leans on Casper harder still, ranking for interview on 50% Casper plus 50% UOW admissions bonuses. Catholic ethos shapes the curriculum (medical ethics, end-of-life care, social justice) but the program is open to applicants of all faiths and none.

Strong placement network in Sydney Catholic and public hospitals, extending to Werribee Mercy and St John of God Ballarat in Victoria.

Notre Dame also runs entry pathways no other Australian medical school offers: a Priority Entry Pathway reserving MD places for its own Bachelor of Biomedical Science graduates (first Priority Entry in the 2026-27 intake, for students admitted to that degree from 2024 onwards; GPA >=6.0, unweighted GAMSAT >=55, Casper no lower than 1 SD below the mean, Notre Dame preferenced first through GEMSAS), plus facilitated interview pathways reaching the Sydney campus for Notre Dame undergraduate graduates (up to 10 across Fremantle and Sydney), Notre Dame Graduate Diploma or Master of Health and Medical Sciences graduates (up to 25) and ACU Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences graduates (up to 5, Sydney only).

Notre Dame's Pre-Medicine Certificate facilitated pathway is a Fremantle pathway and does not apply at Sydney. 2027 cycle: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + up to 57 full-fee domestic through GEMSAS, plus up to 35 full-fee international places that are NOT offered through GEMSAS in 2027 — international applicants must apply direct to Notre Dame's International Admissions Office.

GEMSAS notes the numbers are subject to change and that the quota includes the assured and priority pathways.

Tasmania: Tasmania is the only medical school in the state, and from 2026 it runs at all three campuses — Hobart, Launceston and Cradle Coast (Burnie) — with applicants ranked and offers made separately against each campus.

Residency, not a stratospheric ATAR, is the dominant lever: at least 75% of domestic places go to Tasmanians, 50% to rural MM2-7 applicants including 25% from MM3-7, and the Rural Application Process adds 4 ATAR points for MM2 and 5 for MM3-7 Year 12 leavers. The minimum adjusted ATAR is 95 and UTAS publishes no cut-off or student profile.

Twenty places sit in the Tasmanian Rural Training Stream at Cradle Coast. The Aboriginal Entry Pathway waives the clinical aptitude test (UCAT or GAMSAT) but adds a personal supporting statement and an interview with representatives of the Medicine Admissions Committee.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Notre Dame Sydney needs GAMSAT, CASPer and MCAT, Tasmania needs UCAT-ANZ, GAMSAT, ISAT and MCAT. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two.

Check your state of origin before you apply — Notre Dame Sydney draws heavily on New South Wales applicants and Tasmania on Tasmania, and an interstate application often faces a materially higher bar. They suit different stages too: Notre Dame Sydney is graduate entry, Tasmania is both undergraduate and graduate entry.

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

Notre Dame Sydney uses GAMSAT, CASPer and MCAT. Tasmania uses UCAT-ANZ, GAMSAT, ISAT 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.