Notre Dame Sydney and UQ 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.
| Comparison field | Notre Dame SydneySydney | UQHerston |
|---|---|---|
Quick comparison | ||
| Location | Sydney, Australia | Herston, Australia |
| Entry pathway | Graduate | Graduate |
| Admission tests | GAMSAT + CASPer | GAMSAT |
| 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. | 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: 25% ATAR/GPA + 25% UCAT/GAMSAT + 50% MMI (Fraser's reconstruction). |
| UCAT-ANZ | - | Provisional Entry (school-leaver) only — 2025 intake lowest invited UCAT-ANZ 3110 (non-rural) / 2670 (Rural Access). 25% ATAR + 25% UCAT (cognitive sections only, excluding SJT) + 50% MMI. |
| ATAR | - | - |
| Interview format | MMI (asynchronous online via Modern Hire) | Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations) |
| Post-interview chance | Not publicly disclosed. | ~40% interview-to-offer. |
| Decision date | November-December | November-December |
Sydney
Quick comparison
Herston
Quick comparison
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; MMI (Modern Hire asynchronous).. UQ requires Bachelor degree with minimum GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT overall 50+ with section minima 50+; MMI.. Both demand the same A-Level grade band, so academic prediction is unlikely to differentiate your application between them — provided you meet the required subject combination at each.
Both Notre Dame Sydney and UQ 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 Sydney runs mmi (asynchronous online via modern hire); UQ runs multi-mini interview (8 stations). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep. Interview windows: Notre Dame Sydney interviews in September-November; UQ in October-November.
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 with clinical immersion; years 3-4 hospital and rural placements. Mandatory medical ethics thread runs acros 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: Notre Dame Sydney — 2027 cycle: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + up to 57 Full-fee domestic + up to 35 international = ~149 total (Fraser's Notre Dame MD 2027 Guide; GEMSAS Notre Dame Sydney).; UQ — 2027 graduate intake: 107 CSP + 43 BMP + up to 190 international = up to 340 total (reduced from 350). Plus ~140 Provisional Entry CSP (school-leaver) with 28% reserved for Rural Access Scheme.. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.
Notre Dame Sydney: Not publicly disclosed.. UQ: ~40% interview-to-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.
Notre Dame Sydney: Notre Dame Sydney 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). 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. 2027 cycle: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + 57 FFP + 35 international = ~149 total. UQ: UQ runs Australia's largest 4-year graduate-entry MD (~470 places), anchored across the Herston Health Sciences precinct and the Princess Alexandra, Royal Brisbane, Mater, and Gold Coast clinical schools. The Ochsner Clinical School in New Orleans offers an internationally co-badged pathway. Pre-interview ranking is a weighted GAMSAT + GPA composite; the MMI and MSA together carry significant weight in the final offer composite.
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.
