Question 1

What admission tests do Notre Dame Sydney and UWA use?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney uses GAMSAT, CASPer and MCAT. UWA 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.

Question 2

What GAMSAT score do I need for Notre Dame Sydney vs UWA?

Accepted Answer

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 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. UWA — Graduate Pathway: minimum GAMSAT 55 overall with no section below 50. Scores are valid for four years as at the application closing date — for 2028 commencement the earliest accepted sitting is September 2023 and the latest March 2027. Applicants holding more than one valid score may use their best, not necessarily the most recent. 2027 interview shortlist: 60% GPA + 40% GAMSAT (both GAMSAT and GPA are standardised before shortlisting, and all scores are standardised prior to final ranking). Domestic applicants who were successful in obtaining an interview for 2026 entry averaged GAMSAT 68.53 (GEMSAS) — an interview-invite average, not an offer-holder average; UWA and GEMSAS publish no offer-holder figures. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. GAMSAT results are valid for four years with ACER, but some graduate MD programs accept only the most recent two cycles — verify before relying on an older sitting.

Question 3

What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Notre Dame Sydney vs UWA?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney — does not publish a UCAT-ANZ cut-off (may not use UCAT-ANZ; check the admission-test question above). UWA — Required only for the domestic Assured Pathway (High Academic Achiever, Rural and Broadway quotas), and it must be sat in the year of application — a score cannot be carried over. UWA publishes no threshold: 'There is no set minimum score requirement; the UCAT ANZ threshold is set by ranking within each quota each year. Minimum results from previous years are not published.' Ranking uses the cognitive total only — the sum of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning, scored 900-2700 — while Situational Judgement is reported separately (300-900) and UWA 'reserves the right' to use it in future. Figures on the retired /3600 four-subtest scale are not comparable and cannot be ratio-converted to /2700. International school leavers sit ISAT, not UCAT-ANZ. 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.

Question 4

What ATAR do I need for Notre Dame Sydney vs UWA?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney — ATAR data not published in the structured AU requirements; see free-text admission requirements on the school page. UWA — Direct Pathway: HAA / Broadway / Rural streams require ATAR 98 minimum; Indigenous school-leaver pathway minimum ATAR 90, with the School of Indigenous Studies (or askUWA) as first contact. The Boola Boola Djinda / CAMDH route is the GRADUATE Indigenous pathway and uses no ATAR at all. TISC publishes no rank data for UG056 (Doctor of Medicine via Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) Assured Pathway) — both the minimum rank for consideration and the lowest selection rank offered are listed as n/a, because selection is not rank-only. The separate standalone Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) (UP056) ran 92.00 minimum / 96.65 lowest selection rank (2024 admission), 92.00 / 97.50 (2025) and 95.00 / 97.70 (2026). 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.

Question 5

What GPA do I need for Notre Dame Sydney vs UWA?

Accepted Answer

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 INTERVIEW at Sydney: 6.68 (2024 entry), 6.76 (2025 entry), 6.74 (2026 entry). These are shortlist averages, not thresholds, and UNDA states they exclude applicants considered on additional criteria including rurality and facilitated interview pathway eligibility. No official source supports a ~6.3 'competitive target' or any 2023 figure. UWA — Graduate Pathway minimum GPA 5.5 at the time of interview selection, unweighted, calculated over the most recent three full-time-equivalent years (3 FTE = 144 credit points at UWA), excluding credit/advanced standing. A completed PhD, or a completed UWA Doctor of Dental Medicine, is deemed a GPA of 7.0; a completed Masters by research adds a 0.2 bonus. There is no 10-year rule. Domestic applicants who were successful in obtaining an interview for 2026 entry averaged GPA 6.82 (GEMSAS) — an interview-invite average, not an offer-holder average and not a threshold; the published minimum is GPA 5.5 at the time of interview selection. Assured Pathway: students complete the 3-year Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) with the Integrated Medical Sciences and Clinical Practice major (TISC application code UG056; UWA course code BP056), holding the conditional MD place by achieving a selection GPA of at least 5.5 within the first two years; the major carries one year of credit into the MD, so both degrees finish in six years. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. Many AU graduate MD programs treat the GPA as a hurdle (above the floor, all candidates are weighted equally on GAMSAT and interview) rather than as a sliding-scale rank — confirm each school's specific model.

Question 6

How do interviews differ between Notre Dame Sydney and UWA?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney uses: MMI (recorded/asynchronous online); live online panel for international applicants. UWA uses: Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations x 7 minutes) for domestic applicants; panel of two interviewers (~50 minutes) for international applicants. Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: September-October (GEMSAS: interview offers released early September 2026) (Notre Dame Sydney); Late September-early October (graduate MD, expected online); 30 November-11 December 2026 (domestic school leaver). International: main round May, second round late July/early August. (UWA).

Question 7

What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Notre Dame Sydney and UWA offer?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney — 2027: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + up to 57 full-fee domestic + up to 35 full-fee international (at most about 149), subject to change; international places are offered direct by UNDA, not through GEMSAS. Offers are made CSP first, BMP second, full-fee third, and once an offer is accepted the fee category is confirmed and cannot be changed for the duration of the program. UWA — 2027 cycle: 206 domestic places plus approximately 40 international across both pathways, with up to 50% of places filled by school-leaver (Assured Pathway) entry and the remainder by graduate entry — GEMSAS lists up to 103 domestic graduate places. UWA designates 28.5% of Commonwealth supported places as Bonded Medical Places (the page also words this as 28.5% of all domestic places); within the domestic quota up to 10% is Indigenous and 30% rural, and 20 school-leaver places are reserved for Broadway schools. (Fraser's). Indigenous allocation up to 10% of domestic places. 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.

Question 8

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Notre Dame Sydney and UWA offer?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney — Dedicated Indigenous entry pathway led by UNDA's Indigenous Health and Medicine team, applied for DIRECTLY to Notre Dame rather than through GEMSAS. With Commonwealth Supported Places uncapped for First Nations students from 1 January 2026, GEMSAS states Notre Dame will offer CSPs to all successful Indigenous applicants over and above the quoted place numbers. Entry criteria: proof of Aboriginality; a three-year FTE undergraduate degree completed within the last 10 years (later tertiary study can restore eligibility); minimum GPA 5.0, with below-5.0 considered case by case; personal statement; CV; and a successful interview. Applications open 1 May, with rounds closing 31 May, 30 June, 31 August and 31 October 2026, and interviews commencing from June. UWA — Boola Boola Djinda ('Many, Many Stars'), established in 2025 as the successor to the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health (CAMDH, established 1996) and still referred to as CAMDH on UWA's MD page and by GEMSAS, runs the graduate Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander pathway for both the UWA MD and DMD: GPA 5.0 or above, no GAMSAT and no ATAR required, and a one-day panel interview at the centre. Two intakes (July and September) with applications due mid-June and mid-August and interviews at the end of July and end of September. Final ranking for Indigenous graduate applicants is on GPA and interview only. The school-leaver Indigenous route is separate — minimum ATAR 90 (vs 98 standard), with the School of Indigenous Studies as first contact. 2027 Indigenous allocation up to 10% of domestic 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.

Question 9

Does Notre Dame Sydney or UWA offer bonded / rural-entry places?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney — 17 Bonded Medical Program places for 2027, listed by GEMSAS as a separate line from the 40 CSPs — not a percentage of them. Separately from bonding, GEMSAS states that the equivalent of at least 28.5% of the University's Commonwealth-supported medical student allocation must be of rural background as defined by the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) Program, and applicants of demonstrated rural background (MM2-MM7) receive bonus points, which sit in the 10% bonus component alongside Higher Degree by Research completion. UWA — ~30% of domestic places allocated rural; eligibility requires a principal home address in a Modified Monash Model (MMM 2023) MM-2 to MM-7 area for five consecutive years or at least ten cumulative years, with school leavers lodging UWA's Rural Eligibility form via TISC by the TISC closing date and graduates submitting supporting documentation via GEMSAS (due 15 June 2026 for 2027 entry). 2027 final ranking (rural graduate): GPA 22.5% + GAMSAT 15% + Interview 37.5% + Rurality rating 25%. Rural school leavers: ATAR 22.5% + Interview 37.5% + UCAT-ANZ 15% + Rurality rating 25%. Standard non-rural final ranking: GPA 30% + GAMSAT 20% + Interview 50%. The federal BMP allocates ~28.5% of CSP places nationally; individual schools sit above or below that benchmark depending on their workforce remit.

Question 10

When does each school release decisions?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney typically releases medicine offers Late October-early November (main round); additional offers November 2026-January 2027. UWA releases medicine offers November-January (domestic: graduate offer rounds from November via GEMSAS, school-leaver offers on TISC timelines in December/January); international offers from late May and early August. 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.

Question 11

What curriculum style do Notre Dame Sydney and UWA use?

Accepted Answer

Notre Dame Sydney runs a Integrated curriculum. UWA runs a Integrated curriculum. Both schools deliver teaching in the same broad style, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar. Notre Dame Sydney 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 3-4 run across seven clinical schools in Sydney, Me UWA specifics: Assured Pathway: 3-year Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) with the Integrated Medical Sciences and Clinical Practice major (TISC code UG056, UWA code BP056), needing a selection GPA of 5.5 within

Question 12

Should I apply to both Notre Dame Sydney and UWA?

Accepted Answer

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; Notre Dame Sydney and UWA differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Comparison field	Notre Dame SydneySydney	UWACrawley
Quick comparison
Location	Sydney, Australia	Crawley, Australia
Entry pathway	Graduate	Dual (UG + Grad)
Admission tests	GAMSAT + CASPer + MCAT	UCAT-ANZ + GAMSAT + ISAT + 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.	Graduate Pathway: minimum GAMSAT 55 overall with no section below 50. Scores are valid for four years as at the application closing date — for 2028 commencement the earliest accepted sitting is September 2023 and the latest March 2027. Applicants holding more than one valid score may use their best, not necessarily the most recent. 2027 interview shortlist: 60% GPA + 40% GAMSAT (both GAMSAT and GPA are standardised before shortlisting, and all scores are standardised prior to final ranking). Domestic applicants who were successful in obtaining an interview for 2026 entry averaged GAMSAT 68.53 (GEMSAS) — an interview-invite average, not an offer-holder average; UWA and GEMSAS publish no offer-holder figures.
UCAT-ANZ	-	Required only for the domestic Assured Pathway (High Academic Achiever, Rural and Broadway quotas), and it must be sat in the year of application — a score cannot be carried over. UWA publishes no threshold: 'There is no set minimum score requirement; the UCAT ANZ threshold is set by ranking within each quota each year. Minimum results from previous years are not published.' Ranking uses the cognitive total only — the sum of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning, scored 900-2700 — while Situational Judgement is reported separately (300-900) and UWA 'reserves the right' to use it in future. Figures on the retired /3600 four-subtest scale are not comparable and cannot be ratio-converted to /2700. International school leavers sit ISAT, not UCAT-ANZ.
ATAR	-	Direct Pathway: HAA / Broadway / Rural streams require ATAR 98 minimum; Indigenous school-leaver pathway minimum ATAR 90, with the School of Indigenous Studies (or askUWA) as first contact. The Boola Boola Djinda / CAMDH route is the GRADUATE Indigenous pathway and uses no ATAR at all. TISC publishes no rank data for UG056 (Doctor of Medicine via Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) Assured Pathway) — both the minimum rank for consideration and the lowest selection rank offered are listed as n/a, because selection is not rank-only. The separate standalone Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) (UP056) ran 92.00 minimum / 96.65 lowest selection rank (2024 admission), 92.00 / 97.50 (2025) and 95.00 / 97.70 (2026).
Interview format	MMI (recorded/asynchronous online); live online panel for international applicants	Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations x 7 minutes) for domestic applicants; panel of two interviewers (~50 minutes) for international applicants
Post-interview chance	Not publicly disclosed.	Not publicly disclosed.
Decision date	Late October-early November (main round); additional offers November 2026-January 2027	November-January (domestic: graduate offer rounds from November via GEMSAS, school-leaver offers on TISC timelines in December/January); international offers from late May and early August

ATAR	-	Direct Pathway: HAA / Broadway / Rural streams require ATAR 98 minimum; Indigenous school-leaver pathway minimum ATAR 90, with the School of Indigenous Studies (or askUWA) as first contact. The Boola Boola Djinda / CAMDH route is the GRADUATE Indigenous pathway and uses no ATAR at all. TISC publishes no rank data for UG056 (Doctor of Medicine via Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) Assured Pathway) — both the minimum rank for consideration and the lowest selection rank offered are listed as n/a, because selection is not rank-only. The separate standalone Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) (UP056) ran 92.00 minimum / 96.65 lowest selection rank (2024 admission), 92.00 / 97.50 (2025) and 95.00 / 97.70 (2026).
Contextual ATAR	-	Indigenous school-leaver Assured Pathway minimum ATAR 90 (vs 98 standard), via the School of Indigenous Studies. For the Broadway and Rural quotas the ATAR 98 minimum is assessed AFTER applicable Broadway adjustments, and EAS or Uway adjustments are taken into account for all quotas. Rural school leavers carry a 25% rurality rating in the final ranking (ATAR 22.5% + interview 37.5% + UCAT-ANZ 15% + rurality 25%).
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.	Graduate Pathway: minimum GAMSAT 55 overall with no section below 50. Scores are valid for four years as at the application closing date — for 2028 commencement the earliest accepted sitting is September 2023 and the latest March 2027. Applicants holding more than one valid score may use their best, not necessarily the most recent. 2027 interview shortlist: 60% GPA + 40% GAMSAT (both GAMSAT and GPA are standardised before shortlisting, and all scores are standardised prior to final ranking). Domestic applicants who were successful in obtaining an interview for 2026 entry averaged GAMSAT 68.53 (GEMSAS) — an interview-invite average, not an offer-holder average; UWA and GEMSAS publish no offer-holder figures.
UCAT-ANZ	-	Required only for the domestic Assured Pathway (High Academic Achiever, Rural and Broadway quotas), and it must be sat in the year of application — a score cannot be carried over. UWA publishes no threshold: 'There is no set minimum score requirement; the UCAT ANZ threshold is set by ranking within each quota each year. Minimum results from previous years are not published.' Ranking uses the cognitive total only — the sum of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning, scored 900-2700 — while Situational Judgement is reported separately (300-900) and UWA 'reserves the right' to use it in future. Figures on the retired /3600 four-subtest scale are not comparable and cannot be ratio-converted to /2700. International school leavers sit ISAT, not UCAT-ANZ.
CASPer	Required from 2024 entry, weighted at 30% of the interview-shortlist composite, and mandatory — GEMSAS states applicants without a Casper score will not be considered. No quartile threshold is published for general entry. The only explicit Casper hurdle Notre Dame publishes sits in the Priority Entry Pathway, which requires a score no lower than 1 standard deviation below the mean; the facilitated interview pathways set GPA and GAMSAT hurdles but no Casper hurdle. Four 2026 sittings are accepted (12 April, 5 May, 14 May, 11 June), the 11 June 2026 test being the last accepted for domestic applicants in the 2026-27 cycle.	-
ISAT	-	-
GPA	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 INTERVIEW at Sydney: 6.68 (2024 entry), 6.76 (2025 entry), 6.74 (2026 entry). These are shortlist averages, not thresholds, and UNDA states they exclude applicants considered on additional criteria including rurality and facilitated interview pathway eligibility. No official source supports a ~6.3 'competitive target' or any 2023 figure.	Graduate Pathway minimum GPA 5.5 at the time of interview selection, unweighted, calculated over the most recent three full-time-equivalent years (3 FTE = 144 credit points at UWA), excluding credit/advanced standing. A completed PhD, or a completed UWA Doctor of Dental Medicine, is deemed a GPA of 7.0; a completed Masters by research adds a 0.2 bonus. There is no 10-year rule. Domestic applicants who were successful in obtaining an interview for 2026 entry averaged GPA 6.82 (GEMSAS) — an interview-invite average, not an offer-holder average and not a threshold; the published minimum is GPA 5.5 at the time of interview selection. Assured Pathway: students complete the 3-year Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) with the Integrated Medical Sciences and Clinical Practice major (TISC application code UG056; UWA course code BP056), holding the conditional MD place by achieving a selection GPA of at least 5.5 within the first two years; the major carries one year of credit into the MD, so both degrees finish in six years.
Prerequisites	-	-
Place types	2027: 40 CSP + 17 BMP + up to 57 full-fee domestic + up to 35 full-fee international (at most about 149), subject to change; international places are offered direct by UNDA, not through GEMSAS. Offers are made CSP first, BMP second, full-fee third, and once an offer is accepted the fee category is confirmed and cannot be changed for the duration of the program.	2027 cycle: 206 domestic places plus approximately 40 international across both pathways, with up to 50% of places filled by school-leaver (Assured Pathway) entry and the remainder by graduate entry — GEMSAS lists up to 103 domestic graduate places. UWA designates 28.5% of Commonwealth supported places as Bonded Medical Places (the page also words this as 28.5% of all domestic places); within the domestic quota up to 10% is Indigenous and 30% rural, and 20 school-leaver places are reserved for Broadway schools. (Fraser's). Indigenous allocation up to 10% of domestic places.
Indigenous pathway	Dedicated Indigenous entry pathway led by UNDA's Indigenous Health and Medicine team, applied for DIRECTLY to Notre Dame rather than through GEMSAS. With Commonwealth Supported Places uncapped for Fir…	Boola Boola Djinda ('Many, Many Stars'), established in 2025 as the successor to the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health (CAMDH, established 1996) and still referred to as CAMDH on UWA's M…
Bonded / rural	17 Bonded Medical Program places for 2027, listed by GEMSAS as a separate line from the 40 CSPs — not a percentage of them. Separately from bonding, GEMSAS states that the equivalent of at least 28.5%…	~30% of domestic places allocated rural; eligibility requires a principal home address in a Modified Monash Model (MMM 2023) MM-2 to MM-7 area for five consecutive years or at least ten cumulative yea…

Interview window	September-October (GEMSAS: interview offers released early September 2026)	Late September-early October (graduate MD, expected online); 30 November-11 December 2026 (domestic school leaver). International: main round May, second round late July/early August.
Interview details	Interview shortlist composite (2024+ cycles): 30% GAMSAT + 30% GPA + 30% CASPer + 10% bonus points. Final offer: 50% shortlist composite + 50% MMI. Interview shortlist composite: 30% GAMSAT + 30% GPA…	UWA MMI uses 8 numbered stations of 7 minutes each — 2 minutes to consider the written question, then 5 minutes with the interviewer — with the whole process taking approximately 70-75 minutes includi…

Specialities	Medical Ethics, Indigenous Health, Rural Medicine, Palliative Care	Rural and Remote Medicine, Indigenous Health, Tropical Medicine, Clinical Research, General Practice
Established	2008	1957
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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-in…	UWA is one of only a handful of Australian medical schools with a true dual-pathway entry: a 6-year Assured Pathway from school (3-year Bachelor of Biomedicine (Specialised) then the MD with one year…
Official course page	https://www.notredame.edu.au/programs/school-of-medicine/postgraduate/doctor-of-medicine	https://www.uwa.edu.au/study/courses/doctor-of-medicine

Notre Dame Sydney vs UWA

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Notre Dame Sydney

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