VAD Eligibility Criteria
What are the typical eligibility criteria for VAD across Australian jurisdictions?
Likely follow-up · Why is decision-making capacity central?
Photo: Rob Deutscher from Melbourne, Australia · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
Step-by-step: entry requirements, admission-test prep, personal statement, interview format and the key deadlines.
Open the guide →Format breakdown, school-specific sample questions, FAQs and prep tips from tutors who interviewed here.
Read the guide →Monash runs Australia's largest medical program, with two pathways: a 5-year undergraduate MD (Direct Entry) and a 4-year graduate MD at Gippsland. Teaching is based at the Clayton campus. Placements extend across Monash Health (Clayton, Dandenong, and Casey), Peninsula Health, and rural clinical schools at Mildura and Bendigo.
Monash runs a dual-pathway MD: Direct Entry (M6011, 5-year BMedSc+MD at Clayton, UCAT-ANZ + ATAR) and Graduate Entry (4-year MD at Gippsland / Churchill campus). Graduate Entry MD requires Monash undergraduate study (closed to external grads since 2017 GAMSAT removal); no GAMSAT required for the graduate pathway.
The Direct Entry December round uses UCAT-only ranking before ATAR is released; the January round uses combined UCAT + ATAR.
Integrated curriculum. Direct Entry 5-year MD: years 1-2 foundations and clinical skills at Clayton; years 3-5 clinical placements across Monash Health, Peninsula, and rural clinical schools. Graduate Entry 4-year MD at the Gippsland (Churchill) campus, restricted to Monash (and Federation Uni Gippsland Partnership) Bachelor of Biomedical Science / Pharmacy Hons / Physiotherapy Hons / designated BSc graduates.
Both streams converge into the same hospital and rural placement networks.
Monash is strong in these research areas:
Format: Multi-Mini Interview (8 stations × 8 min, 2 min reading)
Monash MMI uses 8 stations of 8 minutes each (with 2 minutes reading), delivered on the Clayton campus or virtually depending on cohort. Stations assess advocacy, collaboration, critical thinking, empathy, ethical reasoning, motivation, and resilience. Both undergraduate (Direct Entry) and Graduate Entry applicants progress to the same MMI format after pre-interview ranking.
Graduate Entry additionally includes an SJT (~90 minutes); MMI runs ~60-70 minutes across 6 stations for grad-entry.
Direct Entry (Clayton): ~264 domestic (234 + 30 ERC). Graduate Entry (Gippsland): ~70 domestic + 30 Rural End-to-End + ~30 international. Total combined ~390+ (Fraser's Monash MD 2027 guide).
Founded in 1961. Based in Clayton.
Programmes offered:
Monash Direct Entry does NOT use CASPer — public 2025-2026 documentation (Monash, Acuity Insights, MedEntry, Fraser's, GradReady) is consistent on this. Prepare instead for UCAT-ANZ cognitive plus the December/January round split (December = UCAT-only ranking, January = UCAT + ATAR). For the Graduate Entry stream, focus on demonstrating Monash undergraduate readiness — external graduates cannot apply. The MMI assesses advocacy, collaboration, critical thinking, empathy, ethics, motivation, and resilience: bring 8-10 concrete anecdotes spanning those domains.
Two questions our tutors flagged as a strong fit for Monash’s interview style. Try answering them out loud, then open Prometheus for the model answers and follow-up tips.
What are the typical eligibility criteria for VAD across Australian jurisdictions?
Likely follow-up · Why is decision-making capacity central?
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Learn moreCompiled from Monash University School of Medicine's published admissions material and checked for internal consistency. Not independently re-checked against the official course page for 2027 entry — confirm the figures with the school before you rely on them.
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