How to get into UNSW Medicine
Your 2027 Entry step-by-step guide
UNSW Sydney (UNSW) in Sydney, NSW runs a school-leaver medicine program for 2027 entry. Admission tests listed: UCAT-ANZ and ISAT. Published hurdles: ATAR — minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international). UNSW holds a panel interview. Decisions for 2027 entry: January 2027-February 2027 (UAC offer rounds).
- Interviews (2027 entry)
- November 2026 (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December 2026 (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December 2026-January 2027 (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January 2027 round for NZ applicants with late results
- Decisions (2027 entry)
- January 2027-February 2027 (UAC offer rounds)
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UNSW expects Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (91.00 for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme) plus a UCAT ANZ result at or above the 50th percentile (40th for rural); these are hurdles, not competitive marks. English Standard assumed knowledge only - no maths, chemistry or biology prerequisite.
Selection concludes with a structured interview with two interviewers. for Medicine (MBBS/MD) and uses Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI) for interviews in the 2027 Entry cycle.
Entry is undergraduate and selection uses UCAT-ANZ and ISAT; applications close through GEMSAS or your state TAC (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC), and CSP, BMP and full-fee places are all capped, so treat the standard above as a threshold to clear rather than a target to aim at.
This guide is written for 2027 Entry applicants and updated annually before each GEMSAS / UAC cycle. Sources include UNSW Sydney's official course page, GEMSAS, the UCAT-ANZ Consortium, ACER (GAMSAT), and direct conversations with current students. Read time: ~12 minutes.
UNSW Sydney's official course page could not be reached when we last tried to re-check these figures, so treat them as indicative for 2027 entry and confirm them with the school.
UNSW at a glance
| ATAR | Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international) |
|---|---|
| UCAT-ANZ | UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway |
| Interview format | Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI) |
| Interviews (2027 entry) | November 2026 (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December 2026 (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December 2026-January 2027 (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January 2027 round for NZ applicants with late results |
| Decisions (2027 entry) | January 2027-February 2027 (UAC offer rounds) |
UNSW entry requirements
| Pathway | Undergraduate (school-leaver) entry |
|---|---|
| ATAR floor | Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (General and international); 91.00 without adjustment for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme. For 2026 entry UNSW published a lowest ATAR to which an offer was made of 99.75 (local General), 94.25 (Gateway, via a Gateway Early Conditional Offer) and 91.05 (Rural) - defined as the lowest ATAR before adjustment factors, not a threshold. UNSW publishes no interview-shortlist ATAR. It does publish a whole-programme ATAR Profile (highest, median and lowest ATAR and Selection Rank), but that is a past-intake cohort profile spanning all entry schemes and is not an entry cut-off. |
| Contextual ATAR | Medicine is explicitly excluded from HSC Plus, and the Medicine ATAR minimums must be met without EAS/adjustment points. Contextual access runs through separate schemes instead: the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile) and the Gateway Entry Scheme for applicants at a Gateway school and/or living in a low-SEIFA (IEO) area (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 50th percentile, approximately 20 offers a year). |
| Admission tests | UCAT-ANZ, ISAT |
| UCAT-ANZ | UNSW publishes a hard minimum: UCAT ANZ 50th percentile or above for General, Gateway, Lateral and international entry, and 40th percentile or above for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. It publishes no competitive cut-off. On the current /2700 three-subtest scale the official UCAT ANZ 2026 sitting (used for 2027 entry) had a median total cognitive score of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340, so on the national distribution the 50th-percentile gate maps to roughly 1,950 for that sitting - our derivation, not a UNSW figure, and it moves with each cohort. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total cognitive score only; Situational Judgement is reported as a separate scaled score (300-900) and is not part of the cognitive total. |
| Interview | Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI) |
| Place types | Government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing places plus a Faculty-agreed 100 international places (AMC accreditation report, February 2024 - no more recent published figure). 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are allocated as Bonded Medical Program places, filled from the ranking after unbonded places are exhausted; New Zealand citizens, Indigenous Entry Scheme and Gateway Entry Scheme entrants are not offered bonded places. UNSW does not publish an offer-level CSP/BMP/international breakdown. |
| Indigenous pathway | Indigenous Entry Scheme, applied for through Nura Gili alongside the UAC application. Applicants do not sit UCAT ANZ and ATAR is not considered; selection rests on proof of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage, evidence of academic capability, communication and interpersonal skills, and commitment to Indigenous health, assessed via the three-week residential Pre-Medicine & Health Program. No quota is published - the AMC 2024 accreditation report notes roughly 10 Indigenous students enrol each year. Entrants may be allocated to Kensington, Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga and are not offered bonded places. |
| Bonded / rural | The Rural Entry Admission Pathway (REAP) lowers the minimum to ATAR 91.00 without adjustment and UCAT ANZ 40th percentile for applicants who lived in an MMM 2-7 area for five consecutive or ten cumulative years between ages 5 and 18. UNSW states that all applicants meeting the rurality eligibility are offered an interview because academic results are not assessed until later in the year, though its FAQ adds that the UCAT ANZ cut-off must also be met. Offer-holders are allocated to Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga (a small group to Kensington). The AMC 2024 accreditation report records a separate rural quota of at least 28% of UNSW's yearly domestic intake. Separately, the Australian Government requires 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places to be Bonded Medical Program places; UNSW fills unbonded places from the top of the ranking first, then bonded, with no separate application. Bonded places are not available to New Zealand citizens and are not offered to Indigenous or Gateway entrants. |
Minimum eligibility ATAR 96.00 without EAS adjustment (91.00 for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway and the Gateway Entry Scheme) plus a UCAT ANZ result at or above the 50th percentile (40th for rural); these are hurdles, not competitive marks. English Standard assumed knowledge only - no maths, chemistry or biology prerequisite. Selection concludes with a structured interview with two interviewers.
Year 12 ATAR (or equivalent international qualification) plus the admission test are the academic gateway; interview performance then determines the final offer.
UCAT-ANZ
UCAT-ANZ is a 2-hour computer-based aptitude test (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, and a separately-banded Situational Judgement Test). Sat between July and early August. The UCAT-ANZ Consortium operates separately from the UK UCAT — scores are NOT interchangeable.
Working towards the UCAT score UNSW expects? Build a week-by-week plan from your test date — free for the first two weeks.
Written submissions
Australia has no equivalent of the UK's single UCAS personal statement. GEMSAS graduate-entry applications use GAMSAT + GPA without a written component; most state-TAC undergraduate applications use ATAR + UCAT-ANZ without a written component. The schools that DO require written content (JCU portfolio, Notre Dame Sydney/Fremantle questionnaire, Wollongong short answers, Bond essays) each ask different, school-specific questions. Treat each school's prompt set as a discrete short-answer test - do not recycle a single document across multiple schools.
Limits are school-specific. JCU portfolio responses: typically 250-500 words per question. Notre Dame questionnaire: 250-400 words per response. Wollongong short answers: ~300 words each. Bond essays: 500 words. Read the current cycle's prompt brief for each school carefully - limits and prompts shift cycle-to-cycle.
Five things that win
Four things that lose
Worked-example opener (do not copy — for shape only)
"At 14, watching the geriatrician on my rural placement explain a Goals of Care decision to a frightened daughter, I realised that medicine is as much about clarity in language as it is about clinical knowledge. The conversation lasted nine minutes; the silence afterwards lasted longer. Since then I have spent…"
Notice: a specific scene rather than a cliché, a precise detail (the nine-minute conversation), and a closing sentence that bridges to the next paragraph. We have a step-by-step written-submissions service if you want a tutor to help shape yours.
The MMI interview at UNSW
UNSW uses Structured interview with two interviewers (not an MMI). For 2027 entry, interviews typically take place in November 2026 (Rural Entry Admission Pathway), mid-December 2026 (Lateral Entry, one interview day), and December 2026-January 2027 (General and Gateway), with a final mid-January 2027 round for NZ applicants with late results. Final decisions are released January 2027-February 2027 (UAC offer rounds).
At UNSW, expect the following from the MMI. Multiple Mini Interviews - typically 6-10 stations of 5-8 minutes each, often with reading time before each station. Stations rotate; assessors do not see your performance at previous stations, so a poor station does not derail the rest. Most Australian MMIs run in October-December, in person or via video link (Modern Hire / Zoom).
How the UNSW MMI actually runs
UNSW does not run an MMI. Selected applicants attend a single structured interview with two interviewers - academic staff, medical practitioners or community representatives, balanced where possible by gender and clinician/non-clinician. Questions probe behaviours, thoughts and attitudes in response to scenarios, and the pair classify each applicant as highly suitable, suitable, maybe suitable or not suitable.
All domestic interviews are face-to-face: Kensington campus for General, Gateway and Lateral Entry, and the nearest Rural Clinical Campus (Wagga Wagga, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour or Albury) for the Rural Entry Admission Pathway. International applicants are interviewed via Zoom by a panel of two. Your Medicine Application Form is shared with your interviewers beforehand.
UNSW does not publish the interview length or the number of questions, and rescheduling is not permitted once an interview is booked.
What they assess
What UNSW assessors are scoring: MMI assessors score against a structured rubric for each station - usually a 4-5 point scale per skill (communication, empathy, ethical reasoning, scientific knowledge). You don't need to be perfect; you need to demonstrate you can think on your feet, listen, and reflect honestly.
Common station / question themes
- Motivation for medicine (why this career, why now, why this school)
- Ethical scenarios (consent, capacity, end-of-life care, Medicare resource allocation)
- Role play (often with an actor - break difficult news, support a distressed peer)
- Communication & teamwork (describe a time you led, follow instructions to assemble something)
- Data interpretation (read a graph, justify a clinical decision)
- Personal portfolio / written-submission deep dive at one station
- Awareness of the Australian healthcare system (Medicare, rural workforce, Indigenous health outcomes)
- Reflection on work experience and clinical exposure
Sample questions you might face at UNSW
Why medicine rather than another health-care career?
Describe a time you worked in a team - what was your contribution?
A patient refuses life-saving treatment. How would you respond?
Discuss a current issue affecting rural or remote healthcare in Australia.
Walk me through what you observed during your clinical experience and what you learned.
If you had to choose between two patients for a single ICU bed, how would you decide?
Tell me about a non-academic interest and what it has taught you.
What concerns you about a career in medicine in Australia?
Model-answer guidance: “Why medicine?”
Our MMI prep programme covers ethics frameworks (SPIES, the four pillars), structured behavioural answers (STAR), and live mock interviews with admissions specialists.
Practise the UNSW interview
Rehearse the real format before the day — on demand with our AI interviewers, or live with a tutor.
Sit a mock with photoreal AI interviewers — any time
A timed MMI or panel interview on video — Australian & international voices — with interviewers who listen, react and press with follow-ups. Rubric-scored feedback and a replay the moment you finish.
Live mocks with a tutor who’s been in the room
A full UNSW-style mock with a medic or dentist tutor — honest scoring against real marking criteria, a station-by-station debrief and a written action plan.
Book a mock interviewMonth-by-month timeline for 2027 Entry
The cycle runs roughly January 2025 (start of prep) through GEMSAS preference lock and state-TAC deadlines in September 2026, MMIs in October-December 2026, to first-round offers in December 2026 and course start in late January / early February 2027. Here are the milestones you cannot miss.
Decide and start work / clinical experience
Confirm medicine or dentistry as your career direction. Start banking clinical exposure (hospital volunteering, GP shadowing, aged-care or disability-support roles) and non-clinical experience (research assistant, peer tutoring, leadership). Australian schools weight reflection over hours - track what each placement taught you.
Begin UCAT-ANZ / GAMSAT prep
Open your prep window 6-9 months before the test sitting. UCAT-ANZ candidates focus on the 4 sub-tests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Situational Judgement). GAMSAT candidates focus on Section I (Humanities), Section II (Written Communication) and Section III (Sciences) - the Section III sciences gap is the most common reason graduates under-perform.
GAMSAT March sitting
ACER GAMSAT March test date. Scores released early May. Most graduate-entry applicants sit GAMSAT in March of their apply year so results are available before GEMSAS preferences open.
UCAT-ANZ registration + GEMSAS portal info
UCAT-ANZ registration opens (test sat in July). GEMSAS portal information released for graduate-entry medicine. ATAR-tracking begins for current Year 12 applicants.
GEMSAS portal opens + UCAT-ANZ booking
GAMSAT March results released (late May). GEMSAS applications open 1 May and close 29 May across the ten consortium schools (ANU, Deakin, Griffith, Macquarie, Melbourne, Notre Dame Fremantle, Notre Dame Sydney, UQ, UWA, Wollongong). Sydney, Flinders and Monash are NOT in GEMSAS and need separate direct applications. UCAT-ANZ booking deadline is 15 May.
GEMSAS preference entry opens
Rank up to 6 preferences across the 8 GEMSAS schools. ACER GAMSAT September registration window opens (a second sitting option for applicants who under-performed in March).
UCAT-ANZ test window
Take UCAT-ANZ between early July and early August. There is one sitting per cycle - no retake until the following year. Results are released to state TACs (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC) in October. State TACs (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC) accept undergraduate medicine preferences from July onwards.
GEMSAS preferences lock + direct apps close
GEMSAS interview offers issued in early September; consortium interviews run September-October. ACER GAMSAT September sitting - too late for this cycle, results land mid-November. JCU QTAC + JCU-portal applications close 30 September. State-TAC medicine preferences close 25-30 September. (Bond's QTAC round does not open until January.)
MMI invitations issued
Most graduate-entry consortium schools issue MMI invitations through October. Bond runs its structured interview cycle. UCAT-ANZ results released to state TACs for undergraduate ranking. State TAC preference changes typically close late October.
MMIs run + ATAR results
MMIs run across consortium schools, Bond, JCU and Macquarie through October-December. ATAR results released to state TACs for school-leaver undergraduate applicants. GAMSAT September results released for applicants who sat the second window.
First-round offers
First-round offers released by GEMSAS, state TACs and direct-application schools. Acceptance deadlines are typically within 10 days of offer - reply on time or forfeit the place. Some schools release a second offer round in early January.
Late offers + course start
Late-round offers released through January. Deferral requests due. Orientation week is scheduled by most schools for late January or early February, with first-year teaching commencing late January / early February.
What makes UNSW different
UNSW runs a 6-year direct-entry Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine (BMed MD): two foundation years, a clinical third year, a dedicated research fourth year (Independent Learning Project or Medicine Honours) and two final clinical years. Four schemes sit alongside general entry - the Rural Entry Admission Pathway (ATAR 91.00, UCAT ANZ 40th percentile, end-to-end study at Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga), the Gateway Entry Scheme for low-SES applicants (~20 offers), the Lateral Entry Scheme from the UNSW BMedSc (up to 10 offers) and the Indigenous Entry Scheme via Nura Gili. Interview shortlisting uses selection rank and UCAT ANZ total score only; the final rank then adds a structured two-interviewer interview score. UNSW states it does not disclose the ranking algorithm and does not average the three components.
Notable research areas
Curriculum (Integrated)
6-year Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine, 288 units of credit, taught in three vertically integrated phases. Phase 1 (years 1-2): scenario-based basic medical sciences, clinical skills, ethics and socio-cultural aspects of health. Phase 2: year 3 is clinical placement three days a week; year 4 is a research year - the Independent Learning Project or the Medicine Honours Program - plus 12 UOC of general education from outside Medicine & Health. Phase 3 (years 5-6): ten eight-week, largely hospital-based courses covering Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Primary Care, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Children's Health and Emergency/Selective.
Location: Sydney, Australia
Founded in 1961. Whether the city suits you matters - five or six years is a long commitment. Visit on an open day if you can; current students will be the most honest assessors of culture and clinical placement quality.
Read the full UNSW course guide — integrated + case-based learning, 6 years (direct entry), with placements in Sydney, rural New South Wales and north-eastern Victoria.
Application statistics for UNSW
UNSW intake
The AMC's February 2024 UNSW accreditation report records a government-set quota of 198 domestic commencing students and a Faculty-agreed quota of 100 international students, with about 90% of the commencing cohort school leavers; UNSW has not published an updated figure since. UNSW does not publish a current-cycle CSP/BMP/international split; 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places are Bonded Medical Program places.
How UNSW selects, at a glance
Source: UNSW Sydney admissions data; GEMSAS / state-TAC published statistics; ACER (GAMSAT) and UCAT-ANZ Consortium decile data; recent FOI responses.
Six mistakes that derail medicine applications
UNSW — frequently asked questions
Sources for this UNSW guide
Apply to UNSW with confidence
We have helped hundreds of applicants turn their GAMSAT / UCAT-ANZ, portfolio and MMI prep into offers from UNSW and other Australian medicine schools.