CSU Medicine at Charles Sturt University

CSU medicine is Charles Sturt University's Bachelor of Clinical Science (Medicine) / Doctor of Medicine, run by the School of Rural Medicine. It is a five-year full-time undergraduate degree. The first two years are at the Orange campus, and the later years are in rural clinical schools in New South Wales and Victoria. This page covers the degree, Charles Sturt University medicine entry requirements, and how Orange relates to Western Sydney's Campbelltown course.

Application dates, fees, and the published academic cut-offs for the intake you are applying to stay on Charles Sturt's admissions pages and on the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) listing.

What CSU medicine at Charles Sturt involves

Charles Sturt University medicine is a rural generalist degree. The School of Rural Medicine describes a problem-based learning hybrid aimed at the work of a rural doctor in primary care and in acute care. The first two years are on campus and cover anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, physiology, and population health, together with clinical skills and evidence-based medicine. From third year, most of the training is clinical placement across general, specialist, and interprofessional work. Students also complete a research project during the clinical years. The School states that the degree qualifies graduates to work as medical interns in Australia and New Zealand. Source: Charles Sturt School of Rural Medicine.

UAC's description of the same degree fills in how those years run. An e-portfolio starts in first year and continues across all five years. The research project is in third and fourth year. Clinical rotations include medicine, surgery, critical care, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, mental health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, and community health. Students also have short, regular clinical placements in the first two years. Orange teaching spaces named by UAC include an academic hub, a simulation ward, and a clinical skills centre opposite Orange Hospital, plus an anatomy education centre. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt medicine course 214478.

UAC states that the course is professionally accredited by the Australian Medical Council. The Council's list of accredited medical schools names the Bachelor of Clinical Science (Medicine) / Doctor of Medicine of Charles Sturt University School of Rural Medicine as that provider's primary medical program. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt medicine course 214478. Source: AMC accredited medical schools.

After graduation, UAC states that you start as an intern. Internship in New South Wales is managed by the Health Education and Training Institute, and internship in Victoria by the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria. One year of internship is required before registration as a medical practitioner in Australia. Applicants also need to meet the Medical Board of Australia's English language skills standard for initial registration. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt medicine course 214478. What happens from internship to general registration is set out in how to become a doctor in Australia .

UAC lists the course as a Commonwealth supported place. The student contribution for a given year is on Charles Sturt's own fee information. The School of Rural Medicine also points applicants to scholarships for this degree. Use the current university pages for both, because the amounts and the rules change.

Orange or Campbelltown

Orange and Campbelltown are the two campuses bound up with CSU medicine. They come from the Joint Program in Medicine: one five-year Bachelor of Clinical Science (Medicine) / Doctor of Medicine, delivered by Charles Sturt's School of Rural Medicine and Western Sydney's School of Medicine. The Australian Medical Council first accredited that partnership in October 2020, through to 31 March 2027. Each university kept its own school. Students and clinical sites identified with Charles Sturt or with Western Sydney. Source: AMC accreditation report, Charles Sturt University School of Rural Medicine, 2025.

In November 2023 Charles Sturt asked the Council to assess its delivery as a standalone program. Western Sydney supported that request. The Council treated dissolution of the Joint Program in Medicine as a material change and required a full accreditation assessment. On 13 August 2025 the Medical School Accreditation Committee accredited Charles Sturt's five-year degree to 31 March 2032, commencing January 2026, subject to the conditions in that report. Source: AMC accreditation report, 2025.

The Council's current list names Charles Sturt University School of Rural Medicine and Western Sydney University School of Medicine as separate providers. Source: AMC accredited medical schools. Ahpra's approved programs of study still lists the joint Charles Sturt and Western Sydney degree, approved from 28 October 2020, and a separate Charles Sturt degree approved from 27 August 2025. Read both rows on the current register if you are checking which program of study is approved. Source: Ahpra approved programs of study.

For courses starting in 2027, UAC publishes the campuses as separate preferences. Charles Sturt's Orange course is 214478. UAC describes it as a newly accredited, independent program, with the first two years in Orange and years three to five in rural clinical schools. Western Sydney's Campbelltown course is 725505. Source: UAC medicine key dates. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478. Source: Western Sydney Doctor of Medicine.

The School of Rural Medicine website still introduces the degree as the Joint Program in Medicine. Source: Charles Sturt School of Rural Medicine. When you choose a campus, use the preference on the current UAC listing and the admissions page for that intake. Those pages set the course code for the year. Western Sydney publishes its own applicant categories for the Campbelltown course, including Greater Western Sydney, on its general-applicant page. Charles Sturt's current Orange listing sets rural and non-rural requirements for the Orange course. Source: Western Sydney, general applicants for an MD.

A short national list of schools, including both universities, stays on Australian medical schools . This page is the Charles Sturt account of the degree. The Western Sydney account of the same degree history is on Western Sydney Medicine .

Charles Sturt University medicine entry requirements

Charles Sturt University medicine entry requirements are an academic threshold, UCAT ^® ANZ, and an interview if you are invited. You apply through UAC and include the Orange course as a preference. UAC states that a successful applicant cannot defer the program, and that there is no credit for previous study. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478.

UCAT ^® for undergraduate medicine is the aptitude test this course uses. On UAC's key dates, UCAT ^® ANZ performance decides who is invited to interview. The course listing itself does not print a UCAT ^® score for that invitation. UCAT ^® scores explains how results are read across undergraduate medicine. Confirm on Charles Sturt's current admissions page which sitting the intake accepts.

Invited applicants complete an online interview. UAC states that a place is then assessed on interview performance (75 per cent), UCAT ^® results (25 per cent), and meeting the academic threshold. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478. Schools design their own stations. The guide to MMIs explains the multiple mini interview as a format. Charles Sturt's invitation sets the arrangements for its interview.

UAC publishes the academic threshold for interviewed applicants. There is a minimum rank for people applying on secondary results, and a lower minimum for Rural Entry Admission. Applicants with university study are assessed on a grade point average. The listing gives a minimum for a completed undergraduate degree, and it points incomplete degrees, graduate certificates, graduate diplomas, and coursework master's degrees back to the course requirements, with a separate rural minimum. Chemistry is a recommended study. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478.

The ranks, the UAC preference deadline, the interview window, the offer round, and the fees are set for each intake. Read them on UAC and on Charles Sturt's admissions pages for the year you apply. Confirm on those same pages which citizenships and visas that intake accepts.

Rural Entry Admissions Scheme

The Rural Entry Admissions Scheme is Charles Sturt's defined rural route into the Orange course. UAC states that the scheme offers a minimum of 80 per cent of its interview places to rural students, and that it is open to current school leavers, non-current school leavers, and graduates.

On that listing, rural origin means living in an Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Area (ASGS-RA 2021) of 2 to 5 for at least five years consecutively, or ten years in total, starting from the age of five, and immediately before the medicine program starts. Every Rural Entry applicant uploads a completed Rural Confirmation form with the UAC application. The academic minimum for the scheme is the lower rank UAC publishes for interviewed applicants. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478.

First Nations applicants and current Charles Sturt students

First Nations applicants follow a different process. Charles Sturt asks them to contact the School of Rural Medicine before applying. UAC lists the school on 02 6365 7611 and medicine@csu.edu.au. Source: UAC medicine key dates. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478.

UAC also states that at least six interview positions are guaranteed for rural and regional students who are already studying at Charles Sturt. Those students need the grade point average required for their current Charles Sturt course, and they need to sit the UCAT ^®. Rural origin for this guarantee is residency for at least ten years in total, or any five consecutive years, in an ASGS-RA 2 to 5 area since the age of five. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478.

Clinical schools after Orange

From third year, CSU medicine is taught in rural clinical schools. UAC names locations including Albury, Bathurst, Griffith, Kempsey, Orange, Parkes, Port Macquarie, Swan Hill, and Wagga Wagga. Students may be placed in New South Wales or Victoria health services away from their enrolment location. They pay their own travel, accommodation, and other costs for those placements, and the placements follow New South Wales and Victoria Health policies. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478.

That pattern matches the School of Rural Medicine's purpose. Students learn the work of rural doctors with rural and regional services, in primary care and in hospital care. Source: Charles Sturt School of Rural Medicine.

Before you apply, read Charles Sturt's inherent requirement statements for the degree. UAC directs applicants to those statements. The course expects the physical and professional capacities they describe, including on placement. Source: UAC, Charles Sturt course 214478.

Internship and general registration after the degree are covered in how to become a doctor in Australia .

Undergraduate entry beside graduate-entry medicine

CSU medicine is an undergraduate route through UAC. Selection uses the UCAT ^®, an interview, and an academic threshold, for school leavers and for people who already have university study. Graduate-entry medical schools that select with a GPA, the GAMSAT ^®, and GEMSAS run a separate application. How those schools weight GPA and GAMSAT ^® is on medical school entry requirements . How the two exams differ is on UCAT ^® and GAMSAT ^® .

Frequently asked questions about CSU medicine

What is CSU medicine?

CSU medicine is Charles Sturt University's five-year Bachelor of Clinical Science (Medicine) / Doctor of Medicine, taught by the School of Rural Medicine. The first two years are at Orange. Later years are rural clinical placements in New South Wales and Victoria. The Australian Medical Council accredits the program, and graduates proceed to a medical internship in Australia or New Zealand.

Is Charles Sturt medicine the same course as Western Sydney medicine?

They began as one Joint Program in Medicine, with students based at Charles Sturt in Orange or Western Sydney in Campbelltown. The Australian Medical Council accredited Charles Sturt's School of Rural Medicine to deliver the degree as its own program from January 2026. For 2027 commencement, UAC lists Orange as course 214478 and Campbelltown as course 725505. The School of Rural Medicine website still uses Joint Program wording, and Ahpra's approved-programs list still has a joint row as well as a Charles Sturt row. Use the current UAC listing for the preference you enter.

What are Charles Sturt University medicine entry requirements?

Sit UCAT ^® ANZ, apply through UAC for the Orange course, and attend an online interview if you are invited. UAC then assesses interviewed applicants on interview performance (75 per cent), UCAT ^® results (25 per cent), and an academic threshold. The threshold is lower for Rural Entry Admission than for other applicants using secondary results. University study is assessed on a grade point average. A place cannot be deferred, and previous study does not earn credit. The ranks, deadline, and fees for the intake are on UAC and on Charles Sturt's admissions pages.

Does Charles Sturt medicine require the UCAT?

Yes. UAC requires UCAT ^® ANZ for the Orange course, and UCAT ^® performance decides who is invited to interview. The course listing does not print a UCAT ^® score for that invitation. Confirm on Charles Sturt's current admissions page which sitting the intake accepts.

Can I study CSU medicine at Orange?

Yes. The Charles Sturt course is based at Orange for the first two years, then in rural clinical schools. On the current UAC listings for 2027 commencement, Orange is Charles Sturt course 214478 and Campbelltown is Western Sydney's separate course. Check both listings before you set preferences.

Is there a rural pathway into Charles Sturt medicine?

Yes. The Rural Entry Admissions Scheme offers a minimum of 80 per cent of its interview places to rural students, including school leavers and graduates. On the UAC listing, rural origin is residence in an ASGS-RA 2021 area of 2 to 5 for five consecutive years or ten years in total, from the age of five, immediately before the course starts. You upload a Rural Confirmation form. UAC publishes the academic minimum for the scheme on the course page.

Can I defer a Charles Sturt medicine offer?

No. UAC states that if you are successful you cannot defer this program.