Postgraduate Medical School Admissions

Many of the top universities now use the Graduate Entry Medical School Admissions System (GEMSAS) to manage their post-graduate medical enrolments.

Visit http://www.gemsas.edu.au/graduate-entry-medical-schools-admission-system-gemsas/ to learn more.

The deadline for postgraduate applications is usually at the end of May, but exact dates may vary according to schools. It is recommended that you check each University website for details but more information is available on our blog:

Blog Post: Med School Application Process

Most schools allow students to defer entry, but it is not always the case and may also depend on the type of offer you receive. It is recommended you contact schools directly to find out.

Every school has different selection criteria and admission requirements. These usually include a combination of GAMSAT® exam, GPA, as well as an interview. Portfolios may also be considered in some schools. Cut-offs values for GAMSAT® exam scores are sometimes shown on the University website but in many cases they are kept confidential, although it is possible to form a general idea by looking at students’ profiles. A comprehensive description of admission criteria can be found on our blog but it is recommended you check the individual University website, as these values may vary from year to year.

Blog Post: Is My GAMSAT® exam Score Good Enough?

Standards for admission or interviews vary. Some school may use the overall GAMSAT® exam score, others may use both the overall score and have individual cut-offs for some or all sections. More information may be found on our on our blog. It is also recommended that you check the individual University website, as these values may vary from year to year.

Blog Post: Is My GAMSAT® exam Score Good Enough?

Every school has different selection criteria and admission requirements. These usually include a combination of GAMSAT® exam, GPA, as well as an interview. Portfolios may also be considered in some schools. Cut-offs values for GPA scores are sometimes shown on the University website but in many cases they are kept confidential though it’s possible to form a general idea by looking at students profiles. A comprehensive description of admission criteria can be found on our blog but it is recommended you check the individual University website, as these values may vary from year to year. Blog Post: The Importance of Maintaining Your GPA
Blog Post: Is My GAMSAT® exam Score Good Enough?

Every school has different selection criteria but some put a lot of emphasis on portfolios. More information may be found on our blog entries.

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Blog Post: So You’re Thinking About Applying to a Portfolio School?

Every school has different selection criteria and admission requirements. These usually include a combination of GAMSAT® exam, GPA, as well as an interview, however some schools take portfolio into consideration. More information may be found on our blog entries.

Blog Post: So You’re Thinking About Applying to a Portfolio School?

Every school has different selection criteria and admission requirements. These usually include a combination of GAMSAT® exam, GPA, as well as an interview. Portfolios may also be considered in some schools. A comprehensive description of admission criteria can be found on our blog but it is recommended you check the individual University website, as these values may vary from year to year.

Blog Post: Is My GAMSAT® exam Score Good Enough?

Most Universities use a MMI format. The MMI is a series of 5 to 10 interview stations consisting of timed interview scenarios, which allow to assess soft skills such as interpersonal skills or ethical and moral judgement. Applicants rotate through the stations, each of which has its own interviewer and task. Tasks may include reacting to a scenario describing an ethical dilemma, traditional interview questions like “why do you want to attend this school?” or even essay writing. Check our blog for a comprehensive guide on the topic:

Blog Post: How the MMI Differs Between Australian Medical Schools

The timeline for interviews depends on each individual school but they usually occur at the end of September. Check application timelines on University website. More information is available on our blog:

Blog Post: Are You InterviewReady?

Most definitely. Multi-station mini interviews are very challenging and your results will improve drastically by practicing interview strategies and getting feedback on your performance. Interview preparation is included in most of our packages. Check our blog entries for free preparation tips:

Blog Post: Are You InterviewReady?
Blog Post: Top 5 MMI Tips

There are 4 types of places offered by Universities: Full-fee, CSP, BSP and ERC

Full-fee places are expected to pay the full cost of the course.

CSP (Commonwealth-sponsored places) places are subsidised by the government and tuition fees are reduced to a fraction of the full-paying fee. CSP places are extremely competitive and only the top-ranked students qualify.

BSP, or bonded-scheme places allow students to attend at a discounted price, provided that they commit to working in area of workforce shortage for a duration equal to the length of their undergraduate course. BSP has 2 different schemes:

- Bonded Medical Place (BMP): requires graduates to work in districts of workforce shortage (generally speaking, outside of major cities) for 4 years*.

- Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship (MRBS): requires graduates to work in rural or remote areas for 6 years and comes with an annual scholarship of approximately $26,000 for the duration of the degree.

A few Universities also have an ERC program (extended rural cohorts), in which students agree to spend their 3 rd year of training in a rural setting, rather than solely in a hospital setting.

The numbers of CSP, BSP and ERC places vary from one University to the other, and that data is usually published on the University websites.

In addition, some Universities set aside places for students originating from rural area, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, as well as for International students.

*Conditions of bondage may vary. Please check the latest updates on our blog:

Blog Post: Medical School Place Types and Changes to Bonded Schemes
Blog Post: What it Means to Have a “Rural” Place

Two main types of medical degrees exist: the undergraduate and the postgraduate degree. The undergraduate degree starts straight after high school and lasts 5 to 6 years. Admission usually relies on a combination of UCAT and ATAR scores. The postgraduate degree is undertaken after a first undergraduate degree and lasts 4 years. Graduate entry requires to sit the GAMSAT® exam.

Guaranteed entry in post-graduate courses may be offered to Year 12 students with very high ATAR scores, with the understanding that students must first complete an undergraduate degree. These students are not required to sit the GAMSAT® exam or the UCAT.

In provisional entry, students are selected based on their UCAT and ATAR scores, as in undergraduate entry, however they are required to enrol in an undergraduate course (either pre-med or another subject) for 2 to 3 years and to maintain a minimum grade throughout the course in order to be progress onto a post-graduate medical degree.

The GAMSAT® exam has 3 sections. Questions within each section are first given a raw score, which is then converted to a scaled score, based on how many correct answers were given that year. The overall GAMSAT® exam score is calculated as follow:

Overall score= (Section 1 score + Section 2 score + 2xSection 3 score)/4

This overall score is what is used by most medical schools in the admissions process. The University of Melbourne is an exception however, and uses a slightly different system to compute an applicant’s overall GAMSAT® exam score. They weight all sections of the GAMSAT® exam evenly.