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by
Patrick Rankin,
01 March, 2024
Read 3280 times
The admissions process for graduate medicine in Australia is an arduous and sometimes confusing journey. There are a number of GAMSAT® timeline deadlines imposed by ACER for the GAMSAT exam, GEMSAS and other individual universities, and making sure you meet them all can be stressful, especially when you have other university or work commitments.
Whilst applicants should always read through and rely on the relevant guides from ACER, GEMSAS, and the individual universities for the most up-to-date information, we’ve made a summary here of the different components of the graduate medicine application process and have mapped out some deadlines.
Hopefully we can clear things up to make the process just that little bit less confronting.
You may have also sat the GAMSAT® exam in March 2023, or September 2022/2023, which are also eligible to be used in applications for medical school commencing in 2024. For an easy-to-understand table of the currency of different GAMSAT® results, head to our guide on Australian Graduate Medical Schools Admission Requirements.
According to ACER, the 2024 GAMSAT® results will be available in late May. In 2022 and 2023, scores were released on May 18 and May 19 respectively.
For those who aren’t familiar, GEMSAS stands for ‘Graduate Entry Medical School Admissions System’ and is the organisation that manages medical school applications for 10 participating schools. These schools are Australian National University, Deakin University, Griffith University, Macquarie University, The University of Melbourne, The University of Notre Dame (Fremantle and Sydney campuses), The University of Queensland, The University of Western Australia, and University of Wollongong. GEMSAS applications open in early May and close at 5pm AEST on 31 May 2024. The GEMSAS Guide, which is released every year on their website, will be your one-stop shop for all the details of when and how to apply to the GEMSAS medical schools. This will be published in early April 2024.
Just to make things a little bit more time-consuming, there are additional medical schools that require their own individual medicine applications. Non-GEMSAS medical schools have different application processes and dates, set by their own institutions. If you are interested in applying to Monash, Flinders or USyd, ensure that you visit their individual websites for relevant information on their application processes. USyd applications will open in mid/late April and close in early June. Flinders applications open in late May and close late June. Monash only accepts domestic graduates from specified Monash degrees. These applications open early May and close late July.
Given the short amount of time between GAMSAT® exam results being released and your application being due, you should already be thinking about which Australian medical schools you will preference and how your GAMSAT® exam score will fit into the equation. There are 10 schools in the GEMSAS consortium and you may preference up to 6 in your application.
Keep in mind that USyd, Flinders and Monash require separate applications and do not count towards these 6 preferences.
There is no trick to choosing your preferences – put your most preferred schools first. Remember, if you don’t want to live somewhere or go to a particular medical school, it’s probably best not to preference it. You will only receive a maximum of one interview offer from the GEMSAS consortium. This will be offered to you at the highest preference university that you qualify for. Whilst you only complete one interview, keep in mind that you may still be considered for entry into any school lower on your preference list than the one at which you interviewed.
In the end, choosing preferences is a very personal process, and I’d recommend taking the time to consider each of your preferences carefully. It isn’t uncommon to receive an offer from a university at the bottom of your list and many students find they regret not spending more time considering their 4th-6th preferences.
A variety of documents may be required for the different graduate medical schools (e.g. proof of rural status, transcripts from non-ARTS universities), and these will need to be delivered to GEMSAS or the individual university you’re applying to by certain deadlines. You should consult the GEMSAS guide and the individual university guides early on to make sure that you can arrange to have all the documentation organised in time.
It’s also important to note that USyd require you to have your GPA calculated by UAC, so it is recommended you do this as soon as you have received your GAMSAT® Exam marks and decided to apply to USyd. This also incurs a fee of $140, and usually must be submitted by late May.
In early September you will receive your interview offer from your highest preference school that you were eligible and competitive for, so make sure you know how the MMI differs between Australian medical schools. It may be possible that you do not receive an offer from your first preference, in which case you are no longer eligible for a position at that school (you cannot be considered for a place at a school which is a higher preference than the school at which you were interviewed).
Most interviews are now held online, which eliminates the need to travel around Australia to attend your interview, as used to be the case. However, it is best to check this once you receive your interview offer and make appropriate arrangements to take time off work/budget for flights and accommodation should you have to attend the interview in person.
The majority of interviews are held between late September and October. Make the most of the time you have before the interviews to prepare, as strategies will certainly need to be in place to help you optimise your performance. Remember that receiving an interview is by no means a guarantee of a medical place. In fact, often interview performance makes up a majority of the selection criteria for medical places, so this is an extremely important part of the application process!
If you do not qualify for a medical school interview at any of your preferences, you will receive a letter from GEMSAS advising you of this around the same time that interview offers are released.
This brings us to the moment you have all been waiting for: offers are usually received in early November!
While it’s possible that some candidates who don’t receive an initial offer will receive a second round offer any time up until the course starts (literally, you can receive an offer the week before the course commences), it’s important to know that if you have been offered a place, you cannot reject that place and drop down to a lower preference – any candidate who rejects their offer completely withdraws their application for that year.
But now is the time to celebrate (and start worrying about the labyrinth of administration that is getting your compliance check for your state or territory health service)!
Hopefully this helps break down the graduate medical school application process and the GAMSAT® timeline. Just remember to always refer to the right sources (ACER, GEMSAS, individual universities) for the most up-to-date information and instructions on how to complete your application.
Happy applying!
Ready to get started with the medical school application process? Take advantage of our free GAMSAT Practice Test which mimics the official ACER exam and get familiar with the online delivery of the GAMSAT® today!
