University of Notre Dame in focus

University Name: University of Notre Dame

Location: Sydney and Fremantle (Application for each university is separate)

Founded: Founded in 1989 – Fremantle campus established medicine school in 2005 and opened its Sydney Campus in 2006

Degree: Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS)

Entry Pathway: GAMSAT® Exam only

Enrollment Size:

1. Fremantle – 107 places (72 non-bonded CSP, 25 BMP, up to 20 full fee paying)

2. Sydney – 118 places (43 non-bonded CSP, 15 BMP, up to 60 full fee paying)

Website:

1. Sydney - http://www.nd.edu.au/sydney/schools/medicine/ugcourse.shtml
    
2. Fremantle - http://www.nd.edu.au/fremantle/courses/undergraduate/medicine/mbbs.shtml

 

 

Notre Dame is one of the youngest Medical schools in Australia having only just celebrated its 10-year anniversary this year. The Fremantle campus was officially opened on 2 September 2005 by the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and has since graduated more than 600 doctors. It is a 4-year degree and can be undertaken at either Fremantle or Sydney campus on Broadway. The program is structured in the context of catholic faith and values.

The first two years are taught at either the Darlinghurst campus in Sydney or at the Fremantle campus. Here, you will learn the basic sciences in addition to clinical skills at their ‘state-of-the-art clinical skills laboratory’ and local doctors surgeries. You, however, do not have hospital access until your clinical years in year 3 and 4 where you are based in private hospitals, public hospitals and private medical practices in both urban and rural locations.

The selection criteria for Notre Dame is the same at both of their campuses. Since it is strictly graduate entry, you must have completed (in the past 10 years), or be in your final year of a minimum three-year full time undergraduate degree. As with all postgraduate medicine courses, you must register your preferences on GEMSAS. Unique to only a select few universities, you will then be directed to complete a portfolio discussing your leadership experience, service to the community/church involvement and other academic/life achievements. You should also include a personal statement outlining your motivation to study medicine at Notre Dame and outlook on the University's objectives. If you are applying for both campuses (Sydney and Fremantle) you only need to complete ONE portfolio. For more information, check out our blog article There's no I in team: Tips for portfolio schools. 

To be considered for an interview, you are expected to have a minimum 5.0 GPA and minimum 50 GAMSAT® Exam although the university may make exceptions if you are below this benchmark based on your performance in other criteria. Based on a combination of these scores in addition to your portfolio score, you will be ranked against the rest of the applicants and selected for an interview conducted in a Multi-mini interview format (MMI). Approximately 300 applicants will be interviewed for Sydney and 170 for Fremantle (i.e if you put Sydney Notre Dame as your first preference, you will be interviewed for that campus)

Some final thoughts:

• Although the above scores are the minimum cut-offs, to be competitively in the running for a position at Notre Dame you should aim for a minimum GPA of 6.3 and GAMSAT® Exam score >60. These numbers have been the average scores of successful applicants over the past 3 years.

• Notre Dame is a Catholic University and teaches Catholic Christian values. If you are uncomfortable with this as it teaches against your own beliefs, perhaps consider applying elsewhere. Also consider this when compiling your portfolio as you are assessed on your commitment to the Catholic faith also.

• It has very few clinical placements in the city (The main ones being the Mater section of St Vincent’s, Hawkesbury and Auburn). Although you will not need to consider this until 3rd year as you do not have a clinical attachment until then, you may have to consider moving interstate to Ballarat or Werribee in Victoria, or to a more rural location such as Wagga Wagga or Lithgow.
  
  Learn more about other medical schools and their admission requirements by reading our guide on Australian Graduate Medical Schools - Admission Requirements.