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Medical School Information

These pages are usually used during the Applications process for post-graduate medical schools in Australia, but you’re welcome to use it anytime to get an understanding of the medical schools application process and requirements.

This website is a powerful resource designed to make this next vital stage quicker and easier for you.

 

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Explore the Schools entry requirements and FAQs, then learn more about our Applications & Interview Bootcamp using the buttons below.

REMEMBER: Your GEMSAS application has to be completed by 17:00 (5:00PM) AEST on 31st of May 2024 and for non-GEMSAS universities the dates are different and fast approaching.

DISCLAIMER: Although we have gone to *extreme* lengths to ensure the accuracy or this information, this is just a starter guide for you. Considering how important this time is, you need to go to the websites of GEMSAS and the other universities to find out their complete selection criteria and process. Each university has different sets of extra criteria and/or policies for admission.

Frequently Asked Questions


I have my GAMSAT score, now what?

I’m going to be focusing on Medical school admission. If you’re interested in Dentistry or Pharmacy, this information may not apply to you and you’ll need to look into it further.

But if you want to become a doctor…

This site will be like Tim Tams for you…

You won’t be able to get enough and you’ll consume it all.

FIRST OF ALL: Registration for the GAMSAT and application for admission to the graduate programs are separate processes.

Firstly, let’s talk about GEMSAS.

It stands for Graduate Entry Medical Schools Admissions System. They process the applications for most of the graduate medical schools in Australia. These schools are part of what is called the ‘consortium.’ Sounds like a bad Austin Powers name…hehe.

They include:

Australian National University

Deakin University

Griffith University

Macquarie University

The University of Melbourne

The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle

The University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney

The University of Queensland

The University of Western Australia

The University of Wollongong

So if you want to apply for an interview and position with any of the universities in the ‘consortium’ (which is most likely), you’ll need to apply for them via the GEMSAS website and process.

Applications close 17:00 / 5:00pm AEST on the 31st of May 2024.

There’s a $250 fee to apply. This is one fee for all these universities.

Then there are four non-GEMSAS medical schools: University of Sydney, Flinders, Monash and University of Tasmania. You have to apply with them separately and they each have a different application process.

See the Non-GEMSAS section of this website for more details.

It’s important to note that you won’t get more than one invitation for an interview when you apply through GEMSAS. But you could ALSO receive an invitation for each of the non-GEMSAS schools.


What does my GAMSAT score mean?

You’ve received 4 scores.

The overall score and a score for each of the three sections. They’re all important and are considered in the application process. More on that later.

The way ACER calculate the overall score is with this formula:

(1 × Section I + 1 × Section II + 2 × Section III) ÷ 4

That gives the Overall Score which most of the universities use to rank candidates. Some of the medical schools use an average of each section (also known as an unweight GAMSAT score) but it will all become clearer as you read on.

The scores for the individual sections are used as hurdles. For most universities (but not all!) you will need a minimum of a 50+ GAMSAT score (as well as 50+ in all sections) to be considered for an interview.

If you have results from previous years you might be wondering if you can use it. Well you can.

Can I use the results from previous GAMSAT attempts?

You can use your GAMSAT results from the last four years to apply for entry into medical school for all medical schools except for University of Sydney and Flinders University. These universities will only allow you to use your GAMSAT from the last two years. Here’s a table from ACER which will show you exactly if your results still count: http://gamsat.acer.edu.au/results/currency-of-results

Can I use my Ireland and UK GAMSAT results to apply in Australia?

Yes. They are treated the same as the Australian GAMSAT. There’s a point in the application process where they’ll ask which score you want to use. And it can be from Australia, Ireland or UK.


What are the requirements for each university?

Click here for a summary of all universities.

Click here for GEMSAS universities and here for non-GEMSAS universities requirements.


What next? How do I prepare for the interviews?

After you’ve applied, when it comes to getting an offer, your performance on the interviews is as important as your GAMSAT score.

If you spent weeks or months preparing for the GAMSAT…

And your interview is as important as the GAMSAT…

You need to prepare for the interviews.

Here’s the problem with the interviews…

The Problem With Med School Interviews

It’s make or break. You’ve got one chance this year.

You’ve never done this kind of interview before Spotify promotion. You’re not sure what kinds of questions they’ll ask…

How you should answer them correctly…

What they’re looking for… you get the vague description that they want to see your communication skills, professionalism and ethical behaviour… but what does that even mean?

What are ethical questions and how do I answer them?

And everyone keeps telling you to, ‘just be yourself…’ what does THAT even mean??

It makes it near impossible to prepare for this. You feel nervous about the day. You’re scared to answer the question in the wrong way. And you end up frozen and not doing anything to prepare.

Then you can’t show your best. You’re stressed and scared which means you can’t think straight. And you can’t give your best answers. Doesn’t seem fair to me.

It’s Not Your Fault

The reason this happens is people often neglect the importance of interview preparation. They think that hard work is done because the GAMSAT is over.

But the interviews are part of the selection process. It’s not over yet. They’re still assessing you.

Others perform poorly on the interviews because they think they just need to be themselves.

Sure that helps.

… if you’re naturally confident, perform well under pressure, can build rapport quickly and answer complex ethical questions on the fly… sure *just* be yourself.

For the rest of us humans… 😉

Preparation is going to be vital.

A few simple actions will get you lined up to do well in your interview.  Here is my three step system to smashing the interviews.

Three Step System To Smashing The Interviews

1) HOW you do things is as important as what you do. How you present yourself, your body language, your tone of voice, your ability to build rapport, your hand shake.

It’s all being judged from the *moment* they lay eyes on you. They’re deciding if they like you as they lead you into the interview room. Before the interview even begins.

This is the part that’s often neglected.

So when you first see them, show them a big smile. You’re freakin’ happy to be there. So show it. It shows confidence and makes people happy.

When you shake their hand, do NOT give them the limp-fish hand shake.

Have you ever shaken someone’s hand and it felt like you had a limp fish in your hand? Lol. Well don’t do that.

Give a firm handshake. Not so hard you pull their arm off. But firm so they know you’re someone of substance and energy.

Also, look them in the eyes when you greet them. It looks really shady and show low confidence when people look away or at the floor when you greet them.

Don’t stare at them, just look them in the eye and match their level of eye contact.

Also consider how you hold your body and your tone of voice. It all has to convey a calm, friendly, confident manner. All this is being judged subconsciously without even including our words.

2) What you say will be judged after the ‘how’. The ‘what’ makes up 30% of all communication. But it’s very important in your mark for the interviews. So you’ll need to practice your answers to the different types of questions they ask.

These could be situational type of questions e.g. “Tell me about a time you worked in a team.”

Your opinion, “What do you think of euthanasia?”

What you would do in a particular situation, “A patient is getting fed up with waiting for the specialist, he is starting to yell at the nursing staff. What would you do and say?”

Then there are the broad questions like, “Why do you want to do medicine?”

Or…

“Tell me about yourself”

3) Which questions they ask depends on which university you’ll interview for. There are two types of interviews used by the universities.

Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) – there are multiple stations. Each station takes about 5 minutes. Each is in a separate room. You move in between the rooms. Each one has a different interviewer and different questions.

These are structured and strict. Each one assesses a particular skill. Some will be obvious. Others will be like WTF?

Semi Structure/ panel type – there are 2-3 interviewers and you. There are specific questions they ask but it’s not strictly structured. You can talk about yourself more and get to know the interviewers.

The universities use one of these styles. The type will make a big difference to your preparation.

If you want more information about interview preparation for your university then go here.


How do I calculate my GPA?

The way a GPA is calculated varies between the non-GEMSAS and GEMSAS universities.  GEMSAS do it for you during the application process.

You’ll have to look at the GEMSAS GPA calculation information here. Also, visit the non-GEMSAS uni’s websites for info on how to calculate theirs.

Generally speaking there are two main kinds of GPAs you’ll hear about: the weighted and unweighted GPAs.

A simple way to understand it is that weighted means that they see the 3rd year of uni as most important, 2nd year as second, and 1st year as least important.

Unweighted means that count each year as the same.

Weighted:

Take the GPA for the last 3 years of your study. The last year is multiplied by 3, the second last is multiplied by 2 and the first year is multiplied by 1. Then you add them together and divide by three.

((Third last GPA x1) + (Second last GPA x2)) + (Final GPA x3))/6

Unweighted:

Take the average of all three years of study. This doesn’t place higher importance on the later years of your study.

(third last GPA + Second last GPA + Final GPA )/3

NOTE: Don’t try to fudge the results because they’re going to check it all. Plus it all has to be backed up by sending your transcripts to GEMSAS. If your university is part of the ARTS (Automated Results Transfer System) you do NOT need to provide academic transcripts. It will be sent there automatically.

Otherwise, you need to get your transcripts fast.


I have a low GAMSAT score, what now? I can’t apply for any uni because of my low score so what are my options now?

I’m sorry to hear that you GAMSAT score was not high enough this year.

The best thing for you to do is to watch our webinar on how to improve your GAMSAT score here


I have a low GPA, what now?

Firstly, make sure that you’ve calculated the GPA according to the GEMSAS process – or the Non-GEMSAS universities requirements. Do not rely on the GPA your university gave you. There have been instances where the GEMSAS GPA is higher than your university given GPA, which means your GPA for applications might be higher than you expect.

If you have done the above and it’s still low, you can look at the universities which are not as strict about GPAs. There is information on this site about each university.

To increase your GPA, you may consider doing an honours year, Masters, PhD, or additional course work. This may increase your GPA (depending on the university) to a certain extent. Otherwise you can work at increasing your GAMSAT score to compensate for the low GPA. If you would like to know how to increase your score then click here


How are GPAs calculated with Honours degrees?

Each university has slightly different ways they calculate your GPA.

Most universities follow the GEMSAS standard schema when calculating your weighted GPA. The final 3 years of full time study are incorporated into the GPA calculation, with more weight being given to later years. Most universities will count your Honours year as the final year of full time study and include your marks in your Honours year when calculating your GPA.

Some universities do not use your scores from Masters or PhDs when calculating GPA, whereas others do.

For more details about how Honours and other post graduate degrees are included in each university’s GPA calculations, see the relevant universities website. You can find them by going the the university section on this website.


How much time do I have?

Not much, especially considering the GEMSAS process can take a few weeks to do properly.

(2024 applications for 2025 entry):

GEMSAS applications close: 31st May.

USyd applications close: 6th June.

Flinders applications close: Not finalised yet, but it was 26th June last year.

Monash applications close: 31st July. However, you need to be a current student.

University of Tasmania applications close: Not finalised yet, but it was 30th September last year.


Why The ‘Cut-off’ Scores You See On The Forums Are Misleading

Watch the video below to understand how the cut-off scores and the GEMSAS system really work.


Which unis require a Portfolio/CV/CASper/Supplementary forms?

The University of Notre Dame requires applicants to complete Casper.

The University of Wollongong requires evidence for admission bonuses to be submitted, and completion of Casper.

Flinders also require a personal statement for their PRCC program.

Deakin University requires a personal statement for rural training scheme applicants

University of Sydney requires a personal statement for applications to the Dubbo stream.

University of Queensland requires specific subject pre-requisites to be complete at your undergraduate university to be eligible for application

All other universities do not require domestic applicants to submit any supplementary forms or documents.

International applicants are generally required to submit their academic transcripts, curriculum vitae, English Proficiency supporting documents, as well as approved translation of these documents etc. further information can be found within the International admissions part of each University’s website.


What happens after the interviews?

Once the interviews are done, the interview scores will be standardised. Then the standardised interview results are used by all the consortium universities.

The universities will use a combination of up to 5 criteria to decide who get’s an offer.

They use: GAMSAT results; GPA from university degree(s); bonus points for special conditions/requirements; additional admission measures (such as CASPer, or personal statement); and interview performance.

The universities give their specific combination of criteria to GEMSAS who then process it all. GEMSAS will see if you qualify for your first preference university.

If yes, then you get an offer – yay!

If not, then with the beauty of the GEMSAS process, they will see if you qualify for your second preference university.  And this will continue to your third, four and so on until you either get an offer or all your preferences have been used up.

This is the real beauty of the GEMSAS system for you. It’s great for the uni’s because they do less work. But it’s great for you because if you miss out on your first preference, they don’t just give up on you.

They keep you in consideration for your other preferences.

They use an algorithm to do this. If you want more info on that (for whatever reason) go here – www.gemsas.edu.au/gemsas-processes

It’s important to note that they’re not going to consider you for a school that is a higher preference than the one you interviewed with. The university has already decided that you don’t qualify and that’s not going to change despite your interview performance.

If you want to know what to expect in the interviews… click here.


How do the unis decide who gets an interview?

The universities use one or more of the following to decide if you get an interview:

• GAMSAT results
• GPA from university degree(s)
• Supplementary measures, e.g., CASPer, personal statement, bonus admissions points.

The way they use these criteria varies between the universities. It would be great if they all did things the same way – it would be much easier. But alas, they all want to do things their own way.

It’s important for you to know how they do it because depending on your GAMSAT, GPA, and past experiences you might have a better chance at one university versus another.

For more details on how each university selects it’s interview candidates head over to the relevant uni’s information on our site: GEMSAS and non-GEMSAS.


What are the bonded positions all about?

It’s called ‘BMP’ – Bonded medical places scheme

A bonded scheme means the government pays for your degree. You pay them back by working in a area of work place shortage once you’re a specialist or GP.

They want you to work there for 3 years. It’s a way to encourage doctors to move to and stay in locations where there is a doctor shortage. Here are the official details.

You can decide where you’ll work but it has to be classified as an area of need. They don’t force you into a random remote hospital. And you can chose your specialisation too.

Eligibility depends on your citizenship and residency status.

If you take one of these positions and decide you don’t want to work out bush, you can pay your way out.


Should I select a full fee paying position?

Full fee paying does NOT mean you have to have the money in your bank account for the full degree right now. You can use FEE-HELP to cover a large chunk of it and you only pay a semester at a time.

Granted, FEE-HELP does not cover the entire full-fee payments. So there will be a gap in your final years which you can save up for over the preceding years. For more information, please go to this website: https://www.studyassist.gov.au/help-loans/fee-help

You only start to pay off your FEE-HELP amount when you start working as a doctor. Please see the current loan repayments here: https://www.studyassist.gov.au/paying-back-your-loan/loan-repayment

So it’s not as dramatic as people make it out to be. With the help of FEE-HELP you don’t have to ‘afford’ the money right now.


I did my Bachelors Degree more than 10 years ago,
what chance do I have of getting in?

The only universities which do not have the 10-year rule are Flinders, UWA and Monash. Many of the others accept bachelor degrees completed more than 10 years ago, if you did some extra post graduate study like a masters or PhD. Look into each university for details.


Am I classified as rural?

An Australian rural area is one which has an Modified Monash (MM) category 2 to 7. You may be able to apply for rural bonuses if you’ve lived/studied in such an area for 5 years consecutively or 10 years cumulatively.

Not all universities offer this bonus but if you can, then you should claim it.

To find your MMM status:
1 – Go to this website
2 – Select “Modified Monash Model” + 2019
3 – Enter the full physical address


Changing preferences/type of places after applications have closed

  Due to the effects of COVID19 on the May GAMSAT sitting, 2020 GEMSAS applicants were able to do the following after the close of the application date:

1) Cancel their application with a refund, or
2) Change their GAMSAT ID to use another valid score, and/or
3) Change only their preference order, (NOT add or remove any preference).

However this no longer appears to be the case, with only certain updates to personal information being allowed after GEMSAS applications have closed.


Interview Dates for 2025 Entry (TBC)

GEMSAS uni interview generally held in late Sept/early Oct of each year. Some will be held online, while others will be held in person.

Interview dates are yet to be determined for 2025 entry.

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How to order your preferences and write your portfolio to get an interview. (Even with a low GAMSAT score and GPA)

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