Interviews and Offers

* NEWS FLASH *  2010 Cut Off Statement

***The ANU Medical School ranks on combined weighted GPA (score out of 42) and overall GAMSAT score.  This means we offer interviews to people with a range of GPA/Overall GAMSAT score combinations.  For the 2010 cohort, the minimum wGPA was 34 and the minimum overall GAMSAT was 55.  Candidates with various combinations of the two criteria were considered for interview.  Candidates should be aware that meeting the minimum criteria does not guarantee interview. ***

Interview invitations are usually made by email around mid-August.  Interviews for Australian Government funded places will be held during 22 - 24 September 2009, at the Medical School in Canberra.

The interview is structured and all interviewers are trained. Usually applicants are observed in a group setting and then each interviewee proceeds through a number of interview stations. Applicants selected for interview for entry into the Rural Stream have an additional panel interview; the panel includes community representatives as well as staff with expertise in the practise of rural medicine.

For international applicants living outside Australia, interviews are usually conducted by telephone through July and August; outcomes are generally advised by email within 7-14 days of the interview. International applicants living in Australia and selected for interview are interviewed in person in Canberra along with the domestic applicants.

At the time of interview each domestic applicant is asked to indicate their relative preference for the various types of Medical School places: Commonwealth Supported (CSP), Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship (MRBS) and Bonded Medical (BMP). This information, and the applicant’s rank, is used to offer places to individuals. An applicant can indicate that they do not wish to be considered for an MRBS or BMP by not ranking these places.

Applicants who fail the interview are removed from the rank order of applicants but they will receive a formal letter from the Medical School indicating their perceived shortcomings.

Generally MRBS places are awarded to the highest rank applicants who would prefer an MRBS above any other type of place and who are of rural origin or provide strong evidence of the having an interest in rural medicine by being selected for entry to the Rural Stream (see ‘Rural Stream Applicants’ on sidebar of this web page).

BMPs are awarded firstly to those students who would prefer such a place above any other type of place. The remainder of the BMPs are usually awarded beginning with the lowest ranked candidate who will be offered a place and then working upwards through the rank order until all BMPs have been awarded (but only to applicants who have indicated they wish to considered for such a place).

CSPs are awarded to the remaining applicants above the lowest rank applicant to be offered a place and who have not been awarded an MRBS or BMP.

The 10-12 applicants immediately below the lowest rank candidate offered a place, receive a letter indicating that they are on a Reserve List. Such applicants are likely to be offered a place at a later date, as each year a number of more highly ranked applicants turn down their offer of a place.

A small number of applicants who are successful in the interview but ranked below those on the Reserve List will receive a letter indicating that they were unsuccessful in obtaining a place at the ANU Medical School. The names of these applicants, and any of those on the Reserve List who do not eventually get a letter of offer, are passed onto other graduate Medical Schools that indicate a wish to receive such applications.