Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
1. What types of places are available?
2. Is the ANU medical degree a fouryear program? How is the course structured?
3. I am currently completing Year 12. Can I apply for admission into the ANU MBBS program after that?
4. I understand that you have a Provisional Admission Policy for school leavers. How does that work?
5. Do I have to have a science background to apply? Are there preferred Bachelor degrees?
6. What are the entry requirements and how do you select students?
7. Am I eligible to apply as I completed my Bachelor degree 5 years ago?
8. Can you tell me more about the GAMSAT, and how can I apply to sit the test?
9. How do I calculate my gradepoint average (GPA)? What is the cutoff score?
10. I also have a Masters degree. Does this count?
11. Can anyone apply for Rural Stream?
12. Are applicants from rural backgrounds given special consideration?
13. What is the tuition fee for international students?
14. How do I get more information?
15. Can graduate dentists and OMS trainees apply for medicine?
1. What types of places are available?
The Medical School is allocated 80 Australian governmentfunded domestic places for Australian and New Zealand citizens and Australian permanent residents each year. Domestic places are comprised of Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP), Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship (MRBS) Places and Bonded Medical Places (BMP) – see Admission homepage for numbers allocated to each type of place. The Commonwealth Government may change the type of domestic places available at any time. Please refer to information under ‘Admission’ for the number of available places in each category.
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2. Is the ANU medical degree a fouryear program? How is the course structured?
Yes, it is a fouryear full time program. Students will graduate with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).
The draft course outline is available on our Website.
3. I am currently completing Year 12. Can I apply for admission into the ANU MBBS program after that?
The ANU MBBS degree is a graduate entry program, that is, generally you will need to have a Bachelor degree to gain entry. Exceptions to this are dealt with in Q4 below.
The Bachelor degree can be of any length but only the last 3 years will be counted in assessing the quality of the degree for entry purposes.
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4. I understand that you have a Provisional Admission Policy for school leavers. How does that work?
Although entry to the ANU Medical School is only available to graduates, school leavers may apply for provisional admission.
Such students should achieve a University Admission Index (UAI) score of 98 or higher. A student in this category may then submit the Provisional Entry form by mid January. The ANU Medical School will arrange an interview following the release of UAI scores in January.
Those interviewing satisfactorily will be offered provisional admission to the ANU Medical School, provided they enrol and complete one of the undergraduate single or combined degree programs at the ANU.
Provisional entry to medical school will only be converted to offer of a place by achievement of a GAMSAT score and GPA as required for normal graduate entry (see Q5). There will be no further interview.
5. Do I have to have a science background to apply? Are there preferred Bachelor degrees?
The ANU Medical School does not have preferred Bachelor degrees. We consider equally students who have backgrounds in the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, law, etc.
While some students may like to choose a field that is closely related to medicine, for example medical sciences, others may like to choose a subject that they especially enjoy and do well. Highlevel performance in the chosen degree is the main prerequisite.
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6. What are the entry requirements and how do you select students?
Three requirements must be met to be considered for admission:
a) A Bachelor degree with a Credit average or better
b) A pass at each section of the Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Test (GAMSAT) and
c) An interview.
Applicants will then be ranked by equally weighting the scores of a) and b), and approximately 120 applicants will be invited to interview.
7. Am I eligible to apply as I completed my Bachelor degree 5 years ago?
Applicants who have completed their Bachelor degree more than 10 years previously will only be considered if there is evidence of continuing tertiarylevel academic study in the intervening period. All applicants who have completed their Bachelor degree within the past 10 years are eligible to apply.
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8. Can you tell me more about the GAMSAT, and how can I apply to sit the test?
The Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Test (GAMSAT) is specially designed for graduate entry medical schools in Australia. GAMSAT is administered and managed through the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Information on the test format, important dates and sites for the test is available on the ACER website:
GAMSAT scores are valid for two years eg. 2005 test results are valid for application for entry in 2006 and 2007.
9. How do I calculate my gradepoint average (GPA)? What is the cutoff score?
An estimate of your GPA can be determined from the ACER website:
Note that an Honours year will not be included in the calculation of the GPA by the ANU Medical School.
For all Bachelor degrees or combined Bachelor degrees, more advanced courses of study will be weighted more heavily than less advanced courses of study. Further information is provided under Admission Policy.
Where an applicant has completed two Bachelor degrees, but not as combined degrees, the most recently awarded degree will be used to calculate the weighted GPA.
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10. I also have a Masters degree. Does this count?
Yes, bonus points may be awarded for one of the following completed degrees:
- Honours
- Graduate Diploma
- Masters
- PhD
Other qualifications such as Graduate Certificates will not be given bonus points.
11. Can anyone apply for the rural stream?
All domestic applicants can apply for the Rural Stream, regardless of the type of place which they have applied for (CSP, MRBS or BMP). Applicants for the Rural Stream do not need to come from a rural background. Selection of the Rural Stream does not affect the applicant’s ranking nor does it influence the selection process. Applicants who select the Rural Stream at time of application to ACER must choose the ANU Medical School as their first preference.
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12. Are applicants from rural backgrounds given special consideration?
Twentyfive percent of the ANU intake of medical students must have a rural background i.e. have spent 5 or more consecutive or cumulative years studying or working in a rural setting since primary school. Therefore, applicants with a rural background may be preferentially moved up the rank order of students to ensure we meet our target.
13. What is the tuition fee for international students?
International students will be required to pay the full cost of their medical training.
Please see: http://www.anu.edu.au/sas/fees/index.php.
14. How do I get more information?
There is lots of information on this website and we will provide more information from time to time.
You can also email us: medadmissions@anu.edu.au
15. Can graduate dentists and OMS trainees apply for medicine?
Graduate dentists and OMS trainees may apply for medicine via the normal graduate entry route, providing they have a current GAMSAT or MCAT score. No exemptions or advanced standing will be offered to graduate dentists and OMS trainees applying for admission to the MBBS program.
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