Local applicants

Unbonded medical places

• This is the standard entry category. These places have no bonding or scholarships attached to them.
• Unbonded medical places are offered to Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents and New Zealand citizens.

Bonded medical places

• Places under the Bonded Medical Program (BMP) are only available to Australian citizens and Australian permanent residents.
• Applicants who accept a place in this category will be bonded to areas of workforce shortage. They will be required to work in an area of workforce shortage for their chosen speciality. The Australian Government has indicated that outer metropolitan and rural areas are the most likely locations.

Information about benefits and participant obligations under the Bonded Medical Program are available on the Bonded Medical Program website.

The Australian Government requires that Australian universities, including UNSW, allocate 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) as bonded medical program places (BMP). Once allocated, a bonded medical placement offer cannot be reviewed.

However, changes to student numbers at the beginning of Term 1 may result in UNSW changing some bonded offers to unbonded offers. This process occurs automatically, and students cannot apply. Only students affected by this change will be notified during Week 2 of Term 1. These unbonded places are offered to the top-ranking bonded students until the allocation is exhausted.

Students with bonded and unbonded places follow the exact same curriculum at UNSW. The main difference between the two groups is that students with bonded medical places must keep their personal details and milestone information up to date in the Bonded Return of Service System (BRoSS) throughout their studies and commit to working in eligible regional, rural and remote areas during their professional career (RoSO). For more information about these obligations click here.

The Australian Government requires that Australian universities, including UNSW, allocate 28.5% of Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) as bonded medical program places (BMP). Once all our applicants are ranked, unbonded places are offered to the top-ranking applicants until the allocation is exhausted. Bonded places are then offered until all places have been filled. 

Yes, we consider UAC EAS points for admission to the medicine program. However, applicants need to meet the minimum selection criteria on their own merit (without EAS points). It's important to note the minimum selection criteria must be met before an EAS application is considered.

You can find more information at UAC Educational Access Schemes or at UNSW Adjustment Factors.

If you've undertaken university studies and your secondary or tertiary studies were affected by circumstances beyond your control, then SCATS is for you. Visit the entry requirements page where you can find further details and information on how to apply under the ‘Non-recent school leavers section’.

Please note that even if applicants are applying for SCATS, they still need to meet the minimum selection criteria before their SCATS application is considered.

If you're a Year 12 student, you can apply for EAS points through the UAC Educational Access Schemes, opens in a new window.

UNSW Medicine has always been a very sought-after Medicine program, usually receiving more than 3500 applicants for 198 domestic student places (bonded and unbonded). The number of domestic places is determined by the Federal Government.

You're most likely to be offered a position in the UNSW Medicine program if you achieve the highest possible result for all three criteria: ATAR, UCAT ANZ and interview. These criteria are used to rank students. Places are offered from the highest-ranked applicant down until no further places are available.

Applicants with minimum scores are unlikely to be selected, while the minimum ATAR for eligibility is 96.00, the median required for entry is generally greater than 99.60. Similarly, the UCAT ANZ and interview median rankings required for entry are close to the top of their respective ranges.

Due to the limited number of places, only the top-ranked students can be selected. However, many more would potentially be suitable to train as doctors. It's important to note that unsuccessful candidates are not being judged as unsuitable to study Medicine. Unsuccessful applicants can reapply in the following years.

If you believe that during the selection process to the UNSW Bachelor of Medical Studies / Doctor of Medicine program, the standard selection procedures were applied to you improperly, you must advise us by e-mail (mh.admissions@unsw.edu.au) within 24 hours of the event taking place. Your e-mail must include all necessary details (including the precise time and location of the event) to allow us to appropriately review your claim and address your concerns in a timely manner. If we do not receive an e-mail from you within 24 hours of the event, it will be deemed that the selection process has been duly followed.

You can find information about your right of appeal in the “Admission to Coursework Programs Procedure” which you can download on the UNSW Policies website.

Please also refer to “What to do if you believe something went wrong in the selection process?” above.

It's not considered appropriate for children under the age of 16 to participate in clinical training. Applicants who will be under the age of 16 years at the commencement of Year 1 should discuss their proposed application prior to submitting an application through the Medicine Application Portal (MAP). You can e-mail us at mh.admissions@unsw.edu.au.

After completing one of the medicine programs, new graduates usually work for at least a year as a Junior Medical Officer (JMO), also known as ‘intern’, in selected hospitals to obtain registration as a medical practitioner with a State Medical Board. Further study and experience is required before specialist qualifications can be obtained.

For further information:

• visit the NSW Health's Health Education and Training Institute (HETI)
• visit the Royal Australasian College of Physicians or the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
• research different medical careers

Applicants may be aware of courses that claim to improve performance in UCAT ANZ or in the interview however, we would like applicants to be aware that:

• UNSW Medicine does not recommend or endorse any commercially available courses offering UCAT ANZ preparation. Neither the UCAT ANZ Consortium or any of the Consortium universities conducting UCAT ANZ preparation courses.
• Some claims by those who provide these courses have been found either to be untrue or profoundly exaggerated.
• Some providers also give misleading information about the application process for UNSW Medicine. One false claim is that the UNSW Medicine Application Form is used as part of the selection of applicants for the interview. Students are selected for the interview solely on their UCAT ANZ result and their academic result. Applicants will not increase their chances for an interview by paying someone to review their UNSW Medicine Application Form.
• The interview at UNSW is significantly different from those at other medical schools. There's no evidence that applicants who undertake interview training courses perform better at the interview. On the contrary, feedback from interviewers has indicated that applicants who have obviously been coached were likely to have been at a disadvantage in our style of interview.

Although there are no prerequisites for entry into UNSW Medicine, we recommend that students study English for their final secondary school examinations. There's assumed knowledge of this subject and it's desirable for success in the medicine program. Students who don't have the assumed level of knowledge can apply and enrol but may find themselves disadvantaged.

In addition, study in chemistry is recommended.

Achieving the minimum academic merit and UCAT ANZ result does not guarantee selection for an interview. You can find details on how we select students for an interview in the interview tab. 

Please note that domestic students who are currently enrolled in a medical degree at another Australian university aren't eligible to seek admission to UNSW Medicine as a commencing student. Please visit our Special Entry Schemes page to learn more.

No, we do not have a separate quota for non-school leavers.

Due to the structure of the curriculum, we're rarely able to provide credit to students transferring after partly completing or completing another degree. Exemption from all or part of the 12 Units of Credit of General Education courses will be considered and granted when applicable.

We don't offer a graduate pathway into our program. It's not possible to join our program for the MD component alone.

There's a graduate-entry stream into the medicine program, but only for students enrolled in the UNSW Bachelor of Medical Science (BMedSc).

More details can be found on the Special Entry Schemes page. 

Applicants who have not completed the NSW Higher School Certificate (or equivalent) are required to complete a minimum of one year full-time recognised university studies. The GPA will then be converted into an ATAR equivalent.

Cases vary depending on the particular student and their circumstances. Applicants should carefully consider their commitment to pursuing a career in medicine and their willingness to spend one year repeating the HSC or at least one-year undertaking tertiary studies to attempt admission to UNSW Medicine.

An alternative to repeating the HSC is to enrol in another tertiary program. A challenge is that some students undertake tertiary programs they have no vocational interest in and, having completed one or more years, fail to achieve entry into the first year of UNSW Medicine. Students can find themselves on a degree path they have limited interest in.

No guarantee can be given about your chances of success obtaining entry to UNSW Medicine and students should choose tertiary programs carefully. As a result, if you don't succeed in obtaining a place to study at UNSW Medicine, you'll still be studying in an area of interest and which you can use to pursue an alternate career.

Students should note that when electing to undertake tertiary studies in another program with the aim of obtaining a place in UNSW Medicine, they're not restricted to degrees at UNSW. Degrees offered by any Australian university, including science and arts-based degrees, are acceptable.

There is a separate admission process for students applying from the Bachelor of Medical Science program at UNSW. You can find more information on the Graduate Entry Stream for UNSW BMedSc Students on the Special Entry Schemes page. 

There are no full-fee paying places available for local applicants. 

Full-fee paying places are only available to international students who gain Australian permanent residency status, Australian citizenship or become a New Zealand citizen after they arrive in Australia, as they are unable to continue in the UNSW BMed/MD Program as an international student. This is a requirement of the Australian Government and UNSW has no discretion in the situation.

For information on undergraduate scholarships, visit UNSW Scholarships. The scholarships team will be able to assist you directly if you have any questions.

For information on accommodation, visit UNSW Accommodation.

Residential college accommodation is limited and there are waiting lists. Students interested in college accommodation are advised to apply three to six months before starting at UNSW.

Classes in the first three years commence in February and conclude in late November or early December.

UNSW Medicine has one intake of students each year.

For more details view the UNSW Medicine academic calendar.

The main Sydney hospitals used for clinical teaching are:

• Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick
• St George Hospital, Kogarah
• St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst
• Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool
• Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick
• Royal Hospital for Women, Randwick
• Sutherland Hospital, Caringbah
• Bankstown Hospital, Bankstown
• Fairfield Hospital, Fairfield

The main hospitals located outside of Sydney and in rural New South Wales and Victoria used for clinical teaching are:

• Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital, Wagga Wagga
• Albury Wodonga Health, Albury-Wodonga
• Port Macquarie Base Hospital, Port Macquarie
• Coffs Harbour Hospital, Coffs Harbour
• Griffith Base Hospital, Griffith