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How Will Medical Schools Use UCAT? Here's a Summary

3 months ago by Rob

A common question asked by medicine hopefuls is how UCAT will be used to select applicants into medical school.

Most universities use a combination of three factors when selecting students into medicine or dentistry. These include:

UCAT ANZ scores (either cognitive subtests* only, or all UCAT subtests)
Medical interview performance
Academic performance (ATAR / IB or GPA)

*UCAT cognitive subtests include UCAT Verbal Reasoning, UCAT Decision Making, UCAT Quantitative Reasoning and UCAT Abstract Reasoning

Each university is different, and some universities change their medical entry requirements at short notice. Further, they are often not transparent about the weightings of various subtests of UCAT, UCAT/ATAR weighting for interview selection, and UCAT/ATAR/Interview score weighting for final offers.

Please note that cut-off ATAR/UCAT scores are substantially lower for rural students. Some Universities also have lower thresholds for other categories such as those from low socio-economic status schools, those from under-represented schools, etc. What is given below is a general guideline and you should check with each university regarding your specific circumstances.

Here’s a summary of how universities select students for entry into medicine:

Course	How is UCAT used?	How is UCAT weighted?	How are students selected for interview?	How are students selected for a place?
Adelaide University Medicine	Cognitive subtests only (SJ used in the case of ties)	20% UCAT	Based on UCAT	20% UCAT 40% interview 40% ATAR
Auckland University Medicine	All five subtests combined	15% UCAT	Based on GPA/CST	15% UCAT 25% interview 60% GPA/CST
Charles Darwin University Bachelor of Clinical Sciences	All five subtests combined	10% UCAT	No interview	10% UCAT 90% ATAR
Curtin University Medicine	Approx 90^th+ percentile required for standard applicants	30% UCAT 35% ATAR 35% Casper (To be selected for interview)	Based on UCAT + ATAR + Casper (1st round interviews requires predicted ATAR)	20% UCAT 40% interview 40% ATAR
Flinders University Medicine	All five subtests combined	10% UCAT	No interview	10% UCAT 90% ATAR
Griffith University Dental Science	Approx 90th+ percentile required for standard applicants	20% UCAT	Based on UCAT	20% UCAT 40% interview score 40% ATAR/GPA
Monash University Medicine	Approx 90^th+ percentile required for standard applicants	33% UCAT	December round: Based on UCAT only (scores of approx 3000+ required) January round: Based on 50% UCAT + 50% ATAR	33% UCAT 33% Interview 33% ATAR
Newcastle University / University of New England JMP Medicine	Cognitive subtests only	100% UCAT (to be selected for JMP assessment)	100% UCAT	Joint Medical Program Assessment (Personal Qualities Assessment + MSA interview)
University of New South Wales Medicine	Overall cognitive subtest score; 50^th percentile minimum required for interview selection (in reality 90^th+ percentile needed for standard applicants)	33% UCAT	Based on UCAT + ATAR	33% UCAT 33% Interview 33% ATAR
Otago University Medicine	Minimum score in each subtest required	Mininmum threshold requirement only	No interview	GPA
University of Queensland Medicine	Cognitive subtest score; SJ and VR used as secondary and tertiary selectors, respectively	25% UCAT	UCAT (3030 required in 2023; 2560 for rural category)	25% ATAR 25% UCAT 50% Interview
University of Tasmania Medicine	Cognitive subtests only (cut off 50^th percentile)	Minimum threshold requirement only	No interview	ATAR
University of Western Australia Medicine	Approx 80^th+ percentile required for standard applicants	20% for standard applicants; 15% for rural	UCAT	20% UCAT 30% ATAR 50% Interview; (Rural: 15% UCAT 22.5% ATAR 27.5% Interview 25% Rurality Rating)
Western Sydney University / Charles Sturt University Joint Program Medicine	Approx 90^th+ percentile required (lower for rural and GWS students) Interview selection not determined by overall UCAT score, individual subtests may be subject to weighting	100% UCAT (to be selected for interview)	100% UCAT (once minimum academic threshold requirement is met)	75% Interview 25% UCAT

Note: Please ensure you check the relevant university website for the latest information, as changes can occur frequently and without notice.

Comprehensive admissions information relating to all courses (including dentistry and postgraduate medicine) can be found at https://www.medentry.edu.au/universities/university-admissions-guide

The Medical Entry Handbook has additional information.

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How Will Medical Schools Use UCAT? Here's a Summary

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