Medical School Offers

After medical school offers are out, you will be in one of three situations:

1. Have received an offer (or multiple offers) of place
2. Did not receive an offer from any medical schools
3. On the waitlist for one or more medical schools 

In Step Five, we advise you on what you need to consider for each scenario.

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Received an Offer?

Congratulations! You’ve made it.

Before we go ahead, if you’ve received multiple offers (does not apply for GEMSAS universities) and don’t have a clear favourite, you should make sure to check out the resources on Step Two: Medical Schools in Australia and NZ again before making the final decision.

In Step Five, we provide useful information for you to consider before you begin your study:

• Financing Medical Study: Medical education is expensive, even for those not paying full tuition fees. In this section, you can find general advice on student loans or other financial support available in Australia and New Zealand. 
• Living Costs During Your First Year: On top of the tuition fees, you will need to budget for your living costs. We provide an overview of the essential expenses that you must consider, as well as some tips and advice.

You should also check out Top Tips for Surviving Medical School provided by the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

Did Not Receive an Offer?

If you did not receive an offer as a school leaver, we fully understand that this may be disheartening for you. However, you should remember that you can try applying again in a few years as a graduate applicant, and that there are plenty of benefits of going through the graduate entry path (check out the section on Direct vs Graduate Medical School Entry if you haven’t already).

You should also note that some direct entry medical programmes accept a small number of students who have completed only part of a tertiary degree, so you don’t necessarily have to fully complete a degree before applying again.

If you did not receive an offer as a graduate student, and you find that your passion for medicine does not falter easily, you should consider studying a higher degree (e.g. Honours or Master’s) and trying again. This will give you a chance to improve your GPA, time to work on obtaining a better GAMSAT score, and an opportunity to be more prepared for the interview. The time management skills, research experience and analytical skills that you gain from postgraduate study will help you considerably in your medical career.

Regardless of whether you did not receive an offer from a direct entry programme or a graduate entry programme, you may also consider Healthcare Professional Courses Other Than Medicine.

On a Waitlist?

Being on the waitlist for a medical programme can be a tricky situation to find yourself in. While you may still harbour a hope of hearing the good news and starting your study shortly, you may also be agonising over the fear of missing out by closest of the margins.

Rather than getting overexcited or depressed, you should use this waiting time constructively and consider both scenarios (i.e. receiving an offer and not receiving an offer).

We recommend that you check out both “1) Received an offer” and “2) Did not receive an offer” sections above and be prepared for whatever eventually happens. This is very important as the final decisions can be made right up to the commencement of a medical programme.