How Will Universities Use UCAT ANZ Scores?
1 year ago by Robert
With the UCAT testing period soon to be over and with students receiving their UCAT ANZ results, a common question is: how will universities use UCAT scores?
Every university is different when it comes to entry into medicine and dentistry, and entry requirements can be complicated and confusing. Most undergraduate medical and dentistry courses across New Zealand and Australia require candidates to sit and succeed in UCAT to be offered an interview or place. This blog summarises how UCAT ANZ scores will be used.
Entry requirements for medicine and dentistry
Most universities use a combination of three criteria when selecting students into medicine or dentistry. These include:
- Performance in UCAT ANZ
- Medical Interview performance
- Secondary school / University performance (IB / GPA)
Only two universities, James Cook University (which favours rural students) and Bond University (which is private), do not require students to sit UCAT.
A few courses, such as Otago University medicine, Charles Darwin University medicine, Flinders University medicine and the University of Tasmania medicine do not require students to sit an interview.
UCAT subtests used in selection of students into medicine and dentistry
Not all universities use all four of the UCAT subtests when selecting students for medicine. Many universities do not use the Situational Judgement Test, and only use the cognitive subtests (UCAT Verbal Reasoning, UCAT Decision Making and UCAT Quantitative Reasoning). Some universities do not publicly disclose whether or not they use UCAT Situational Judgement Test results.
Universities which use the UCAT Situational Judgement subtest include Auckland University, Adelaide University, the University of Queensland and Otago University (some of these universities use it only as tie breaker).
Medical interview offers for medicine and dentistry
For Auckland University medicine, invitations to interviews will be based on candidates having a minimum GPA of 6.0 in all eight first year courses, with no fails.
For Otago University dentistry, invitations to interviews will be based on minimum academic requirements. A minimum average of 65% in the best seven first year prescribed papers (in the first attempt), with no mark less than 60% in any individual paper, and a pass in the HSFY English Diagnostic Test or ENGL 128
(Note: Otago requires these same standards to apply for medicine plus UCAT, but does not require an interview)
In contrast in Australia, most universities will only consider UCAT performance when selecting students for an interview – an exception is the University of New South Wales. Monash University uses UCAT only for first round interviews but uses UCAT and ATAR for second round interviews.
UCAT weighting for final medical / dental place offers
When making the final selection of students into medicine and dentistry, the importance of UCAT varies depending on the university and course:
- Some universities weight UCAT performance significantly: Monash University medicine and the University of New South Wales medicine weight UCAT at 33% of the overall selection criteria
- At some universities UCAT is less important: Auckland University rates your UCAT score at 15% in the final selection criteria, and at Otago, only a minimum threshold is required.
Despite not being used as a selector for interview offers at many universities in Australia, academic performance is usually considered when selecting students for a final place.
UCAT cut-off scores required for medicine and dentistry
Universities usually do not release the UCAT cut-off scores required for entry into medicine and dentistry (for several reasons), and they vary from year to year depending on the cohort of students applying.
Validity of UCAT scores
2024 UCAT results are only valid for courses commencing in 2025. However, students who were disappointed with their UCAT score or missed sitting their UCAT, can sit the UCAT the following year (and, if needs be, once a year, every year thereafter). A student who sits the UCAT in 2025 will use their results for entry into courses commencing in 2026.
Students who take a gap year and sit the UCAT can still be accepted as a school leaver by universities (except for the University of Queensland which does not allow this). Students who have started or completed an undergraduate degree can also sit the UCAT, but the number of universities you can apply to gets drastically reduced (check out our blog for more information). You need to check whether the university you are applying to, will accept non-school leavers.
Note that unlike Australia and most other countries, in New Zealand there is a limit to the number of times you can apply for medicine. Both the University of Auckland and Otago have restrictions on how many times you can apply to the medical program. For example:
- At both Auckland and Otago University, you can apply for medicine only once after the first year of your university degree.
- At Auckland University, you can apply to medicine only once as a graduate.
- At Otago University, you can apply to medicine only once if you are applying in the alternative category.
Further information
For a handy table that summarises how each university uses UCAT scores, check out our blog. Information about entry requirements for each course can also be found on the university admissions page.
