Note: This program should not be confused with the Joint Medical Program offered by the University of Newcastle and the University of New England. Check out our entry requirements guide for the JMP.

The Joint Program in Medicine offered by Western Sydney University and Charles Sturt University is one of four undergraduate medical programs in NSW. Students spend two years completing pre-clinical coursework and three years in embedded clinical placements, leading to the award of a Bachelor of Clinical Science and Doctor of Medicine double degree.

The unique dual-campus nature of this program, along with its short length and limited space makes it one of the most competitive degrees in Australia. But don’t worry – in this article, we’ll take you through the requirements for entry and analyse past offers so that you can understand what to aim for.

What are the criteria for selection?

Selection for the Joint Program in Medicine is based on a combination of an applicant’s ATAR (or GPA), UCAT and interview performance. 

Unlike most undergraduate medical courses, the ATAR requirement for WSU/CSU is a hurdle. This means that if you meet the ATAR cutoff for your residence category (see below), your ATAR is no longer a factor. For example, a metro-based student with a 95.6 ATAR would be ranked at the same level as one who achieved a 99.95, assuming they had the same performance on the UCAT and interview.

So what are the ATAR hurdles? It depends on your place of residence. Applicants who reside in a remote or rural area receive an advantage.

• If you reside in a metropolitan area, the ATAR hurdle is 95.50.
• If you reside in the Greater Western Sydney area, the ATAR hurdle is 93.50. You must have resided in the GWS area for at least 5 consecutive years immediately before your application. Check the list of GWS-eligible postcodes on the WSU website.
• If you reside in a rural (RA2-5) area, the ATAR hurdle is 91.50. You must have resided in an RA2-5 area for at least five consecutive or ten cumulative years. Check your rural eligibility on the Health Workforce Locator, under “ASGS Remoteness Areas – 2016”.

Once you’ve passed this hurdle, you’re ranked alongside other applicants by your aggregate score, which is based on your UCAT (25%) and interview performance (75%).

How do the universities decide who to interview?

Assuming you’ve passed the ATAR hurdle, the Joint Program in Medicine offers interviews based solely off of your UCAT score. In 2023, interview offers were given to participants who achieved scores above the 90th percentile, which equates to a score of about 3000 (this is based off of past interview data and not published by the universities).

Because the UCAT is such a key part of your application to WSU and CSU, it’s important to make sure you do the best that you can. At MissionMed, we provide you with UCAT masterclasses and intensive holiday courses to help you build a bulletproof strategy for the UCAT and achieve your highest potential score.

Are there any subject prerequisites?

No, there are no subject prerequisites for the Joint Program in Medicine. You can apply to WSU and CSU no matter the subjects you take as part of your higher education certificate.

What scores do I need?

As medical students ourselves, we understand how frustrating it can be to find the exact scores you should aim for in order to get into a particular medical school. That’s why we sourced and analysed more than 80 individual offers for WSU and CSU in order to provide you with more accurate ATAR and UCAT statistics.

Median ATAR

Year of application	Median ATAR for CSU/WSU offer
2021	98.20
2022	99.10
2023	98.35

The median ATAR for entry in 2023 was 98.35. This includes people with rural residence or special considerations.

The entry ATAR has not changed significantly since the program’s inception. However, keep in mind that the Joint Program in Medicine treats ATAR scores as a hurdle. A higher ATAR does not make an applicant more competitive, as long as they have passed the hurdle for their applicant category.

Median UCAT

Year of application	Median UCAT for CSU/WSU offer
2021	3120 (97th percentile)
2022	3150 (97th percentile)
2023	3190 (97th percentile)

The median UCAT score for entry has been increasing slightly per year, while the percentile is stable. This is a common trend when viewing historical UCAT data for medical programs – as more and more people apply to sit the UCAT, a higher score is needed to reach the same percentile.

As the UCAT makes up 25% of an applicant’s aggregate, the median UCAT score for entry at JPiM is quite a bit higher than comparable medical programs. As a prospective applicant, you should focus heavily on the UCAT, as it is a key determinant of whether you receive an offer.

Summary

Here’s all the data visualised at once, to help you get an idea of the ATAR and UCAT distribution. The data is grouped by year in order to show change over time. Darker dots correspond to later years.

There’s a visible upward trend in UCAT scores, but little-to-no change in the average ATAR scores. Once again, this is most likely due to ATAR being treated as a hurdle the WSU/CSU selection process.

What if I’m a rural applicant or have special considerations?

As an applicant with special considerations, it can be difficult to find the scores you’ll need to be secure in your chances of getting an offer. Many universities don’t provide much information on how students with special considerations are treated in the application process. 

However, in our research, we’ve sourced dozens of special-consideration offers, which allow us to provide you with a data-driven look at how special considerations will affect your application.

	Median with special considerations	Median without special considerations
ATAR (or equivalent)	98.25	98.45
UCAT	3100 (93rd percentile)	3280 (98th percentile)

As you can see, a significant portion of successful applicants to the Joint Program had some form of special consideration. Furthermore, applicants with special considerations were able to secure an offer with lower scores than the ones without. This makes it extremely important to understand whether you’re eligible for any special consideration requirements and, if you are, follow the university’s instructions to declare it during the selection process.

Now, we’ll take an in-depth look at two case studies that show you specifically how special considerations increased a particular applicant’s chances of entry.

Case study: Applicant with rural background and previous tertiary study

Offer year	2022
University	Charles Sturt University, Orange
UCAT	2680
ATAR/GPA	ATAR equivalent of 96.80 Completed a university degree with a 7.0 GPA
Offer type	Commonwealth Supported Place
Rurality	RA2

This applicant received a UCAT which was significantly lower than the cut-off. However, they were able to receive an interview offer through the Rural Entry Admission Scheme, which lowers the UCAT cutoff for an interview offer. (It also lowers the ATAR hurdle – see the selection criteria above).

Additionally, note that this applicant has a significant history of tertiary study. GPAs from in-progress or completed university degrees can be used in lieu of an ATAR for applications to the Joint Program in Medicine. This can allow you to compensate for low Year 12 scores with your university marks. In this case, a 7.0 GPA is equivalent to a 99.95 ATAR.

Applicants with a rural background (requirements detailed above) should complete a Rural Entry Admission Scheme declaration form and upload it on to UAC alongside their application in order for their background to be verified.

Case study: Applicant with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background

Offer year	2022
University	Western Sydney University, Campbelltown
UCAT	None
ATAR/GPA	GPA of 6.3
Offer type	Commonwealth Supported Place

This applicant did not sit the UCAT at all, which would normally disqualify them from applying to the course. However, WSU has an alternate pathway process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants, which allowed this student to receive an interview and eventually secure an offer.

Prospective applicants with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background should follow the alternate pathway process instructions outlined on the WSU website in order to maximise their chances of an interview offer.

Conclusion and further steps

We hope that this in-depth look at offer data has helped you understand the requirements for entry and set sustainable goals for your future studies. If you’d like to read similar blog posts, check out our academics resources page, where we’ve covered the entry requirements for many more Australian medical schools.

Where is our data from?

We sourced our data from MedStudentsOnline, a community of Australian medical students and medical school aspirants. Here are the key points:

• We collected 81 offers for the WSU and CSU medical programs
• The offers were for entry in 2024, 2023 and 2022 (when the program started accepting students). To reduce confusion, when we refer to a year in the body of the article, we’re talking about the year in which the relevant score (ATAR/UCAT/GPA) was achieved.
• In places where applicants provided a GPA and not an ATAR, we calculated an equivalent ATAR and used that in our visualisations.
• For privacy reasons, we slightly anonymised the two case studies to make them less identifiable.

You can find the links to the MedStudentsOnline pages containing the offer data, as well as further resources, in the references section.