Apply in Year 12
Curtin Medical School offers the only West Australian Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery program that students can enter directly from school. Both UWA and Notre Dame offer medicine courses but they require applicants to have done a degree as part of the application process.
(Go HERE for information about UWA Direct Pathway program.)
Curtin’s Focus
Curtin is focusing on providing medical services in rural, regional and remote (RRR) Western Australia so are using their Curtin’s Step Up criteria to help RRR applicants and students from outer metropolitan schools to apply. This Set Up list will be finalised for 2019 in July. You may qualify for an Equity Bonus even if your school isn’t on the list so keep an eye on the Curtin updates.
You can only get 5 bonus points even if you qualify on the Set Up list and for the Equity Bonus.
They are aiming to have 25% of students from RRR areas.
The Curtin course is only in its second year and there were 1511 applicants for the 70 places offered this year so even with the additional support it is a very competitive program to get into.
Most of the places were given to school leavers and only 6 places were given to course switchers or mature age students.
There will be 80 places in 2019.
Applying for Medicine at Curtin
Use the normal TISC process to apply. 
Curtin is providing support to enable Aboriginal students to gain a place. Aboriginal students should apply through the Aboriginal Studies Indigenous Pathway.
Course Length
The Curtin Degree is 5 years long after which students do a an 47 week internship before becoming a doctor.
See this document on Internships put out by the AMA.
Studying medicine is just your first step in your medical academic career. After completing your internship you will take on further study to be a GP, surgeon, obstetrician or some other specialisation.
While most university courses have short academic contact years, the Curtin Medical School requires students to have 40+ contact weeks.
ATAR Requirements
Applicants must have a minimum ATAR of 95. The lowest ATAR score for 2018 was 96.15.
RRR students who can show they are eligible according to Curtin criteria will get 5 bonus points added to their ATAR score.
Chemistry is an essential prerequisite for applicants.
Human biology is not a prerequisite as it is taught in first year, however those students who have already done human biol at school will find it easier to get good grades in this subject at uni.
Applicants who pass the UMAT must provide a predicted ATAR score from their school on the form that Curtin provides before the end of November so that Curtin can use that mark to shortlist applicants for interviews.
The ATAR is worth 40% of the application score.
UMAT Requirements
Students must undertake the UMAT exam and score at least 50 in each of the 3 exams.
Students who qualify on Curtin’s disadvantaged criteria must achieve a TOTAL of 150 across the 3 exams.
There are practice UMAT tests on the site and students need to do those in order to know what to expect.
There are private training organisations that provide UMAT coaching. ACER, which runs the UMAT says not to bother. Some students do…. You need to make up your own mind about whether to do the additional coaching or not.
The UMAT is held on 25 July. You must apply by 1 June.
TIP: If you have put Medicine at Curtin as your first TISC preference and you don’t achieve the requirements in the UMAT, change your preference with TISC. You can do that after the closing date by paying a fee.
The UMAT is worth 20% of the application score.
Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs)
These sound like torture.
All applicants who are shortlisted based on their ATAR and UMAT results are invited to undertake interviews.
That sounds harmless enough….
The MMIs are 8 consecutive interviews of 10 minutes each.
- Students go to a room.
- There is a scenario written on a page on the door of the room.
- You have 2 minutes to read the scenario.
- You are invited into the room and you have 8 minutes to talk about the scenario.
- You leave and go to the next room.
- Repeat.
This routine can vary slightly from year to year. Last year they were 6 minute interviews. Again, Curtin will let you know the drill if you qualify for an interview.
For the 2018 intake there were 350 interviews offered. As many of the applicants were from the eastern states and got offers from their local universities, 200 undertook interviews at Curtin.
YouTube videos and sites like MedStudents Online and Whirlpool will give you some ideas about what to expect BUT your experienced interviewers are not looking for rehearsed answers, they want to know about you and your suitability for the profession.
The MMIs are worth 40% of your application.
Teaching and Learning Approach
Curtin takes a problem based learning and evidence based teaching approach that is supported by clinical skills tutorials. Students learn to work as part of health care teams by problem solving in consultation with students in other health care courses.
Once students have developed skills in a classroom setting they take up full time placement in hospitals. 
The academic demands of the course are high. Students need to be resilient to cope with the study demands and they need to be resilient to deal with the adversity that often faces doctors.
Check out the Inherent Requirements of Curtin Medical students to see the sort of attributes they are looking for in the interview.
Presentation Video
You can watch a video of the Curtin Getting Into Medicine presentation HERE.
More Information
If you have any further questions about studying medicine at Curtin, please give the Future Students team a call on 1300 222 888.
You can find other blog posts about getting into medicine at:
- Designing the Best Pathway to Medicine for those who do an undergraduate degree BEFORE going into medicine.
- I have a number of posts written over the past
- year or so. You can find them HERE.
Getting Into Medicine Presentation
If you would like a presentation on Getting Into Medicine at your school contact me at Bev.J@infocus-careers.com.au or ring me on 0434 056 412.
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