New Zealand has a third medical school. It is being built at the University of Waikato, it takes graduates only, its first 120 students start in 2028, and it selects on the GAMSAT rather than the UCAT. Almost no guide to medicine in New Zealand mentions it at all, and the ones that do tend to invent the details, because the details mostly have not been published yet.
So this page does two jobs. It sets out exactly what Waikato has confirmed, and it is equally explicit about what is still unknown. Everything below was read from the University of Waikato's own New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine page on 17 September 2026, with the test detail read from the GAMSAT administrator's own site on the same day.
The short answer
The New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine at Waikato will run a four year Doctor of Medicine. It is graduate entry, so you need a bachelor's degree, or to be in the final year of one, before you can apply. Applications open in the middle of 2027 for a first intake of 120 students in 2028. Selection is indicated as a B grade average, a passing mark in the GAMSAT, and then an interview.
The word doing the most work in that paragraph is indicated. Waikato states that the exact entry requirements and selection process will be published once the programme has gained accreditation, and that what it has published so far is indicative and subject to change.
What is confirmed
| Item | Confirmed position |
|---|---|
| Name | New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine, University of Waikato |
| Degree | Doctor of Medicine, four years |
| Entry type | Graduate entry only. New Zealand's first graduate entry medical school |
| Prior study | A bachelor's qualification, or being in the final year of one. Any discipline |
| First intake | 2028 |
| Intake size | 120 students at first intake |
| Applications open | Mid 2027 |
| Admissions test | GAMSAT. Not the UCAT and not Casper |
| Interview | Yes. Eligible applicants are invited to admissions interviews |
| Year 1 | Hamilton campus |
| Years 2 to 4 | Based in regional communities |
What is not published yet
This section exists because every other page about Waikato either skips it or fills it in with guesswork. As at 17 September 2026 none of the following has been published by the University.
- The exact entry requirements and the selection process. Waikato says these follow accreditation. The B grade average, the GAMSAT and the interview are the indicative shape, not the final rule.
- A minimum GAMSAT score. No required score or section minimum has been published. Numbers do circulate. None of them comes from Waikato.
- The interview format. It is described as an admissions interview. Whether it is a panel, a multiple mini interview, or something else, and how many stations or how long it runs, has not been stated.
- How the components are weighted. Whether the GAMSAT and the interview are thresholds, scores, or a weighted composite is unknown. This is the difference between the Otago model and the Auckland model, and it changes everything about how you would prepare.
- The application closing date, or a more precise opening date than mid 2027.
- Fees, and the domestic and international split of the 120 places.
- Whether there are equity, rural or Māori and Pacific admission pathways, and what form they would take.
- Whether the intake grows beyond 120 after the first year.
One more, deliberately. Dollar figures for the build and for the Government's contribution circulate widely in news coverage. They are not repeated here, because we could not confirm them against a primary government source, and this page has a rule about that.
Where it is up to
This is a real building, not a proposal. The Government confirmed its support in July 2025, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in December 2025, and by the middle of 2026 the foundation was complete with a four storey health precinct going up.
What is still in progress is accreditation, and that is the gate the entry requirements are waiting behind. Until it clears, everything Waikato has published about how to get in is explicitly labelled as indicative.
Graduate entry changes who this is for
If you are in Year 13 now, Waikato is not an option for you next year, or the year after. There is no school leaver route into it. You would need to complete a bachelor's degree first, which means the earliest realistic point at which Waikato becomes relevant to a current school leaver is the end of a three year degree.
That makes it a different kind of thing from Otago and Auckland. It is not a third door to knock on alongside them at 18. It is a second chance, or a career change, or a first choice for somebody who always meant to do a degree first.
The group it changes most is people already holding a degree, or finishing one in 2027. Because applicants may apply in the final year of a bachelor's, somebody graduating at the end of 2027 can be in the first cohort applying in the middle of that year.
It also matters if you are sitting in first year right now and it does not go the way you hoped. Otago's HSFY category is a once only route, and Auckland's first year entry is once only too, so the graduate routes are where people go afterwards. From 2028 there is one more of them than there was.
GAMSAT is a different test
Otago and Auckland have both used the UCAT ANZ. Waikato has indicated the GAMSAT instead, which is a separate test with a separate registration, separate dates and a separate fee.
The GAMSAT is the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test, run by the Australian Council for Educational Research together with GEMPASS Australia. It has three sections: Written Communication, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Biological and Physical Sciences. There are two testing cycles a year.
Two honest limits on that. The score scale and whether test centres operate in New Zealand were not stated on the page we read, so check the GAMSAT site directly rather than trusting a summary. And Waikato has not said what it will do with the score, only that a passing mark is required, so at this stage there is no target to aim at.
How it sits alongside the other two
| Otago | Auckland | Waikato | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Degree | MB ChB | MBChB | MD, four years |
| Entry point | After Health Sciences First Year, or as a graduate | After a qualifying first year, or as a graduate | Graduates only |
| Admissions test | UCAT ANZ, as a threshold only | UCAT for 2027 entry, Casper from 2028 entry | GAMSAT |
| Interview | No, not in the school leaver route | Yes, an eight station MMI | Yes, format not published |
| What decides the ranking | Academic score, and nothing else | GPA, MMI and UCAT for 2027 entry. MMI and Casper for 2028 entry | Not published |
| Places | About 322 domestic for 2027 | 317 domestic | 120 at first intake |
| First relevant year | Now | Now | Applications mid 2027, entry 2028 |
If you are choosing between the two established schools right now, that decision is a separate and much more immediate one, and we have gone through both in detail in our guide to how to get into medicine in New Zealand.
What to do about it, by where you are
Year 13 in 2026. Nothing changes for you. Apply for Health Sciences First Year at Otago or a qualifying first year at Auckland, exactly as you would have. File Waikato away as something that exists if a degree ends up being your route.
First year in 2026 or 2027. Your application this year is still to Otago or Auckland on their rules. But if it does not land, the graduate options are now three rather than two, and one of them is brand new and sitting at its smallest ever intake with no track record to scare people off.
Holding a degree, or finishing one in 2027. You are the people this is for. Watch the Waikato page for the accreditation announcement, because that is when the real entry requirements appear, and look into GAMSAT dates early, since it runs on its own cycle that has nothing to do with the university calendar.
Common questions
Is the Waikato medical school happening?
Yes. The Government confirmed support in July 2025, the groundbreaking was in December 2025, and construction of the health precinct was well advanced by the middle of 2026. The first intake is 2028. What is still outstanding is accreditation, and with it the final entry requirements.
Can you go to Waikato medical school straight from school?
No. It is graduate entry only. You need a bachelor's qualification, or to be in the final year of one, before you can apply. There is no school leaver route.
What are the entry requirements for Waikato medical school?
Indicatively, a bachelor's degree with a B grade average, a passing mark in the GAMSAT, and then an interview. Waikato is explicit that the exact requirements and the selection process will be published once the programme has gained accreditation, and that what is published now is subject to change.
What GAMSAT score do you need for Waikato?
No score has been published. Waikato has said a passing mark in the GAMSAT is required and has not defined one. Any specific number you see attached to Waikato right now did not come from the University.
How can I get a degree in medicine in New Zealand?
Three ways, from 2028. Otago, through Health Sciences First Year or as a graduate. Auckland, through a qualifying first year or as a graduate. Waikato, as a graduate only, from the 2028 intake. None of the three admits students directly from secondary school into medicine.
How long does it take to become a medical doctor in NZ?
At Waikato, four years of MD after a bachelor's degree. At Otago it is five years of MB ChB after Health Sciences First Year. Auckland's MBChB likewise follows a qualifying first year. Registration and postgraduate training then follow the degree in every case.
How to prepare
The honest answer for Waikato specifically is that there is not much to prepare for yet, and anybody selling you Waikato preparation today is selling you a guess. The requirements are not final, the interview format is not published, and no GAMSAT score has been set. The useful move is to watch for the accreditation announcement and to keep your degree marks where a B average is comfortable rather than borderline.
Cutline does not do GAMSAT preparation, so we will not pretend otherwise. What we do is the New Zealand undergraduate route: question banks and timed mock exams for the Otago Health Sciences First Year papers, with the first mock in every paper free, and an MMI simulator built on real Auckland style stations. Waikato has not published what its interview looks like, so we make no claim that the simulator maps onto it.
If you are about to start first year, Cutline Summer runs from mid November to the end of February and covers the first year papers before you sit them. Enrolment opens on 2 November 2026, and the waitlist and the application are both free and open now.
Cutline is not affiliated with the University of Waikato, the University of Otago or the University of Auckland. Every figure on this page comes from those universities' own published pages, read on 17 September 2026, with the GAMSAT detail taken from the test administrator's own site on the same date. The Waikato programme is not yet accredited and the University states its published entry information is indicative and subject to change, so always check the official page for the year you are applying in.
