Choose to be a GP

Explore a career where you can make a real difference

Choose to be a GP

Explore a career where you can make a real difference

Choose to be a GP > Explore a GP Career > High school students
Last updated 3 September 2025

Why become a GP?

A career as a General Practitioner (GP) offers exciting, diverse opportunities to provide personalised care for people of all ages.

As a GP you can work anywhere from community clinics to emergency departments, specialised services like paediatrics or sports medicine, and even roles in education, research, and government.

Some GPs take their skills even further, becoming Rural Generalists – doctors trained to deliver a wide range of essential healthcare services in rural and remote communities.

“As a girl growing up in the city, I never thought I was going to end up in the East Arnhem Lands, crossing the jungles in Papua New Guinea, remote mountains in Nepal and Tanzania or in the clouds in a retrieval plane with the Royal Flying Doctors providing emergency and primary healthcare. The world is your oyster when you are a GP.” 
Dr Ishani Kaluthotage | GP

“As a girl growing up in the city, I never thought I was going to end up in the East Arnhem Lands, crossing the jungles in Papua New Guinea, remote mountains in Nepal and Tanzania or in the clouds in a retrieval plane with the Royal Flying Doctors providing emergency and primary healthcare. The world is your oyster when you are a GP.” 
Dr Ishani Kaluthotage | GP

What’s it like as a GP ?

How to become a GP

Choose from two medical degrees:

Undergraduate (5–6 years):

Entry requirements:

  • University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)
  • ATAR and subject prerequisites
  • university selection process.

Postgraduate medical degree (4 years):

Entry requirements:

  • Bachelor’s degree with required grade point average (GPA)
  • Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT)
  • ATAR and subject prerequisites
  • university selection process.

University entry requirements vary—check each university’s admission criteria carefully.

Visit the Australian Medical Council for a list of universities offering medical degrees.



 

After your university study, you’ll complete at least 2 years of hospital-based training (internship).


 

During your hospital training, you can apply for GP training. The program takes 3–4 years and includes both hospital and community-based placements.