← all questions · GP and rural generalism
Length and exit cost, not prestige. FRACGP is 3 years FTE with a free application 12. FRACP is 36 months basic training plus 3–4 years advanced — six years minimum, with a $2,329 written and a $3,484 clinical exam 345. GP is now the harder door to walk back through: every 2027 place went in round one 6.
The arithmetic. RACP Basic Training in adult internal medicine is 36 months FTE, then Advanced Training of 3–4 years in one of about 38 subspecialties — a minimum six-year post-prevocational run to FRACP 34. FRACGP is 3 years FTE: GPT1, GPT2, GPT3 and an Extended Skills term, 26 weeks each 1. The first AGPT year is hospital rotations anyway, and Recognition of Prior Learning and Experience can remove it if you already have more than a year of post-intern hospital time 7.
Entry and cost. RACGP: application free, Casper $190, no referees 2. RACP: you apply to state networks, and the Divisional Written Examination is $2,329 with the Divisional Clinical at $3,484 5. In NSW, PGY2 entry to BPT is gone — from the 2026 clinical year all new trainees start on a three-year contract, so you apply in PGY2 and begin in PGY3 8.
The door that is closing. GP used to be the thing you fell back on. For 2027 the RACGP allocated every place in the main round and cancelled the second intake 6. If GP is your plan B, you now have to apply to it on time like a plan A.
The best argument in the corpus for starting with GP is that it is short, cheap and reversible: 18 months of community terms is not much to lose if you hate it, the breadth is a foundation for a lot of other things, and GP fellowship is itself a launch point for further training in occupational medicine, addiction medicine or palliative care 9.
The counter-argument, published beside it. GP is not the easy option — people fail the exams repeatedly — and going back to hospital training from GP land is a real downgrade in day-to-day conditions. If you actually want a subspecialty, the six years buys you something GP cannot. Decide on the job you want at 50, not the roster you want next year.
r/ausjdocs — community view, not policy; verbatim, cautionary beside positive where both exist, every quote linked to the comment.
I fell for the claims of GP = work life balance and cruisy patient conditions.
I would also consider how truly short GP training is! The first year is hospital rotations anyway (unless you get RPLE), which can be arguably the same as a BPT would do.
People tend to think of GP as the easy way out - couldn't be less true! This shit is tough and there are plenty of people who fail their exams recurrently.
Gp training could also be seen akin to BPT, in that you can complete further specialty training in things like Occ Med, Addiction and Pall Care.
Going from GP back to the hospital is possible but it's like going from business class back to economy with the level of comfort you get in GP land.
Asked 15 times on r/ausjdocs (title-regex count) · encoded by hand from the numbered sources, retrieved 12 Sept 2026; no AI wrote any of it. how the count was made
asked_count = posts in r_ausjdocs_posts.jsonl (19,145 posts, 2022-09-13 to 2026-09-12) whose title matches /(\bBPT\b|physician).{0,25}(vs|versus|\bv\b|or).{0,25}(\bGP\b|general practice|rural)|(\bGP\b|rural generalist).{0,25}(vs|versus|or).{0,25}(\bBPT\b|physician)/i. Quotes pair the corpus's clearest 'GP is short, cheap and reversible' case with the two strongest rebuttals — that GP is not the easy option, and that coming back to hospital is a downgrade.