Orthopaedic Surgery

Pathway, med school to consultant

Typical start years; people vary by a year or two. Diamonds are exams. Stage list and sources in the pathway tab.

How competitive, against the other 31 guides

IGNORE the 60.3% figure in RACS Activities Report 2025 Table SET.4 - RACS states the ortho row includes successful applications only. Ratings are the encoder's 1–5 call from college numbers and r/ausjdocs; applicant-to-place ratios double-count people who apply in several states. Evidence rows are in getting selected.

In one paragraph

You need 26 weeks of orthopaedics at PGY3+ in the last two years (public hospital, ED, on-call roster), the GSSE passed before RACS registration (the February sitting of your application year is rejected) and a state radiation safety course. ~53 posts for 2027 against 213 interview slots and 300+ applicants. No attempt cap.

Two cautions, two encouragements

I knew a PGY12 ortho reg still trying to get onto the program. Hospitals may be less interested in hiring you in the long run if they realise they can't keep dangling the chance of getting on the program as leverage to exploit you however.

You have to work hard as a registrar- that's out of your control. But once you're a boss you can work as hard as you want. … I am orthopaedic surgeon. I live by the beach in regional nsw and work 3.5 days a week on average. I have most school holidays off. I volunteer in the school canteen.

The real reason for the resignation is pressure from management for two things: better training (orthopaedic accreditation hanging on by a thread due to minimal supervision and massive bullying), and more accountability for charging

If you're already set on a specialty, preference it early in the year. Getting to know the regs/bosses early and expressing your interest/enthusiasm will make your eventual transition into getting a reg job easier.

All 24 curated quotes by topic, trajectories and threads.

aoa.org.au for the facts and summary · rating and pathway encoded by hand from the same sources · quotes are verbatim r/ausjdocs comments, community view not policy

Pathway

Terms to pick

Number = distinct authors who said it; dashed chips are single reports (under three authors). Hover or long-press a chip for the why.

Avoid

• treating ortho as a cruisy intern term if you are not ortho-keen single report
  The most-nominated 'worst intern term' in the corpus (workload, no medical support).

Inside the term

• Publication volume — the AOA publishes accepted trainees and people reverse-engineer their CVs 29 authors
• Network extensively inside the department; ortho is repeatedly described as the most connection-driven surgical specialty 15 authors

Stages: surgeons.org, ausdoc.com.au, aoa.org.au · terms: r/ausjdocs term-strategy collection, counted by distinct author, community view not policy

Requirements

"Mandatory" is the college's word. Amber "community" rows are what the sub says panels actually want.

Before you can be selected 16

During training 2

By state

Dates drift a week or two each year; the calendar has confirmed vs expected windows.

What the CV rubric scores

• A masters earns a few points, not many.
• A PhD is worth 3 points.
• First-author papers earn 3 points each, capped at 4.
• Rurality earns no points.
• Indigeneity earns no points in the rubric.
• Weighting: interview about 60%, CV about 0% — there is no scored CV; the CV is a gate.
• There is an exam before you can be selected.

Surgical/medical experience: 0.5 pt per 12-week term BST, ASSET, CCrISP, EMST or attendance at an AOA National ASM - 1 point each Doctorate Masters 'relevant to the practice of orthopaedic surgery' Research presentation Research publication: 3 pts first author, 1 pt otherwise; journal impact factor >= 1.0 No CV points - rural-eligible applicants instead progress through Interview and VRR independent of score or rank No CV points - ATSI applicants progress through all stages…

Referees and attempts

Requirements and rubric: surgeons.org, aoa.org.au, advancemed.com.au · state mechanics: canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au, health.nsw.gov.au, jobs.nt.gov.au +5 · community rows from r/ausjdocs

Exams

Dots are sittings the college has dated; "approx." means only a month was published.

• GSSE (Generic Surgical Sciences Examination) — Pre-entry; sit in PGY1-2 (unlimited attempts before SET). Deadline for orthopaedics: passed before RACS registration -… · A$4,850 incl GST per attempt (2026); NZ$5,425
• Orthopaedic MCQ (OMCQ) — Pre-entry, during the application period
• RACS Fellowship Examination (FEX) - Orthopaedic Surgery — Final years of SET (exit exam); written and clinical/viva components. Sat only after the SET training requirements are… · A$10,465 full fee (2026, GST free): writing $5,232.50 + viva $5,232.50

Pass rates, official vs claimed

Hollow dots are hearsay — the poster was not citing a figure. A bar spans the components or years quoted; hover for the exact words.

What it costs

College schedule

What people quoted

"Cost to get on" is a name-based pick of the one-off fees paid before or at selection. The college schedule is a lifetime-of-training list at each item's own year, not one bill; community amounts overlap it and are never summed. Courses, travel and repeat sittings are the part the sub complains about.

Exams and fees: surgeons.org, aoa.org.au, medicalboard.gov.au · claims, prep and costs quoted: r/ausjdocs exams-and-costs collection, community view not policy · paid prep products need three independent non-suspect authors and a free alternative to appear

Open jobs that count

Scored by the Orthopaedic Surgery rules — whether or not the title names the specialty — highest first, closing soonest next.

See all 31 on the board →

Units people rate

No unit has three authors behind it yet.

2027 intake campaign windows

Faded bars are expected, not confirmed. Only 1 dated offer reports mention Orthopaedic Surgery, too few for a chart. Full detail on the calendar.

Jobs: last night's scrape, scored by hand-written rules (no AI) · units and offer reports: r/ausjdocs, counted by distinct author · campaign windows: canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au, health.nsw.gov.au, healthjobs.nt.gov.au +4

What the regs say

Verbatim, one caution beside one encouragement per topic where both exist, the rest folded. Every quote links to the comment.

Competitiveness 8

Just a power play. Setting up a college ‘with direct AMC/MCNZ accreditation' isn't easy - would take bloody years.

I knew a PGY12 ortho reg still trying to get onto the program. Hospitals may be less interested in hiring you in the long run if they realise they can't keep dangling the chance of getting on the program as leverage to exploit you however.

Getting on 6

I only have anecdotal evidence, but I've seen across two hospital networks. Case 1 was a PGY2 who got onto rads PGY3 in a department her uncle is HoD, ahead of PGY4-5 candidates who had research, high exam scores, etc... Case 2 was a similar example in Ortho.

I got on to Ortho as a PGY4 (start training PGY5) which is as early as you can currently, and has been for the last decade or so. … Nothing special from my end. Certainly not nepotism. No research. No Masters. Just work hard at my actual job (not skiving off to theatre in order to try function above my station), was…

Lifestyle 3

0700 morning meeting, where another PHO is grilled on his intra-op XRs from the day before 0800 clinic, but my heart longs for theatre 1200 clinic runs late, so I eat my lunch while writing notes … 1900 study for GSSE while eating dinner 2200 bed 0530 cry as I wake up to another day Kidding. Sort of

You have to work hard as a registrar- that's out of your control. But once you're a boss you can work as hard as you want. … I am orthopaedic surgeon. I live by the beach in regional nsw and work 3.5 days a week on average. I have most school holidays off. I volunteer in the school canteen.

Exams 2

Then when trainees finish, RACS whack them with a $10k exit fee, then a few weeks later a $6-7k joining fee to become a fellow, on top of the annual $4k members fee.

I worked out the cheapest you can become FRACS (Orth) with training fees, exam and course fees is $121k. Assuming you pass everything the first time around and spend no money pre-vocationally.

Red flags 1

The real reason for the resignation is pressure from management for two things: better training (orthopaedic accreditation hanging on by a thread due to minimal supervision and massive bullying), and more accountability for charging

Jobs 1

If you're already set on a specialty, preference it early in the year. Getting to know the regs/bosses early and expressing your interest/enthusiasm will make your eventual transition into getting a reg job easier.

More topics 3

What happened to people who tried

1 people, counts not rates.

Best threads

• Could Australia End Up With Two Separate Orthopaedic Training Programs?
  Emerging AOA/NZOA-RACS split - unverified, monitor.
• What percentage of unaccredited surg regs never make it on?
  The denominator question every offer-rate hides.
• How do you know if you should give up on getting onto training
  Opens with a PGY7 unaccredited registrar 'looking down the barrel of another year'.
• GSSE in PGY1
  Consensus that early GSSE is the single best set-up move.
• How long on average does it take to get onto surgical training
  The $40k masters and rural time arms race.
• Those who got onto training recently, why do you think you got on?
  'Surgical selection is broken due to the inflationary effect of the bottleneck.'
• Surgery CV + Interviews
  'Past a number there's a limit to how many years as an unaccredited service registrar or pointless pubs/audits impacting your app.'
• How much do surgical Registrars make?
  PGY4 unaccredited subspecialty reg, NSW: ~$180k gross on 70-80h weeks.

r/ausjdocs comments and posts, hand-curated from the surgery, exams-and-costs, trajectories, employers collections; scores as at the dump · community view, not policy