It is true that admission requirements for a Doctor of Medicine program are made slightly less demanding for students living in rural areas. For example, the ATAR requirement in the case of Rural Entry Admission Scheme applicants for WSU's Doctor of Medicine is 91.5 as opposed to 93.5 for Greater Western Sydney applicants and 95.5 for non Greater Western Sydney applicants.
In the case of other universities, UNSW's Rural Entry Scheme intends to reduce the difficulty to be faced by eligible applicants to its Bachelor of Medical Studies/Doctor of Medicine. This is evident when looking at 2021 data, which shows that the lowest ATAR to receive an offer was 91.65 for a rural applicant, whereas the lowest ATAR to receive an offer was 97.20 for a local applicant.
Of course, it is important to note that the ATAR is not the only assessable component in the case of universities such as WSU and UNSW, with UCAT and/or interview performance also playing a significant role. Perhaps someone could clarify whether the lower difficulty associated with rural applications extends to UCAT and/or interview performance and if so, the degree to which it does.
I hope this helps!
