Bond University is selecting medical students on the basis of emotional intelligence, as well as their ATARs. “We are slightly concerned that medical programs are attracting people who think you only need academic intelligence to become a good doctor, and that is simply not true,” Dean of Medicine Kirsty Forrest says.

“While some people called it ‘naval gazing’, skills such as the ability to recognise your own emotions, helping others understand theirs, displaying a breadth of emotional vocabulary and communicating well, are critical to a medical career.”

This year Bond U expanded the candidate pool for medicine by dropping the ATAR cut-off to a still stratospheric 96, with 540 applicants sitting an EI test. Some 240 of them made it to interview of whom 120 were offered a place.

Of course, Bond U has another selection criteria, the character-building courage to take on $378 000 in study debt.