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RACS / ANZSVS
When Vascular Surgery applications run, and what the round looks like.
Applications
RACS registration opens 12:00 AEDT Tuesday 6 January and closes 12:00 AEDT Friday 30 January. An application cannot follow without it.
Selection regulations change annually, so read the current version rather than an earlier one.
No postgraduate year floor is published. The two eligibility rotations set one instead, and because each must fall inside the seven years before the close, a rotation can age out before it is used.
Very high
How Vascular Surgery training is structured.
Year one
To complete
Year two
To complete
Year three
Year four
Year five
To complete
Generic Surgical Sciences Examination
Passed by the application closing date
Clinical Examination
Trainees who commenced from 2026 complete it before SET rather than during it.
Passed by the application closing date
Australia and New Zealand Surgical Skills Education and Training
SET 1
Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient
SET 1 or SET 2
Emergency Management of Severe Trauma
SET 1 or SET 2
Trainee Skills Course
Every year, SET 1 to SET 5
Surgical Sciences Examination in Vascular Surgery
SET 2 or SET 3
Entry gates that are not scored, such as a visa, residency status, or the type of medical registration required.
One set of categories across every specialty, so two can be compared. Only those with criteria recorded for this specialty are shown.
Total 100%, and the interview carries a floor of its own
Six panels of two or three interviewers, about ten minutes each and sixty in total, with the same opening question at every panel. A weighted score below 25 out of 40 ends the attempt whatever the overall rank.
Four are collected, chosen by the Board from the referees nominated.
Scored out of 50 by two Board members. Professional development 10, publications 9, presentations 8, surgical and medical experience 6, qualifications 4, achievements and leadership 4, rural or regional 4, cultural competency 3, and teaching 2.
One is collected, as a recorded videoconference.
Rotations, logbooks, procedures, and exposure
Rural, regional, and remote experience
Sourced from Australian medical community discussion.
Seven years before applying
Prevocational years
Before applying
With the application
Anticipated changes for the 2028 selection are published but unconfirmed. Only the single highest qualification would score, study in progress would score nothing, no skills course would be scored, and the ASSET course would become an eligibility requirement.
Applications are lodged through the vascular surgery system rather than the RACS one, and the regulations are reissued annually, so check the current cycle before relying on last year's rules.
Selection and workforce history, transcribed as published.
82.86
Successful median overall score
2026 intake, weighted
32.86
Successful median interview score
2026 intake, 40% weighting
9
Trainees appointed
Selected in 2025, commencing 2026
Vascular surgery is unusual in publishing what a successful applicant actually scored. For the 2026 intake the median successful applicant scored 18.5 on the curriculum vitae component (weighted 25%), 33 on referees (35%) and 32.86 at interview (40%), for a weighted overall median of 82.86. The gap between those invited to interview and those not is widest on the curriculum vitae: 17 against 12.5.
Median scores for each group of applicants. Component weightings are the college's: curriculum vitae 25%, referees 35%, interview 40%.
| Selection | 2025 intake | 2026 intake |
|---|---|---|
| Successful — median curriculum vitae score (25%) |
Queensland Health is the only state department publishing these figures so far.
3 / 5Eligible applicants selected, 2026 first-year entry
The college itself
Five applicants were eligible and three selected in the published 2026 Queensland round — the highest proportion appointed of any surgical specialty here, from a very small pool
Allocated by the college through the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons SET selection process, not by a Queensland Health pathway or facility — the reverse of most physician specialties in Queensland, where a centralised state-wide network controls entry
36 posts across 36 hospitals in Australia. Each circle counts hospitals.
Show these kinds of site
Select a region to see the hospitals inside it.
Hospital locations © OpenStreetMap contributors. State boundaries from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Published by RACS / ANZSVS and the Medical Board unless stated.
Colleges, portals and rubrics
Connected to this specialty by the Medical Board’s specialty structure, by college, or by a shared training pathway.
Requirements, windows, and criteria change annually. Verify with RACS / ANZSVS before making career decisions. Report an error on this page.
Fellowship Examination
SET 5
Selection points and pathways for Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Māori applicants
Papers, impact factor, audits, and QI
Who is asked to report on you, and what they are asked
Format, stations, and what the interview assesses
How the application is marked and weighted
Registration mechanics and logistics not covered above
| 18.5 |
| Successful — median referee score (35%) | 34.77 | 33 |
|---|
| Successful — median interview score (40%) | 29.5 | 32.86 |
|---|
| Successful — median overall score (weighted) | 81.75 | 82.86 |
|---|
| Invited to interview — median curriculum vitae score (25%) | 16.37 | 17 |
|---|
| Invited to interview — median referee score (35%) | 34.53 | 32.7 |
|---|
| Invited to interview — median interview score (40%) | 27.14 | 30.48 |
|---|
| Invited to interview — median overall score (weighted) | 75.93 | 79.69 |
|---|
| Not invited to interview — median curriculum vitae score (25%) | 12 | 12.5 |
|---|
| Not invited to interview — median referee score (35%) | 20.18 | 32.29 |
|---|
Includes deferred offers.
| Selected in | Commencing | Trainees appointed |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 12 |
| 2020 | 2021 | 9 |
| 2021 | 2022 | 10 |
| 2022 | 2023 | 10 |
| 2023 | 2024 | 12 |
| 2024 | 2025 | 11 |
| 2025 | 2026 | 9 |
Source: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Australian and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery. Vascular Surgery Selection Statistics — median component scores for the 2025 and 2026 intakes; past offers for selection years 2019 to 2025. Figures are transcribed as published.
Check the current figures at ANZSVS — education, training and selection.
Queensland Health, medi-nav, 31 July 2026. Selection numbers are for first-year entry and vary year to year.