General Surgery Training Pathway
How to become a general surgeon in Australia — the RACS SET program run through General Surgeons Australia, how national selection actually scores you, and what general surgeons earn.
Surgery's bottleneck isn't the SET program — it's getting onto it. Most applicants spend years as unaccredited service registrars building the CV, operative logbook and references that selection demands, all before SET 1 even begins. Selection is national and weighted heavily toward the interview.
Why general surgery
You assess, work up and operate on the full breadth of abdominal and soft-tissue surgical disease — acute abdomens, hernias, gallbladders, bowel, breast and endocrine, trauma and emergency general surgery — across clinics, theatre lists and the on-call take. It's a craft specialty built on operative decision-making and technical skill. It suits people who want to operate, can carry clinical risk and long hours, and are prepared to compete hard and persist through unaccredited years to get onto the program.
- Draws: Broad operative scope and a clear craft skill set, Strong demand and high earning ceiling, especially subspecialised, A clear, structured 5–6 year program once you're on SET, Acute, decisive work with tangible outcomes.
- Trade-offs: Getting onto SET is the hard part — often years unaccredited first, Heavy on-call, overtime and operating hours, Long total training time and a demanding Fellowship Examination, Geographic flexibility needed to take a training post.
- Subspecialties: Colorectal surgery, Upper gastrointestinal & bariatric surgery, Hepatobiliary & pancreatic surgery, Breast & endocrine surgery, Trauma & emergency general surgery, Surgical oncology.
The training pathway
The same fellowship, two very different timelines. The fast route assumes everything goes right; most people land on the realistic one.
How competitive is it?
Selection is national and competitive, but RACS publishes real figures, so there's no need to guess. For the 2024 intake, General Surgery drew 290 applications and made 133 offers (about a 46% offer rate, the largest absolute offer count of any surgical specialty that year); 115 trainees were appointed for 2024 and 121 for 2025, against roughly 496 active General Surgery SET trainees in the system. Across all nine surgical specialties that year, 947 applications led to 298 offers (about 31%). RACS does not control post numbers — it accredits the posts that jurisdictions create — so the number selected each year tracks how many accredited training posts fall vacant. The size of the national unaccredited-registrar pool competing for those posts is not published.
Unaccredited time: Yes — in practice most applicants spend years in unaccredited service-registrar posts building the operative experience, references and CV that selection demands before they get onto SET. RACS does not publish how many years this typically takes.
Sources: RACS — General Surgery (Australia) selection page, RACS — Activities Report (applicant & offer tables), General Surgeons Australia — selection.
Selection criteria & how to apply
General Surgery selection is national — one application through General Surgeons Australia and the Australian Board in General Surgery, not a state-by-state process. Four components make up your score out of 100, and the interview dominates:
Key documents: General Surgeons Australia — selection regulations & process, RACS — General Surgery (Australia) eligibility & selection.
Where you'd train, state by state
NSW
Who runs selection: Part of the NSW/ACT training region — the largest, spanning Sydney teaching hospitals and rural networks. Selection is national; this is where you'd be placed, not who selects you. NSW also runs rotations that service the Northern Territory.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: The biggest pool of accredited posts and unaccredited registrar jobs in the country. At consultant level, NSW general surgeons work as salaried staff specialists or as sessional/fee-for-service VMOs.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
VIC
Who runs selection: Part of the Victoria/Tasmania training region, covering Melbourne teaching hospitals and regional Victorian networks. Selection is national; Victoria also runs rotations servicing the Northern Territory.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: Large metropolitan training base. Consultants are salaried specialists under the AMA Victoria agreement or work sessional/VMO arrangements alongside private practice.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
QLD
Who runs selection: A standalone Queensland training region, from Brisbane teaching hospitals through large regional and rural centres. General Surgeons Australia is headquartered in Brisbane. Selection is national.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: Strong regional and rural surgical footprint. Consultants work as salaried staff specialists/SMOs under the Queensland Health agreement or as VMOs.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
SA
Who runs selection: A standalone South Australia training region centred on Adelaide teaching hospitals with rural rotations. Selection is national; SA also runs rotations servicing the Northern Territory.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: A smaller region with a tight set of accredited posts. Consultants are salaried specialists under the SA agreement or VMOs.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
WA
Who runs selection: A standalone Western Australia training region across Perth teaching hospitals and a vast remote footprint served by the WA Country Health Service. Selection is national.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: Geographically isolated, with rural and remote rotations. Consultants work as salaried WA Health specialists or sessional VMOs alongside private practice.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
TAS
Who runs selection: Trained within the Victoria/Tasmania region, with Tasmanian teaching hospitals (Hobart, Launceston) providing accredited posts. Selection is national.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: A small number of posts grouped with Victoria. Much of the state is rural for training and rurality-scoring purposes.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
ACT
Who runs selection: Trained within the NSW/ACT region, with Canberra teaching hospitals providing accredited posts. Selection is national.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: A small metropolitan training base grouped with NSW. Consultants work as salaried Canberra Health Services specialists or VMOs.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
NT
Who runs selection: The Northern Territory has no standalone region — its accredited posts are serviced by rotations from the NSW, South Australia and Victoria training regions. Selection is national.
Where to apply: GSA / ABiGS national application — application portal.
Worth knowing: Distinctive remote and Aboriginal-health surgical exposure, delivered through rotations from southern regions rather than a local training program. Strongly rural for rurality-scoring purposes.
Links: RACS — General Surgery (Australia), General Surgeons Australia.
How to optimise your application
- Pass the GSSE early (tied to Eligibility, start PGY1–2) — It's a hard gate — you must pass the Generic Surgical Sciences Examination before the application closing date, so sit it well ahead of applying.
- Build the operative logbook and references (tied to CV (20%) + Referees (20%), start unaccredited years) — Verified procedural experience and strong, specific consultant references are scored directly — line up the four consultant supporters early.
- Prepare hard for the interview (tied to Interview (50%), start pre-application) — Half the score sits here. Practise structured, scenario-based answers on competency, ethics and safety.
- Use rurality if it fits (tied to Rurality (10%), start early) — Rural education, origin or surgical experience scores points and rural rotations are built into training — worth weighing if it suits you.
Key documents & official links
- RACS — how to become a surgeon
- RACS — General Surgery (Australia)
- General Surgeons Australia — become a general surgeon
- RACS — Generic Surgical Sciences Examination (GSSE)
- RACS — Fellowship Examination
FAQ
Is general surgery hard to get into?
How long does it take?
How is selection scored?
What exams are there?
Do general surgeons earn a lot?
Trained overseas? (IMG pathway)
How overseas-trained general surgery doctors get recognised
Overseas-trained surgeons are recognised through the RACS Specialist International Medical Graduate (SIMG) assessment. After an interview you're rated substantially comparable (up to 12 months of clinical assessment, exam possibly waived), partially comparable (up to 24 months and usually the Fellowship Examination), or not comparable. General Surgery SIMG registration is handled with General Surgeons Australia.
See the RACS SIMG assessment for international medical graduates and our IMG internship guide.
Related specialties
Last reviewed 2026-06-01.