How many medical students are choosing general practice?

General practice, including rural generalism, was the second most preferred specialty among medical students last year, according to new data.
 
In 2024, adult medicine was preferred by 17.2% of respondents, while general practice, inclusive of rural generalism, was preferred by 15% of medical students.
 
That is according to a new ‘National Data Report 2025’, which focuses on responses from final year students at Australian medical schools.
 
Released last week, the report gathers data from final year students surveyed in the last quarter of 2024, with 2176 people responding out of a cohort of 3851.
 
It found 9.4% chose general practice compared to 10.6% in 2023, and 5.7% of students indicating rural generalism compared to 7.2% in the previous year’s cohort.
 
The top factor influencing choice of most preferred area of medicine in 2024 was an ‘alignment with personal values’, with the ‘atmosphere/work culture typical of the discipline’ coming in second, and ‘intellectual content of the specialty’ third.
 
The fifth most cited reason was ‘general medical school experiences’.
 
RACGP GPs in Training Chair Dr Bec Loveridge told newsGP the report shows the importance of medical students getting exposure to general practice in their training.
 
‘We know that experience is really variable when it comes to general practice, not in terms of how good it is, most people that have a general practice placement like it, but in terms of the amount of face time that they get in the general practice – it’s really underdone,’ she said.
 
‘The Government’s coming around to that idea as well with its funding announcements being linked to general practice outcomes.
 
‘We know that people who have longitudinal, good-quality general practice placements do often see the value in it as a specialty.’
 
Looking to their future careers, 29.3% of respondents indicated a preference to work in a non-metropolitan area.
 
Additionally, 32.4% of domestic students from rural backgrounds said they would prefer to work in a rural town or remote community compared to 6.2% of those from a non-rural background.
 
But RACGP President Dr Michael Wright told newsGP that for too long there have been barriers in the way of medical students and junior doctors to choose general practice as a career.
 
‘These have included structural, educational and financial barriers,’ he said.
 
‘We know that early and positive exposure to general practice during medical school and junior doctor training makes the choice of general practice more likely.’
 
The new data comes as, for the first time in years, the RACGP filled all its places in the Australian General Practice Training Program for the 2025 intake, marking an almost 20% increase from the previous year.
 
A record-breaking 1504 junior doctors accepted specialist training places for next year through the Federal Government-funded AGPT Program – an increase of 249 doctors embarking on their general practice training journey from 2024, or 19.8%.
 
‘The solutions are definitely there,’ Dr Loveridge said.
 
‘We know people choose general practice because it’s complex, and interesting, and varied, and then it has all of these other side benefits that a lot of the other specialties don’t have, like good work-life balance, flexibility, and being a little bit more family-friendly.’
 
Dr Loveridge is also hopeful that recent investment in general practice and incentives for students will help.
 
‘We’ll see those changes in the junior doctor cohort first, because they’re the ones that it’s most applicable to, but there will be a trickle-down effect,’ she said.
 
‘One of the main misconceptions about general practice is that it’s not financially rewarding and that’s made very apparent when you have to take a huge pay cut to start general practice training, but they’re getting rid of that pay cut.
 
‘I’m looking forward to seeing what all of these monitoring surveys that are done show over the next couple of years.’
 
Most recently, these investments include a $40,000 incentive payment for GPs training in Queensland.
 
The success of previous grants has been proven in other states, with data revealing 64% of applicants to a Victorian incentive program saying it influenced their decision to enrol in GP training in the state.
 
Additionally, the Federal Government has launched a wave of workforce and training funding pledges to entice young doctors into general practice.
 
This includes $204.8 million to fund salary incentives for junior doctors to specialise in general practice, $43.9 million to provide paid parental leave and study leave for GP trainees, and $44 million for an additional 200 junior doctor rotations in primary health care each year from 2026.
 
The report also found that three quarter of respondents said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that they were satisfied with their medical program at their university.
 
The proportion of students in overall agreement that their basic medical degree was preparing them well for work as an intern sat at 80%.
 
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