To study medicine at Austria's public medical universities, in Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck and Linz, you have to pass MedAT, their joint admission test. If you have a foreign school-leaving certificate, the university may also assign you supplementary exams: German, if you don't have C1, and any school subjects it found missing from your certificate. In Vienna, the VWU, the Vorstudienlehrgang, prepares you for them.
The test and the supplementary exams run on different timelines. MedAT is held once a year, and the result only gets you a place for the next academic year, while the supplementary exams have to be passed by the time you enrol. The VWU prepares you for its own exams; it doesn't offer a MedAT course.
Where to start: the application and the VWU exams
Applicants from outside the EU apply to the Medical University of Vienna for admission to the Vorstudienlehrgang by 5 September for the winter semester or by 5 February for the summer semester.1Zulassungsfristen, Medizinische Universität Wien
You already need German at A2 or higher to apply, and the degree itself requires C1, which you prove by passing the VWU German exam, the EPD. For medicine in Vienna, the VWU prepares you for five exams: German, biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. Which of them you're assigned will be stated in your admission decision. Once you're enrolled at the VWU, German is only recognised through the VWU's own EPD, and you can't leave the VWU to take German somewhere else.2Vorstudienlehrgang, Medizinische Universität Wien
The medical university's separate biology entrance exam, the Zusatzprüfung, is no longer required: biology is now tested in MedAT. You still have to sit the VWU biology exam if your admission decision assigns it. Latin isn't needed for admission; you take it during your studies.3Informationen zur Zulassung, medizinstudieren.at
How MedAT works
MedAT is held once a year, usually in early July, at the same time in all four cities and only in German. You can't take it online, but you can try as many times as you like. You don't need your school-leaving certificate to take part; documents are only checked at enrolment.4Basic-Infos: Der MedAT, medizinstudieren.at
You can take the test in your final year of school or after school, but not earlier.5FAQ, medizinstudieren.at
The test for medicine, MedAT-H, has four parts. Science knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics, the BMS, makes up 40% of the result, text comprehension 10%, cognitive tasks such as number sequences and memorisation 40%, and social-emotional tasks 10%. A wrong answer in the first three parts doesn't cost you points.6Testinhalte Humanmedizin, medizinstudieren.at
The test's website currently lists 1,950 places, 704 of them in Vienna for medicine and 80 for dentistry. Applicants from outside the EU get no more than 5% of the places in medicine.7Studienplätze, medizinstudieren.at
In which order to take MedAT and the VWU exams
Steps to admission to medicine in Vienna
- 1–31 March 2027MedAT registrationprovisional
- 7–25 June 2027All VWU exams passed, orals includedwritten 7–9 June, orals 21–25 June
- 9 July 2027MedAT test dayprovisional
- 9–15 August 2027MedAT results, calendar week 32
- 3 August – 5 September 2026Admission at MedUni Wien2026 dates, dates for 2027 not yet published
German at C1 and your assigned exams are checked when you enrol in person, after the MedAT results.8Zulassungsvoraussetzungen Human- und Zahnmedizin, Medizinische Universität Wien
In 2026, those who got a place enrolled from 3 August to 5 September. After that the medical university has an extra period until 31 October, the Nachfrist, but the website doesn't say whether it applies to those admitted through MedAT. The 2027 dates haven't been published yet.1Zulassungsfristen, Medizinische Universität Wien
The VWU's September session is too late for this: in 2026 its written exams ran on 7–9 September and its orals on 21–24 September, already after the enrolment window. So there's one rule of thumb: pass all your VWU exams, orals included, before the test. The last session before MedAT 2027 will be in June, with written exams on 7–9 June and orals on 21–25 June. If your deadlines come close to these dates, check them with the medical university's admissions office in advance.9Ergänzungsprüfungen — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten
MedAT 2027 dates
Registration for MedAT 2027 is provisionally set for 1 to 31 March 2027, and the fee is paid within the same days. The test is provisionally on 9 July 2027, with results in calendar week 32, which is 9–15 August.4Basic-Infos: Der MedAT, medizinstudieren.at
The fee is €110. The universities announce the exact dates around the new year.5FAQ, medizinstudieren.at
How to prepare for MedAT from the VWU
- VWU biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics and part of the BMS rest on the same school syllabus, so prepare for them in parallel.
- The VWU exams have no cognitive or social-emotional tasks, so prepare for those parts of MedAT separately.
How the preparatory course itself works and who is assigned to it is covered in the VWU overview.
Sources
· 9 checked 01.10.2026
- Zulassungsfristen, Medizinische Universität Wien · checked 01.10.2026
- Vorstudienlehrgang, Medizinische Universität Wien · checked 01.10.2026
- Informationen zur Zulassung, medizinstudieren.at · checked 01.10.2026
- Basic-Infos: Der MedAT, medizinstudieren.at · checked 01.10.2026
- FAQ, medizinstudieren.at · checked 01.10.2026
- Testinhalte Humanmedizin, medizinstudieren.at · checked 01.10.2026
- Studienplätze, medizinstudieren.at · checked 01.10.2026
- Zulassungsvoraussetzungen Human- und Zahnmedizin, Medizinische Universität Wien · checked 01.10.2026
- Ergänzungsprüfungen — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten · checked 23.09.2026