JMP JMP: BBiomedSc Pathway

[dotwingz]

Just came across that students who complete a BBiomedSc and Major in Medical Health Professional at UoN are benefited in JMP admission as they are considered rural applicants. See here: Medical/Health Professional Major

Students who complete the Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Medical / Health Professions) will be invited to attend the MSA/PQA based on a minimum UCAT ANZ rank (combined section score excluding SJT) as set by the JMP Admissions Committee. The set minimum rank will reflect the rank used to identify rural students for MSA/PQA and is expected to be lower than the standard (non-rural) requirement.

Given that 200 people entered this course in 2019, and the wording of the quote above makes me think that they dont distort the rural entry mark, only match it this is going to heavily distort the interviews from this year onwards. The earliest source i can see about this is from 2017 so the graduates from this will be entering the admissions from this year. I also remember reading that this course had the largest growth in admissions in UoN (cant find a source - i might be wrong)

Surely this is a joke? a barely better than a pass 4.3 GPA maintained in a course with a 75 Selection Rank with a 2400 UCAT (based on the interview thread last year) is enough to land an interview from someone in a metropolitan area. How in any sense is that a valid admission process. I value the diversity in medical admissions in Australia which allows people of different walks of live are able to practice in a diverse career but surely the JMP recognizes the strong academic side of medicine, which is why in the first place medicine was a difficult qualification in the first place.

What does everyone else think?

 

[A1]

What does everyone else think?

I don't see much wrong with it. More & more med schools are giving advantages to their own students (Flinders, Monash, ANU, Deakin, MQ). All UoN is giving these grads is a lower UCAT cutoff for an interview, they still have to "pass" on merit the 1-in-4 selection by the interview.

This course is run by the same school/staff that teach medicine, they need enrolments alongside med. Med schools run at a big loss if they rely on just the med students' HECS fees & gov subsidies.

 

[Crow]

It’s a classic money-making technique being employed by more and more universities.

 

[Clubs]

You can land an interview that way, sure, and the prior knowledge is useful, but you've still got to pass in the interviews. The way the JMP weights the interviews over academics (just being a cutoff) means that they're still picking and choosing their applicants. I'm more concerned about diluting the rural pool of applicants and potentially making it harder for rural students to get in.

In saying that, the biomed graduates are really helpful for the rest of us in PBL of we're rusty on concepts.

 

[Wolfhawk]

Hi everyone.
I am just wondering if anyone in the JMP who completed the Bachelor of Biomedical Science has any recommendations on what would be the most useful Group 1/2 electives. I am sure that all would be useful in one way or another, but has anyone heard of any that are better units for those students hoping to be accepted into the JMP? If you know the answer I would appreciate hearing from you. Cheers. Brian.

 

[coconut29]

Just came across that students who complete a BBiomedSc and Major in Medical Health Professional at UoN are benefited in JMP admission as they are considered rural applicants. See here: Medical/Health Professional Major



Given that 200 people entered this course in 2019, and the wording of the quote above makes me think that they dont distort the rural entry mark, only match it this is going to heavily distort the interviews from this year onwards. The earliest source i can see about this is from 2017 so the graduates from this will be entering the admissions from this year. I also remember reading that this course had the largest growth in admissions in UoN (cant find a source - i might be wrong)

Surely this is a joke? a barely better than a pass 4.3 GPA maintained in a course with a 75 Selection Rank with a 2400 UCAT (based on the interview thread last year) is enough to land an interview from someone in a metropolitan area. How in any sense is that a valid admission process. I value the diversity in medical admissions in Australia which allows people of different walks of live are able to practice in a diverse career but surely the JMP recognizes the strong academic side of medicine, which is why in the first place medicine was a difficult qualification in the first place.

What does everyone else think?

wow just saw this, is there a quota for how many final year biomed students they'll invite to the interview this year or just everyone that applies?

 

[dotwingz]

wow just saw this, is there a quota for how many final year biomed students they'll invite to the interview this year or just everyone that applies?

No clue, given the wording I suspect it’s everyone that applies which is a bit of a bruh moment. Especially because 200 people took this course last year (although I’m not sure of the 2017 numbers)

https://www.newcastle.edu.au/degrees/overlay/commencing-student-profile/40097.pdf

 

[A1]

No clue, given the wording I suspect it’s everyone that applies which is a bit of a bruh moment.

Provided they meet the UCAT cutoff for rural.

But this looks like seriously bad news for non-rural external applicants to JMP. Say 150 UoN BBiomedSc students get interviews this cuts the interview spots for non-rural others from 550ish to 400, likely to push last year's cutoff 90%ile to 93%ile this year.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

The 2980 cutoff was for the entire JMP program - non-rural, Non-UoN. Last year, apparently UoN Biomedsci applicants had an advantage as they were admitted internally via the rural pathway. This had a lower UCAT cutoff.
Thread 'JMP: BBiomedSc Pathway'
JMP - JMP: BBiomedSc Pathway

So realistically there are now 3 pools of applicants - non-rural, UoN and rural, judging the info from previous posts and that LMG! provided.

The split between UoN and UNE is then determined on interview performance and preferencing.

We have no idea what they will be doing this year. Keep in mind that cutoffs change every year depending on the performance of the cohort. I suspect they most likely will as a recent change from last year probably will be carried over this year. We will find out once percentiles and interviews are released.

I don’t know if they’ve changed their minds again because I’ve not followed up for ages but I do remember reading (and it being linked here somewhere - probably in the JMP thread) that the UoN BioMed pathway was being scrapped again.

 

[dotwingz]

I don’t know if they’ve changed their minds again because I’ve not followed up for ages but I do remember reading (and it being linked here somewhere - probably in the JMP thread) that the UoN BioMed pathway was being scrapped again.

Yeah when I emailed JMP last year, they said only a few were invited to an interview, and the BBiomedSc program was being “restructured” and they weren’t sure if the new restructured program would have the same entry stream

 

[A1]

when I emailed JMP last year, they said only a few (UoN BioMed) were invited to an interview

I'm skeptical of that info^, it doesn't explain why the cutoff for the general pool jumped from 2019 2840 = 90%ile to 2020 2980 = 94%ile.

There are ~560 UCAT takers between 90 & 94, assuming half of them applied to JMP that was 280 fewer interview spots for the general pool. Could it be JMP invited significantly fewer due to COVID last year?

 

[derm4eva]

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[naian616]

definetely this.... high ucat scorers do take up all the interviews (by all means they deserve it), but it can be frustrating for borderline cases (like poor me ha ha) where getting 1 interview is a huge difference, so anything that could potentially lower my chances can be infuriating, but i do hope that the interstate travel for interviews do deter this similar to last yr.... im begging for any interviews this yr!

I was speaking to a fellow non-standard applicant who hypothesised that the increase could potentially be attributed to the JMP holding interviews via zoom as opposed to in person. Many interstate applicants with high UCAT scores may simply apply everywhere (even if they are not interested in studying at a particular university) to increase their chances. However, if they receive several interviews for their preferred/local universities then they may ordinarily be less inclined to have to pay travel + accommodation costs to appear at an interview. The online interviews last year may have removed this barrier as it was essentially 'free' to sit the interview, thus increasing the number of applicants, particularly from interstate.

I personally find it a little unfair when applicants with very high UCAT scores apply to every single university when they have little to no interest in attending a particular university. I can understand the counter-argument in how they have earned the interview place, however, if they reject the interview, they are simply taking away the opportunity to interview from another candidate. This is detrimental to those applying to universities such as JMP which only make one round of interview offers and to which many non-standards apply.

The admissions guide for this year states that interviews will be held in person this year. So I suppose we shall find out whether this hypothesis holds true or not!

On a separate note, my sympathies for non-rural NSW applicants, basically last year someone with a 99.20 ATAR and 92%tile UCAT and an average VR score wouldn't have received a single interview offer to JMP, Adelaide, UNSW, WSU, UTAS, UQ and would have been highly unlikely to receive one to Monash, Curtin or UWA (happy to be corrected?). Whereas local quotas would enable someone with the same scores from Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia to receive an interview at a local university.

 

[derm4eva]

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[naian616]

Just by looking at the interview offer statistics, the undergraduate pathway has become an extremely convoluted process whereby water isn’t allowed to find its own level (i.e. high scores being correspondingly awarded with interviews). Personally I feel they should move to the system used in postgraduate medical admissions which enables you to apply everywhere but only allocates applicants one interview within the GEMSAS pool (given satisfactory GPA/GAMSAT scores of course). That way more people get interviews and if you mess it up (either due to being a not suitable candidate or not preparing) then to quote Ma Anand Sheela... “tough titties.”

One can only hope that those with the highest scores are considerate of those with borderline scores!

its a dog eat dog out there....

 

[derm4eva]

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[derm4eva]

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[naian616]

It should also be noted, ATARs are not comparable between say NSW/VIC and other states. It’s essentially a percentile tank. So it’s objectively more difficult to receive a 99.00 ATAR in NSW than in say TAS/SA/WA due to obvious differences in the population.

thats why i do the IB....

 

[dotwingz]

It should also be noted, ATARs are not comparable between say NSW/VIC and other states. It’s essentially a percentile tank. So it’s objectively more difficult to receive a 99.00 ATAR in NSW than in say TAS/SA/WA due to obvious differences in the population.

Obvious differences in the population? ATARs are comparable between states, the aggregate score on the other hand are not.

 

[derm4eva]

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