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Dentistry application at JCU

Fnjwoqbdl

Member
Hey guys just a few questions since I couldn't find much on what I wanted to know.

I applied to JCU medicine and dentistry and did not get an interview offer for medicine. I have a GPA of 6.95/non-rural/non-standard and as I did not get an interview for medicine is there no chance of me getting in to dentistry? Does anyone know of people who got rejected by jcu medicine then got an offer for dentistry? Would it be better for me to change my preference to griffith dentistry first? Last year I applied to griffith university and did not get an offer so I am a bit scared that my GPA is not enough to be considered this year as things are more competitive. Although I do prefer jcu as my family is from a rural background and many of my relatives are still living in a rural environment, I am 25 now and getting desperate to just get into any course.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Changing your preferences won’t influence if you get offered Griffith dentistry or not, as if you aren’t competitive enough for JCU you will be passed down to Griffith anyway (unless Griffith is your third preference or lower at the moment). Keep your preferences in the order that you would actually prefer. Did you submit the same application for dentistry as medicine? If not, it may be marked higher than your medicine application and give you a greater chance for admission. If so, you may have just been under the score required for a medicine interview offer, or it still may be marked high enough for a dentistry offer anyways, so you never know your chances. There have definitely been people that missed out on med but then were offered dentistry. I’m not that knowledgeable on dentistry admissions at Griffith, but I know in the past people with GPAs of 6.75 and above have usually got in, so I would say with your GPA you should get in comfortably.

Best of luck!
 

Fnjwoqbdl

Member
Changing your preferences won’t influence if you get offered Griffith dentistry or not, as if you aren’t competitive enough for JCU you will be passed down to Griffith anyway (unless Griffith is your third preference or lower at the moment). Keep your preferences in the order that you would actually prefer. Did you submit the same application for dentistry as medicine? If not, it may be marked higher than your medicine application and give you a greater chance for admission. If so, you may have just been under the score required for a medicine interview offer, or it still may be marked high enough for a dentistry offer anyways, so you never know your chances. There have definitely been people that missed out on med but then were offered dentistry. I’m not that knowledgeable on dentistry admissions at Griffith, but I know in the past people with GPAs of 6.75 and above have usually got in, so I would say with your GPA you should get in comfortably.

Best of luck!
They used the one application for both dentistry and medicine. Thats why I am a bit scared. I dont exactly understand how the preferences wont influence my offers? I currently have JCU as number 1 and Griffith at 2. If JCU does not offer me a spot, and Griffith University gives out all their spots to students who put them down as first, wouldn't I be in a disadvantaged position to put down JCU? Can you tell me if those GPAs for grif dent were admissions for 2017? I missed out with my GPA, and I know that they have some sort of 2nd step process "OP/rank: 1/99 Selection within the rank or additional ranks were used in the selection process. Refer to institution for more information.". Do you know what this can be? my GPA is from a 2 year master's degree in coursework.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
They used the one application for both dentistry and medicine. Thats why I am a bit scared. I dont exactly understand how the preferences wont influence my offers? I currently have JCU as number 1 and Griffith at 2. If JCU does not offer me a spot, and Griffith University gives out all their spots to students who put them down as first, wouldn't I be in a disadvantaged position to put down JCU? Can you tell me if those GPAs for grif dent were admissions for 2017? I missed out with my GPA, and I know that they have some sort of 2nd step process "OP/rank: 1/99 Selection within the rank or additional ranks were used in the selection process. Refer to institution for more information.". Do you know what this can be? my GPA is from a 2 year master's degree in coursework.
Selection doesn’t work that way - all people that applied, regardless of what preference number they placed the course, are compared at the same time. Someone with Griffith dentistry as their bottom preference with a more competitive rank would be offered a spot before someone with it as their first preference with a lower rank (obviously provided said person misses out on all of their higher placed preferences).

I can’t tell you if that was for 2017 admissions, but definitely for 2016. If you look at the offers threads you should be able to see what sort of scores were offered places last year.

I would assume comparing all those with an OP1 involves looking at field positions or ATAR equivalent to greater distinguish the applicants. I believe comparing non-standards would be based solely on GPA, however.

ETA: For those with the same selection rank, Griffith uses the "Griffith University discriminator" to further distinguish between applicants. This discriminator is unknown, but it has been suggested that the grades from the most recent year of study are weighted higher than other years.
 
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Fnjwoqbdl

Member
Selection doesn’t work that way - all people that applied, regardless of what preference number they placed the course, are compared at the same time. Someone with Griffith dentistry as their bottom preference with a more competitive rank would be offered a spot before someone with it as their first preference with a lower rank (obviously provided said person misses out on all of their higher placed preferences).

I can’t tell you if that was for 2017 admissions, but definitely for 2016. If you look at the offers threads you should be able to see what sort of scores were offered places last year.

I would assume comparing all those with an OP1 involves looking at field positions or ATAR equivalent to greater distinguish the applicants. I believe comparing non-standards would be based solely on GPA, however.

Thank you so much for the information! I guess I will leave JCU as first then since I rather have it over Griffith in case I am applicable for both. BTW have a happy new year!
 

kjz

Member
They used the one application for both dentistry and medicine. Thats why I am a bit scared. I dont exactly understand how the preferences wont influence my offers? I currently have JCU as number 1 and Griffith at 2. If JCU does not offer me a spot, and Griffith University gives out all their spots to students who put them down as first, wouldn't I be in a disadvantaged position to put down JCU? Can you tell me if those GPAs for grif dent were admissions for 2017? I missed out with my GPA, and I know that they have some sort of 2nd step process "OP/rank: 1/99 Selection within the rank or additional ranks were used in the selection process. Refer to institution for more information.". Do you know what this can be? my GPA is from a 2 year master's degree in coursework.

In your application, did you talk about dentistry and medicine equally? My child applied both as well in one application. We had no invite for med either. I think it is most likely due to the emphasis on dentistry in the application. We don't feel too sad of not being offered an interview but do worry a bit about the application because we lost an "indicator" which may show their view of the quality of the application. Anyway, maybe our application is ok but the med people don't like us to put dent in front of med. Hope we all get dent offers soon. ;)
 
Hey guys just a few questions since I couldn't find much on what I wanted to know.

I applied to JCU medicine and dentistry and did not get an interview offer for medicine. I have a GPA of 6.95/non-rural/non-standard and as I did not get an interview for medicine is there no chance of me getting in to dentistry? Does anyone know of people who got rejected by jcu medicine then got an offer for dentistry? Would it be better for me to change my preference to griffith dentistry first? Last year I applied to griffith university and did not get an offer so I am a bit scared that my GPA is not enough to be considered this year as things are more competitive. Although I do prefer jcu as my family is from a rural background and many of my relatives are still living in a rural environment, I am 25 now and getting desperate to just get into any course.
Hi, OP. What UMAT percentile did you get? And did they tell you to use the same application for both dentistry and medicine? Medicine and dentistry are quite different.
 

Fnjwoqbdl

Member
In your application, did you talk about dentistry and medicine equally? My child applied both as well in one application. We had no invite for med either. I think it is most likely due to the emphasis on dentistry in the application. We don't feel too sad of not being offered an interview but do worry a bit about the application because we lost an "indicator" which may show their view of the quality of the application. Anyway, maybe our application is ok but the med people don't like us to put dent in front of med. Hope we all get dent offers soon. ;)
Yes I did. I mentioned it as a medical profession but did mention that I shadowed a dentist as that was the only one that accepted me. Yeah its that indicator in which I lost is what scares me. If I got an interview, I knew I would get an offer for dentistry.
 

Fnjwoqbdl

Member
Hi, OP. What UMAT percentile did you get? And did they tell you to use the same application for both dentistry and medicine? Medicine and dentistry are quite different.
No UMAT. Just GPA. You can only submit one written assessment for both dent and med.
 

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jiaxing

Regular Member
No UMAT. Just GPA. You can only submit one written assessment for both dent and med.

I read on a thread somewhere on MSO that some people in the past have submitted one application for med, and another application for dent. Did JCU tell you that you can submit one application only??
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
I read on a thread somewhere on MSO that some people in the past have submitted one application for med, and another application for dent. Did JCU tell you that you can submit one application only??
I think this was allowed in past years, but this years application form says anyone applying for medicine/dentistry/physio should submit the same application, even if applying for multiple different courses. You aren't allowed to submit more than one application (unless also applying for veterinary science).
 

jiaxing

Regular Member
I think this was allowed in past years, but this years application form says anyone applying for medicine/dentistry/physio should submit the same application, even if applying for multiple different courses. You aren't allowed to submit more than one application (unless also applying for veterinary science).

I see. Thanks for the info! :)
 

dkae

Member
Hi Guys,

As you know, JCU dent has pre-requisite requirement of English, Chemistry and Maths B. I have completed English and Chemistry but not Maths B (only Maths A). Does this make me ineligible for an offer? I am currently doing B. Social Science and I have no mathematical units duration of my course so what are my options?

Thanks in advance! :)

They are very hard on pre-requisites, you must have all or equivalence.
 

Sam26

Member
In your application, did you talk about dentistry and medicine equally? My child applied both as well in one application. We had no invite for med either. I think it is most likely due to the emphasis on dentistry in the application. We don't feel too sad of not being offered an interview but do worry a bit about the application because we lost an "indicator" which may show their view of the quality of the application. Anyway, maybe our application is ok but the med people don't like us to put dent in front of med. Hope we all get dent offers soon. ;)
Hi,
So does anyone know whether this is a possibility: that (since I want to get into medicine but kept JCU dentistry as a backup) by putting dentistry as an option, i could detriment my chances of getting medicine? As in, would they go “oh so if he wants medicine, why would he include dentistry?”

Thanks in advance
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Hi,
So does anyone know whether this is a possibility: that (since I want to get into medicine but kept JCU dentistry as a backup) by putting dentistry as an option, i could detriment my chances of getting medicine? As in, would they go “oh so if he wants medicine, why would he include dentistry?”

Thanks in advance

No, this is not an issue. Multiple applicants do this every year, it is largely expected.
 

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Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
No, this is not an issue. Multiple applicants do this every year, it is largely expected.
Worth pointing out that JCU changed their system last year so that rather than allowing applicants to submit one application for dentistry and a separate one for medicine, they can only submit one application now. My personal viewpoint is that it’d be quite difficult (of course not impossible) to convince someone that I wanted to pursue two (possibly three if also applying for physio) relatively different career paths with the same set of reasoning. Of course you can mention separate reasons for why medicine and why dentistry in the same application, but there is only a relatively small amount of space to write answers as it is, and needing to split this into two could prove quite difficult for some people.
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Worth pointing out that JCU changed their system last year so that rather than allowing applicants to submit one application for dentistry and a separate one for medicine, they can only submit one application now. My personal viewpoint is that it’d be quite difficult (of course not impossible) to convince someone that I wanted to pursue two (possibly three if also applying for physio) relatively different career paths with the same set of reasoning. Of course you can mention separate reasons for why medicine and why dentistry in the same application, but there is only a relatively small amount of space to write answers as it is, and needing to split this into two could prove quite difficult for some people.

I actually think this makes it easier for those wanting to apply to multiple degrees (and doesn’t change things for those that don’t), so it’s probably going to vary from person to person, tbh.
 

Nori

Lurker
Hey, so I don't have any work experience with dentistry but upon reading this forum, I think that I just wasted another year of study. I'm a R1 metropolitan and non-standard applicant.

To give you background,
In the process of preparing for my application, I read numerous accounts of dentists in rural communities and what made their career difficult. I also read about how oral health in rural communities can change - that Commonwealth should supply more funding to JCU so they could accept more applicants and be in favour of domestic applicants than internationals to commit to work in rural communities in Australia (despite internationals being an important source of profit).

So my application highlighted my decision to pursue a rural career in spite of the difficulties that I would inevitably encounter and only mentioned briefly on Indigenous communities. And since I have no work experience with Dentistry, I talked about my previous work experience that would help with the labour extensive components - customer centred-care, etc.

I am thoroughly worried about this because I believe I screwed up with my application letter. Although my desire is to own a rural practice in the future and stick to it, my actions, such as getting direct dentistry/health experience do not line up at all. There goes another year... I will apply for Griffith too, but my main point is, what weight does having experience hold in their process of selecting people who would actually make a difference to Indigenous and rural health?

Thanks :)

So I don't know how to delete a post... I think I answered my own question :)
 
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