Well written article indeed! Couldn't have said pitfall #1 and #2 better myself. I would honestly probably have been a pitfall #3 kinda guy though.
My only disagreement with your #3 is for students who achieved alright UMAT scores but had *borderline* ATARs in South Aus. (May also be applicable elsewhere idrk). As one can choose to repeat a subject (just one would do the trick) at a "disadvantaged" school allowing them to gain 5 bonus points which are applicable to Medicine entrance at Adelaide/Flinders. The effect of these bonus points;
Raise a 98.15 ATAR to 99.95
Raise a 98.00 ATAR to 99.90
This puts the given student in a far better position when competing for a position at flinders (and to a lesser extent at Adelaide)
Im unaware how none SA universities view disadvantaged school bonus points so this is really only of benefit to students who are deadset in studying at an SA university for whatever reason.
But like idk? Thoughts?
While this is a useful thing for South Australians to consider when applying (i.e. if you qualify, don't miss out on the bonus points), you may want to consider the fact that despite these disadvantaged schools getting bonus points you *still* don't see anyone in the Adelaide medicine cohort from these schools (other than those applying through the rural/ATSI pathways). While it may be possible for you to boost your ATAR as a result, I would argue that if you managed to get a 98.15 ATAR at school that you'd be able to get a first year GPA of 7.0 if you tried anywhere near as hard in uni as you did in year 12 - and furthermore, you'd be one year of study towards a backup career in case you didn't score great in UMAT.
(**the below loophole is no longer in existence and is retained for archive purposes**)
However, if you absolutely must remain in South Australia (goodness knows why you would want to), then the other universities that offer medicine are no longer a factor in this, in which case, the above would be a reasonable loophole to use... except that, in my opinion, there is a better one that @Green Vuvuzela has told me about that is better in pretty much every way:
Context: Flinders University's graduate entry medicine program has 75% of it's quota set aside for Flinders University students and 25% for graduate applicants outside the university. (These are in addition to the places set aside for Flinders provisional medicine for year 12s who receive 99.90). (Source: http://www.flinders.edu.au/medicine...e/documents/admission/MD_Admissions_Guide.pdf)
Flinders will use the GPA and GAMSAT to rank students, like any other graduate entry university. However, Flinders uses the GPA from a bachelor's degree for entry. What you can do is complete an undergraduate degree anywhere (such as the University of Adelaide - where you can also apply for tertiary transfer to the Adelaide medical program each year, though the number of people who get into it this way is rather trivial) do a 6 month certificate at Flinders (and thus you will qualify as a Flinders student) and then apply within the 75% Flinders quota using your bachelor's GPA from that other university. The 75% Flinders quota has much, much lower GPA and GAMSAT cutoffs for entry compared to pretty much every other graduate entry medical school out there (which already are arguably much easier to gain entry to than the undergraduate medical programs). Of course, if you are already doing your undergraduate degree at Flinders then you don't need to do that 6 month certificate.
This pathway also allows you to progress your career by virtue of the fact that you start working towards your completed bachelor's degree rather than waste a whole year sitting some year 12 subject again.
Last edited: