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[Undergrad] EAS/SCATS/UES/SEAS General Discussion and Enquiries

Eleanor Rigby

Regular Member
I have read the pdf on SCATS UNSW. Does anyone on the forum have any experience on this type of application? If so, should an applicant seek a signature from a community member verifying their 'Personal Statement'?
Can 'Personal Statements' be verified in the first place?
Or will signing a declaration be sufficient?
Finally, does SCATS really matter? I didn't consider it in the first place because I wouldn't out of principle regard myself as 'disadvantaged' but recently someone I know have contradicted my opinion. Cutting to the chase, I would appreciate any comments/insights.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
I have read the pdf on SCATS UNSW. Does anyone on the forum have any experience on this type of application? If so, should an applicant seek a signature from a community member verifying their 'Personal Statement'?
Can 'Personal Statements' be verified in the first place?
Or will signing a declaration be sufficient?
Finally, does SCATS really matter? I didn't consider it in the first place because I wouldn't out of principle regard myself as 'disadvantaged' but recently someone I know have contradicted my opinion. Cutting to the chase, I would appreciate any comments/insights.
Smelly Boy should be able to help :)
 

Eleanor Rigby

Regular Member
Financial disadvantage at UNSW gives you +1 ATAR if you experienced it during high school but not if you experienced it as a student in tertiary education, according to the people that assign bonus points to special consideration at UNSW. Not sure about other unis
I have read the pdf on SCATS UNSW. Does anyone on the forum have any experience on this type of application? If so, should an applicant seek a signature from a community member verifying their 'Personal Statement'?
Can 'Personal Statements' be verified in the first place?
Or will signing a declaration be sufficient?
Finally, does SCATS really matter? I didn't consider it in the first place because I wouldn't out of principle regard myself as 'disadvantaged' but recently someone I know have contradicted my opinion. Cutting to the chase, I would appreciate any comments/insights.
I'm been referred to you. Just to recap on your past post, an undergraduate experiencing financial disadvantage would not have the +1ATAR offered to them in their application. I didn't know this so thank you.
If the applicant is from UNSW as an undergraduate, what would a SCATS UNSW application do for their application? First-timer here looking at this.
And any predictions on how the selection process might be this year for non-standards considering that certain faculties are grading a Pass/Fail.
Do you think that there would be a heavy emphasis on the UCAT score?
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
I'm been referred to you. Just to recap on your past post, an undergraduate experiencing financial disadvantage would not have the +1ATAR offered to them in their application. I didn't know this so thank you.
If the applicant is from UNSW as an undergraduate, what would a SCATS UNSW application do for their application? First-timer here looking at this.
And any predictions on how the selection process might be this year for non-standards considering that certain faculties are grading a Pass/Fail.
Do you think that there would be a heavy emphasis on the UCAT score?
hello I have resurrected from the dead.

Getting special consideration for your undergrad scores is really hard (from my experience). You'll need to have something demonstrably (that means have documents for) difficult happen to you that hindered your performance at uni severely. This isn't to say that what you're experiencing/have experienced in undergrad is insignificant but I guess they're just tough like that :(!

the pass/fail thing I have no idea how thats gonna affect med entry so I won't comment on that. Best of luck in these uncertain times <3
 

damn

Member
Asking for a friend, she applied for EAS last year under the death of a family member category. The application went through but only for a select few universities and was turned down by most major unis including all the universities with undergraduate medicine. She's looking to reapply this year, for UNSW specifically and will apply for EAS again and might apply for the illness category as well since the family member was sick for two years prior to passing away. Would any of you guys have any idea why the major unis might reject the EAS application - would it be something to do with the application itself (impact statement or description of relationship)? The family member passed away right before the start of year 12.
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
Asking for a friend, she applied for EAS last year under the death of a family member category. The application went through but only for a select few universities and was turned down by most major unis including all the universities with undergraduate medicine. She's looking to reapply this year, for UNSW specifically and will apply for EAS again and might apply for the illness category as well since the family member was sick for two years prior to passing away. Would any of you guys have any idea why the major unis might reject the EAS application - would it be something to do with the application itself (impact statement or description of relationship)? The family member passed away right before the start of year 12.
I’m not sure about this category of hardship so I can’t help you for this one :(. The UAC website says you need to submit a death certificate + educational impact statement. If these were both submitted, I think contacting UAC and UNSW and asking them about the application would be a good move.

The UNSW Med entry schemes page has changed quite a bit from last year. They do not make mention of SCATS or EAS now.

==
To everyone interested in applying to UNSW:
A very exciting change I have just seen on the UNSW Med entry schemes page is the addition of the new ‘Gateway Entry Scheme’.

click the spoiler below to learn more about it!
INFORMATION TAKEN FROM the UNSW Med website
“The Gateway Entry Scheme for UNSW Medicine is a separate entry stream into the Bachelor of Medical Studies (BMed) / Doctor of Medicine (MD) program for domestic applicants from low-SES backgrounds.

Eligibility
Applicants eligible to apply for this scheme must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. Be a domestic applicant (Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or New Zealand citizen)
  2. Attended a UNSW Gateway eligible school in a metropolitan area (see list of eligible schools) for at least years 11 and 12
  3. Live at an address identified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as being in the lowest 25% of socio-economic disadvantage in Australia
  4. Be in year 12 or on a gap year (completed year 12 in the previous year and not commenced any undergraduate studies) in the year of applying for the scheme
Applicants are advised of whether they meet the above mentioned address requirement within 24 hours of lodging their application with the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC). Therefore, we highly recommend applicants apply with UAC before submitting an application with UNSW Medicine on the Medicine Application Portal (MAP) or applying to sit UCAT ANZ.
Please note that applications submitted under this scheme who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be automatically changed to straightforward local applications. Applicants will be informed accordingly.

Application process
Please follow the steps outlined in the Application Process section. When submitting their application through the Medicine Application Portal (MAP), applicants are required to select “Gateway Entry Scheme applicant” as their applicant type.
All dates and deadlines can be found in the Important Dates section.

Selection for interview
Applicants applying through this scheme have to meet the following minimum requirements in order to be considered for an interview:
- 87.00 raw ATAR AND 91.00 selection rank (ATAR plus EAS equity adjustment factors)
- UCAT ANZ 50th overall percentile
Applicants are offered an interview on the basis of the combination of the above. You can find more details on how we rank and select applicants for interview on our Selection for Interviewwebsite.

Selection for offer
Applicants are offered a place through the Gateway Entry Scheme based on their academic merit (selection rank), UCAT ANZ overall score and interview score. These components are combined according to the same selection algorithm used for straightforward local applicants. Applicants are ranked (separately to the straightforward local applicants) and up to 10 offers will be made under this scheme.
Applicants will be offered unbonded or bonded places, depending on availability. With regards to campus allocation, students entering our program through this scheme will not be allocated to a campus they did not indicate in their application form.
You can find more details on our Selection for Offer website.

More information that may be of interest to Gateway Entry Scheme applicants:
- Details of applicants applying under this scheme will be passed on to UNSW Access & Equity (Students) who may be able to provide additional support to applicants. You can find out more at UNSW Equity Diversity & Inclusion(link is external)
- Applicants can apply for scholarships, e.g. the UNSW Medicine Equity Scholarship. More information can be accessed at UNSW Scholarships(link is external)

with this new entry scheme though, it seems as though there will be no special consideration for applicants who have started tertiary education. I’m basing this on the fact that SCATS has been removed from the special entry schemes page this year. In previous years, SCATS and EAS were listed on special entry schemes.

Nevertheless, it sounds very exciting and I’m glad they’ve done this. UNSW, for years, have said that they wanted to increase the number of students from a low-SES background in their incoming medicine cohorts. In 2016, students from a low SES background made up 4.5% of the cohort and they wanted this to increase. Their website, however, had an action plan which was “to be completed” to increase students from low-SES backgrounds being admitted to their medicine course for as long as I can remember (as of now, the website reads “to be completed” under the action plan subheading). It’s great to see they’ve come up with something as an action plan this year.

It seems as though this will provide a much more realistic chance of admission for students from low-SES backgrounds as the minimum ATAR for consideration to interview is 87 PLUS 91.00 selection rank (I.e. ATAR + EAS bonuses). having a 91 ATAR equivalent probably won’t be competitive (or it might! Never know since this is a new scheme) for an interview but the fact that it’s much less than the minimum 96.00 atar requirement for general applicants demonstrates that the scores will probably be considerably lower. Very interested to see how this plays out 👀.
 
N

nb

Guest
I’m not sure about this category of hardship so I can’t help you for this one :(. The UAC website says you need to submit a death certificate + educational impact statement. If these were both submitted, I think contacting UAC and UNSW and asking them about the application would be a good move.

The UNSW Med entry schemes page has changed quite a bit from last year. They do not make mention of SCATS or EAS now.

==
To everyone interested in applying to UNSW:
A very exciting change I have just seen on the UNSW Med entry schemes page is the addition of the new ‘Gateway Entry Scheme’.

click the spoiler below to learn more about it!
INFORMATION TAKEN FROM the UNSW Med website
“The Gateway Entry Scheme for UNSW Medicine is a separate entry stream into the Bachelor of Medical Studies (BMed) / Doctor of Medicine (MD) program for domestic applicants from low-SES backgrounds.

Eligibility
Applicants eligible to apply for this scheme must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. Be a domestic applicant (Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or New Zealand citizen)
  2. Attended a UNSW Gateway eligible school in a metropolitan area (see list of eligible schools) for at least years 11 and 12
  3. Live at an address identified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as being in the lowest 25% of socio-economic disadvantage in Australia
  4. Be in year 12 or on a gap year (completed year 12 in the previous year and not commenced any undergraduate studies) in the year of applying for the scheme
Applicants are advised of whether they meet the above mentioned address requirement within 24 hours of lodging their application with the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC). Therefore, we highly recommend applicants apply with UAC before submitting an application with UNSW Medicine on the Medicine Application Portal (MAP) or applying to sit UCAT ANZ.
Please note that applications submitted under this scheme who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be automatically changed to straightforward local applications. Applicants will be informed accordingly.

Application process
Please follow the steps outlined in the Application Process section. When submitting their application through the Medicine Application Portal (MAP), applicants are required to select “Gateway Entry Scheme applicant” as their applicant type.
All dates and deadlines can be found in the Important Dates section.

Selection for interview
Applicants applying through this scheme have to meet the following minimum requirements in order to be considered for an interview:
- 87.00 raw ATAR AND 91.00 selection rank (ATAR plus EAS equity adjustment factors)
- UCAT ANZ 50th overall percentile
Applicants are offered an interview on the basis of the combination of the above. You can find more details on how we rank and select applicants for interview on our Selection for Interviewwebsite.

Selection for offer
Applicants are offered a place through the Gateway Entry Scheme based on their academic merit (selection rank), UCAT ANZ overall score and interview score. These components are combined according to the same selection algorithm used for straightforward local applicants. Applicants are ranked (separately to the straightforward local applicants) and up to 10 offers will be made under this scheme.
Applicants will be offered unbonded or bonded places, depending on availability. With regards to campus allocation, students entering our program through this scheme will not be allocated to a campus they did not indicate in their application form.
You can find more details on our Selection for Offer website.

More information that may be of interest to Gateway Entry Scheme applicants:
- Details of applicants applying under this scheme will be passed on to UNSW Access & Equity (Students) who may be able to provide additional support to applicants. You can find out more at UNSW Equity Diversity & Inclusion(link is external)
- Applicants can apply for scholarships, e.g. the UNSW Medicine Equity Scholarship. More information can be accessed at UNSW Scholarships(link is external)

with this new entry scheme though, it seems as though there will be no special consideration for applicants who have started tertiary education. I’m basing this on the fact that SCATS has been removed from the special entry schemes page this year. In previous years, SCATS and EAS were listed on special entry schemes.

Nevertheless, it sounds very exciting and I’m glad they’ve done this. UNSW, for years, have said that they wanted to increase the number of students from a low-SES background in their incoming medicine cohorts. In 2016, students from a low SES background made up 4.5% of the cohort and they wanted this to increase. Their website, however, had an action plan which was “to be completed” to increase students from low-SES backgrounds being admitted to their medicine course for as long as I can remember (as of now, the website reads “to be completed” under the action plan subheading). It’s great to see they’ve come up with something as an action plan this year.

It seems as though this will provide a much more realistic chance of admission for students from low-SES backgrounds as the minimum ATAR for consideration to interview is 87 PLUS 91.00 selection rank (I.e. ATAR + EAS bonuses). having a 91 ATAR equivalent probably won’t be competitive (or it might! Never know since this is a new scheme) for an interview but the fact that it’s much less than the minimum 96.00 atar requirement for general applicants demonstrates that the scores will probably be considerably lower. Very interested to see how this plays out 👀.
Damn I was so happy when reading it until I read the 2nd eligibility criteria... I am from VIC but I do attend a disadvantaged school and from the a low - SES area. I meet all other criteria, do you reckon I could squeeze into this scheme...?

I understand that you get 5 bonus AGGREGATE points for meeting any of the 'disadvantages'. However, adding 5 points to a SATAC aggregate increases the atar much more than adding 5 points to a VTAC aggregate....
For example, using this SATAC conversion table: https://www.satac.edu.au/documents/aggregate_to_atar_conversion_table_2019.pdf,
We can extrapolate that an aggregate of about 85 will yield an atar of 98. Now with 5 bonus points, this aggregate will become a 90 which yiels a 99.95.

In the VCE aggregate conversion table: http://www.vtac.edu.au/files/pdf/reports/Aggregate-ATAR-19.pdf
it can be seen that a aggregate of 184 yields a 98 atar. With 5 bonus points, the aggregate becomes 189 which yields a 98.7 atar. An increase of 0.7 atar points compared to a whopping 1.95 atar points for SATAC.

Can someone confirm that the 5 points for SATAC are worth different to the VTAC 5 aggregate points. Because if they are of the same worth, this would put victorian students at a disadvantage as they receive less of a boost in atar.
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
Damn I was so happy when reading it until I read the 2nd eligibility criteria... I am from VIC but I do attend a disadvantaged school and from the a low - SES area. I meet all other criteria, do you reckon I could squeeze into this scheme...?
Since it says “Applicants eligible to apply for this scheme must meet all of the following criteria”, I think that if you miss any of the criteria then you aren’t eligible for this scheme :(! Best to ask UNSW directly by email as they’ll give you a definitive answer.

as for the second part of your message, I’d leave it to someone else who knows about SATAC and aggregates to answer
 
Last edited:

Eleanor Rigby

Regular Member
hello I have resurrected from the dead.

Getting special consideration for your undergrad scores is really hard (from my experience). You'll need to have something demonstrably (that means have documents for) difficult happen to you that hindered your performance at uni severely. This isn't to say that what you're experiencing/have experienced in undergrad is insignificant but I guess they're just tough like that :(!

the pass/fail thing I have no idea how thats gonna affect med entry so I won't comment on that. Best of luck in these uncertain times <3

Thank you for your reply. I was thinking that my questions were simply seeking answers that are 'the bleeding obvious' but I wanted to clarify with someone who could give me an insight into these matters therefore I appreciate your comments. Also one last thing, just to confirm, the UNSW SCATS application pertains to an applicant's disadvantage during their undergraduate year and not the HSC year? So any disadvantage faced during the HSC year is excluded. Also, the faculty I belong to as a student undergrad will exclude Trimester 1 scores in the WAMM. There is still the Pass/Fail grading. Yet to find out how this will play out later. :confused:
 

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Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
Thank you for your reply. I was thinking that my questions were simply seeking answers that are 'the bleeding obvious' but I wanted to clarify with someone who could give me an insight into these matters therefore I appreciate your comments. Also one last thing, just to confirm, the UNSW SCATS application pertains to an applicant's disadvantage during their undergraduate year and not the HSC year? So any disadvantage faced during the HSC year is excluded. Also, the faculty I belong to as a student undergrad will exclude Trimester 1 scores in the WAMM. There is still the Pass/Fail grading. Yet to find out how this will play out later. :confused:
so much uncertainty with this stuff so I truly feel for you :(

SCATS normally is for tertiary students and it is an application which outlines disadvantage from high school (if applicable) to uni.It’s an alternate application to the EAS.

if you read my above message which talks about the Gateway entry scheme, I made a comment on how UNSW has removed SCATS and EAS from the special entry scheme page on their Med Webpage which might mean that they no longer consider this? I’m not sure! Best to contact UNSW and ask if they still consider SCATS
 

Eleanor Rigby

Regular Member
so much uncertainty with this stuff so I truly feel for you :(

SCATS normally is for tertiary students and it is an application which outlines disadvantage from high school (if applicable) to uni.It’s an alternate application to the EAS.

if you read my above message which talks about the Gateway entry scheme, I made a comment on how UNSW has removed SCATS and EAS from the special entry scheme page on their Med Webpage which might mean that they no longer consider this? I’m not sure! Best to contact UNSW and ask if they still consider SCATS
Thank you. Will wait till Covid-19 restrictions ease up & then contact UNSW. 📞
 
N

nb

Guest
Hey guys.
I have been looking at different threads on this website and saw some people saying that disadvantaged school is an automatic +3 atar points. I understand that for SATAC, it has been confirmed that inter-state schools are also given this bonus, but is that also the case for UAC? Im from VIC and lets say I apply for UNSW med with a 97 atar. I have the low-socioeconomic area, financial disadvantage and disadvantaged school bonuses. Will this automatically boost me atar to a 99.95 for UNSW med?
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle 😇 or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
Hey guys.
I have been looking at different threads on this website and saw some people saying that disadvantaged school is an automatic +3 atar points. I understand that for SATAC, it has been confirmed that inter-state schools are also given this bonus, but is that also the case for UAC? Im from VIC and lets say I apply for UNSW med with a 97 atar. I have the low-socioeconomic area, financial disadvantage and disadvantaged school bonuses. Will this automatically boost me atar to a 99.95 for UNSW med?
Unsw *appear* to have changed the way they allocate bonus points. See the gateway entry scheme on the UNSW Med website and check if you’re eligible. If you don’t fulfil all criteria, they will not consider you for this scheme.

if you don’t fulfil all criteria then email UNSW and ask if they still allocate bonus points on a case by case basis and let us know what they say
 
Hi I was hoping someone could help me with special consideration as a non-standard applicant (So JCU, UNSW, UWS, JMP)- it would be on medical grounds.
I think its SCATS for UNSW, and just through QTAC's EAS for JCU.
Is there anything for the other two though?- I don't think I qualify for UAC's EAS because of a tertiary record?
Sorry if I've got some stuff wrong there- so many new acronyms and I'm from WA.
Thankyou for your help!
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Hi I was hoping someone could help me with special consideration as a non-standard applicant (So JCU, UNSW, UWS, JMP)- it would be on medical grounds.
I think its SCATS for UNSW, and just through QTAC's EAS for JCU.
Is there anything for the other two though?- I don't think I qualify for UAC's EAS because of a tertiary record?
Sorry if I've got some stuff wrong there- so many new acronyms and I'm from WA.
Thankyou for your help!

Smelly Boy is our resident SCATS expert. I’m not sure if he’s also familiar with the JCU/QTAC process. A good place to start would be putting SCATS into the search bar as Smelly Boy has written quite a bit about this previously.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Hi I was hoping someone could help me with special consideration as a non-standard applicant (So JCU, UNSW, UWS, JMP)- it would be on medical grounds.
I think its SCATS for UNSW, and just through QTAC's EAS for JCU.
Is there anything for the other two though?- I don't think I qualify for UAC's EAS because of a tertiary record?
Sorry if I've got some stuff wrong there- so many new acronyms and I'm from WA.
Thankyou for your help!
JCU medicine doesn’t offer special consideration / EAS bonuses unfortunately.
 
JCU medicine doesn’t offer special consideration / EAS bonuses unfortunately.
Ah okay
"This scheme is open to domestic applicants who apply through QTAC, but does not apply to courses with special application requirements. "- guessing med is one of the courses with special application requirements hey?
Thankyou for the clarification
 

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A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
Could you share your SEAS experience with me? Did it work for UQ or any other Uni?? Please explain. Thanks!

UNSW, Adelaide, Flinders have EAS/UES schemes giving bonus ATAR adjustment points to both instate & interstate students.
Monash has SEAS for Vic students, I'm not sure whether interstate students are eligible.

UQ has no EAS but gives bonus ATAR/Rank points for Maths C & LOTE to both instate & interstate students.
UWA & Curtin also no EAS, they have separate quota/pathways for students from disadvantaged schools but apparently for WA students only.

That's about it I think.
 

Nilmini

Lurker
UNSW, Adelaide, Flinders have EAS/UES schemes giving bonus ATAR adjustment points to both instate & interstate students.
Monash has SEAS for Vic students, I'm not sure whether interstate students are eligible.

UQ has no EAS but gives bonus ATAR/Rank points for Maths C & LOTE to both instate & interstate students.
UWA & Curtin also no EAS, they have separate quota/pathways for students from disadvantaged schools but apparently for WA students only.

That's about it I think.

Many thanks!
 

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