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JCU JCU Dentistry: Academic Requirements

Mana

there are no stupid questions, only people
Administrator
yes thanks for the information, I am really considering doing year 12 again eventhough i will be 21, but i believe i will much much better and will get more more chances to get even into metro dental schools. what do you think about it?

If dentistry is your preferred career, then you'll likely find that there is no real advantage to repeating year 12 - you can commence a university degree and then use the marks from one year to apply to dental school. In terms of marks at uni, it's generally thought that it is easier to get a high equivalent GPA than it is to get the same ATAR. Furthermore, all undergraduate dental schools in Australia will consider you using university marks if you have them.
 

A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
yes thanks for the information, I am really considering doing year 12 again eventhough i will be 21, but i believe i will much much better and will get more more chances to get even into metro dental schools. what do you think about it?

If you are confident of your study ability do a year of uni get all HDs for GPA 7 you should get an offer for Griffith Dent, no Umat no interview.

A downside is its $55k/year fee for the last 2 Masters years. Assuming you are eligible for HECS you can put this $110k on FEE-HELP loan and repay gradually after you start earning an income.
 

Mana

there are no stupid questions, only people
Administrator
what about the GMAT instead of UMAT, people say its extreme hard if compared to UMAT?

As someone who has done both the UMAT and the GAMSAT (and scored well on both) I think they are pretty similar in difficulty.
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Hi, can i included a letter from my Doctor as an evidence that i was disadvantaged during my VCE studies because my father is very sick? thanks

Some Universities accept this kind of disadvantage as part of their equities scheme. I believe you would need to make your application/s through QTAC, VTAC, UAC, etc, not to the schools directly. Also, not all Universities use the equities schemes in the same way or apply them to applications for Medicine, but I'm not super well-versed on who does what, so your best bet would be to look at the equities information sections of the guides for each TAC.
 

Mana

there are no stupid questions, only people
Administrator
Hi, can i included a letter from my Doctor as an evidence that i was disadvantaged during my VCE studies because my father is very sick? thanks

JCU is not responsible for any adjustments to your ATAR as a result of your VCE for the purposes of their selection criteria. If you are able to gain points to your final VCE score before you receive your ATAR, that will be the score that JCU will use for application purposes.

Basically, JCU just uses the marks that are given to them by QTAC which are given to them in turn by the VCAA. You have to convince the VCAA or QTAC to give extra marks to your ATAR (which is very difficult to qualify with a doctor's letter and definitely doesn't fit in any of the EAS schemes listed on the QTAC website: Educational Access Scheme - QTAC ).

As per the JCU website at Selection process you will find that JCU's access for disadvantaged students is managed by QTAC - JCU does not do any of this by itself.

(Also, your attachment is a screenshot of the quotes for the reply you were about to send.)
 

Mish_la

Lurker
What is the atar required for rural applicants into JCU? Overall, from what i heard a high atar is required, but the written application is more important (can someone explain this - I'm from NSW).
 

A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
Welcome to MSO. Have a look in this thread for the rural scores under JCU > 2018 Entry Interview Invites - Collated

(EtA: Oops there isn't a listing for JCU Dent, hopefully the Med scores give you an idea).

We are not sure of the weighting between ATAR and the written application. Best to consider them both important.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
I believe that while they may weight ATAR and written application “equally” it is much easier to distinguish oneself from other applicants with a strong written application than a few ATAR points, i.e. the written application is scored in a way that creates more variation among scores. There is no specific ATAR requirement for this reason - someone with a perfect 99.95 could (and this happens every year) miss out on a spot if they have a poor written application whereas someone with an ATAR on the lower side (I believe some people with ATARs as low as ~90 [lower?] have received offers in the past) could still be competitive if they have a great application. As a rural applicant, you will receive bonus points when you apply, but this will be even more advantageous if you can relate your rural experiences to why you are interested in a course with such a strong focus on rural / indigenous health in your application. Good luck.
 
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Mana

there are no stupid questions, only people
Administrator
can i do any degree in order to do graduate entry for medicine or dentistry? or it must be science related degree? thanks

Yes, but you should do a degree on its own merits, rather than for the sake of getting into medicine or dentistry, because the vast majority of people who attempt to do this will not get in.
 

Mana

there are no stupid questions, only people
Administrator
what do you think about doing bachelor of pharmacy with a goal to transfer into med or den in the future? is that logical? do you know any pros or cons about the idea? thanks
The reply to this was moved to the other thread, which I have responded to at Quick Questions Thread: 2018
 

jiaxing

Regular Member
Hey everyone,

Sorry in advance if this thread has been created beforehand, or this question has already been asked.

I have received mixed messages from JCU and QTAC now about the GPA and application weighting. Some say that GPA is considered AFTER the application, and that it's really the application which sets the benchmark of whether you're offered a place or not. So, can someone please let me know that with a decent amount of rural, Indigenous and remote work experience (not living in a rural community), what have the GPA cutoffs been like in previous years?

Jiaxing :)
 

Nori

Lurker
Good luck! You definitely a good position from having so much experience. I'm a non-standard too with the exact opposite - I have no experience (all I have is a referral from a dentist).

You can read this article below, but it is irrelevant to us non-standards.

'20% metropolitan (ASGC-RA 1), 20% inner regional (ASGC-RA 2), 56% outer regional (ASGC-RA 3), and 5% from remote or very remote locations (ASGC-RA 4 and 5).'

Rural and Remote Health
 

ajs604

Member
I have lived and worked in rural Victoria for 6 month and am presently in a role (city based), where I come into contact with Indigenous Australians on a regular occasion as a clinician. Not sure whether this would be enough?

If not I am considering doing the first year of a degree to boost my GPA.
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
I have lived and worked in rural Victoria for 6 month and am presently in a role (city based), where I come into contact with Indigenous Australians on a regular occasion as a clinician. Not sure whether this would be enough?

If not I am considering doing the first year of a degree to boost my GPA.

It would very much depend on how you go about answering the JCU application questions using that information/your experiences and then how that application is received at the other end. This is not something we can predict, obviously, so can't comment on whether it would "be enough". All we can say is that we've not had any non-rural, non-standard applicants here at MSO report being successful with a GPA in the vicinity of yours (though it's obviously also important to note that the people who report here are only a small minority, and for JCU Dent we get very little information in general, making predictions even harder).

Best of luck with your decision making.
 

ajs604

Member
I have not be online for a while but forgot to add my GPA has since been confirned at 5.8. So hopefully that will bump me up abit. I intend to apply for JCU in 2020, so between now and then I will work on my written application.

Does anyone know if shadowing a dentist is necessary? I work in community health and we have dentists on site so I am quite familar with what they do. I have also had extensive orthodontics in the past which has made me interested in the dental field.

I am hoping that my experiences in community health as a podiatrist and a good application will be enough to get me across the line. I also believe that I have good manual dexterity skills from using a a scalpel and including the use of local anaesthetic injections to perform various procedures on the foot.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Does anyone know if shadowing a dentist is necessary?
Nobody can tell you if it's "necessary" or not (we don't have the marking criteria for the written application), but experience is a component of the written application, and thus you'll need to convey experience you have in one way or another in a way that indicates your motivation to pursue dentistry. Particularly given you are competing for very minimal non-standard positions, are non-rural and have a relatively low GPA, certainly you'll need a very high score in your written application to offset these factors and have a chance of admission to JCU. If you believe you can convey the experience you've had in community health in a way that displays a strong passion for, and understanding of, dentistry (and in particular rural dentistry) then perhaps you've answered your own question here.
I also believe that I have good manual dexterity skills from using a a scalpel and including the use of local anaesthetic injections to perform various procedures on the foot.
I think it's pretty safe to say having good manual dexterity will not be part of the criteria sheet, given it's a written application, rather than a practical examination. This might help you in the course, but likely won't with gaining admission into the course.

Good luck.
 

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sal123

Member
Hey, does JCU calculate standalone honours as a GPA on its own (similar to griffith) or do they combine it with the bachelor GPA?
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Hey, does JCU calculate standalone honours as a GPA on its own (similar to griffith) or do they combine it with the bachelor GPA?
I believe not, my understanding is that they’ll just look at the bachelor degree (though in the situation of a tiebreaker they may consider a person with an honours degree over someone with just a straight bachelors).
 

bourbaki

Member
I believe not, my understanding is that they’ll just look at the bachelor degree (though in the situation of a tiebreaker they may consider a person with an honours degree over someone with just a straight bachelors).
So is JCU like a portfolio uni like UNDS and Wollongong?
 

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