Admissions Centres Preferencing: General Discussion

[DrDrLMG!]

Thank you! I just want to double check the UQ dentistry closing date. I can't seem to find it. On QTAC's website, this is what they say:

View attachment 4898

Does that meant there isn't a closing date for UQ dent? So if its not in my preferences right now, I can add it after January (to be considered for 2nd round?)

Thanks!

Exactly.

 

[ucat3300+]

Haha yep no probs - this is unofficial ofc but I'm a UNSW student and I've heard that the faculty's current plans are to release their offers on 10 Feb (aka Feb Round 2)

Hi BWP , how reliable is the information that UNSW offers will come out on the 10th of February? If you do not mind me asking, are you a UNSW medical student? I ask this because of the following dilemma:

I'm having difficulty deciding whether to put Kensington only as my campus preference, or to put all three campuses (Kensington, Port Macquarie, Wagga Wagga). The UNSW Medicine Application Portal, which is where I have to submit my campus preferences, is due 11:59 PM today. I cannot change the campus preferences after this.

My preference for universities is as follows:

UNSW Kensington > Newcastle > Interstate capital city universities (Curtin, Adelaide, Griffith, UWA, etc.) > UNSW Port Macquarie > UNSW Wagga Wagga. (WSU is impossible due to low Verbal Reasoning score).

If UNSW offers come out on the 10th of Feb, then I will put all 3 (Kensington, Port, Wagga). This is because JMP offers will come out on the 26th of January, and I do not risk getting Port/Wagga over JMP.

On the other hand, if UNSW uses predicted ATAR etc. and their offers come out on the 26th of Jan on the same day as JMP offers, I risk getting Port/Wagga over JMP. This is why I am considering only putting Kensington, if it is the case that UNSW offers come out on the same day as JMP offers.

Finally, I know around 5 people, who only put Kensington as their campus preference, and received a Kensington offer second round last year. I also have a friend who put all 3 campuses, and received a Wagga offer first round. Had he only put Kensington as his campus preference, he would've definitely received a Kensington offer second round. This is his big regret.

This is another big reason why I am considering only putting Kensington, and this is what my friends have recommended me to do.

However, I also have to consider the possibility of getting Port/Wagga offers second round, with no other offers from anywhere else in the country. In this case, I would be very grateful that I put Port/Wagga down as my campus preferences.

I am finding this decision very difficult to make. A1 LMG! I would really appreciate your thoughts/advice on this matter, as admissions experts.

Thank you..

 

[Juicecan]

For WA, normally Curtin is 1st preference or WAU? Sames as Flinder and Adelaide, how put their preference

 

[A1]

On the other hand, if UNSW uses predicted ATAR etc. and their offers come out on the 26th of Jan

I'm inclined to think UNSW will take the actual-ATAR approach thus release offers in the Feb round. Incidentally the current Med Dean was appointed in 2019 which was the year UNSW stopped using predicted switched to actual, maybe that was his directive?

I also have a friend who put all 3 campuses, and received a Wagga offer first round. Had he only put Kensington as his campus preference, he would've definitely received a Kensington offer second round. This is his big regret.

Tell this friend to stop regretting. Very possible that he ranked lower than the five who got Kensington round2 i.e. if he had not included Wagga he could have missed out round2 as well.

 

[dotwingz]

Bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.

 

[dotwingz]

Does anyone explain that CQU Bundy and Rocky medicine program are the same as Griffith (Nathan) program or not? What's the difference? I check the CQU Bundy, it requires UCAT and interview which is stricter than Griffith?

I’m not sure what you mean.

 

[kkkk]

If I get offers for my first and second perference courses, do I have to accept/automatically accept the first offer or can i choose whichever offer i want?

 

[HenryJ]

For UNSW campus of Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga, do they have different code in UAC? Kensington has code (428000), but the others can not find in UAC.

 

[dotwingz]

Its done on the UNSW application, one code.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

If I get offers for my first and second perference courses, do I have to accept/automatically accept the first offer or can i choose whichever offer i want?

If this is in the same TAC, you'll only get one offer at a time. Say you get your first UAC preference but it's BMP, you can accept then move preferences and hope (but no guarantee you'll be eligible) for second preference CSP in next round.

If over a couple of TACS, ie. you get your second preference via QTAC, you can accept and wait for UAC to see if you get your first preference. You just need to withdraw from the unwanted course prior to census date. BUT here at MSO we plead with people to reject non-preferred but currently accepted offers as soon as you've made your decision so that timely second round offers can be made to the next people on the list, if that makes sense.

 

[A1]

If I get offers for my first and second perference courses, do I have to accept/automatically accept the first offer or can i choose whichever offer i want?

Bar one exception*, you'd only get two offers if they come out in different offer rounds
- UAC : you can accept/enrol in the 1st offer, wait for 2nd offer then choose. VTAC/SATAC are probably similar.
- QTAC : if you accept 1st offer unconditionally you won't receive any further/2nd offer. Have to accept it conditionally, which means if you get a 2nd offer in a later round the 1st is forfeited (i think).
- TISC : 2nd offer will automatically override the 1st, so if you're happy with the 1st offer you must not have a pref higher than it in the later offer rounds.

(*The exception is you can get a 1st-pref UQ offer via QTAC then also get a 4th-pref JCU offer directly from JCU, in the same round).

 

[ucat3300+]

I'm inclined to think UNSW will take the actual-ATAR approach thus release offers in the Feb round. Incidentally the current Med Dean was appointed in 2019 which was the year UNSW stopped using predicted switched to actual, maybe that was his directive?

Thank you for the reply. I called UNSW Medicine faculty, and they actually told me that they are aiming to give out offers January Round 2 (26th of Jan), but that they actually haven't decided anything yet, but that's what they are aiming for apparently.

 

[A1]

Thank you for the reply. I called UNSW Medicine faculty, and they actually told me that they are aiming to give out offers January Round 2 (26th of Jan), but that they actually haven't decided anything yet, but that's what they are aiming for apparently.

Please call again to ask the same person there - does this mean UNSW will contact the applicants' schools to request predicted ATARs?
(Just want to test the water to see if the person had thought about it or just gave you a go-away answer)

EtA: Oh also ask what if your school don't/can't give a predicted, would you then be invited to the interview round2? If yes that's a loophole you can exploit - ask your school to NOT give your predicted, you go into round2 interview/offer to avoid clashing with WSU/JMP.

 

[Purplefolly]

Please call again to ask the same person there - does this mean UNSW will contact the applicants' schools to request predicted ATARs?
(Just want to test the water to see if the person had thought about it or just gave you a go-away answer)

EtA: Oh also ask what if your school don't/can't give a predicted, would you then be invited to the interview round2? If yes that's a loophole you can exploit - ask your school to NOT give your predicted, you go into round2 interview/offer to avoid clashing with WSU/JMP.

A1, I'm confused - I obviously don't understand how the UNSW interview invites work... I don't understand why UNSW needs a predicted ATAR? ATARs are released 20th Jan. Can't UNSW interview people in the ensuing days and then give an offer on 26 Jan?

 

[ucat3300+]

A1, I'm confused - I obviously don't understand how the UNSW interview invites work... I don't understand why UNSW needs a predicted ATAR? ATARs are released 20th Jan. Can't UNSW interview people in the ensuing days and then give an offer on 26 Jan?

I'm not A1, but the intuitive & obvious answer that I can think of is that there simply isn't enough time.

21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24rd, 25th. (I think it's difficult to interview people on the same day ATAR comes out, and on the day offers are released).

Around 450 people get interviewed each year I think. So interviewing 90 people a day is too much I think. I could be wrong though.

 

[A1]

A1, I'm confused - I obviously don't understand how the UNSW interview invites work... I don't understand why UNSW needs a predicted ATAR? ATARs are released 20th Jan. Can't UNSW interview people in the ensuing days and then give an offer on 26 Jan?

It's possible but not realistic. UNSW can only send out invites on 20th and at best start interviewing from 21st to 24th (let's face it, would you yourself want to receive invite on 20th & be told to attend interview next morning?).

Then they need to calculate the ATAR+UCAT+interview final ranking, send it to UAC on 25th. UAC needs to combine UNSW list with WSU & JMP lists to sort out who get what offers based on their preferences. UAC then sends the post-pref lists back to all three UNSW WSU JMP for them to allocate unbonded/bonded & campus location, then back again to UAC to release next day 26th.

I don't think WSU/JMP will want to be put on a spot like this just to please UNSW.

 

[Purplefolly]

I'm not A1, but the intuitive & obvious answer that I can think of is that there simply isn't enough time.

21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24rd, 25th. (I think it's difficult to interview people on the same day ATAR comes out, and on the day offers are released).

Around 450 people get interviewed each year I think. So interviewing 90 people a day is too much I think. I could be wrong though.

Thanks, fair point, makes sense. Though, WSU are interviewing across 5 days (29/11 - 3/12), but I'm not sure how many people they interview.

 

[Purplefolly]

It's possible but not realistic. UNSW can only send out invites on 20th and at best start interviewing from 21st to 24th (let's face it, would you yourself want to receive invite on 20th & be told to attend interview next morning?).

Then they need to calculate the ATAR+UCAT+interview final ranking, send it to UAC on 25th. UAC needs to combine UNSW list with WSU & JMP lists to sort out who get what offers based on their preferences. UAC then sends the post-pref lists back to all three UNSW WSU JMP for them to allocate unbonded/bonded & campus location, then back again to UAC to release next day 26th.

I don't think WSU/JMP will want to be put on a spot like this just to please UNSW.

Fair points, thank you for replying. Would love for there to be two Med offer rounds and for people to have options.. The current process is juvenile and restrictive.

If UNSW contacts your school to get a predicted ATAR, how will we know and will we be told what the predicted ATAR is??

 

[A1]

If UNSW contacts your school to get a predicted ATAR, how will we know and will we be told what the predicted ATAR is??

I don't know how they do this for ~2,500 applicants, must be quite a task. But my year they definitely asked my school. My school (being a snobbish private one haha) already did a predicted for all students so they simply gave it to UNSW.

You can hope your school will tell UNSW to go away they don't have time for it. Then you get round2 interview/offer as you wish

EtA: On 2nd thought UNSW may decide to take Adelaide/UQ's approach, interview selection based on UCAT only.
EtA2: But then this would contradict UNSW saying on their webite interview selection on ATAR+UCAT.

 

[Purplefolly]

You can hope your school will tell UNSW to go away they don't have time for it. Then you get round2 interview/offer as you wish

Then in this I can be certain... my local public high school does not own one organised cell in its body.
Curious to see how it all plays out then.
I am sincerely hoping you are right about Feb offers.
Thank you for your time. Grateful.