Admissions Centres Preferencing: General Discussion

[yulu]

Hello! I have a question about withdrawing from an enrolled course.

I recently enrolled in La Trobe Dentistry but am waiting to apply at Bond University. According to the Terms and Conditions of my enrolment at La Trobe I am to withdraw from enrolment before the "census date" which for Semester 1 is the 31st of March. My co-ordinator mentioned to withdraw before a "withdrawal date" and I'm wondering if they mean the same thing.

 

[Crow]

Hello! I have a question about withdrawing from an enrolled course.

I recently enrolled in La Trobe Dentistry but am waiting to apply at Bond University. According to the Terms and Conditions of my enrolment at La Trobe I am to withdraw from enrolment before the "census date" which for Semester 1 is the 31st of March. My co-ordinator mentioned to withdraw before a "withdrawal date" and I'm wondering if they mean the same thing.

Generally there are two key dates: the first (the census date) is the last to withdraw without financial penalty I.e. if you withdraw after this date you need to pay for the courses even though you aren’t completing them. The second, which comes after the census date, is the last date to withdraw without academic penalty. If you withdraw after this date, you have to both pay for the course in full, and you’ll have a fail grade recorded on your transcript which counts towards your GPA. Perhaps your coordinator is referring to the latter if they called it something other than the census date.

 

[Doradoraaa]

Hi guys

I'm not too sure if this is the correct thread but I just want to know the significance of 'preferences' upon applying.
For example: if I allocate Flinders med as my first preference with a score of 99.95 atar (UES) and 90% compared to a person with the EXACT same score but allocating the course at a lower preference, would this make me more competitive for receiving an offer?

If not, can you please explain to me about the literal 'function' or preferences?

 

[dotwingz]

Hi guys

I'm not too sure if this is the correct thread but I just want to know the significance of 'preferences' upon applying.
For example: if I allocate Flinders med as my first preference with a score of 99.95 atar (UES) and 90% compared to a person with the EXACT same score but allocating the course at a lower preference, would this make me more competitive for receiving an offer?

If not, can you please explain to me about the literal 'function' or preferences?

Preferences do not affect your likelihood to get a place. Only purpose is to rank your choices from your perspective only.

Universities make rank lists on applicants then give them to the admissions centre. Then on the offer day the universities allocate based on preference lists.

say I got accepted into Adelaide and Flinders and I have Adelaide as a higher preference. With the admissions centre I would get my Adelaide offer and someone got a Flinders offer who wouldn’t of got one previously.

The function of these admission centres is to increase efficiency of the system. Due to the system Flinders did not have to wait for me to decline their offer before they could reallocate it.

Also I think you’ll find that if admissions centres were ran by universities they would be quite incompetent.

 

[whys]

How does the preferencing work for medicine? I've put Monash CSP unbonded as my first preference (VTAC), so does this mean I'd get an interview invite for Monash (assuming my UCAT and ATAR are competitive enough for an interview) AND an offer for the next non-medicine course? Or would I just get the interview invite, and if I fail to get an offer, THEN I'd get an offer for my next non-medicine course?

 

[ucatboy]

How does the preferencing work for medicine? I've put Monash CSP unbonded as my first preference (VTAC), so does this mean I'd get an interview invite for Monash (assuming my UCAT and ATAR are competitive enough for an interview) AND an offer for the next non-medicine course? Or would I just get the interview invite, and if I fail to get an offer, THEN I'd get an offer for my next non-medicine course?

Think of interviews as separate things that occur independently of the admissions centres (the universities organise the interviews themselves) before the offer round (and influence the outcome of that offer round). For example, you'll do your MMI prior to the December VTAC offer round. Monash will rank everyone, do some calculations etc. then decide which 200 applicants (or however many) will be getting an offer in the upcoming offer round.

So on December xth, you'll either get your first preference (Monash unbonded) or your second preference (the non-medicine course you nominated, meaning you just missed the cut for a Monash offer).

 

[whys]

Think of interviews as separate things that occur independently of the admissions centres (the universities organise the interviews themselves) before the offer round (and influence the outcome of that offer round). For example, you'll do your MMI prior to the December VTAC offer round. Monash will rank everyone, do some calculations etc. then decide which 200 applicants (or however many) will be getting an offer in the upcoming offer round.

So on December xth, you'll either get your first preference (Monash unbonded) or your second preference (the non-medicine course you nominated, meaning you just missed the cut for a Monash offer).

Thank you! This process is more stressful than I anticipated.

 

[soulja]

There's so much information on this thread it's a bit confusing. I'm from NSW and my preferences are UNSW, WSU and JMP in that order. I'm also putting 2 other science courses as a backup for 4th and 5th preferences. Just to clarify, if I make the cut for an interview for those three unis, I will get them, but I will still get an offer for my 4th preference. Is this correct?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

There's so much information on this thread it's a bit confusing. I'm from NSW and my preferences are UNSW, WSU and JMP in that order. I'm also putting 2 other science courses as a backup for 4th and 5th preferences. Just to clarify, if I make the cut for an interview for those three unis, I will get them, but I will still get an offer for my 4th preference. Is this correct?

interview invites come from the unis themselves (not UAC) and have nothing to do with where you have that uni in your preferences as long as they are there somewhere.

 

[A1]

Just to clarify, if I make the cut for an interview for those three unis, I will get them, but I will still get an offer for my 4th preference. Is this correct?

Adding to LMG's reply the sequence of events is : If selected you receive interview invites late Oct - early Nov (regadless of preferences), do interviews late Nov - early Dec. Med offers are released 10ish January.

Now if place offers for your 4th/5th prefs are released in a Dec offer round (i.e. separate from the Med offer round) you might get this offered first. Then January if you qualify you get the highest-pref med offer.

Then some students would swap the med prefs around and sometimes get another med offer in the February med offer round. Confusing but exciting

 

[someday]

Adding to LMG's reply the sequence of events is : If selected you receive interview invites late Oct - early Nov (regadless of preferences), do interviews late Nov - early Dec. Med offers are released 10ish January.

Now if place offers for your 4th/5th prefs are released in a Dec offer round (i.e. separate from the Med offer round) you might get this offered first. Then January if you qualify you get the highest-pref med offer.

Then some students would swap the med prefs around and sometimes get another med offer in the February med offer round. Confusing but exciting

Just want to add on a question sorry haha - I'm planning on putting UNSW first and WSU second pref. Does this mean that if I don't pass the UNSW interview, I won't get any offers in the first round, even if I "pass" the WSU interview? Or would I still receive an offer for my second pref uni in the first round?

 

[A1]

Does this mean that if I don't pass the UNSW interview, I won't get any offers in the first round, even if I "pass" the WSU interview? Or would I still receive an offer for my second pref uni in the first round?

The simplest way to think about this is : prefs *only* matter when you qualify for multiple schools (like in this case both UNSW & WSU) then you get offered the highest one. If you qualify for only one school you get that one regardless of prefs, even if it's 5th.

 

[someday]

ahh thanks! clears things up a lot

 

[A1]

clears things up a lot

You think so? Haha wait until I hit you with this : what if your preferences are UNSW unbonded > WSU unbonded > UNSW bonded > WSU bonded > UNSW Port Mcq campus, how would you place your prefs?

The answer is it's not possible the way UAC & UNSW have not provided separate course codes for unbonded vs bonded vs Port Mcq campus. Placing UNSW 1st means you could get your lowest pref Port Mcq even if you qualify for WSU unbonded.

 

[someday]

You think so? Haha wait until I hit you with this : what if your preferences are UNSW unbonded > WSU unbonded > UNSW bonded > WSU bonded > UNSW Port Mcq campus, how would you place your prefs?

The answer is it's not possible the way UAC & UNSW have not provided separate course codes for unbonded vs bonded vs Port Mcq campus. Placing UNSW 1st means you could get your lowest pref Port Mcq even if you qualify for WSU unbonded.

._.
that is all

 

[soulja]

You think so? Haha wait until I hit you with this : what if your preferences are UNSW unbonded > WSU unbonded > UNSW bonded > WSU bonded > UNSW Port Mcq campus, how would you place your prefs?

The answer is it's not possible the way UAC & UNSW have not provided separate course codes for unbonded vs bonded vs Port Mcq campus. Placing UNSW 1st means you could get your lowest pref Port Mcq even if you qualify for WSU unbonded.

That's exactly what I'm considering. Do you suggest we call UAC to sort this out?

 

[A1]

That's exactly what I'm considering. Do you suggest we call UAC to sort this out?

An MSO member tried last year but the UAC person just said she didn't know anything about unbonded vs bonded. UAC staff deal with hundreds of courses for a dozen NSW unis not just med, so they have not taken time to understand the implications of unbonded vs bonded offers.

But you can try again, maybe we are luckier this year talking to someone who understands.

 

[adamsapple]

Hi Guys!

I'm sort of new here and I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post.

I'm unsure as to how preferences and preference order actually works and I know there may be some confusion surrounding it. But could anyone tell me if preference order matters for JCU/Griffith/USC MBBS and Medical Science courses?

Thanks, I appreciate the help.

 

[A1]

I'm unsure as to how preferences and preference order actually works and I know there may be some confusion surrounding it. But could anyone tell me if preference order matters for JCU/Griffith/USC MBBS and Medical Science courses?

Preferences only matter when in January you qualify for more than one offers, in which case you get offered the highest pref among them.

They do not matter to receiving interview invites and/or when you qualify for just one place offer; you get that regardless of the order of prefs.

 

[dande]

How do I put in that I want to be considered for bonded at WSU considering that they don't give me a course code for it? Is there a box I tick when I apply to the actual university?