Bond Med 2018 Discussion

[Ladybug 7]

Hi
May I ask those who have received an interview offer?
Do you need to accept or decline the offer?
If so
1) Do you just reply to the email or click on a link to accept or decline?
2) What is the time frame to do it? eg within two days or three days?

Thanks.

Yeah i think people have till 12pm (Queensland time) today to accept the offer otherwise it said interview will be offered to next eligible candidates. Good luck!

 

[kyc]

Thanks to the above.

Anyone or anyone you heard of has actually declined the interview offer?

 

[Artherisph]

Hi, in regards to subjects. I’m currently 4th year.

Year one is essentially cell biology, physiology, some genetics and anatomy of the skeletal system.

Year 2 is blocks cardio, resp, renal, git, repro neuro, haeme, msk and this includes pathology mostly, more physiology, anatomy, basic pharmacology

Year 3 is all about diagnosis, investigations, management - with blocks in gen Med, GP, surgery, paeds, women’s health, mental health.

All of these being tailored around PBL cases

 

[cat777]

im still not sure.. might have to decline because my mum won't let me get a loan... but I feel like I'm never going to improve enough in UMAT to get in next year I just want to go to bond! I can't believe how expensive it is though... agh

 

[Ladybug 7]

im still not sure.. might have to decline because my mum won't let me get a loan... but I feel like I'm never going to improve enough in UMAT to get in next year I just want to go to bond! I can't believe how expensive it is though... agh

Cat777 my mums the same about the loan situation (sole parent family as well!), I stuffed up the umat last year but I'm trying to put together a accurate budget of all the expenses and the entitlements I could get and home income and expenses to work it all out and it's actually looking feasible once it's all on paper that might help you too as well

 

[kyc]

My concern is that if your budget is already stretched right at the beginning, there might not be much leeway if at all for the unexpected eg your supporters' income might decrease or they might lose their job etc

Contingency plan should be put in place early.

 

[noum]

Thanks to the above.

Anyone or anyone you heard of has actually declined the interview offer?

i declined interview offer yesterday - so more offers will come as there will be other who decline.

 

[Determined]

i declined interview offer yesterday - so more offers will come as there will be other who decline.

So Sorry to hear that. I hope that you have other options/opportunities available so that you are able to get into med school if that is what you still desire. If you don't mind me asking, are you a graduate or undergrad applicant?

 

[noum]

So Sorry to hear that. I hope that you have other options/opportunities available so that you are able to get into med school if that is what you still desire. If you don't mind me asking, are you a graduate or undergrad applicant?

I am at present in UQ - prosional school leaver MD - got offer in Jan main round

 

[kyc]

I am wondering........if Bond is going to select 120-125 candidates out of the 240, and if say 10 declined, won't it just be easier to interview 230 rather than sending out 10 second round interview offers to make up the 240 figure? Just wondering....

 

[kyc]

I sat for the Bond University Interview in 2017 as a Graduate Student (GEMSAS determined GPA 6.85). I received the interview offer on 10/2/17 --> interviewed 24/02/17 --> received (and declined) an offer on 9/3/17. I have applied again this year.

Additionally, I found it strange that we had to sit an online psychometric test: Admittedly I heard a cohort of students (not me) do the test together as a group with guidance from a clinical professional and a few PhD students about which qualities questions may be probing for and what they would personally do in given scenarios. Though understandably their guidance may not be perfect, I still feel this unfairly gave an advantage to these students (not me).

Do you know if those students with additional help (including professional help) have all received interview offers?

 

[Bob Dylan]

I am wondering........if Bond is going to select 120-125 candidates out of the 240, and if say 10 declined, won't it just be easier to interview 230 rather than sending out 10 second round interview offers to make up the 240 figure? Just wondering....

Interesting thought though I'm assuming Bond would want to interview as many students as possible that meet the academic and psychometric benchmarks. So if it's feasible for them to interview 240 students and had 10 declines, they would want to give a chance to the next 10 students, that in their eyes have still met the benchmarks. They'd probably interview more than 240 if it was feasible

 

[kyc]

Thanks for your remark Bob Dylan.

Regarding this psychometric test, I am wondering what sort of criteria and benchmark have been selected as a screening and selection tool? What level of confidence they have with this deployment? How verifiable is the test used for this purpose?

What sort of candidates they try to weed out? The weirdo ? The psychopath? The seemingly over confident? The not so confident? The lack of social skill? The indecisive ? Those that lack of empathy or cooperative skills or communication ability?

Answers also could be manipulated if you have the knowledge and the intention to do so. If you are not very confident you could make yourself sound confident. People could seek external help like previously mentioned a few pages ago.

Unless the candidates are depressed or has personality issue or are very abnormal and they have been answering the psychometric test questions truthfully, there is no way testing company can fairly select the best 240 candidates for interview out of 500. The vast majority of people are rather "normal" (and there is a range of normality) when come to this stage of their study / maturity and that far into their academic life.

So far there seems to be a rather lack of transparency in this new process of candidates selection.

They run a real risk of inadvertently removing some good candidates for the selection pool.

 

[Deleted member 32959]

Thanks for your remark Bob Dylan.

Regarding this psychometric test, I am wondering what sort of criteria and benchmark have been selected as a screening and selection tool? What level of confidence they have with this deployment? How verifiable is the test used for this purpose?

What sort of candidates they try to weed out? The weirdo ? The psychopath? The seemingly over confident? The not so confident? The lack of social skill? The indecisive ? Those that lack of empathy or cooperative skills or communication ability?

Answers also could be manipulated if you have the knowledge and the intention to do so. If you are not very confident you could make yourself sound confident. People could seek external help like previously mentioned a few pages ago.

Unless the candidates are depressed or has personality issue or are very abnormal and they have been answering the psychometric test questions truthfully, there is no way testing company can fairly select the best 240 candidates for interview out of 500. The vast majority of people are rather "normal" (and there is a range of normality) when come to this stage of their study / maturity and that far into their academic life.

So far there seems to be a rather lack of transparency in this new process of candidates selection.

They run a real risk of inadvertently removing some good candidates for the selection pool.

Superb...you read my mind. Two years ago 97+ in ATAR got in just by ATAR, invited for Interview. There were no inherent qualities for making the best doctors' detection test conducted prior to Interviews, ( from my region a total mismatch) but still got in. They may as well bring the UMAT back again! At the least, it has got some numerical value to compare the students or bring similar to MCAT like in the US. The psychometric is no better than the Myers Briggs test putting people in 16 quadrants but that does not tell how good you can be as a doctor. The traits/qualities are developed through the educational systems in MBBS/MD and through experience not to be tested at the entry level. That's my opinion.

 

[kyc]

Can't agree more to the above comment.

If they interview all 500 candidates and then also consider the psychometric test result in their final decision, then it would be a bit fairer.

500 candidates are too many to interview? Then perhaps raise the academic bar like other universities and only pick the top 300-400

 

[A1]

The psychometric is no better than the Myers Briggs test putting people in 16 quadrants but that does not tell how good you can be as a doctor.

Neither the Atar or Umat or Interview is meant to tell how good a current applicant can be as a doctor in the long future. Atar has been used mostly because the higher ones tend to cope with the study load better (but note that says nothing about their doctor capability). Umat is used as a pruning tool to fit the number of interview slots available (while makes it less favouring the well-off families). Interview is mainly to ensure you are suitable for the intended career, again not strictly about how good a doctor you can be.

Iow no point whinging about the psychometric test, it's just one method like the others and can be just as good or as bad as the others.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Thanks for your remark Bob Dylan.

Regarding this psychometric test, I am wondering what sort of criteria and benchmark have been selected as a screening and selection tool? What level of confidence they have with this deployment? How verifiable is the test used for this purpose?

What sort of candidates they try to weed out? The weirdo ? The psychopath? The seemingly over confident? The not so confident? The lack of social skill? The indecisive ? Those that lack of empathy or cooperative skills or communication ability?

Answers also could be manipulated if you have the knowledge and the intention to do so. If you are not very confident you could make yourself sound confident. People could seek external help like previously mentioned a few pages ago.

Unless the candidates are depressed or has personality issue or are very abnormal and they have been answering the psychometric test questions truthfully, there is no way testing company can fairly select the best 240 candidates for interview out of 500. The vast majority of people are rather "normal" (and there is a range of normality) when come to this stage of their study / maturity and that far into their academic life.

So far there seems to be a rather lack of transparency in this new process of candidates selection.

They run a real risk of inadvertently removing some good candidates for the selection pool.

Superb...you read my mind. Two years ago 97+ in ATAR got in just by ATAR, invited for Interview. There were no inherent qualities for making the best doctors' detection test conducted prior to Interviews, ( from my region a total mismatch) but still got in. They may as well bring the UMAT back again! At the least, it has got some numerical value to compare the students or bring similar to MCAT like in the US. The psychometric is no better than the Myers Briggs test putting people in 16 quadrants but that does not tell how good you can be as a doctor. The traits/qualities are developed through the educational systems in MBBS/MD and through experience not to be tested at the entry level. That's my opinion.

Just to provide some balance to the arguments, here are some possible reasons I can think of for bond implementing the test. The benefit of perhaps allowing students an interview that have a more fitting personality and eq level advantageous for a career in medicine but would not have quite made the academic cutoff otherwise. Bond have always valued morals/communication/leadership skills in making a doctor which is why they offer places based solely in interview performance as apposed to say UQ who values a more standardised acedemic excellence approach. I'm not saying one approach is better, just different. It is also that possible that because the applications are getting so competitive with only small differences in grades, drawing a line between students with say a gpa 6.8 and a gpa 6.7 may be getting harder to justify that the 6.8 would make the better doctor. With this in mind I can understand Bond's want to add another step in the admissions process. And Bond has always striven for evidence based practice so I would guess that the tests they used would be heavily tested and validated. Just some food for thought

 

[CandyCrush]

Curious to know if anyone reported any further changes to QTAC application in the interview section. Also if there’s any more invitations out ye?

 

[Deleted member 32959]

No change in the QTAC interview section for me " Status not yet determined". It depends on what your ranking is...I may be too way down the list. Good luck if you are also on the waiting list. As one can expect additional offers will be negligible, the status will change by tonight hopefully, so all can sleep peacefully and move on.

 

[CandyCrush]

No change in the QTAC interview section for me " Status not yet determined". It depends on what your ranking is...I may be too way down the list. Good luck if you are also on the waiting list. As one can expect additional offers will be negligible, the status will change by tonight hopefully, so all can sleep peacefully and move on.

Indeed, mine is also looking the same way!
I’m sure we will be hearing about it soon, I wish we can all get in! I feel for the people that had their status changed, sad seeing those. Hopefully we’ve got a chance, surely more people have declined than we think, after all there’s a handful of participants in this forum, not a true reflection of the data!