Common pitfalls to avoid for year 12 school leavers and other medicine applicants

[2xq]

I mean are they really different? I also do prefer medical science as its based on more of the medicine side, since I really wanna pursue medicine. I also had another question - does the cohort you study with affect your GPA, like HSC does? Apparently, some people warn me of the med wannabes in medical science and competing with them, but does it really affect me? as in my grades?

Science gives more flexibility while medical science is very specific. It gives you pretty much almost no advantage in admissions if you do medical science vs science.

 

[dotwingz]

Would some universities prefer students from UNSW and USYD over WSU due to its lower ATAR threshold? If I got a 6.8 GPA from WSU and 6.8 in UNSW, would universities regard it as different, and scale it differently?

You already asked this. No

does the cohort you study with affect your GPA,

No.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

I quite like studing chemistry and biology, so medical science looks good for me as other health degrees such as nursing and physiotherapy would have more practical aspects and you would have to work shifts and placements, while medical science is just studying. Apparently, that's what I heard from a few senior friends.

Just a heads up that your description of the nursing and physiotherapy degrees is also a description of a medical degree (you may know this already but just in case…).

 

[DamnThatsCrazy]

so your competition for GPA is not as bad as in one of the typical "pre-med" degrees.

How can GPAs be competitive if youre not being ranked?

 

[dotwingz]

I don't understand what you're asking?

 

[DamnThatsCrazy]

I don't understand what you're asking?

for example the atar is competitive because you are being ranked whereas GPA youre not so if you consistently get a High Distinction youre guaranteed a 7 GPA. no? (correct me if im wrong) so the whole cohort can get a 7 GPA whereas in atar there is a limited amount of 99.95s its not possible for everyone to get a 99.95

 

[dotwingz]

Right, In a strict sense you are right.

But, I think Mana would be talking about the general competitiveness of a course. Typically universities review grade distributions in a course to make sure not too many / not too few people are getting 7's as not to devalue it. If you take a biomedicine course where people are all sweating for higher GPA's, it would probably be more demanding than other degrees. This was my experience at UQ, not sure how it translates elsewhere.

My experience in biomedicine was that the faculty had no problem stacking on all these extra exams assignments and classes, and basically being very blasé about the whole student experience because they knew students would take those courses in droves anyways. Compare it to the other faculties where they were much nicer to students.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Right, In a strict sense you are right.

But, I think Mana would be talking about the general competitiveness of a course. Typically universities review grade distributions in a course to make sure not too many / not too few people are getting 7's as not to devalue it. If you take a biomedicine course where people are all sweating for higher GPA's, it would probably be more demanding than other degrees. This was my experience at UQ, not sure how it translates elsewhere.

My experience in biomedicine was that the faculty had no problem stacking on all these extra exams assignments and classes, and basically being very blasé about the whole student experience because they knew students would take those courses in droves anyways. Compare it to the other faculties where they were much nicer to students.

Some courses grade on a curve (at least my undergrad was graded on a curve). This definitely made it stupidly competitive. Not sure how common curves are these days.

 

[Amber Rain]

How can GPAs be competitive if youre not being ranked?

I wouldn't call GPAs a 'rank' per se, but, don't forget that the people marking yours grades and assignments are human too. If they see two pretty good papers, they might rank both a six, but if they see a stella 7 paper and then see one of the aforementioned papers, it might turn into a high 5 instead. There are also going to be professors who, unfortunately, are also biased, hangry or have favourites and will rank one person higher on the sole basis of liking them better. So, it's not a 'rank' in the logical sense, but more akin to a comparison? Dotwingz was absolutely correct, not everyone can score a 7. It'll spark more ethical hogwash than it's worth.

Put it this way, a 7 is easy to get only in 3 situations: 1) You've completed the course before and are repeating it with experience. e.g. I could go back to my original degree and re-sit every exam and assignment and score infinitely better now. or 2) The degree you've picked is hyper-focused on your strengths. e.g. a degree with only assignments for someone who writes professional reports, a skilled mathematician sitting a mathematics degree or 3) You pick the most ridiculous degree with only 3 or 4 people and top the class e.g. Bachelor of Paranomal Science of Surf Performance or Turf Management etc.

You've been pretty concerns about GPA across several threads now. If you're concerned that you'll lose your ATAR if you start a degree, you can always take a gap year. Alternatively, pick a university that takes 50/50 GPA and ATAR in first year. The transition to University is (in my humble opinion) not overly sharp (exlucding dentistry, optometry, physio, double degrees and medicine). You have time on your side to do the work even if you work on the side. Regardless, by 2nd year of uni, your ATAR unfortunately, basically becomes naught.