General Interview Discussion 2018

[A1]

Could possibly mean that only 5% spots are left open for the second round for IB and interstate applicants ?

UNSW's stated policy is 2nd-round interviewees are not disadvantaged, so they must leave enough spots to offer. On occasions they even have a few spare spots afterwards to offer back to 1st-round interviewees. At worst they can over offer up to 5% ( =9-10 spots for UNSW) if they happen to be short.

 

[miaaa888]

Rejection from UNSW med with 99.50/7.0/90

 

[Tiara]

Is Monash pre requisites scaled or raw?

 

[pi]

Is Monash pre requisites scaled or raw?

Raw

 

[Tiara]

Raw

Thank you so much. That helps.
I have Monash Guarantee and the seas calculator boosts up my ATAR to 98.70.
Does that mean that I will get an interview offer?
Umat 60/58/75 Total:193/97%
Atar: 95.65(With 98.70 seas estimate)
And I have the study score prerequisites .
From what I have read I pretty much have to ace the interview isn't it?

 

[GreenGrapes]

Thank you so much. That helps.
I have Monash Guarantee and the seas calculator boosts up my ATAR to 98.70.
Does that mean that I will get an interview offer?
Umat 60/58/75 Total:193/97%
Atar: 95.65(With 98.70 seas estimate)
And I have the study score prerequisites .
From what I have read I pretty much have to ace the interview isn't it?

Are you rural?

 

[Tiara]

Are you rural?

No.

 

[A1]

I have Monash Guarantee and the seas calculator boosts up my ATAR to 98.70.
Does that mean that I will get an interview offer?

My understanding is the Monash Guarantee will give you an interview, but after that you compete with your (Atar+Umat+Interview) combined score as normal, no added advantage from the Guarantee itself.

Umat 60/58/75 Total:193/97%
Atar: 95.65(With 98.70 seas estimate)
And I have the study score prerequisites .
From what I have read I pretty much have to ace the interview isn't it?

If your Atar is boosted to 98.70, combined with 97th%ile your chances are quite reasonable. I don't think you need to ace the interview but if you can it'll make a place offer more certain.

 

[Smelly Boy]

Yeah, I was absolutely thinking of the fact you got a rejection when I saw this person's post. Are you thinking you might follow up and seek clarification?

So I got a response & they basically said that you shouldn’t believe everything you see online & that with 178 UMAT score id need an ATAR equivalent of 99.85 for an interview this year lmao that’s so ridiculous.

The person who emailed said that if you think there’s a mistake then check with the people who process special consideration applications at UNSW.

I called up the special consideration people & the guy said that he flagged my case as urgent & that they’d get back to me ASAP.

Not sure how samthepavingman got an interview invite but if it’s not a mistake that they sent Sam an invite then I guess it’s a mistake with the processing of my special consideration

 

[Tiara]

My understanding is the Monash Guarantee will give you an interview, but after that you compete with your (Atar+Umat+Interview) combined score as normal, no added advantage from the Guarantee itself.

If your Atar is boosted to 98.70, combined with 97th%ile your chances are quite reasonable. I don't think you need to ace the interview but if you can it'll make a place offer more certain.

Thank you A1.
Do you know by any chance know about the accuracy of the Monash Seas Calculator?
(A1 replies: Sorry I don't, hopefully someone else can help)

I was eligible under category 1 with the postcode.

 

[Q3]

So I got a response & they basically said that you shouldn’t believe everything you see online & that with 178 UMAT score id need an ATAR equivalent of 99.85 for an interview this year lmao that’s so ridiculous.

Since you have the 178 UMAT and are just 1.3 ATAR points from the 99.85 then logically you should have gotten an invite when EAS is taken into account?

 

[Smelly Boy]

Since you have the 178 UMAT and are just 1.3 ATAR points from the 99.85 then logically you should have gotten an invite when EAS is taken into account?

Also my GPA is 6.26 which converts to 97 ATAR according to that black & white table

No one knows how much EAS adds to your atar for medicine. It might be something as ‘small’ as 0.3 ATAR (for example) which makes a huge difference when it comes to applying for med. recently USyd included medicine in the e12 scheme which lowers the 99.95 requirement for an interview to 99.50. That’s 0.45 points for people from disadvantaged schools.

It might even be that EAS applicants are in a separate pool competing for spots amongst themselves. Issa big unknown

 

[A1]

So I got a response & they basically said that you shouldn’t believe everything you see online

Haha their famous defence line. UTas said the same to me, turned out the online info was right the UTas Admissions person was wrong. When we quizzed him afterwards he apologised that his advice was based off a 2yo FAQ, UTas med didn't update him with the latest.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Haha their famous defence line. UTas said the same to me, turned out the online info was right the UTas Admissions person was wrong. When we quizzed him afterwards he apologised that his advice was based off a 2yo FAQ, UTas med didn't update him with the latest.

Yep, completely agreed. The vast majority of people here have absolutely no reason to lie about or misrepresent their experiences/scores, so what we are seeing is what is actually happening (with the exception of accidental misinformation/typos, which I’d say is rare unless your name is biom). Admissions information, on the other hand, is frequently misinformed, out of date, or flat out incorrect for a variety of reasons, even moreso if it’s general admissions rather than Med/Dent specific.

Any practice questions for UNSW on here? Thanks

I think (though am not certain) that UNSW is a panel (not MMI) and that your short answers inform the questions you’re asked.

It’d be useful to think through what you’d say to questions that could be expanded up from your original responses, but also to fairly standard questions like, Why Med? What do doctors do? Why UNSW specifically?

 

[Smelly Boy]

Thanks LMG! and A1. & a huge thanks to samthepavingman who emailed Unsw to see if a mistake was made with their interview invite & they said no mistake was made.

Even though I have my case flagged as urgent with the admissions centre I’m still calling them at 9am on Monday to find out.

 

[Crow]

Any practice questions for UNSW on here? Thanks

I have these listed on a document I was sent last year (I have no idea where it came from now, sorry) that are apparently UNSW specific (disclaimer: I have never sat a UNSW interview and have no idea how old the document is - please don't take this as gospel from me). It's also important to note that you'll need to fill out a written application prior to the interview which will apparently inform some of the questions you will be asked.

Here are the questions:

Tell us about your childhood. What was it like?
What is your earliest memory?
When you were younger, what were the most important values that your parents taught you?
What are your parents like?
Why are you suited to a career in Medicine?
What made you decide to apply for Medicine?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? How about 10 years?
What are your weaknesses/strengths?
How many close friends would you say you have? Are any of them from a culturally diverse background?
How would you resolve a dispute amongst your friends?
Have you ever helped a friend through a tough time?
How would your friends/family describe you in one word?
How would you describe yourself?
What would your friends/family say your weaknesses/strengths are?
Who was your most/least favourite teacher and why?
What subjects did you enjoy/dislike at school?
Have you ever had to deal with failure? How’d you overcome this?
Your application suggests that you enjoy playing music. How long have you been playing the piano/guitar?
You mentioned in your application that you have previously had work experience at a Nursing Home, what was that like?
Would you consider Geriatrics as a specialty later on?
We see that you have lived in a rural area for a lot of your childhood. Would you consider going back to work in a rural area after you are qualified? When was the last time you have asked someone for help?
Is there anything you feel that you would like to add?

For extra practice panel interview questions, I'd also check out Ben's post in the JCU thread: JCU - Interview and General Question Thread for JCU as well as these ones that I just came across as well: Med/Dent Interview Preparation

 

[sylviahallo]

Any idea when the invitation would be coming from Monash?

 

[Crow]

So I got a response & they basically said that you shouldn’t believe everything you see online & that with 178 UMAT score id need an ATAR equivalent of 99.85 for an interview this year lmao that’s so ridiculous.

I'm late to the party here but the admissions team using these numbers would suggest to me they thought you weren't an EAS applicant? A non-EAS applicant with 99.85/88th likely would've received an interview (just), so the cut-offs should've been significantly lower for those with EAS. Have you received confirmation from UAC/UNSW that you're being considered in the EAS pool?

 

[Smelly Boy]

I'm late to the party here but the admissions team using these numbers would suggest to me they thought you weren't an EAS applicant? A non-EAS applicant with 99.85/88th likely would've received an interview (just), so the cut-offs should've been significantly lower for those with EAS. Have you received confirmation from UAC/UNSW that you're being considered in the EAS pool?

Yeah I got the confirmation from UNSW admissions that my special consideration application has been received & will be considered. I also was told I don’t need to take any further action.

I still sent UNSW Medicine an email 2 weeks after I got this confirmation (around early November) asking if I was being considered as an EAS student & I never got a response. In my head I was thinking this is just an extra layer of confirmation if Unsw med confirms. I already felt comfortable that I’d be considered in the EAS pool due to the UNSW admissions team email & forgot about sending Unsw med that email.

Another reason (the main reason) I sent UNSW med the email is because last year I had a 6.5 GPA (1 year full time completed), 98.55 ATAR & a 72%ile umat score & didn’t get an interview. Most people think it’s a bit silly to expect one but my friend who got (I think 98ish) atar & a 68%ile Umat got an interview last year. I thought I missed out because some weird gpa/atar equivalent Unsw works out and that my gpa must have equated to a pretty low atar. The year before that my friend with a 98.5 & 68%ile got a bonded place offer. The only special consideration category they were in was disadvantaged school while I was eligible for far more categories. That’s why I expected an interview at least.

I honestly think I was treated unfairly last year with hindsight now knowing that I’m very very likely being treated unfairly this year. I’ll call them tomorrow at 9am & try to work our what’s going on

 

[Crow]

Yeah I got the confirmation from UNSW admissions that my special consideration application has been received & will be considered. I also was told I don’t need to take any further action.

I still sent UNSW Medicine an email 2 weeks after I got this confirmation (around early November) asking if I was being considered as an EAS student & I never got a response. In my head I was thinking this is just an extra layer of confirmation if Unsw med confirms. I already felt comfortable that I’d be considered in the EAS pool due to the UNSW admissions team email & forgot about sending Unsw med that email.

Another reason (the main reason) I sent UNSW med the email is because last year I had a 6.5 GPA (1 year full time completed), 98.55 ATAR & a 72%ile umat score & didn’t get an interview. Most people think it’s a bit silly to expect one but my friend who got (I think 98ish) atar & a 68%ile Umat got an interview last year. I thought I missed out because some weird gpa/atar equivalent Unsw works out and that my gpa must have equated to a pretty low atar. The year before that my friend with a 98.5 & 68%ile got a bonded place offer. The only special consideration category they were in was disadvantaged school while I was eligible for far more categories. That’s why I expected an interview at least.

I honestly think I was treated unfairly last year with hindsight now knowing that I’m very very likely being treated unfairly this year. I’ll call them tomorrow at 9am & try to work our what’s going on

Ah that’s so frustrating, if that’s the case then there’s no logical reason that you missed out on an interview. If it’s any consolation there was a user I followed on PD this year who went through a huge ordeal applying for graduate entry because the uni wouldn’t consider her degree as 3FTE because she had transfer credits (got the ombudsman of the uni involved and everything) and eventually she won, got a late interview invite and a subsequent offer - hopefully it’s the same outcome for you if you keep contesting it.