General Interview Discussion 2018

[DrDrLMG!]

Hi,
I'm from Melbourne (VCE). ATAR: 99.35 UMAT:94

JMP interstate interview dates are 23rd and 24th Jan,
But UWA interstate interview dates is on the 24th Jan.

I would like to go to both interviews, but the timing is very tight.

1) Email for JMP says "Please ensure you are available on both days".
Is this actually the case? Do the MSA and PQA last for 2 whole days?
2) Do we get a choice on the time and day for the JMP interviews?
3) Is it likely for either JMP or UWA to allow for interviews outside of the stated time?

Thanks

No, interviews at JMP take 1/2 a day. You will be allocated a time slot. Neither university will conduct interviews on a day outside those dates so your only option would be to contact JMP and ask for a 23rd AM interview, and contact UWA and ask for a 24th PM interview, see what they say, then book a flight to hopefully land you in Perth on time and without too much stress!

Best of luck, let us know how you go!

 

[australia]

Hello, any idea when interview invites from Monash will be rolled out for interstate applicants?? (non rural) THank you

 

[Crow]

Hello, any idea when interview invites from Monash will be rolled out for interstate applicants?? (non rural) THank you

https://www.monash.edu/medicine/som/direct-entry/vtac-selection-schedule From Tuesday 12th January

 

[William Thai]

Did anyone get any offers from SATAC for Med? The University of Adelaide says they gave a lot of offers out today but I’m not sure if there are for Med or not.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Did anyone get any offers from SATAC for Med? The University of Adelaide says they gave a lot of offers out today but I’m not sure if there are for Med or not.

No Med until January.

 

[Saintz11]

Did anyone get any offers from SATAC for Med? The University of Adelaide says they gave a lot of offers out today but I’m not sure if there are for Med or not.

It was for international students, because I know of one person who was international and got their offer today.

 

[kiwikillaz]

Hey guys!!

First of all, Congratulations to everyone who got an interview offer so far, and for those who don't, don't lose hope as there are second round offers (or even third round offers!) to come, .

Last year I handed out some interview preparation for students to practice with and use as resource and looking back at some of the questions, they were quite archaic and needed some updating to reflect the interview for this year and beyond. That is why this year, I am introducing a newer version of the interview preparation, to help you guys get through the daunting interview preparation. Some of the changes include more modern questions with a small guide as well as some MMI mock questions/cases.

If you want to use the interview preparation material and resources to practice on, just like this post and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

PS BTW I'm on holidays so if you have any questions about the interview process, you can ask me.

Good Luck everyone (I'm sure you'll smash it xx)!

Hey Skarzin, could I please grab a copy of your new Interview Material?

Or could someone who has please received the material from Skarzin please send me a copy! Would be really appreciated

 

[1234med]

Anyone got UWA Med/ Dent offer today?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Anyone got UWA Med/ Dent offer today?

Yes, several Med offers reported at MSO. Check the collated offers thread.

 

[NG]

hi i just got an offer to study med at uwa! it was my only interview and i managed to pull it off. 1 for 1. theres hope for everyone else.

 

[Ruffle]

hi i just got an offer to study med at uwa! it was my only interview and i managed to pull it off. 1 for 1. theres hope for everyone else.

Hi Narendra, congrats!! You must be so happy and I'm excited for you starting at UWA next year.

In order to collate data for MSO's use for future years, we'd really appreciate it if you could fill out the following questions and post it on the thread linked here: Med and Dent - 2019 Entry (Offers and Discussion)

Course Type: (Med or Dent)
Offer Received: (Yes or No - 'no' offers are just as useful to us, so if you feel comfortable, please share. You can also PM mods if you'd rather contribute anonymously)
University:
UMAT: (%ile rank, raw score, section scores)
ATAR or GPA:
Special Considerations: (rural, GWS, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, EAS, etc)
Offer Type: (CSP or BMP)
Other Information: (ie. multiple offers received, intending to reject, intending to defer)

Thank you, and go celebrate!

 

[Smelly Boy]

So I emailed the dean of med at Unsw regarding my whole special considerations conundrum and basically what happened was he (I think) forwarded the email back to the UNSW special consideration people and they responded saying that in response to your email to the dean... (& then repeated what I’ve already heard from them for a week).

Ombudsman time ;(

Sorry to hear of such bad news.
I can only guess while the other person is school leaver, you're non-standard so the bonus for disadvantaged school is less

In the reply today they said the guidelines for disadvantage they use is the same that UAC uses for EAS & that disadvantage weighs the same for tertiary students & school leavers so yeah somethings up.............. so tired of this

 

[A1]

In the reply today they said the guidelines for disadvantage they use is the same that UAC uses for EAS & that disadvantage weighs the same for tertiary students & school leavers so yeah somethings up.............. so tired of this

Based on this info^ I suggest you send them a FOI request to please explain why a lower score than yours got an invite and you didn't. Hopefully the word FOI will dissuade them from hiding behind oh the other person has different considerations.

I saw a similar request to CSU posted on the net a while ago, if I find it I'll append to this post.

EtA: Well... not quite the same type of request but it says "James Brooke made this Government Information (Public Access) request to Charles Sturt University "

> Dentistry - Admission Statistics and Selection Process - a Freedom of Information request to Charles Sturt University

 

[Q3]

Smelly Boy

https://www.legal.unsw.edu.au/compliance/gipa/requestinfo.html

How do I request information?
Every day the University responds to requests for information from the public. This process is still your first avenue of access to the information you wish to see. To make a valid formal access application, however, the application must:

• be in writing;
• state that it is made under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009;
• have a postal address for return correspondence;
• provide enough details to help the University identify the information you want; and
• enclose the application fee of $30

 

[Ryan48691]

So I emailed the dean of med at Unsw regarding my whole special considerations conundrum and basically what happened was he (I think) forwarded the email back to the UNSW special consideration people and they responded saying that in response to your email to the dean... (& then repeated what I’ve already heard from them for a week).

Ombudsman time ;(


In the reply today they said the guidelines for disadvantage they use is the same that UAC uses for EAS & that disadvantage weighs the same for tertiary students & school leavers so yeah somethings up.............. so tired of this

Is there a chance that the other student might have posted false data onto MSO? Good luck with your interview man, hoping you get this.

 

[Smelly Boy]

Is there a chance that the other student might have posted false data onto MSO? Good luck with your interview man, hoping you get this.

The admissions lady confirmed the other scores so I’m sure that it wasn’t false

 

[Ian Naga]

thanks, LMG and Crow, that's what I thought. Hoping for an offer from JCU/JMP!

I think you will get JCU if your interview went OK. Last year, non-rural positions required an OP1. They don't normally give positions to non-rural candidates in the second or subsequent round.

Also, as a backup apply to Melbourne BioMedicine guaranteed entry. With your ATAR (actually any ATAR between 99.0 to 99.89), you are eligible for full fee paying MD after 3 years of CSP biomedicine and an interview in the third year. No GAMSTAT needed for this guaranteed (sic) entry. Also the GPA requirement are not too much and the 3 years of BioMedicine is CSP. One need to pass a few specific courses in the program without failing. What I did last year was to apply and get this position. I deferred that offer. If I had not gotten other offers, I would have taken it up. One condition of deferral was that one should not start another degree as this guaranteed offer is only available for current Year 12 graduates who haven't started undergraduate studies. No TAFE or Uni courses allowed.

Also, you can apply to other CSP MD programs (e.g. Griffith) after BioMedicine degree but you have to take GAMSTAT and meet GPA etc.


What to do if you do not get Undergraduate Medicine?

 

[Ruffle]

I think you will get JCU if your interview went OK. Last year, non-rural positions required an OP1. They don't normally give positions to non-rural candidates in the second or subsequent round.

Also, as a backup apply to Melbourne BioMedicine guaranteed entry. With your ATAR (actually any ATAR between 99.0 to 99.89), you are eligible for full fee paying MD after 3 years of CSP biomedicine and an interview in the third year. No GAMSTAT needed for this guaranteed (sic) entry. Also the GPA requirement are not too much and the 3 years of BioMedicine is CSP. One need to pass a few specific courses in the program without failing. What I did last year was to apply and get this position. I deferred that offer. If I had not gotten other offers, I would have taken it up. One condition of deferral was that one should not start another degree as this guaranteed offer is only available for current Year 12 graduates who haven't started undergraduate studies. No TAFE or Uni courses allowed.

Also, you can apply to other CSP MD programs (e.g. Griffith) after BioMedicine degree but you have to take GAMSTAT and meet GPA etc.


What to do if you do not get Undergraduate Medicine?

You'd need a very good interview to get a JCU offer, not just a mediocre one- especially if you are non-rural!

I think you mean the GAMSAT

Also, the thing about Melbourne biomed is that not everyone (and, in fact, barely anyone!) can actually afford to pay the full fee price, which is over $300k- and this is without a guaranteed entry into medicine at the end. After maintaining a 75 WAM, you still have to pass an interview at the end of your degree, which is very very possible to fail!

Melbourne biomed is extremely fast paced and content heavy, as with all other biomed degrees, hence it's much harder to maintain a high GPA which will make it more difficult to get a CSP spot in grad entry med.

Don't do biomed just to get into med, no matter what "guarantees" are in place- just like the Pitfalls thread says.

 

[Ian Naga]

You'd need a very good interview to get a JCU offer, not just a mediocre one- especially if you are non-rural!

For OP1, you need a decent interview for non-rural. I am not sure how interviews are graded but I assume it can't be broken down in like A+A A- B+ B B-, especially undergraduate interviews when one is just 17/18 years old. I am guessing it will have 3 levels: Extreme/OK/Failure. If the stratification is indeed like this, an OK interview will suffice for OP1 (non-rural). Anything below OP1, you will need an extremely good performance at the interview for non-rural candidates!

I think you mean the GAMSAT

Also, the thing about Melbourne biomed is that not everyone (and, in fact, barely anyone!) can actually afford to pay the full fee price, which is over $300k- and this is without a guaranteed entry into medicine at the end. After maintaining a 75 WAM, you still have to pass an interview at the end of your degree, which is very very possible to fail!

Melbourne biomed is extremely fast paced and content heavy, as with all other biomed degrees, hence it's much harder to maintain a high GPA which will make it more difficult to get a CSP spot in grad entry med.

Don't do biomed just to get into med, no matter what "guarantees" are in place- just like the Pitfalls thread says.

1. Full fee place . You monetized it to 300K. Perhaps you may be able to get 100K from HECS or similar scheme. Still, it is 200K+
2. Mentioned GPA. You clarified WAM (75). It shouldn't be hard for an OP1 person to maintain this under normal circumstances but there are individual circumstances.
3. Interview brings uncertainty but if you have no other offers and you doubt your UMAT/UCAT/GAMSAT skills, it is better than others if Medicine is your aim. The multiple choice qs and other format found in these exams may not suit all and only you are able to make a call if this is a reasonable assumption. One may do poorly in UMAT (say under 60 percentile) but ace GAMSAT but I suspect it may not be common. Also a decision regarding taking a gap year needs to be taken considering this.
4. If unlucky at the interview or if one wishes to change direction and try other courses, shorter duration graduate entry professional courses are available at Melbourne e.g Law, Engineering, Optom etc.
5. BioMedicine may be fast paced but I believe you should strategize. For example, @Griffith, to enable them to end up with high GPA, some students enroll in B. Health Science as the 3rd year of this program is mostly electives and not content heavy. They strategize and use the light 3rd year to study for GAMSAT. (They shun BioMed at Griffith as it is content heavy). I know people who have succeeded in this strategy but I also know people who took the harder courses like Pharmacy, physio etc and have succeeded in getting into graduate medicine. Again this decision can only be made by the student. It is a matter of strategizing.

This type of advice "Don't do Melbourne biomedicine to get into medicine" may not be appropriate for all and I am surprised to see this type of advice being given frequently on this forum without a waiver. The trick is to strategize and do according to your own circumstances. I pity the students who blindly follow advice but I hope students do question every decision they make and "decide according to their personal circumstances and conditions". If they don't do that, they don't deserve to do medicine.

To the original poster:
====================
Some of courses are time sensitive (deadlines, current high school/gap year students only, ATAR, etc). Good luck with the research. I would only recommend Melbourne in some circumstances (in this case as a backup for a person with ATAR 99.05). You may do this: 1st round: La Trobe Dentistry (example only) 1st choice. You will get VTAC 1st round offer (if ATAR does not move much from last year - it was 98.95). (if you want you may accept and Defer but you don't have to do this). Next move Biomedicine to 1st choice in VTACand put yourself in contention for 2nd round . You will get the vtac offer in the second round. You will end up with more choices. But by then you would have heard from QTAC (JCU) or or UAC (JMP). You can leave yourself with a lot options for you to decide in February. Good Luck All.

 

[Nihal]

To the original poster:
====================
Some of courses are time sensitive (deadlines, current high school/gap year students only, ATAR, etc). Good luck with the research. I would only recommend Melbourne in some circumstances (in this case as a backup for a person with ATAR 99.05). You may do this: 1st round: La Trobe Dentistry (example only) 1st choice. You will get VTAC 1st round offer (if ATAR does not move much from last year - it was 98.95). (if you want you may accept and Defer but you don't have to do this). Next move Biomedicine to 1st choice in VTACand put yourself in contention for 2nd round . You will get the vtac offer in the second round. You will end up with more choices. But by then you would have heard from QTAC (JCU) or or UAC (JMP). You can leave yourself with a lot options for you to decide in February. Good Luck All.

thanks for the advice! I'm hoping for a good JCU/JMP interview and I'll take your advice into consideration and already have UMelb in my VTAC preferences. thanks for your's and Ruffle's advice!