General Medicine Entry Discussion and Advice Requests

[DrDrLMG!]

Is there a list of the universities that keep those places reserved?

Nope, not that I’m aware of. And it could even change from year to year depending on demand. It’s just a matter of calling them (sometimes repeatedly).

 

[Liam123]

I understand that the major offer round for undergrad med programs is 12 Jan, but I received an email today telling me that I don’t meet the additional selection criteria for CSU/WSU med and UNE/Newcastle med. Is this message indicating that I have fallen short with my UCAT and/or interview score and will be out of the running for the upcoming offer rounds? I know I’ve met the ATAR/ GPA hurdles. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[akn3333]

Hi there,
I'm new here, but can I have some advice on paper selection for post graduate medicine entry of biomedsc second year?

I want my papers to be open career options in case I don't get into medicine.
So far my papers that I plan to select are:
S1= ANAT241, PHSL231, MICR221, and either BIOC221 or PATH201.
S2= PHSL232, PHSL233, STAT115.

I can't do summer school and I heard that BIOC221 was really difficult to get a good grade, and same with pathology. Which one is easier to get a better grade in and what are there assessments like relarive to each other?

Also should I stick to 4 papers in S1 and 3 papers in semester 2 OR pick another alternative option paper (please recommend ie GENE221) that has higher chances of getting good grades.
Thank you so much in advance .

 

[akn3333]

Hi there,
I'm new here, but can I have some advice on paper selection for post graduate medicine entry of biomedsc second year?

I want my papers to be open career options in case I don't get into medicine.
So far my papers that I plan to select are:
S1= ANAT241, PHSL231, MICR221, and either BIOC221 or PATH201.
S2= PHSL232, PHSL233, STAT115.

I can't do summer school and I heard that BIOC221 was really difficult to get a good grade, and same with pathology. Which one is easier to get a better grade in and what are there assessments like relarive to each other?

Also should I stick to 4 papers in S1 and 3 papers in semester 2 OR pick another alternative option paper (please recommend ie GENE221) that has higher chances of getting good grades.
Thank you so much in advance .

Btw, this is for UoO in NZ

 

[ar456]

Hi all,

I've just got an inquiry about back-up options if I don't get into med this year. I'm a QLD gap-year student.

Current potential options are Bach of Science at UQ or Biomedicine (competitive pathway to medicine) at Monash. I began physio last year but quit before census (hence gap year) - I've heard that it's much more difficult to get a high enough gpa (and have time to prepare for gamsat) through uq physio vs science/biomed. Although there is a lack of employment opportunity in case of failed gamsat with just a science/biomed degree, I'm thinking of selecting courses in a bach of science that will allow me to take master of physio studies (uq) or doc of physio (melbourne) if gamsat doesn't work out.

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts, experience or advice on this...

Thanks!

 

[Liam123]

Hi all,

I've just got an inquiry about back-up options if I don't get into med this year. I'm a QLD gap-year student.

Current potential options are Bach of Science at UQ or Biomedicine (competitive pathway to medicine) at Monash. I began physio last year but quit before census (hence gap year) - I've heard that it's much more difficult to get a high enough gpa (and have time to prepare for gamsat) through uq physio vs science/biomed. Although there is a lack of employment opportunity in case of failed gamsat with just a science/biomed degree, I'm thinking of selecting courses in a bach of science that will allow me to take master of physio studies (uq) or doc of physio (melbourne) if gamsat doesn't work out.

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts, experience or advice on this...

Thanks!

As someone who picked their first undergrad degree based on their perception of what would get them a better GPA (spoiler alert: I exited with a pretty average GPA), I recommend picking the undergrad degree that you are most interested in. If you put the work into a degree that you enjoy studying the grades will follow.

 

[ar456]

As someone who picked their first undergrad degree based on their perception of what would get them a better GPA (spoiler alert: I exited with a pretty average GPA), I recommend picking the undergrad degree that you are most interested in. If you put the work into a degree that you enjoy studying the grades will follow.

Thanks Liam123 for your reply. Just curious what undergrad you initially picked? Also, based on your experience, would you consider how some degrees might be more demanding than others (I'm not fully informed about this, so fill me in if I'm wrong) and hence might leave less time/reduced chance to do well in gamsat, or is that not really a valid factor?

Anyone else also have any thoughts or experiences on this?

 

[Liam123]

Thanks Liam123 for your reply. Just curious what undergrad you initially picked? Also, based on your experience, would you consider how some degrees might be more demanding than others (I'm not fully informed about this, so fill me in if I'm wrong) and hence might leave less time/reduced chance to do well in gamsat, or is that not really a valid factor?

Anyone else also have any thoughts or experiences on this?

My completed undergrad is a Bachelor of Policing. I had worked as a police officer for six years prior to starting and continued to do so for the duration of it. I had a reasonable degree of practical knowledge and have always been stronger in humanities subjects, but I wasn’t studying it because I enjoyed it. When the mid-semester fatigue set in, I didn’t have any passion to keep me going and I found it very difficult to stay motivated. I made careless mistakes that I couldn’t be bothered to fix and suffered the consequences. I find biomed a lot easier than my policing degree because I’m actually interested in the study.

I think that it’s easy to get caught up in the belief that one undergrad degree is objectively harder or more demanding than the other when you look at ATAR cut offs, but they’re really only a measure of the supply to demand ratio of a degree. All undergrad degrees are a lot of work if you want to do well in them.

 

[ar456]

My completed undergrad is a Bachelor of Policing. I had worked as a police officer for six years prior to starting and continued to do so for the duration of it. I had a reasonable degree of practical knowledge and have always been stronger in humanities subjects, but I wasn’t studying it because I enjoyed it. When the mid-semester fatigue set in, I didn’t have any passion to keep me going and I found it very difficult to stay motivated. I made careless mistakes that I couldn’t be bothered to fix and suffered the consequences. I find biomed a lot easier than my policing degree because I’m actually interested in the study.

I think that it’s easy to get caught up in the belief that one undergrad degree is objectively harder or more demanding than the other when you look at ATAR cut offs, but they’re really only a measure of the supply to demand ratio of a degree. All undergrad degrees are a lot of work if you want to do well in them.

Thanks for sharing again, I agree with your final point. So did you end up applying and getting in graduate med? And if so, did you find that because you enjoy biomed, you have/had enough time to help get into med?

 

[Liam123]

Thanks for sharing again, I agree with your final point. So did you end up applying and getting in graduate med? And if so, did you find that because you enjoy biomed, you have/had enough time to help get into med?

My GEMSAS GPA for my policing degree is too low for me to apply to any postgrad med schools in Australia. Biomed, once completed, will hopefully be a key degree with a high enough GPA for me to use for that purpose. I juggle 3 subjects per semester with about 20 hrs of work per week and do not find that I have any time to devote to GAMSAT study during the semester. My focus during uni breaks has been on UCAT study for undergrad applications. All the best choosing your degree! It’s an exciting time to be alive.

 

[ucat3300+]

Sorry if this is the wrong place. How are we supposed to deal with accommodation when interstate offers come out only a fortnight before courses start?

The way the rental market is going everywhere in the country, it’s an absolute nightmare to find somewhere to live, particularly for school-leavers who don’t have a rental history or history of a stable income. I really feel for everyone who has to find somewhere at the last minute - I know how incredibly stressful it can be.

Yes. As someone who moved from NSW to WA at the start of this year, I can tell you how incredibly competitive it is to get a place to live right now, in Perth. Even though I got my offer 2 weeks before semester started, COVID border restrictions meant international students couldn't come in, colleges weren't at full capacity so I managed to get a room at a residential college (uni-affiliated dormitory on campus).

Now, borders have opened and there is a national rental crisis so it's a completely different story - all 5 residential colleges at UWA are already full for next year, and the admissions officer at my college tells me high school kids from rural parts of WA who applied months before have missed out!

Whether these colleges reserve a few places for interstate medicine/dentistry kids, I do not know (I think it's quite unlikely) but yes, your best bet is to call the colleges and find out what can be done. Good luck..!! There are also accommodation options purpose-built for uni students in the CBD, I think this is your best bet, at least for UWA.

 

[ar456]

My GEMSAS GPA for my policing degree is too low for me to apply to any postgrad med schools in Australia. Biomed, once completed, will hopefully be a key degree with a high enough GPA for me to use for that purpose. I juggle 3 subjects per semester with about 20 hrs of work per week and do not find that I have any time to devote to GAMSAT study during the semester. My focus during uni breaks has been on UCAT study for undergrad applications. All the best choosing your degree! It’s an exciting time to be alive.

Thanks heaps Liam123. If you don't mind, I just have one more question. I'm just wondering what your plan would be if, in the worst case (sorry for the pessimism), biomed to med doesn't work out - as that is a consideration I'm weighing up rn.

 

[Liam123]

Thanks heaps Liam123. If you don't mind, I just have one more question. I'm just wondering what your plan would be if, in the worst case (sorry for the pessimism), biomed to med doesn't work out - as that is a consideration I'm weighing up rn.

Fair question. I have no expectation that I’ll get in to med. My biomed GPA is solid at the moment, but I’m yet to encounter any 3rd year subjects so there’s plenty of time for it to become a train wreck. After finishing biomed, I plan to take a bit of time off formal study to work and prep for the GAMSAT if my scores aren’t within range before then. (They may never be as I have an attention deficit that really limits my ability to write essays on the fly.) I’m trying to take as many placements as I can in clinical measurements to have some hope of securing casual employment in that space. If the med dream has to die I’d like to pivot into a bridging grad dip in psychology + advanced grad dip etc. to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist as my interest in med primarily revolves around psychiatry/ mental health.

 

[ar456]

Fair question. I have no expectation that I’ll get in to med. My biomed GPA is solid at the moment, but I’m yet to encounter any 3rd year subjects so there’s plenty of time for it to become a train wreck. After finishing biomed, I plan to take a bit of time off formal study to work and prep for the GAMSAT if my scores aren’t within range before then. (They may never be as I have an attention deficit that really limits my ability to write essays on the fly.) I’m trying to take as many placements as I can in clinical measurements to have some hope of securing casual employment in that space. If the med dream has to die I’d like to pivot into a bridging grad dip in psychology + advanced grad dip etc. to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist as my interest in med primarily revolves around psychiatry/ mental health.

Right, sounds like a solid plan! Do you know the general chances of getting into graduate allied health courses from Biomed or BSc? I've asked this in question another thread, but just looking for some more opinions...

 

[Liam123]

Right, sounds like a solid plan! Do you know the general chances of getting into graduate allied health courses from Biomed or BSc? I've asked this in question another thread, but just looking for some more opinions...

I really don’t know. If you meet any prerequisites and the selection is solely based on GPA, theoretically it shouldn’t make a difference what you study, but if you have to interview for them and/or submit a portfolio prior related study and placements could be helpful.

 

[Crow]

Right, sounds like a solid plan! Do you know the general chances of getting into graduate allied health courses from Biomed or BSc? I've asked this in question another thread, but just looking for some more opinions...

It really comes down to the specific allied health degree and the university you want to go to. Graduate entry nursing degrees will usually be less competitive for entry than physiotherapy or radiography, for example.

 

[CNJ]

Does anyone know if your UCAT score is still taken into account after you have sat the interview (i.e. would the offer be based on ATAR+Interview or ATAR+Interview+UCAT)?
btw I sat MMIs at LaTrobe and UniSQ

 

[adawdea]

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm a Kiwi student who's been offered a co-op scholarship at UNSW for engineering. To accept it, I need to have an atar of at least 96. My NZ NCEA results will be converted to an ATAR in a week, so now I'm just panicking about whether or not I'll meet the requirement. Is it difficult to achieve a 96 ATAR? I'm a pretty good student, and have done pretty well at level 3, I'm just not sure what sort of grades I'd need for a 96 atar as I have no experience with the system. Also, do the different states have different ways to measure atar or I'd the system the same across Australia?

Thanks so much for the help.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm a Kiwi student who's been offered a co-op scholarship at UNSW for engineering. To accept it, I need to have an atar of at least 96. My NZ NCEA results will be converted to an ATAR in a week, so now I'm just panicking about whether or not I'll meet the requirement. Is it difficult to achieve a 96 ATAR? I'm a pretty good student, and have done pretty well at level 3, I'm just not sure what sort of grades I'd need for a 96 atar as I have no experience with the system. Also, do the different states have different ways to measure atar or I'd the system the same across Australia?

Thanks so much for the help.

Chickuns posted very detailed information on how NCEA to ATAR conversion works.
It basically depends on which level 3 subjects you choose, which standards you take and what the best 90 credits are from them.
FYI 96 ATAR is about 2480th rank of all NCEA level 3 students.

Hopefully this should shed some more light on how the ATAR conversion works.

NZQA will weight all your credits based on an internal difficulty calculation using the following equation:

View attachment 5277

It compares every possible result in every standard against every other possible standard to calculate a relative difficulty percentile (Di). The higher the Di, the more difficult a standard is and thus the higher weight it carries. Any Di above 1 is adjusted to 1 and any below 0 is adjusted to 0.

For people who have earned more than 60 Level 3 credits in the past 2 years, NCEA will calculate an ATAR. Starting with University Entrance Achievement Standards (and using UE Unit Standards and then non-UE AS and US if needed), NZQA will take your top 90 credits (those with the highest Di as calculated above) with a maximum of 24 credits per subject (with subjects appearing to be determined by the UE list) to generate a ranking. If you have resat a standard, your best Di will be taken.

To calculate the ranking NZQA will multiply the number of credits for each standard by the Di for the grade you received in that standard and sum the Di*credits. If there is an ‘over-hang’ situation (for example if NZQA have used 89 credits so far and your next best standard is worth 3 credits) the last standard will be pro-rata-ed so the sum of credits is 90. The Di*credits sum is then divided by 90 to give each candidate a score ranging from 0 to 1. For example:
View attachment 5278
Candidates are then ranked from highest score to lowest with ATARs being assigned in the order of this ranking. The number of candidates per ATAR bracket (eg. 99.95) is 0.05 percent of the cohort (typically the number per bracket appears to be between 30 and 35).

More info on these calculations can be found in: Coxon, D (2011) ITARs and Related Calculations and Johnston, M, Lillis, D, (2011) Statistical Modelling and analysis of NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship Data. These are not readily available but may be acquired by contacting the Psychometrics, Reporting and Statistics department of NZQA or filing an official information request with the chief executive of NZQA.

Edited: NZQA will release the results on 17/01/23 and you will be able to call or email them and ask what your converted ATAR is.

 

[MystK]

Does anyone know if your UCAT score is still taken into account after you have sat the interview (i.e. would the offer be based on ATAR+Interview or ATAR+Interview+UCAT)?
btw I sat MMIs at LaTrobe and UniSQ

Idk about Latrobe but USQ is based off 25% ucat 25% Atar and 50% interview for final offers just like UQ