Griffith Griffith Medicine: Medical Science/MD Provisional Entry Q&A

[A1]

Hi, I just had a question about the part saying that 'a GPA of at least 5.0 will progress to MD'. What's a GPA of 5 equivalent to (I know it's quite low but is there an approximation) and what does this refer to. Eg, does this mentioned GPA refer to that given for each of your courses at the end of trimester which must each meet this requirement / is an 'overall' GPA given at the end of the trimester which must be 5 or above...etc? Thanks

GPA stands for Grade Points Average i.e. 5 at end of the undergrad degree, not each individual course.

For provisional students 5 is a piece of cake. To put in context, one who barely passes all their courses plus a few Credits would have 4.x, one who wants to be competitive enough for graduate entry med would need like 6.5+. So 5 is around just 30%ile from the low end.

 

[Samaneh.A]

Hey, how does being rural changes the ATAR cut-off for Griffith? Thanks

 

[Crow]

Hey, how does being rural changes the ATAR cut-off for Griffith? Thanks

I believe it lowers the cutoff by 0.4, so not a great deal of difference unfortunately. Whether this has changed in the past few years, I am unsure.

 

[justwantdent]

for people who have done 2021 interviews: im a dent student so you dont need to feel competitive haha
did your griffith inteviewers tell you how many sub questions would be asked? (eg question forquestion 1 there was part ABC)

 

[Caffeine]

for people who have done 2021 interviews: im a dent student so you dont need to feel competitive haha
did your griffith inteviewers tell you how many sub questions would be asked? (eg question forquestion 1 there was part ABC)

I don't think anyone has sat Griffith interviews yet [There is none for Medicine for provisional entry] and this is the wrong thread.

 

[ucat3300+]

For USC, the website says you need a "minimum Pass grade in MED202 Communication Skills for Medicine" on top of the 5.0 GPA average. I heard that people have been kicked out of provisional entry in the past because they failed this course. This is obviously a nightmare scenario, and I'm wondering if this is similar to the MMI you need to pass for Melbourne Provisional MD, which scares a lot of students away.

For USC provisional students or anyone who has heard information about this, is this something that is like seriously difficult to pass, or as long as you are a conscientious student, you can pass easily, like how 5.0 GPA is a piece of cake for provisional students?

Does Griffith Med Sci & MD also have this requirement, apart from the 5.0 GPA? Their website doesn't mention it, but I'm not too sure.

 

[Crow]

For USC, the website says you need a "minimum Pass grade in MED202 Communication Skills for Medicine" on top of the 5.0 GPA average. I heard that people have been kicked out of provisional entry in the past because they failed this course. For USC provisional students or anyone who has heard information about this, is this something that is like seriously difficult to pass? (A bit like Melbourne MD, which scares a lot of students because of their interview), or as long as you are a conscientious student, you can pass easily (which is not the case with Med interviews I find..)

Does Griffith Med Sci & MD also have this requirement, apart from the 5.0 GPA? Or is this something only USC people have to go through?

Honestly, as long as you have very basic people skills, you should be able to get through the course fine. The convenors will help any students who need it.

And yes, it’s a requirement for both Griffith and USC based students.

 

[Coop]

Honestly, as long as you have very basic people skills, you should be able to get through the course fine. The convenors will help any students who need it.

And yes, it’s a requirement for both Griffith and USC based students.

At least at Nathan (I'm not sure about GC), it is not a requirement anymore since they changed the communications course from Human Skills for Medicine to 1008HSV Interpersonal Skills. Interpersonal Skills is a relatively chill course, and as long as you listen to the lectures and practice what's done in the workshops, you can easily pass the course and get up to a 6 or a 7 even with minimal communication skills to start with (the course aims to develop these over the trimester).

tldr: Only the 5.0 GPA overall is required now for Griffith, idk about USC

 

[q12w3e4r5t6y7]

Hey I was hoping somebody could please answer a few quick questions about the griffith med sci pathway:

• For both griffith campuses and for USC, do QTAC preferences matter to them? Would I be more likely to get an offer with it as my first preference than as my second (assuming I wouldn't get my first) or lower if that makes sense?
• Does it make a difference that I'm interstate - would the ATAR cutoff be higher for me as a NSW student?
• Am I correct in thinking that they literally just look at ATAR and everybody above this year's cutoff (probably slightly higher than last yr's) will get an offer?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hey I was hoping somebody could please answer a few quick questions about the griffith med sci pathway:

• For both griffith campuses and for USC, do QTAC preferences matter to them? Would I be more likely to get an offer with it as my first preference than as my second (assuming I wouldn't get my first) or lower if that makes sense?
• Does it make a difference that I'm interstate - would the ATAR cutoff be higher for me as a NSW student?
• Am I correct in thinking that they literally just look at ATAR and everybody above this year's cutoff (probably slightly higher than last yr's) will get an offer?

Obviously these things are subject to change but, historically (and I’m just gonna go recent history post QTAC-only application pathways) the answers would be:
1. No
2. No
3. Yes (alongside rural status which makes a slight difference I believe)

 

[ucat3300+]

Hi,

I am a NSW applicant who is trying to work out if I should place Nathan or GC as the higher preference. I currently have GC as the higher preference, because historically it has had a higher ATAR cut-off, and it is way more popular with interstates compared to Nathan, as can be seen here: QTAC Med/Dent Offers 2019/2020/2021

A couple of questions:

1) Is rent more expensive at GC or Nathan?

2) My understanding is GC is a popular Schoolies & honeymoon destination, where there is a lot of drinking, partying, surfing, going to the beach, etc. (please correct me if I am wrong). I am not into any of that; I very much enjoy the calm lifestyle in Sydney. I assume Brisbane is more similar to Sydney than GC. So I should probably put Nathan as the higher preference right?

3) One reason for choosing GC over Nathan that I can think of is that since the last 4 years of MD is only offered at GC, you may as well try and get used to life at GC in the first two years. But this got me thinking, is it possible to commute from Brisbane to GC? Google Maps tells me it's a 1 hour drive. Is this practical, and there people who do this?

Thank you..

 

[Caffeine]

Hi,

I am a NSW applicant who is trying to work out if I should place Nathan or GC as the higher preference. I currently have GC as the higher preference, because historically it has had a higher ATAR cut-off, and it is way more popular with interstates compared to Nathan, as can be seen here: QTAC Med/Dent Offers 2019/2020/2021

A couple of questions:

1) Is rent more expensive at GC or Nathan?

2) My understanding is GC is a popular Schoolies & honeymoon destination, where there is a lot of drinking, partying, surfing, going to the beach, etc. (please correct me if I am wrong). I am not into any of that; I very much enjoy the calm lifestyle in Sydney. I assume Brisbane is more similar to Sydney than GC. So I should probably put Nathan as the higher preference right?

3) One reason for choosing GC over Nathan that I can think of is that since the last 4 years of MD is only offered at GC, you may as well try and get used to life at GC in the first two years. But this got me thinking, is it possible to commute from Brisbane to GC? Google Maps tells me it's a 1 hour drive. Is this practical, and there people who do this?

Thank you..

1) They are kind of similar but it depends on the type of accomodation. Brisbane might be slightly more expensive
2) You can avoid all that, the majority of the city is not really like that same with Brisbane at all times. You can make your life as calm as you like in both. Also the campus is pretty far from Surfers paradise around 10km
3) You can try but please don't, it will get very annoying in the morning and it's much more difficult to keep attendance high

 

[Crow]

3) One reason for choosing GC over Nathan that I can think of is that since the last 4 years of MD is only offered at GC, you may as well try and get used to life at GC in the first two years. But this got me thinking, is it possible to commute from Brisbane to GC? Google Maps tells me it's a 1 hour drive. Is this practical, and there people who do this?

The first two years of the MD will be based at the GC. The final two years you could be allocated to Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Tweed, any rural site, Logan, or a Brisbane hospital. You get to submit preferences but naturally many people don't get their top preference. Just something to be aware of.

As above, there is drinking and partying in all cities in Australia, and you really just need to choose your friendship circle and living arrangements appropriately. It will be a non-issue I am sure.

I'd be preferencing GC over Nathan for the reason you've mentioned if I were you, but obviously it's a personal decision.

People can and do commute from Brisbane to GC. It's achievable but not something I'd be doing unless absolutely necessary.

 

[dotwingz]

I very much enjoy the calm lifestyle in Sydney

There is definetely alot of hoonery in Sydney aswell. Stay out of Kings Cross and you avoid is, same with Surfers Paradise in GC.

If your moving from Sydney, pick the GC. The only reason people should pick Nathan is if they have connections in Brisbane.

 

[ucat3300+]

Hey I was hoping somebody could please answer a few quick questions about the griffith med sci pathway:

• For both griffith campuses and for USC, do QTAC preferences matter to them? Would I be more likely to get an offer with it as my first preference than as my second (assuming I wouldn't get my first) or lower if that makes sense?
• Does it make a difference that I'm interstate - would the ATAR cutoff be higher for me as a NSW student?
• Am I correct in thinking that they literally just look at ATAR and everybody above this year's cutoff (probably slightly higher than last yr's) will get an offer?

For your second question - yes, it is possible for NSW/ACT students to have a higher ATAR cutoff compared to the rest of the country. Have a look at this page under "2021 NSW AND ACT ATAR STUDENTS UPDATE".

Basically, Griffith Medicine set aside a small number of places for NSW/ACT applicants due to their late ATAR release, and NSW/ACT applicants are competing in a separate pool. Hence, NSW/ACT applicants can have different ATAR cutoff. I am a NSW applicant, and judging by the number of people I know who have topped their HSC exams but achieved <90th in the UCAT and are all hoping for Griffith Med, I think the NSW/ACT cutoff is likely to be higher than last year's 99.75 (pure speculation, may be wrong).

 

[Desperatebaby]

What about other interstate ( Eg VIc SA ) students ? NSW students shouldn’t be discriminated against ! Also how do they rank people with the same atar ?

 

[Caffeine]

What about other interstate ( Eg VIc SA ) students ? NSW students shouldn’t be discriminated against ! Also how do they rank people with the same atar ?

You would be in the same pool with other applicants. For comparing students between ATARs I'm not really sure they've done that before as I think they over offer as quite a few interstates would reject Griffith, I don't think they can compare state based aggregates due to differences in the aggregates. They might give people the option to defer if this was the case as was the case for Griffith Dent

 

[ucat3300+]

What about other interstate ( Eg VIc SA ) students ? NSW students shouldn’t be discriminated against ! Also how do they rank people with the same atar ?

All other states are fine, their ATARs all come out this week. Only NSW had COVID hit hard in the months leading up to HSC exams which caused HSC exams to be delayed by a month, and hence also delay ATAR release by a month. This also delayed ACT ATAR release by a month because although ACT final exams did not get delayed, a single tertiary admission centre UAC is responsible for calculating ATARs for both NSW and ACT.

Best case scenario for NSW/ACT was if interstate TACs such as QTAC delay their first offer round to after NSW/ACT ATAR release (20 Jan), and we would not be disadvantaged in any way, but this means the entire nation has to wait for NSW/ACT. So instead they decided to set aside a small number of places for NSW/ACT, because if they don't, all places will fill up before NSW/ACT students are even considered on the basis of their ATAR.

However this now means NSW/ACT are competing in a separate pool for a limited number of places, and the Griffith webpage clearly states that the ATAR cutoff for NSW/ACT applicants may be different to non NSW/ACT applicants because they compete in a separate pool. Whether it will be lower, the same, or higher than non NSW/ACT applicants, no one knows, but it just my gut feeling that it will be higher, because we are competing for a small number of places that have been set aside.

 

[Crow]

I too would imagine it’ll either be equivalent to or higher than the cutoff for the majority of the applicants.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Griffith would lower their cutoff score purely for applicants from NSW/ACT while denying entry to the rest of the country’s applicants with the same (hypothetical) lower cutoff score.

 

[Emerald2002]

Where does it say on the page that the cutoff might be different I can’t find it?