I am just going to post here for any ATSI applicants sitting for an interview at Adelaide Uni for Med.
I know before I attended my interview last year I stalked this website and others but there wasn’t really any info on the ATSI interview process.
I won’t say much about the actual questions but I will say the things you should have a clear understanding of before you go to the interviews next week are the particulars of the medicine degree. For example, how long will the degree take to complete and what each year will entail (the three streams).
Read up about the disparities in indigenous health and try and reference statistics in areas that interest you, from memory I think I focused on mental health in remote communities. Also have a clear understanding of why it is you want to become a doctor and what that will mean for yourself and your community. Do you plan on working in a hospital setting in a city or do you plan on returning to country and helping your people? These are the things the panel want to know. The majority of the interview focused on who I am as a person. What lead me to this point of wanting to become a doctor and what I plan to do with this opportunity in the future.
Also don’t be discouraged if you feel the interview doesn’t seem to go well. I was so sure I did horribly in the interview, I remember thinking that the panel just didn’t like me. I later realised that they have to be hard to read. They have to present themselves in a certain way so that they don’t seem to be favouring anyone. It seemed like they didn’t like me and one person wouldn’t even look at me, she sort of looked at the wall beside me. I ended up being successful and received an offer via email and phone call the following month. I deferred for this year and will be starting in 2020.
Good luck to everyone, I hope this has helped.