JCU JCU Medicine: General Entry Discussion

[CHStar]

It could mean that your combination of academic results and rural ranking does not satisfy the criteria for interview.

The only way you’re going to know for sure is to contact QTAC on Monday.

Yep, very strange. I don’t know what happened as other Unis in qld and around Australia have been satisfied with the rural status, predicted atar etc etc.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Yep, very strange. I don’t know what happened as other Unis in qld and around Australia have been satisfied with the rural status, predicted atar etc etc.

Not necessarily strange given JCU don’t clearly specify their weightings so we have no idea how to judge it while other unis use clear 5 years consecutive or 10 years cumulative criteria.

 

[Benjamin]

Hi,

Just a question out of curiosity. I have autism, and growing up I was surrounded by psychiatrists and health professionals to help me integrate into society. This is a very big reason for why I want to do med, however I am unsure of whether I should include this when speaking in my interview. I'm afraid that the interviewer will see this as a weakness, or as an undesired quality for a doctor. Should I include this or not?

Thanks

JFB has given you a very good answer here.

To be entirely honest, at least with respect to the JCU interview it is unlikely that there will be a chance for you to explicitly detail this in the complexity that it deserves - the interview is over pretty rapidly and is quite standardised which ultimately means there isn't a huge amount of flexibility in exploring candidates motivations.

Much more likely than "why medicine" they will want to know "why medicine AT JCU?". If your answer is only answering the why medicine part then you will lose opportunity to score points. As an interviewer it is shocking to me how many people manage to do all the work of getting an interview and then don't actually know what differentiates the JCU medical school from other medical schools and/or what kind of applicants they are after.

To put you at ease - there is absolutely no chance that you will be judged for having a medical condition.

To give you some ideas on how to answer the why medicine at JCU question have a think about:

• What would your life have looked like if you didn't have access to all those psychiatrists and health professionals?
• How would your life be different if your family didn't have the money, transport means or even health education to seek out that help in the first place?
• What if you grew up in Weipa?

Good luck.

 

[CHStar]

Great answer.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

As an interviewer it is shocking to me how many people manage to do all the work of getting an interview and then don't actually know what differentiates the JCU medical school from other medical schools and/or what kind of applicants they are after.

Not only this, the amount of people who get to an interview but then don’t actually answer the questions they’re being asked. There will be a marking rubric, if you don’t answer parts of the question (or any of the question!) you literally have to score zero on those parts.

I often find this when people have clearly prepared a topic or a response that they want to talk about and are determined to make it fit regardless of the question they’re asked.

This was also prominent in many JCU written applications when they were still used.

 

[drpmaman]

I checked my QTAC and it says pending, could that mean I may have a second round?

 

[Hard]

I checked my QTAC and it says pending, could that mean I may have a second round?

Same here, it says "Pending"
I do believe there is a difference in "Not Satisfied" & "Pending" but not sure on how likely to get interview on second round. Slim chances I believe.

 

[A1]

Also wondering about the ‘not satisfied’ response from QTAC from two of the three Unis i looked at like jcu. I have no idea what didn’t ‘satisfy’ them as the other uni offered me an interview.

From this QTAC link > Application Services - QTAC

Pending:


Not Satisfied:

while other unis use clear 5 years consecutive or 10 years cumulative criteria.

Expanding from this DrLMG's reply^.

All med schools other than JCU it's either non-rural or rural. For most of these rural is rural regardless how much, for a few schools (UNSW, UWA...) rural is graded on rurality e.g. which RA region, how many years there, how recent were these years etc.

From this year JCU also has non-rural or rural. A difference is JCU grades their rurality for both, based on the history of their school/home addresses.

 

[Blit]

Not only this, the amount of people who get to an interview but then don’t actually answer the questions they’re being asked. There will be a marking rubric, if you don’t answer parts of the question (or any of the question!) you literally have to score zero on those parts.

I often find this when people have clearly prepared a topic or a response that they want to talk about and are determined to make it fit regardless of the question they’re asked.

This was also prominent in many JCU written applications when they were still used.

Thank you so much for the response. do you know if the interview weighted 100%? Or it’s 50% ATAR and 50% interview performance. TIA

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Thank you so much for the response. do you know if the interview weighted 100%? Or it’s 50% ATAR and 50% interview performance. TIA

I don’t know but I’d imagine at the very least rural ranking still plays a role if it’s not 100% interview. Otherwise, if they drop that part and only consider ATAR + interview, all those people whose rural ranking made up for their lower ATAR are now at a huge disadvantage and that would be counterproductive.

 

[Blit]

Interesting, in that case wouldt JCU have a separate pools for rural and metro students.

 

[A1]

Interesting, in that case wouldt JCU have a separate pools for rural and metro students.

Only from this year JCU has separate pools for rural and metro.
But even within the metro pool rurality still plays a major part for those having less than 5 rural years to qualify for rural.

In a survey ~15 years ago JCU cohorts were 20% metro, 20% RA2, 60% RA3-5.
Then a report ~7 years ago showed rural had dropped to about half. I'm not sure what the ratio is now, although from data posted on MSO I see an indication of more & more rurals every year.

 

[pm12]

Does anyone know the JCU interview structure and what sort of questions they will be asking?

 

[Dark Horse]

Does anyone know the JCU interview structure and what sort of questions they will be asking?

There is an entire thread dedicated to this... go check out JCU - JCU Medicine: Interview Discussion ('JCU Medicine: Interview Discussion)

From my experience 4 years ago it was accurate and hence rather helpful.

 

[medforlife]

Hi, I just had a question i am a standard applicant no rural, my predicted ATAR is 98+, do I have a chance for JCU med and should I preference JCU med first and second preferences for a greater chance?

 

[A1]

Hi, I just had a question i am a standard applicant no rural, my predicted ATAR is 98+, do I have a chance for JCU med and should I preference JCU med first and second preferences for a greater chance?

In general and for JCU in particular, preferences make no difference to your chances getting an interview invite or a place offer.

The only time prefs are relevant is when you get interviews and qualify for place offers from JCU as well as another Qld uni. In that case you are offered the higher pref and forfeit the other one.

 

[Saajid Quader]

Has anyone received an interview offer from JCU today?

 

[drpmaman]

Has anyone received an interview offer from JCU today?

I haven't gotten one. When I called earlier they had said they hoped by the end of today.

 

[CHStar]

Please let us know if you get an update from JCU!

 

[drpmaman]

Please let us know if you get an update from JCU!

I called JCU, and they said that interview offers went out a few hours ago.. so I guess I didnt get one.