So would you know if everyone who applies for MAPAS gets accepted? (were there several hundreds or thousands at your interview) Or is everyone who is considered M/PI accepted purely to increase their representation at University? I mean they can't possibly accommodate everyone, unless the funding they receive is much larger than what I expect. There has to be some degree of...let's say 'positive' discrimination when choosing their applicants. Surely the interview you attended is a means of determining how involved a person is in their culture and then can be used for selection, as opposed to admitting anyone who appears M/PI. Somehow seems to defeat the purpose of the scheme.
No worries. I am happy to help with whatever I can. I have no idea of how many others got accepted. Keep in mind that there are many programmes with MAPAS spots, meaning that interviews are spread out over a number of days. I, myself did not exactly get accepted (another story in itself), and so I didn't get to see or hear again from the people I met to see if they were successful. The day I got interviewed, there were roughly 60 applicants. These interviews were being done over 4 days, so I am guessing there may have possibly been around 240 applicants interviewed.
The interview process did not require anyone to demonstrate involvement in their culture or knowledge of, or anything like that. Imagine how awkward that would have been lol.
I personally don't think MAPAS accepts applicants purely to increase representation. One of my relatives that applied did not get accepted and they don't know why. My relative's parents are both PI, though my relative actually looks down on PI's and doesn't like to admit she is one
(so is taking advantage of the scheme). The application form invites applicants to share experiences/reasons (from what I can remember) that have brought them to the decision to pursue a career in health. My relative said that she had left it blank, as she knew her reasons would sound stupid and couldn't think of any good ones, and I guess that may have counted against her, but I can't be certain. Either that, or maybe they already had enough applicants to interview, who knows? I do think that they are after those who are serious about studying with them and who really do want to succeed.
I personally know a couple of people that had also been interviewed the same time I did, and caught up with one of them last weekend. This person, let's call them Jamie, wanted admission into an undergraduate programme. Jamie have been travelling and getting a lot of experience specific to the profession Jamie wanted to study towards, having also completed an overseas pre-degree qualification in this chosen profession etc... Jamie was invited to do the Certificate in Health Sciences instead (because the qualification and Jamie's experience was not recognised as sufficient for success in the undergraduate programme Jamie wanted to pursue), and after refusing the offer, was given the suggestion of studying elsewhere. Jamie is half M/PI and very much involved in the M/PI community. I personally think that MAPAS are after a great success rate, and that's fair enough. I think that if MAPAS feel that there is a good chance that you will not succeed, you most likely will not make it in. Those are just my thoughts. I could be wrong. I say this though, because my own experience with MAPAS definitely left me with the impression that MAPAS definitely are after good stats. Who could blame them? After all, good stats keeps the scheme going, giving them time to improve along the way. That's not to say that they don't do a great job of assisting those that do get accepted, because I know they do. I know a few people that have successfully completed their degrees with MAPAS and only have good things to say.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but every time a MAPAS applicant with a lower GPA is chosen, doesn't this mean that an individual in the general scheme with a perhaps higher GPA misses a well deserved place in the course of his/her choice... how to they go about explaining that?
MAPAS is given an allocated number of seats in each year's intake anyway, so I guess that someone from the general scheme wouldn't be missing out anyway. I couldn't answer this for sure, as I have no idea how many of the MAPAS places are used, and if the leftovers -if any- are given to general admissions.
I appreciate the need for a better represented health sector and the fact there are individuals who would struggle to obtain certain opportunities without schemes like this in place but surely there is a better way of going about this? From what I gather, there seems to be a decreasing number of these truly disadvantaged individuals , especially with the introduction of other schemes at the foundation levels of primary and secondary schooling that help them prepare for university study.
I see where you are coming from. You are right. However, those from PI backgrounds have a lot of cultural pressures that they cannot escape at home, away from the nurturing environment of school/uni, that they fall behind with assignments etc...I was lucky enough to have parents who made sure that while we studied, everything was taken care of, and we were not expected to fulfill (too many) obligations if we had schoolwork to do. This only came about as a result of letters home from caring/concerned teachers etc (long story). Others are not so lucky. One of my friends in high school was expected to go straight home, look after her younger siblings, clean, cook dinner in time for her parents to get home from work, attend church related meetings/practices, and entertain guests until the early hours of the morning many nights. Her parents simply did not understand that schoolwork extends out of school hours, and she faced some bad consequences if she slacked off her duties at home. While this case is extreme, many PI's are going through these kinds of things, simply because their parents really do not realise how much work they need to do. MAPAS works with both students and parents to help them both understand the demands that come with schoolwork, and to discuss and work together on goals to help the student to achieve the best they can.
MAPAS have a vision, it's called the 20:20 Vision, where they hope that by the year 2020, 20% of the NZ Health workforce will be of M/PI descent, or something like that. I don't know if this means that they will stop at 2020?
Do other MAPAS applicants understand the flawed nature of this scheme and are they taking advantage of it whilst it lasts? (but would anyone openly admit to it
)
Yep, people like my relative mentioned above lol. A few admitted on the interview day as well although I doubt they did so to the actual interviewers.
May I ask, why did you choose to apply for MAPAS?
Sure, why not? I applied because I wanted to apply for Medicine in the long-run, and wanted to have the support and understanding that MAPAS provided because I know it wont be easy. I have a young family and wanted to make use of all the support I could get. I also did want to increase my chances of getting into the programme I was after. After my experience with them, I don't know if I will go through them again for Med-entry, although I would be crazy not to take advantage of a scheme that could eliminate a lot of competition and anxiety for me. I don't really know if I want to apply through them again, but I guess I'll just wait and see.
Sorry for the long response, there are just so many examples to share to help you understand what I'm rambling on about! Hope that this helps you.