Monash Monash Medicine: General Entry Discussion

[aspiringlol]

Not to mention, if the OP interviewed at Monash as a school leaver, am I right in thinking they don’t re-interview? They use the same interview score? And if that wasn’t enough first time around, coupled with a low WAM, it would be tricky.

Yep, from what I know no re-interview

 

[A1]

if the OP interviewed at Monash as a school leaver, am I right in thinking they don’t re-interview?

I'm fairly sure we have had confirmation from Monash posted on MSO that the undergrad and the grad-entry interviews are not treated as repetitive. They are conducted at different campuses and of different compositions, like one has a SJT component the other doesn't.

 

[HughMungus]

Holy crapoly did I forget how stressful the whole 'getting into med' situation was back in the day... now the rave is all about getting an intern job lol.

I'm a current final year at Monash, which means I am part of the first cohort that will graduate with an BMedSci/MD. If I am honest, the whole transition program to MD was akin to a dumpster fire for us with things being made retrospectively more valuable in regards to Z scores and what not, summative things becoming formative halfway through the year and SIP being beta tested on each rotation of students so far. Pi did a great job explaining what has changed and I can attest it is pretty much identical MBBS(Hons) course with research ductaped on top to qualify for level 9 'Master's' qualification. We also now have exams in y5 as part of back to base week, which you need to pass (45% passmark lol) as opposed to the MBBS students who just need to show up (and get an elective rotation).

But all that is just me being cranky about monash having constant moodswings as to what counts and what doesn't and constant changes to the course structure. I am sure the juniors have it a lot better though as they are standing on the shoulders of giants

 

[HughMungus]

I'm fairly sure we have had confirmation from Monash posted on MSO that the undergrad and the grad-entry interviews are not treated as repetitive. They are conducted at different campuses and of different compositions, like one has a SJT component the other doesn't.

I know for a fact that there are people in my cohort who have done the interview multiple times. We have people who did the interview twice after taking a gap year after not getting in the first time. There would also be the biomed peeps who would have been rejected as undergrads but got in postgrad.

 

[A1]

I know for a fact that there are people in my cohort who have done the interview multiple times.

We talked about this because only from last year or so Monash introduced the rule of no repeat interviews. I think it's intended for school leavers only; if they got an interview after Y12 but not successful for a place they can take a gap year & reapply next year. With this rule the first time interview score will be used for the second time.

At first some thought that meant no graduate interview either if they had done one for undergrad. Monash confirmed that's not the case.

 

[whys]

Just to make sure I am not under an incorrect impression - I believe that a sub-99 ATAR, coupled with a UCAT percentile that's above 90 will lead to an interview at Monash? Correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[nb]

Just to make sure I am not under an incorrect impression - I believe that a sub-99 ATAR, coupled with a UCAT percentile that's above 90 will lead to an interview at Monash? Correct me if I'm wrong!

From what i've read so far, it depends on ur location. Are you a local? (from VIC)?
Also if you have the monash guarantee.
I know a friend who got in with a 90 percentile UCAT and a 97 atar with the monash guarantee.

 

[whys]

From what i've read so far, it depends on ur location. Are you a local? (from VIC)?

Yes - I'm from vic!

 

[Crow]

Just to make sure I am not under an incorrect impression - I believe that a sub-99 ATAR, coupled with a UCAT percentile that's above 90 will lead to an interview at Monash? Correct me if I'm wrong!

How “sub” are we talking? 98? 95? Are you from Victoria or interstate? Do you have Monash Guarantee? Are you a rural applicant? All of these come into play. You should check out our collated data threads for interviews and place offers for the score combinations that have been required for your set of circumstances.

 

[whys]

How “sub” are we talking? 98? 95? Are you from Victoria or interstate? Do you have Monash Guarantee? Are you a rural applicant? All of these come into play. You should check out our collated data threads for interviews and place offers for the score combinations that have been required for your set of circumstances.

I have read all of them previously, however, I'm curious as to why there have been people with very high ATARs (e.g. high 99s) who do not receive an offer despite a high UCAT percentile too. Does this actually all come down to just the interview? I've known of people who felt they did pretty okay in the interview but then didn't get an offer so I've just been nervous about the whole place offer thing. The whole process seems to be very ambiguous.

When I said sub-99, I meant to say in the mid 99's (e.g. 99.50) - sorry about being unclear! I'm a victorian student, not rural, no Monash Guarantee.

 

[Crow]

Does this actually all come down to just the interview?

Yes, it does. Generally people aren’t the best at self-assessing their own interview performance, and we quite often hear reports of people who think they performed well and then don’t end up receiving a place offer.

 

[ucatboy]

Monash could be employing something similar to UNSW where if your interview score is too too low (say, 15-20%ile), you simply won't be eligible for a place offer no matter how high your other two components (ATAR and UCAT) are. That may explain why it's possible for applicants with close to max ATAR and UCAT to miss out on an offer even though their z-scores/rankings should be more than enough to put them in the top third of applicants.

Or they could just be interstate students...F to pay respects

 

[A1]

Does this actually all come down to just the interview?

Iirc Monash states on its website place offers are based on ATAR+UCAT+Interview equally weighted, so it's not down to just the interview.

Combined with Monash's generous place to interview ratio 1 in 2.2 (top 45%) it's rare for a high 99s + high 90s %ile Vic applicant to not get a place. Because being near top in two out of three the equally weighted interview won't pull their overall out of top 45%.

But mid 99s + mid 90s %ile is a different story. Many students get SEAS boosted to 99.9 so mid 99s is nowhere near top. A mediocre interview score can see them drop out of top 45% overall.

 

[whys]

Would I be correct in saying Monash offers around 450 interview invites for school leavers? I know they offer 207 CSP places but not sure how many get called to do an interview.

 

[Crow]

Would I be correct in saying Monash offers around 450 interview invites for school leavers? I know they offer 207 CSP places but not sure how many get called to do an interview.

[Undergrad] - (2020 Updated) Med schools Selection Criteria Y12s & Non-standards You'll find this table useful.

Note that the vast majority of interviews are offered to Victorians and that the requirement for interstate applicants is much, much higher.

 

[A1]

Would I be correct in saying Monash offers around 450 interview invites for school leavers? I know they offer 207 CSP places but not sure how many get called to do an interview.

Monash intake is 240 including the ERC cohort. My estimate of 1st round (Vic + rural) interviews is 8 MMI stations * 4 circuits * 4 sessions/day * 4 days = ~500. Around 210 first round offers are made to this group.

That leaves ~30 places (plus any declines, probably rare) for non-rural interstate applicants. Based on 8 MMI stations * 3 circuits * 4 sessions/day * 1 day = ~90 invites, but a lot don't turn up since their near-top ATAR+UCAT have likely got a home state offer. My estimate is about 60 turn up to compete for 40 places, thus very good chance of success.

 

[Crow]

very good chance of success.

Pity the vast majority of otherwise competitive interstate applicants never get to experience this good chance of success due to the ridiculous interview invite threshold!

 

[whys]

Ahh I see, thank you for the information. I'm confused as to why they make interstate cut-offs so high - I'm guessing maybe because Victoria is highly populated yet only have one option to study med as a school leaver (disregarding Melbourne uni's provisional entry scheme). It seems to be the only explanation that holds water - can't think of anything else.

 

[A1]

Pity the vast majority of otherwise competitive interstate applicants never get to experience this good chance of success due to the ridiculous interview invite threshold!

pi's defence for this Monash action is if interstates really want to study Monash med they should ask their parents to move to Melb first

 

[Crow]

Ahh I see, thank you for the information. I'm confused as to why they make interstate cut-offs so high - I'm guessing maybe because Victoria is highly populated yet only have one option to study med as a school leaver (disregarding Melbourne uni's provisional entry scheme). It seems to be the only explanation that holds water - can't think of anything else.

I personally don't think that lends itself to discrimination against the rest of the country, but I'd better not go on about that!