Non-standard Medicine Entry

[DrDrLMG!]

Just did some more research and from what I gather, UQ does not accept gap year students. However, resitting the IB exams at the end of this year makes me a school-leaver so I can apply to all the undergrad medical schools. This path is still pretty risky cause if things don’t go well with the UCAT, I will basically have wasted a year.

Yeah, historically that’s been the only way to get around the gap year thing. But I agree it’s not as simple as that, for sure.

 

[A1]

This path is still pretty risky cause if things don’t go well with the UCAT, I will basically have wasted a year.

Realistically can you improve your IB from 41 to 44 (99.75)? If yes then you have Griffith/USC as insurance in case UCAT doesn't work out.

(Btw IB has depreciated so much. In my year 2016 IB 44 was given 99.95, later dropped to 99.85, now only 99.75!)

 

[DriftingDogs]

Realistically can you improve your IB from 41 to 44 (99.75)? If yes then you have Griffith/USC as insurance in case UCAT doesn't work out.

(Btw IB has depreciated so much. In my year 2016 IB 44 was given 99.95, later dropped to 99.85, now only 99.75!)

I think it’s probably best for me to do a science undergraduate degree with a masters degree pathway like optometry so I at least have a job lined up if UCAT/GAMSAT doesn’t work out. Waiting a whole year just to sit a couple exams while all my peers go on to uni doesn’t sound very productive for my social life and mental health. I don’t know how I would feel about myself if I was just sitting at home studying for only three exams the whole year.

 

[penguin4422]

.

 

[Person]

Did you apply to USC (griffith provisional) the cutoff was lower than 99.7 this year
you could probly apply next year as they do take gap year students.

 

[penguin4422]

No I didn't. Was that part of the same program with Griffith where you just need to maintain the 5.0 GPA for 2 years in med science and then move into medicine at Griffith?

I'm assuming I missed out on that by now..

 

[dotwingz]

It’s the same requirement that USyd, UQ, and any other provisional program has. It’s definitely too late to apply for that.

Regarding gap years - personally i’m not the biggest fan of recommending them for the point of just resitting the UCAT. You base the outcome of that application cycle on a 2 hour exam.

You can make a gap year productive by working, or travelling (although these two options limited due to covid) or doing anything else really, but taking a whole year off career progression for the sake of the UCAT on the other hand is not a good idea.

Otoh, you have the ATAR to justify taking one... if you wanna resit a year 12 subject you would also be eligible for UQ and Griffith - the latter of which you’re likely to get an offer for.

 

[penguin4422]

Just to confirm, I wouldn't be allowed to apply for the USC or Griffith provisional entry courses if I took a gap year unless I redid a Y12 subject?

 

[dotwingz]

Yes

 

[penguin4422]

I just checked for Griffith and USC.

In the other requirements, it says completion of Year 12 no more than 3 years before application.

I found the same requirement for Griffith with the secondary studies up to 3 years prior to application, and no tertiary study.

Shouldn't I be fine to apply there if I took a gap year and apply to USC or Griffith? Or is it just sort of an unspoken rule that gap year students don't get accepted into provisional entry programs here.

 

[A1]

Just to confirm, I wouldn't be allowed to apply for the USC or Griffith provisional entry courses if I took a gap year unless I redid a Y12 subject?

You only need to redo a Y12 subject (to remain a current Y12 student) for UQ, no need for Griffith or USC.

The only med school that treats gap year different to Y12s is UQ (plus USyd & UMelb to be precise but that's only relevant to 99.90-.95s).

 

[Tomato]

MATT452 got ATAR (2018) 96.35, i.e. two gap years? But still managed to get a UQ med offer this year. How to intepret this phenomenon?

 

[Person]

Thats strange..... this is straight from uq's site. did they do another subject like mentioned?

 

[DriftingDogs]

Tomato I believe UQ has an ATAR cut-off of 95 for medicine. I do not know whether they use this cut-off as a hurdle or if it is factored into where you rank among all the applicants. Maybe your friend did really well on his interview and had an amazing UCAT? ATAR is important but it isn't everything for entry into medicine.

 

[Person]

I think the issue is that they were a gap year applicant....

 

[DriftingDogs]

That doesn't make any sense. Can you clarify what he actually did during those two years?

 

[Tomato]

That doesn't make any sense. Can you clarify what he actually did during those two years?

That case I mentioned above is shown in the Aus Med and Dent Place Offers 2021 Entry - Collated Data Page 12.

 

[A1]

MATT452 got ATAR (2018) 96.35, i.e. two gap years? But still managed to get a UQ med offer this year. How to intepret this phenomenon?

I saw that last week and interpreted the 2018 as suspicious

See this post from MATT452 > UCAT Results Discussion 2020
if they did have 96.35 in 2018 how come they indicated predicted ATAR ~97.5 in Sept 2020 (then SEAS boosted to ~99.25)?

 

[dotwingz]

MATT452 got ATAR (2018) 96.35, i.e. two gap years? But still managed to get a UQ med offer this year. How to intepret this phenomenon?

MATT452 likely redid year 12 courses - as we mentioned before this is a way to get around being classified as a gap year student

They also likely had bonus points for Maths C and/or LOTE

EDIT: A1 good point - they probably took the first post from the thread and used that as a template instead of LMG's and forgot to edit out the (2018)

 

[vrish]

UoN did have a program whereby students in a particular degree (can’t remember which one) could receive an interview invite on the basis of rural UCAT cut offs rather than non-rural, even if they were non-rural, but I believe that has already been scrapped. And WSU have never had a pathway like that as far as I’m aware/as far as we’ve ever had reported here.

oh has this been scrapped already ? one of my friends is enrolling in this particular course at UoN to get in to JMP this year. can someone confirm this please ?