Quick Questions Thread #2: 2018-2019

[Ricecrispy]

hey everyone random question:

there are various organisations who have their early starter courses (where you learn the semester 1 material for biomedical science at Auckland uni 6 weeks earlier or so to give you a 'head start'). I saw that there is a JTT one for $2000ish and then the medview one for $1500ish. Do you guys think this is actually worth paying for? Has anyone actually done it and would like to give some feedback on it?

 

[1234med]

What's the weighting of GAMSAT, GPA and MMI for Melbourne MD place offers?

 

[Crow]

What's the weighting of GAMSAT, GPA and MMI for Melbourne MD place offers?

https://gemsas.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2019-Medicine-GEMSAS-Admissions-Guide-v1.4.pdf

 

[1234med]

Thanks a lot!

 

[1234med]

Post not for me: What kind of shoes are okay for wards or rotations (in terms of colour & type) for girls? Grey or black runners? Apparently ballet flat shoes (not sure what they're called? flats/ loafers?) don't last too well after 6+ hrs.

 

[chinaski]

Anything that fits OH&S standards which you can wear for hours at a time on a hard surface without crippling yourself. That means, closed shoes with reasonable support. Colour and "type" is not prescribed (and doesn't matter, so long as you've ticked the first two boxes).

 

[Deleted member 34945]

hi,
As mentioned before, I converted my overseas qualification into ATAR and it is 97. Which are the the universities I can apply for med or dentistry?
Thanks.

 

[fishcol]

I just accepted my offer for dentistry at CSU (Having been told in the offer email that I need to accept within 7 days of 6-12-18). I rang UAC beforehand to confirm that it wouldn't jeopardise my chances at getting a place in med elsewhere, but in the process of accepting, part of the declaration was stating "I understand that by accepting this offer, other preferences will be cancelled", which is the opposite of what I was told on the phone. UAC told me that I'd still be eligible for my other preferences (dent at CSU is my 5th), and subject to being competitive enough, I could potentially still receive an offer from one of my higher preferences.

Once I accepted the offer, I was emailed links to enrol completely. Will this cancel my higher preferences? And do I need to enrol within the 7 days to completely "accept" the offer?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

I just accepted my offer for dentistry at CSU (Having been told in the offer email that I need to accept within 7 days of 6-12-18). I rang UAC beforehand to confirm that it wouldn't jeopardise my chances at getting a place in med elsewhere, but in the process of accepting, part of the declaration was stating "I understand that by accepting this offer, other preferences will be cancelled", which is the opposite of what I was told on the phone. UAC told me that I'd still be eligible for my other preferences (dent at CSU is my 5th), and subject to being competitive enough, I could potentially still receive an offer from one of my higher preferences.

Once I accepted the offer, I was emailed links to enrol completely. Will this cancel my higher preferences? And do I need to enrol within the 7 days to completely "accept" the offer?

Has the “other preferences will be cancelled” message appeared on the UAC website, or on the CSU website directly?

 

[fishcol]

Has the “other preferences will be cancelled” message appeared on the UAC website, or on the CSU website directly?

Only directly on the CSU website. I'm thinking it might cancel other preferences at the same university? or possibly cancel lower preferences, seeing as people generally need to have dentistry as their first preference to receive an early offer.

 

[gnexstar]

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on this? I graduated in 2015 from UQ with a GPA of 5.80, however I was awarded first class honours as I did research and scored well on a few subjects that they took into consideration to calculate the class of honours irrespective of the actual CGPA. I applied to JCU medicine, and looking to apply for Bond med. I know my real GPA of 5.80 is not good enough for Bond or JCU. I contacted QTAC today and enquired what is the actual GPA they use for my application to JCU and Bond, and was advised that due to my 1st class honours, they will give me a rank of 99 and use that for my application to JCU and Bond. This just further confused me, because as far as I know, once you have a degree, the GPA rather than a QTAC rank is used, for medicine? No where on the uni websites that state rank is used instead of GPA if it is a better score? Anyone has any thoughts or experience? Thank you

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Only directly on the CSU website. I'm thinking it might cancel other preferences at the same university? or possibly cancel lower preferences, seeing as people generally need to have dentistry as their first preference to receive an early offer.

Yeah, if it’s on the CSU website then don’t panic about it cancelling your UAC preferences, because that won’t happen (as you were advised by UAC directly, and in our experience here at MSO). I’m assuming it’s also your only CSU based preference, so probably doesn’t matter?

 

[Crow]

hi,
As mentioned before, I converted my overseas qualification into ATAR and it is 97. Which are the the universities I can apply for med or dentistry?
Thanks.

[Undergrad] - (2018 Updated) Med schools Selection Criteria Y12s & Non-standards
2017-18 Dent schools Selection Criteria Y12s & Non-standards

Med: You only meet the ATAR requirement for JMP, WSU and Adel, so would need to score well enough in UCAT, then interview well enough for a place (chances of place offer after interview are ~1/4 for JMP, ~1/3 for WSU and less than 1/6 for Adel). You could apply for JCU though for a non-rural applicant you'd need a stellar written application and interview for a place offer - chances of a place offer after interview are less than 1/4.

Dent: Looks like you'd only be eligible for CSU and Adel (both being dependent on a high UCAT score and interview). Again you could apply to JCU but would need an excellent written application.

As previously suggested, you really should be starting tertiary study in another degree to give yourself more opportunities for med/dent entry as well as a valid alternative career path.

It's all well and good to only want to study medicine or dentistry, but putting your life on hold to bank your entire chances on a test that you can only sit once a year + interviews with (often significantly less) than 50% chance of a place offer is really not a recommended course of action.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on this? I graduated in 2015 from UQ with a GPA of 5.80, however I was awarded first class honours as I did research and scored well on a few subjects that they took into consideration to calculate the class of honours irrespective of the actual CGPA. I applied to JCU medicine, and looking to apply for Bond med. I know my real GPA of 5.80 is not good enough for Bond or JCU. I contacted QTAC today and enquired what is the actual GPA they use for my application to JCU and Bond, and was advised that due to my 1st class honours, they will give me a rank of 99 and use that for my application to JCU and Bond. This just further confused me, because as far as I know, once you have a degree, the GPA rather than a QTAC rank is used, for medicine? No where on the uni websites that state rank is used instead of GPA if it is a better score? Anyone has any thoughts or experience? Thank you

A1 or Crow will probably be better placed to answer your questions, but...

5.80 should be enough to land a Bond psychometric test invitation and from that point we don’t believe academic rank is still a factor (except maybe as a tie-breaker).

And yes, I think it’s fairly common for TACs (ie. QTAC, UAC) to convert GPAs to an academic rank more inline with ATAR terminology. UAC definitely do and a conversion table has been posted here previously. Unis use GPA as an advertising guide for students (as that’s the info students have access to), but the TACs (where it ultimately matters) use academic ranks.

ETA: there are also many instances where a first class honours degree (or masters degree or PhD, etc) will cancel out a lower undergrad GPA, including for medicine entry.

 

[Crow]

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on this? I graduated in 2015 from UQ with a GPA of 5.80, however I was awarded first class honours as I did research and scored well on a few subjects that they took into consideration to calculate the class of honours irrespective of the actual CGPA. I applied to JCU medicine, and looking to apply for Bond med. I know my real GPA of 5.80 is not good enough for Bond or JCU. I contacted QTAC today and enquired what is the actual GPA they use for my application to JCU and Bond, and was advised that due to my 1st class honours, they will give me a rank of 99 and use that for my application to JCU and Bond. This just further confused me, because as far as I know, once you have a degree, the GPA rather than a QTAC rank is used, for medicine? No where on the uni websites that state rank is used instead of GPA if it is a better score? Anyone has any thoughts or experience? Thank you

My understanding is that the universities will look at GPA rather than the rank score calculated by QTAC if needed to differentiate non-standard applicants (for example, anyone with a GPA above 6.5 will be given a rank score of 99 by QTAC, but obviously a GPA of 7 is better than a 6.5). I don't believe a 5.8 would be competitive for JCU unless you are a rural or Indigenous applicant, though it could scrape an interview for psychometric testing at Bond (I think the cutoff was around 5.9 last year iirc, though it may drop for next year's entry).

I wouldn't be too trusting of the information given to you by QTAC or any other TACs for that matter... regularly we see contradictory information is given by different staff members from the same TAC, as well as the universities giving different information to what the TACs say.

ETA: JCU references GPA in their admissions guide and Bond references GPA on their website. I can't imagine there would be any reason for doing this if they were to simply use the QTAC selection rank instead. I think the selection rank is just calculated for every student who applies to QTAC regardless of course preferences (it is used to differentiate applicants for most courses other than very competitive ones like med/dent/medical imaging).

 

[fishcol]

Yeah, if it’s on the CSU website then don’t panic about it cancelling your UAC preferences, because that won’t happen (as you were advised by UAC directly, and in our experience here at MSO). I’m assuming it’s also your only CSU based preference, so probably doesn’t matter?

That's what I'm assuming and hoping. And yes, it's the only CSU preference, so if that assumption is correct, it shouldn't matter at all

 

[Ruffle]

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on this? I graduated in 2015 from UQ with a GPA of 5.80, however I was awarded first class honours as I did research and scored well on a few subjects that they took into consideration to calculate the class of honours irrespective of the actual CGPA. I applied to JCU medicine, and looking to apply for Bond med. I know my real GPA of 5.80 is not good enough for Bond or JCU. I contacted QTAC today and enquired what is the actual GPA they use for my application to JCU and Bond, and was advised that due to my 1st class honours, they will give me a rank of 99 and use that for my application to JCU and Bond. This just further confused me, because as far as I know, once you have a degree, the GPA rather than a QTAC rank is used, for medicine? No where on the uni websites that state rank is used instead of GPA if it is a better score? Anyone has any thoughts or experience? Thank you

With regards to contradicting answers from staff, one thing you might find helpful is to ask for a written copy of the information (via email, etc.)

The JCU website only mentions the OP score/rank, which seems to indicate that GPA is not (directly, at least) used for selection and there's some sort of conversion process. The Bond website (under Entry Requirements) mentions both, but is unclear as to the requirements for the two streams (undergrad and postgrad) so that might be something you want to clarify with Bond.

 

[gnexstar]

My understanding is that the universities will look at GPA rather than the rank score calculated by QTAC if needed to differentiate non-standard applicants (for example, anyone with a GPA above 6.5 will be given a rank score of 99 by QTAC, but obviously a GPA of 7 is better than a 6.5). I don't believe a 5.8 would be competitive for JCU unless you are a rural or Indigenous applicant, though it could scrape an interview for psychometric testing at Bond (I think the cutoff was around 5.9 last year iirc, though it may drop for next year's entry).

I wouldn't be too trusting of the information given to you by QTAC or any other TACs for that matter... regularly we see contradictory information is given by different staff members from the same TAC, as well as the universities giving different information to what the TACs say.

ETA: JCU references GPA in their admissions guide and Bond references GPA on their website. I can't imagine there would be any reason for doing this if they were to simply use the QTAC selection rank instead. I think the selection rank is just calculated for every student who applies to QTAC regardless of course preferences (it is used to differentiate applicants for most courses other than very competitive ones like med/dent/medical imaging).

Thank you for your advice. My understanding from the 2 websites (before posting on MSO) and gut feeling is the same as your advice, hence the confusion when being provided the info by the QTAC officer (actually asked him twice if he is sure). Oh wells, back to square one for me because of the poor GPA

 

[1234med]

Don't UWA results come out on the 21st Dec though if we interviewed in November?

 

[A1]

Don't UWA results come out on the 21st Dec though if we interviewed in November?

I didn't realise WA ATARs were released earlier from last year (thought only from this year). Previously we had to wait till near end of year and UWA's early calls were in January.

So yes, TISC first round of offers will be on 21 Dec this year.