Quick Questions Thread: 2018

[Majd]

I think you have missed the point of exactly what I just said (in the thread I just responded to this initial question in) - if you are doing any degree, you should be doing it for its own merits, (not "with goal to change to medicine or dentistry" - choose something you'd be happy with in the very likely scenario that you never get into either medicine or dentistry and while you're doing that, sure, put applications into medicine and dentistry in the meantime) given that it's possible to get into medicine or dentistry after any degree. No, being a pharmacist is not like being a dentist or doctor and being a pharmacist does not increase your chances of getting into medicine or dentistry any more than any other degree does.

At this point, you've asked a whole lot of questions which are already answered on the forum if you do a quick forum search (the search bar is in the top right hand corner), including an entire subforum dedicated to pharmacy (Pharmacy), for which you can read other students experiences and questions already dedicated to this.

i thought it s important to have a science degree in order to apply for medicine, because i saw monash uni doing that so i generalise it.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

i thought it s important to have a science degree in order to apply for medicine, because i saw monash uni doing that so i generalise it.

Monash Uni take predominantly school leavers. It’s definitely not necessary to have a Science degree to study medicine, either at undergrad or graduate level. Some universities have subject pre-reqs but that’s the extent of it.

 

[Mana]

i thought it s important to have a science degree in order to apply for medicine, because i saw monash uni doing that so i generalise it.

Nope, it's not important to have any particular degree to apply for medicine unless universities have specifically required you to have done particular subjects (which is the case for Melbourne University as far as I know - but most other graduate entry universities do not have any specific requirement for any particular previous subjects.)

Part of the basis for this being so is that there is a science component in the GAMSAT worth about half the total marks - but the other half of the marks is a humanities component - which means whether you are a science background or humanities background you have a theoretically similar chance at doing well on the GAMSAT, but you have to have had at least a baseline performance in each of them to score high enough to interview and subsequently get in.

 

[A1]

i thought it s important to have a science degree in order to apply for medicine, because i saw monash uni doing that so i generalise it.

Monash sets aside about a quarter of its med places for its own students in Biomed, Pharmacy etc courses. It's an internal pathway and a covert way to promote more undergrad enrolments in these Monash courses.

As LMG & Mana mentioned atm only UoM has a few subject prereqs. UQ will also have a few in 1-2 years time. The other 8 graduate schools you can apply with an undergrad degree in Architecture, Commerce, Computer Science... Griffith even points it out "Applicants to the MD are encouraged from all degree backgrounds".

 

[Josht4971]

hey
so i got an atar of 95.9 in yr 12 and just got my sem 1 gpa of 6.5. i was wondering how this would inflate my score, ( like my combined score and what not) sorry still a bit confused about the whole gpa/atar thing
i am planning on applying to basically all non standards uni next year and also bond so was hoping how this would fare as i am rural aswell.
obviously i understand i still need to do well in sem 2 aswell in order to improve or maintain
cheers

 

[Kat92]

hey
so i got an atar of 95.9 in yr 12 and just got my sem 1 gpa of 6.5. i was wondering how this would inflate my score, ( like my combined score and what not) sorry still a bit confused about the whole gpa/atar thing
i am planning on applying to basically all non standards uni next year and also bond so was hoping how this would fare as i am rural aswell.
obviously i understand i still need to do well in sem 2 aswell in order to improve or maintain
cheers

They will only use your GPA as a non year 12 applicant, they do not combine it like for entry to other degrees.

 

[Crow]

They will only use your GPA as a non year 12 applicant, they do not combine it like for entry to other degrees.

UNSW combines ATAR and GPA for non-standard entry into medicine.

so i got an atar of 95.9 in yr 12 and just got my sem 1 gpa of 6.5. i was wondering how this would inflate my score

I believe A1 will be able to give a good idea of what effect this GPA will have on your academic mark for UNSW - the rest of the unis will only look at GPA (keeping in mind WSU and JMP both only use GPA as a hurdle, entry will be based on UMAT and interview only).

 

[DrDrLMG!]

They will only use your GPA as a non year 12 applicant, they do not combine it like for entry to other degrees.

UNSW* and Bond will combine the two and WSU will use the best of either at this point.

*UNSW will continue to combine the two until the end of time, and regardless of what other/how many degrees are completed at a tertiary level.

 

[Josht4971]

oh i see, thanks guys. so could someone give me a rough idea of what my combined score would look like for unsw in this case and/or bond.
thanks again!!

 

[A1]

could someone give me a rough idea of what my combined score would look like for unsw in this case and/or bond.

I have not looked much into how Bond works. For UNSW I believe this table is very close to what is used

With 1+ FTE year GPA 6.5+ is given 99.50. There are two theories how that would combine with 95.9
- Mana 's theory: take the mean of these two numbers i.e. (99.5+95.9)/2 = 97.7
- My theory: take the mean aggregate mark of these two & convert it back to ATAR, which would be low-mid 98s.

 

[maniacfish]

Ok so my semester 1 results have just arrived and my WAM (i think, i just averaged my final marks for all subjects) is 86.5. From what I understand I have 4 options for entry into medicine as a non standard applicant: JCU, UNSW, UWS and JMP, with the last two being my best chances. Entry requirements seem to be in terms of GPA rather than WAM. How do I convert between the two, as different sources have given me slightly different values. Also, with my current marks and ATAR from last year (96), what are my prospects looking like. Perhaps worth mentioning that i had 3HDs and 1 D.

 

[Crow]

Ok so my semester 1 results have just arrived and my WAM (i think, i just averaged my final marks for all subjects) is 86.5. From what I understand I have 4 options for entry into medicine as a non standard applicant: JCU, UNSW, UWS and JMP, with the last two being my best chances. Entry requirements seem to be in terms of GPA rather than WAM. How do I convert between the two, as different sources have given me slightly different values. Also, with my current marks and ATAR from last year (96), what are my prospects looking like. Perhaps worth mentioning that i had 3HDs and 1 D.

3 HDs and 1D = 6.75 GPA - a HD is equivalent to a 7, a D is equivalent to a 6 etc. I believe due to UNSW combining ATAR and GPA that your ATAR would unfortunately be too low for any UMAT/GPA combination to offset (A1 could confirm). Prospects, as you’ve mentioned, are best for WSU and JMP, assuming you score well in UMAT and interview well. Will be tough going with JCU if you are non-rural, but with a strong application and an outstanding interview you may have a chance.

 

[maniacfish]

3 HDs and 1D = 6.75 GPA - a HD is equivalent to a 7, a D is equivalent to a 6 etc. I believe due to UNSW combining ATAR and GPA that your ATAR would unfortunately be too low for any UMAT/GPA combination to offset (A1 could confirm). Prospects, as you’ve mentioned, are best for WSU and JMP, assuming you score well in UMAT and interview well. Will be tough going with JCU if you are non-rural, but with a strong application and an outstanding interview you may have a chance.

Awesome thanks for the reply!

 

[DrDrLMG!]

3 HDs and 1D = 6.75 GPA - a HD is equivalent to a 7, a D is equivalent to a 6 etc. I believe due to UNSW combining ATAR and GPA that your ATAR would unfortunately be too low for any UMAT/GPA combination to offset (A1 could confirm). Prospects, as you’ve mentioned, are best for WSU and JMP, assuming you score well in UMAT and interview well. Will be tough going with JCU if you are non-rural, but with a strong application and an outstanding interview you may have a chance.

I think UNSW could be done with an absolutely stellar UMAT in combo with those two scores. I think if your ATAR is <94, then there’s no GPA that can save you, but with 96+6.75+a UMAT in the high 90s, you never know.

That said, definitely be open to JMP and WSU because they are your best shots (with WSU you’d need a UMAT in the low 90s, minimum, with emphasis on S1+S2, for JMP, you’d need 58-60/50/50, minimum).

 

[Logic]

I think UNSW could be done with an absolutely stellar UMAT in combo with those two scores. I think if your ATAR is <94, then there’s no GPA that can save you, but with 96+6.75+a UMAT in the high 90s, you never know.

That said, definitely be open to JMP and WSU because they are your best shots (with WSU you’d need a UMAT in the low 90s, minimum, with emphasis on S1+S2, for JMP, you’d need 58-60/50/50, minimum).

Hasn't UNSW started the new thing where a high score in one area won't make up for a lower then certain cut off ATAR. If I remember correctly last year the minimum ATAR for consideration was like 98s? Which would be difficult to make up with only a first year GPA which can at max be 98 and so averaging 96 and a 98 would not give 98s?

ETA: No harm in applying everywhere!

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hasn't UNSW started the new thing where a high score in one area won't make up for a lower then certain cut off ATAR. If I remember correctly last year the minimum ATAR for consideration was like 98s? Which would be difficult to make up with only a first year GPA which can at max be 98 and so averaging 96 and a 98 would not give 98s?

I feel like there was still some ambiguity about this, but you might well be right. Best thing to do is smash UMAT and apply everywhere, tbh!

 

[Kat92]

UNSW* and Bond will combine the two and WSU will use the best of either at this point.

*UNSW will continue to combine the two until the end of time, and regardless of what other/how many degrees are completed at a tertiary level.

Thanks LMG and Crow for adding that additional info for the OP as I was not aware of that myself!

 

[qwerty1234]

Hey guys, does anyone know what an 85 WAM would equate to in GPA? Also, what does that combine to with a 96.30 atar? thank you!

 

[A1]

Hey guys, does anyone know what an 85 WAM would equate to in GPA? Also, what does that combine to with a 96.30 atar? thank you!

WAM is not really useful, tell us how many HDs, Ds, CRs...

 

[qwerty1234]

WAM is not really useful, tell us how many HDs, Ds, CRs...

I had 3Ds and 1HD