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Rural Eligibility and General Discussion
- Thread starter hs2000
- Start date
RA1 Sydney is not rural for any university (for good reason!).
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How do they weight rurality? (like is there some formula that the mso wizards have conjured up ?! )
I don't think they weigh rurality like UNSW or JCU
myheadee is asking about how they weigh for unsw\
We don't know the exact weighting criteria for UNSW's rurality. There's indication it's based on the
).unsw uses RRMAWe don't know the exact weighting criteria for UNSW's rurality. There's indication it's based on the RA classification, how many years you were there, how recent those years were etc. An applicant who spent 5 primary-school years in RA2 would have lower rurality than one who spent 6 high-school years in RA3 for example (quite obvious isn't it
A1 adds: You're splitting hair, but yes I will edit my post
hahaha sorry A1, just doing gods work out here.
Lovely, so 12 years consecutive RRMA5 should be a plus and be weighted "highly".We don't know the exact weighting criteria for UNSW's rurality. There's indication it's based on the RA classification, how many years you were there, how recent those years were etc. An applicant who spent 5 primary-school years in RA2 would have lower rurality than one who spent 6 high-school years in RA3 for example (quite obvious isn't it
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Just chuck JMP 1st and you're sweet, (mainly because most rurals would have UNSW 1st I reckon)
Why would most rural have UNSW first round... Its a six year course compared with a five year course...Just chuck JMP 1st and you're sweet, (mainly because most rurals would have UNSW 1st I reckon)
I think we've discussed this before ? I'd be willing to put 50 bucks on it
. If only there was a way to see the breakdowns of peoples prefs, altho that seems a bit too snoopy lolCourse duration isn't the only consideration in applicants' minds, and this is coming from someone who chose a 5 year course but kinda regrets it after spending their only two preclinical years online
I guess it's a matter of your age and priorities, I take it from your name that you've already spent some time at uni and have probably had enough.
I don't think rurals would be preferencing UNSW over JMP unless they are located close to port or Wagga. UoN, Orange, UNE Armidale I think would all be much more desirable if they were located closer to them.I think we've discussed this before ? I'd be willing to put 50 bucks on it
I wouldn't say I have had enough of university just I can see that prestige isn't enough of a reason to preference a six year course over a five year course especially when it will have no noticeable impact to career progression.Course duration isn't the only consideration in applicants' minds, and this is coming from someone who chose a 5 year course but kinda regrets it after spending their only two preclinical years online
A couple of reasons I would say, not to be disrespectful to JMP or any students but going to Armidale from a major city can be quite a "difficult" change, even Newcastle to an extent is to say it politely a challenging change. I say this as a a lot of rural students don't live in rural areas currently and have transitioned to cities. It depends on the person but to some people studying medicine in a rural area may not be appealing at all even if they lived there and whilst time is important so is location. Also what if a rural student just doesn't want to live in a rural area again, they might enjoy a change in location ? I know UNSW campuses are also in rural locations but their main campus is not, WSU is also technically in a city for the main campus.
Also whilst people also say reputation doesn't matter, it doesn't mean that people don't take it into account. In general most people will select GO8 universities over others based on their options. Now for medicine it might not make a difference but say they don't want to limit themselves just to doing medicine and they want to explore other things or pursue other ventures outside of just med then the reputation, resources and location of the university can matter and will often skew heavily in favour of cities.
Your absolutely correct it can be a massive change transitioning from say Sydney to Armidale, but what I said was going of the assumption that the majority of rural students would be currently living rural and their main reason for preferencing any of those institutions was staying close to home.
Furthermore, Its not just people saying it doesn't matter it objectively makes no difference. Internships are allocated via random ballot not a z-score system where better teaching/resources may make a impact. Now if someone doesn't want to limit themselves to just doing medicine it would make more sense to pursue the post graduate entrance system so they can do an undergraduate in another discipline they are more interested in. Whilst your point makes sense for general entry I don't think it can translate to rural entry as I believe the majority of applicants would be currently located in the country or have a bias for the country as that's where they were brought up.
Also the prospect of a five year degree at WSU also negates all the above points you made except for the Go8 point you made. I just want to highlight that I had never heard of that term before entering this forum and unless you are looking at a hyper competitive degree that is not practum focused (e.g. law) it does not matter. To further that point I know that in WA Nurses and teachers are both preferred to come from Notre Dame over all the other universities including UWA (a "Go8") due to their heavy practical focus and the extra work exp hours they must get to graduate.
P.S. if anyone said to me in person I went to a Go8 university I would think they were a tool, its the equivalent of saying I come from the golden triangle.
I reckon these factors do quite significantly outweigh the 1 extra year. Being from a rural background (but not applying as a rural), who moved to a city in year 10, i really would prefer a city and so UNSW, over the risk of Armidale, or Orange, especially considering the immense uncertainty with their selection processes.
Adding to this, if a person is rural, or even a local applicant, UNSW is kinda the only university in which you can 'bank' your trust in getting an offer. A student with 99.95 and 3300 ucat can 'pretty much' (yes yes i know this is with the assumption they dont do a big oopsie in the interview) be certain they will get an offer at UNSW, whereas if they put down JMP or WSU, the 100% and 75% respective weighting on an interview really would scare a lot of people away. Its so uncertain that i personally dont want to take that risk. Bringing this back to rurals, if I applied as a rural, I'm pretty sure i couldve walked into unsw with my eyes closed (so long as i didnt flunk the interview), so if i extrapolate this onto other rural students, i feel like anyone who gets >85%ile or an >99 ATAR would much rather the weighting split of UNSW, rather than the 'up in the air' aspect of JMP and JPM.
Of course you could, preferencing isn't part of the selection criteria though so even if UNSW is a sure bet there is no harm in preferencing it third if you would prefer WSU and JMP you will still receive an offer from UNSW if you qualify.
I would agree that for Medicine it doesn't make a difference I more meant that people will have generally have biases towards rankings but it does make a difference outside of medicine particularly for very competitive careers which many med students also can pursue such as Management Consulting & Investment Banking [Not degree specific] where GO8 universities [The term actually just refers to a research agreement] have a much better prospect of getting acceptances for internships/graduate roles compared to those outside of those universities having very limited chances [Due to a weighting system which favours GO8 universities]. Now outside of these I would agree that for most careers it doesn't matter. However if you want to pursue further research/or qualifications overseas [US T20 universities in particular] it can make a significant difference as they consider the university quality for admission decisions. I do know quite a few medical students who have pursued both pathways and whilst they could do it in post-grad, it makes more sense for them to do it through this pathway. It doesn't mean they aren't more interested in those careers in medicine but just have a couple of different options. Whilst this might not apply to every rural category student it is something that some would consider. Though location is what I believe is more important, with a sizeable portion of applicants with rural backgrounds also residing in cities.
?Wdym? If you pref the other two above you run the risk of getting Armidale/Orange, and never getting to hear from UNSW.
That goes back to the original point. If i put myself in a rural student's shoes, who might have done well in UCAT/ATAR, and decide to pref JMP and JMP above UNSW, then there is a chance the interviews are just NOT good enough to land a spot in Campbelltown or Newcastle.....but it could be Armidale or Orange (because again theres no guarantee or numerical value that a person has for their interviews). So, if you're gonna be relatively more likely to get a Kensington CSP, why would you risk getting Armidale/Orange without even getting to hear about UNSW?
Personally, think the 1 year trade off for a likely Kensington is better than having to live in Armidale/Orange. And i guess its a sentiment shared by a fair few rural students, i remember somewhere on MSO i saw a lil sample the JCU ran with their graduates, more often than not, rural students just tended to go to a major city anyway, so extrapolating that tendency you can see why UNSW would get pref'd above JMP/JPM a lot more, doesnt matter if they are rural or local.
I would also say that if you were a recent high school student a year might not really seem like a lot. At a very young age many people change degrees, take gap years etc so compared to those who have experience for most students from high school myself included time was not a major factor of consideration.
