UNSW UNSW Medicine: General Entry Questions and Discussion

[shoebox]

It's probably better to read that as decrease in relevance (rather than weighting) of ATAR, and only for certain schools e.g. JMP stops using ATAR after you've completed 1FTE, WSU after you've completed a degree. But it doesn't change for UNSW, it's 50:50 for the rest of your life according to LMG!

We can't directly convert a WAM to GPA but WAM 87 generally should be 6.5+ which gives 99.50 equivalent. If you post up your individual subject marks we can help calculate for you.

Hey! Thank you to you both- this is really helpful. Because UNSW did the S/Y pass/fail grading last trimester, I have no marks for the 3 courses I did last trimester. I read on the UNSW website (for lateral entry but should be relevant across the board) that they will 'take this into consideration' when calculating marks. Gauging from my assessment marks, I'm pretty sure I got into the HD range for all three subjects but obviously not certain.
But here are my course marks so far:
86
69
91
83
90
92
80
(Pass)
(Pass)
(Pass)
92
92
92

Thanks again A1 and LMG! for your help. Really appreciate it.

For a 99.10 ATAR you'd need a 7.00 GPA (which converts to 99.50)

should be 6.5+ which gives 99.50 equivalent.

Sorry this is a bit confusing. would a 6.5+ and a 7.0 GPA both only convert to 99.50 ATAR? I tried calculating with an online GPA calculator and it seems like I lie in the 6.6-6.7 zone (depending on the SY grades mentioned above). Would this still produce a 99.50 ATAR equivalent?

 

[Crow]

Sorry this is a bit confusing. would a 6.5+ and a 7.0 GPA both only convert to 99.50 ATAR?

Unfortunately yes - UNSW has an unusual conversion system where anything from 6.5-7 is equivalent to 99.5 and no tertiary study can be awarded a higher equivalent than this.

 

[A1]

I read on the UNSW website (for lateral entry but should be relevant across the board) that they will 'take this into consideration' when calculating marks.

With med applications via UAC it's UAC who does the GPA calculation. A common practice I've seen in print is if your pass/fail subjects comprise half or less of your yearly study load then GPA will be calculated without them being relevant (if more than half then it's referred to your uni).

On that basis your GPA should be (7+5+7+6+7+7+6+7+7+7) / 10 = 6.6.

Edited: I just remember that GPA is calculated year by year so it should be
[ (7+5+7+6+7+7+6) / 7) + (7+7+7) / 3 ] / 2 = ~6.7

Btw adding to Crow's reply, we have seen a conversion table showing 6.5+ = 99.50, however this does not veto the possibility that UAC *may* interpolate 6.7 to a little higher. Just that we have no proof whether they do or don't. Good luck.

 

[Crow]

Just that we have no proof whether they do or don't.

I went in search of some "proof" for procrastination and came across this for 2018 entry as an unsuccessful to receive an interview:

99.15/6.5, 96th%ile (194)

Yet 99.1/96th and 99.3/92nd received interviews in the same year, wonder what happened there?

(Kind of off-topic but kind of not, sorry folks )

 

[A1]

I went in search of some "proof" for procrastination and came across this for 2018 entry as an unsuccessful to receive an interview:
Yet 99.1/96th and 99.3/92nd received interviews in the same year, wonder what happened there?

2018 entry so this happened in 2017. That was the year where there were several discrepancies around the borderline like that and I remember helping two members, based on MSO posted data, to appeal. UNSW checked and they got belated invites.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

2018 entry so this happened in 2017. That was the year where there were several discrepancies around the borderline like that and I remember helping two members, based on MSO posted data, to appeal. UNSW checked and they got belated invites.

Also, I think that would have been before the hard cut-offs we saw last year (and presumably this year).

 

[DrDrLMG!]

General Question
Would a 99.5 and 90th combo change from "borderline" interview at UNSW and JMP to "likely" if ATAR increased to 99.95?

It’s unfortunately a no for UNSW, too, as they also employ hard cut offs and the issue here is UCAT not ATAR. They don’t pre-determine the cut-off, that’s why we can only say hopefully!

 

[A1]

For UNSW yes

It’s unfortunately a no for UNSW

Haha the compromise answer is, provided each of your ATAR & UCAT meets its cutoff, yes 99.95/90%ile is more likely to get an interview than 99.50/90%ile.

EtA: Wasn't last year hard cutoff for UCAT around 85%ile?

 

[ucatboy]

EtA: Wasn't last year hard cutoff for UCAT around 85%ile?

2830/89%ile (2840 was 90%ile)

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Haha the compromise answer is, provided each of your ATAR & UCAT meets its cutoff, yes 99.95/90%ile is more likely to get an interview than 99.50/90%ile.

EtA: Wasn't last year hard cutoff for UCAT around 85%ile?

We were talking about interview invites, though, not offers. As I said, ATAR 99.95 isn’t going to help someone with a UCAT below the hurdle get an offer, because they aren’t even going to be interviewed.

 

[A1]

We were talking about interview invites, though, not offers. As I said, ATAR 99.95 isn’t going to help someone with a UCAT below the hurdle get an offer, because they aren’t even going to be interviewed.

owg1 was first answered "UNSW is a maybe, your UCAT is weighing you down for them". No mention of being due to UNSW's UCAT hard cutoff so I took it as the *combo* of 99.50+90%ile is borderline. owg1 then followed up with would 99.95+90%ile improve it from borderline, IMO it should be Yes (provided the 90%ile meets the UCAT cutoff which it would last year).

EtA: I should add that for UNSW, even after meeting the individual ATAR/UCAT cutoffs interview selection is still based on a competitive combo of them two.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

owg1 was first answered "UNSW is a maybe, your UCAT is weighing you down for them". No mention of being due to UNSW's UCAT hard cutoff so I took it as the *combo* of 99.50+90%ile is borderline. owg1 then followed up with would 99.95+90%ile improve it from borderline, IMO it should be Yes (provided the 90%ile meets the UCAT cutoff which it would last year).

EtA: I should add that for UNSW, even after meeting the individual ATAR/UCAT cutoffs interview selection is still based on a competitive combo of them two.

"General Question
Would a 99.5 and 90th combo change from "borderline" interview at UNSW and JMP to "likely" if ATAR increased to 99.95?"

 

[A1]

"General Question
Would a 99.5 and 90th combo change from "borderline" interview at UNSW ... if ATAR increased to 99.95?"

Yes understood the interview part. TKAO 's answer was meant to say the combo of 99.50+90%ile is borderline for getting an interview, so 99.95+90%ile would lift it above borderline.

You mentioned before that with last year's cutoffs being 99.25 & 89%ile, a 99.25+90%ile didn't necessarily get an interview due to the combo not competitive enough. But a 99.50+90%ile being borderline means 99.50 does improve over 99.25, and 99.95 even more so.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Yes understood the interview part. TKAO 's answer was meant to say the combo of 99.50+90%ile is borderline for getting an interview, so 99.95+90%ile would lift it above borderline.

You mentioned before that with last year's cutoffs being 99.25 & 89%ile, a 99.25+90%ile didn't necessarily get an interview due to the combo not competitive enough. But a 99.50+90%ile being borderline means 99.50 does improve over 99.25, and 99.95 even more so.

I was told this was an incorrect interpretation and that as long as the applicant was at or above both hurdles, that was all that was needed. Are you saying that's not the case?

 

[A1]

I was told this was an incorrect interpretation and that as long as the applicant was at or above both hurdles, that was all that was needed. Are you saying that's not the case?

I don't have the answer for 2020 intake in particular. Based on 2019 intake one member asked UNSW why they didn't get an invite despite being above both cutoffs and the official reply was if both were just above they didn't combine to a competitive enough combo score.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

I don't have the answer for 2020 intake in particular. Based on 2019 intake one member asked UNSW why they didn't get an invite despite being above both cutoffs and the official reply was if both were just above they didn't combine to a competitive enough combo score.

Yeah, that's what I was initially replying (earlier in the UCAT Results thread to others users) but then got told a couple of times I was interpreting wrong based on 2020 entry. I also didn't realise UNSW released both cut offs for 2019 entry. There was talk (even celebration!) that this was the first year they'd done it.

 

[A1]

I also didn't realise UNSW released both cut offs for 2019 entry. There was talk (even celebration!) that this was the first year they'd done it.

In the previous year they released the cutoffs in the interview invites (or retraction of earlier invites) to interstate applicants. This member enquired and got this answer

> Interview Invites and Dates 2018-19
"Just an update A1, I called up Mr Boothey and he said that (meeting) the 'cut-off scores' do not mean very much for whether you are eligible for an interview or not."

I also wrote this in reply to Mr Smelly
> Interview Invites and Dates 2018-19
"From Mr Boothey's recent advice I now believe these two numbers are *individual* cutoffs not combo i.e. either one below would be excluded but both above is not necessarily sufficient for an invite i.e. you also need to meet the combo cutoff."

But I could be wrong and 2020 intake used a different process. I'm curious who had the info that meeting both cutoffs is sufficient?

 

[cocodreams]

For the online direct UNSW application, it asks about our life experience. How medicine related should our answers be or is it okay to not mention experiences that reflect a doctor's attributes?

 

[Crow]

For the online direct UNSW application, it asks about our life experience. How medicine related should our answers be or is it okay to not mention experiences that reflect a doctor's attributes?

Bring up things you want to discuss in the interview that paint you in a good light. They don’t need to be medicine related, they just need to give you talking points in the interview.

 

[cocodreams]

Hello,
Any advice on what I should use the concluding statement space for in the online UNSW application?