UNSW UNSW Medicine: General Entry Questions and Discussion

[ucatboy]

Oh one last thing, where does UNSW say how many receive it per cohort, i looked on the scholarship website but I couldn't find anything

The website states "only a very limited number" but it was confirmed last year by one of the MSO members that only the top two applicants receive it.

 

[ucatboy]

Nardwuar Digging through past threads with the search term "scientia" reveals that this has been going on for a long time: threads from 2007 and 2009 corroborate the 2-people-per-cohort tradition (100 UAI + 100 UMAT back then): Need some help in choosing Uni and [Undergrad] - USYD Combined Medicine Interviews

Interviews no longer factor into Scientia consideration by the looks of things, as last year scholarships were handed out on the day of IB results release, not sure about this year though.

 

[hazell]

not an official offer but might help for data collection:
UNSW informed me that I performed really well and was on their list of students for first round offers but the offer didn't reach me since I didn't preference them first.
ATAR/GPA: 97.85/6.25 (also had SCATS)
UCAT: 99th (3270)

 

[BigBrother]

Hi Hazell, UAC admission process CLEARLY states
“Your offer will be to the highest preference for which you are eligible and competitive enough. If you're not made an offer to your first preference, but are eligible and competitive enough for your second preference, you’ll be made an offer to your second preference”.
- in other words, it is the “competitiveness” (‘competitive enough,) which should be the primary determinant for selection in each university and each course - that principle of UAC is quite clear and makes logic.
- here, you seem to imply, that you were competitive enough but rejected by UNSW, because you put UNSW lower down in your uni preference. Is that the case?

I see that you mention “WSU Med” under your user id - does that mean you put WSU as first preference and put UNSW down the order? Automatically, if you are made an offer to your first preference (WSU), no one else further down in your preference would consider you. Hence, you did not get UNSW.
On the other hand, If you're not made an offer to your first preference (WSU), but are eligible and competitive enough for your second preference (eg: UNSW), you should be made an offer to your second preference”. And, UNSW cannot discriminate just because you put them lower down in the preference.
PLEASE CLARIFY your point and your position.

Also, I would appreciate views of senior MSO members here:
Before the finalisation of the UAC results, do universities know the individuals UAC preference order? Can that create a bias? Some people are saying that some universities ring them with a “tempting offer” only if they put that university as the first preference”. Has any senior member heard of such indirect pressures from universities? Is that legal for an university to ring candidates, pressuring them indirectly to change their preference offer?

 

[hazell]

Hi Hazell, UAC admission process CLEARLY states
“Your offer will be to the highest preference for which you are eligible and competitive enough. If you're not made an offer to your first preference, but are eligible and competitive enough for your second preference, you’ll be made an offer to your second preference”.
- in other words, it is the “competitiveness” (‘competitive enough,) which should be the primary determinant for selection in each university and each course - that principle of UAC is quite clear and makes logic.
- here, you seem to imply, that you were competitive enough but rejected by UNSW, because you put UNSW lower down in your uni preference. Is that the case?

-My first preference was WSU and my second preference was UNSW. I was offered my first preference WSU in the first round and accepted it. I am not implying anything here, I was outrightly told by UNSW in their exact words "you have performed really well and actually were on our list of selected students. Given that UNSW was not your 1st preference program, our offer did not reach you." If you need confirmation of this email I'm happy to send you a screenshot.
-"Competitiveness" in this case IS the primary determinant- no other factors weigh into this decision. I don't see your point.
-I am not implying that I was competitive enough but rejected by UNSW, I was competitive enough (UCAT + SELECTION RANK + INTERVIEW was high enough) but did not receive the offer since I got a higher preference and as you said the UAC admissions process CLEARLY states that your offer will be to the highest preference...

I see that you mention “WSU Med” under your user id - does that mean you put WSU as first preference and put UNSW down the order? Automatically, if you are made an offer to your first preference (WSU), no one else further down in your preference would consider you. Hence, you did not get UNSW.
On the other hand, If you're not made an offer to your first preference (WSU), but are eligible and competitive enough for your second preference (eg: UNSW), you should be made an offer to your second preference”. And, UNSW cannot discriminate just because you put them lower down in the preference.
PLEASE CLARIFY your point and your position.

-I do not see why I need to clarify my point or my position at all. My above post was to assist future applicants in terms of scores needed to get an offer. UNSW did not discriminate?? I really am having trouble understanding your viewpoint.

 

[ucatboy]

Hi Hazell, UAC admission process CLEARLY states
“Your offer will be to the highest preference for which you are eligible and competitive enough. If you're not made an offer to your first preference, but are eligible and competitive enough for your second preference, you’ll be made an offer to your second preference”.
- in other words, it is the “competitiveness” (‘competitive enough,) which should be the primary determinant for selection in each university and each course - that principle of UAC is quite clear and makes logic.
- here, you seem to imply, that you were competitive enough but rejected by UNSW, because you put UNSW lower down in your uni preference. Is that the case?

I see that you mention “WSU Med” under your user id - does that mean you put WSU as first preference and put UNSW down the order? Automatically, if you are made an offer to your first preference (WSU), no one else further down in your preference would consider you. Hence, you did not get UNSW.
On the other hand, If you're not made an offer to your first preference (WSU), but are eligible and competitive enough for your second preference (eg: UNSW), you should be made an offer to your second preference”. And, UNSW cannot discriminate just because you put them lower down in the preference.
PLEASE CLARIFY your point and your position.

Also, I would appreciate views of senior MSO members here:
Before the finalisation of the UAC results, do universities know the individuals UAC preference order? Can that create a bias? Some people are saying that some universities ring them with a “tempting offer” only if they put that university as the first preference”. Has any senior member heard of such indirect pressures from universities? Is that legal for an university to ring candidates, pressuring them indirectly to change their preference offer?

Lmao chill buddy nobody's discriminating anybody, unis will tell UAC all the courses an applicant is eligible for, it's left to UAC to decide which one to actually offer in round x which, in this case, would be the highest eligible preference. Here, UNSW and WSU must have both given UAC the green light for hazell , and it was UAC's job to comb through her preference list to see which one she had as the higher preference - WSU. She was "rejected" from UNSW, if you can call it that (it's more like she rejected UNSW tbh lmao), because she was eligible for something higher, and UAC had no reason to give her UNSW if she wanted WSU more and was eligible for both. That's not discrimination that's just how offers work.

As for unis knowing where you put them on your preference list, it's likely that unis DO have some degree of access to this kind of information, but what kind of bias can it cause? Perhaps they could only call up applicants of a certain race to convince them to re-arrange their preference list? Sounds kinda dumb if you ask me. I don't think it's illegal, maybe you could call it underhanded, but you can just say no lmao.

 

[Nardwuar]

big brother you need to chill fam

 

[dotwingz]

It’s quite common actually. JCU rings up a large portion of people they intend to accept before the offer date to let them know (and in some cases convince them to change ) - there’s nothing illegal to it. Just about every uni rings up students for top ups aswell. I don’t see how that could create bias, and i think it’s a good system

Also you need to either
a) take a chill pill
b) learn how to be less intensive in the way that your write

cause ngl you’re kinda scaring me

EDIT: Also you seem to be a veteran user - can you clarify your point and position for us because it seems it’s lost on many?

 

[Rei]

veteran user or army veteran
i cant tell the difference between either of those at this point after reading that post

 

[canidoit?]

FYI unsw have been phoning people yesterday for 3rd round offers
3 people I know got offers -phone calls and 24hours to say yes
wow! but I am JCU all the way- hope some of the lurkers get in - good luck everyone

 

[beepdeboop]

FYI unsw have been phoning people yesterday for 3rd round offers
3 people I know got offers -phone calls and 24hours to say yes
wow! but I am JCU all the way- hope some of the lurkers get in - good luck everyone

Would they mind if you share their atar/ucat/interview performance combo? Haha

 

[Rkyer]

I believe it is still the Port Macquarie campus and that UAC just puts Kensington for all



This is not necessarily correct, it has been changing the past couple of years


This is hard to answer as the rules have been changing every year.. if you have special circumstances maybe but the idea now is those who start on mid north coast will finish there

On the port macq UNSW site it says
"Students are able to complete the entire UNSW medical program in Port Macquarie. Those that undertake Phase 1 in Port Macquarie will be given priority to continue studying in Port Macquarie for the remainder of the Program. Students that undertake Phase 1 at Port Macquarie also have the opportunity to undertake Phase 2 and/or 3 in Kensington or at another rural campus should they wish to do so. Please note it is expected that students who gain entry via the Rural Student Entry Scheme will be allocated to a rural hospital in Phase 2 and/or Phase 3."

Does this mean rural students starting at port macq or another rural clinical school from year one will be forcefully allocated to a rural school in the later years or strongly encouraged but still able to preference urban clinical schools during allocation and go through the same process as all other non-rural students?

 

[AppleJuice]

On the port macq UNSW site it says
"Students are able to complete the entire UNSW medical program in Port Macquarie. Those that undertake Phase 1 in Port Macquarie will be given priority to continue studying in Port Macquarie for the remainder of the Program. Students that undertake Phase 1 at Port Macquarie also have the opportunity to undertake Phase 2 and/or 3 in Kensington or at another rural campus should they wish to do so. Please note it is expected that students who gain entry via the Rural Student Entry Scheme will be allocated to a rural hospital in Phase 2 and/or Phase 3."

Does this mean rural students starting at port macq or another rural clinical school from year one will be forcefully allocated to a rural school in the later years or strongly encouraged but still able to preference urban clinical schools during allocation and go through the same process as all other non-rural students?

Forcefully is a harsh word - but yes.
As something to note, the rural hospitals are actually incredibly popular and preferences are locked up really quick.

 

[Jonalon]

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[A1]

this seems to be a a case of all (non-bonded) applicants who were interviewed on the 28th of January actually being ineligible because they ran out of places contrary to their statements that those applicants would not be disadvantaged.

We see two bonded offers posted in the data thread. This isn't sufficient info to suggest there was zero unbonded. The two emails from Zara Khan can mean all spots are full *after* they've allocated offers to the 4-Feb round, so we can't draw any conclusion either.

 

[ucatboy]

We see two bonded offers posted in the data thread. This isn't sufficient info to suggest there was zero unbonded. The two emails from Zara Khan can mean all spots are full *after* they've allocated offers to the 4-Feb round, so we can't draw any conclusion either.

It's definitely unlike UNSW to screw over interstate applicants, as they've advocated very strongly for equality between local and interstate applicants in the past (unlike another uni, *cough cough*), making sure that the ATAR and UCAT cutoffs are identical, and if they aren't, inviting either additional local and interstate applicants to make up for such performance disparities.

That said, 99.90 + 3300+ not receiving an offer does raise some eyebrows, Jonalon maybe you could try contacting UNSW for a summary of your performance in each component to see if they're capping i.e. if they say your UCAT was average then something's up.

 

[sevun]

It's definitely unlike UNSW to screw over interstate applicants, as they've advocated very strongly for equality between local and interstate applicants in the past (unlike another uni, *cough cough*), making sure that the ATAR and UCAT cutoffs are identical, and if they aren't, inviting either additional local and interstate applicants to make up for such performance disparities.

That said, 99.90 + 3300+ not receiving an offer does raise some eyebrows, Jonalon maybe you could try contacting UNSW for a summary of your performance in each component to see if they're capping i.e. if they say your UCAT was average then something's up.

Yeah I knew someone with 99.95 + UCAT above 3300 and they didn't get an offer yikes. Tough requirements this year, that's for sure.

 

[ucatboy]

Yeah I knew someone with 99.95 + UCAT above 3300 and they didn't get an offer yikes. Tough requirements this year, that's for sure.

Were they a NSW or interstate applicant?

 

[JamesAtUNSW]

Hello everyone! I received a last minute offer for UNSW Kensington yesterday and I was just wondering if anyone can help me get sorted! I don't have a UNSW account yet (I have to wait for UAC offers on Thursday) so I am very lost in regards to everything that is happening. I know O Week starts tomorrow, is there anything that we need to attend? Also, I would be very thankful if I could be added to a group chat. Thanks guys

 

[jw56574]

Hello everyone! I received a last minute offer for UNSW Kensington yesterday and I was just wondering if anyone can help me get sorted! I don't have a UNSW account yet (I have to wait for UAC offers on Thursday) so I am very lost in regards to everything that is happening. I know O Week starts tomorrow, is there anything that we need to attend? Also, I would be very thankful if I could be added to a group chat. Thanks guys

How did you receive the offer, via phone call/email? on a Saturday?