UNSW UNSW Medicine: General Entry Questions and Discussion

[A1]

Thank you for your reply. I just saw the interview data and it said that someone with a 99.05 and 76th UCAT with EAS got an interview offer, do you think this was a major outlier?

Sorry I don't really know the answer to that.

Last year we knew a 99.55 91st%ile did NOT get an interview. Based on previous years' ATAR/UMAT balancing this indicated 99.95 (max EAS can boost to) would still need mid-80s or at least low-80s %ile to get an invite. So don't know how 76th got one. One thing I might speculate is there was a "system error" in UNSW's first release of invites last year so this could be a part of that "system error".

EtA: If you view the 2020-intake invites, the non-EAS 99.9s & 99.8s had 90+%ile. All the EAS had 3000+ UCAT.

 

[MEDHOPEFUL2022]

Sorry I don't really know the answer to that.

Last year we knew a 99.55 91st%ile did NOT get an interview. Based on previous years' ATAR/UMAT balancing this indicated 99.95 (max EAS can boost to) would still need mid-80s or at least low-80s %ile to get an invite. So don't know how 76th got one. One thing I might speculate is there was a "system error" in UNSW's first release of invites last year so this could be a part of that "system error".

Thank you for this. Do you think it will still be worth continuing my application, seeing this year is somewhat unprecedented?

 

[A1]

Thank you for this. Do you think it will still be worth continuing my application, seeing this year is somewhat unprecedented?

If you were low 70s%ile I'd say no. Since you're close to 80%ile there's some albeit small chance. Things can change from year to year so who knows what might happen, good luck.

 

[serendipity123]

Hi.
The Medicine Application Portal for UNSW asks for our WAM/GPA. But I'm really confused by this because 1. my current gpa is likely to be different to my GPA at the end of the year, which is the GPA they will use and 2. I thought they obtained our GPA/grades directly from our uni?

I had the same question. Does anybody know?

Sorry I don't really know the answer to that.

Last year we knew a 99.55 91st%ile did NOT get an interview. Based on previous years' ATAR/UMAT balancing this indicated 99.95 (max EAS can boost to) would still need mid-80s or at least low-80s %ile to get an invite. So don't know how 76th got one. One thing I might speculate is there was a "system error" in UNSW's first release of invites last year so this could be a part of that "system error".

EtA: If you view the 2020-intake invites, the non-EAS 99.9s & 99.8s had 90+%ile. All the EAS had 3000+ UCAT.

I got 99.30, and potentially will receive EAS, and I am currently on a HD average WAM.
I got 2880 for UCAT. Any chance at UNSW all?

 

[sunnyrain]

Hi.
I'm really sorry if this was asked before; I think it was but I can't seem to find the question or the response after searching through this thread.

If we preference Wagga Wagga or Port Macquarie campuses above Kensington, does that make us more likely to receive a place ( as people may prefer more to study in a metro area rather than rural) as opposed to preferencing Kensington first and the other 2 after it?
Thanks in advance!

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hi.
I'm really sorry if this was asked before; I think it was but I can't seem to find the question or the response after searching through this thread.

If we preference Wagga Wagga or Port Macquarie campuses above Kensington, does that make us more likely to receive a place ( as people may prefer more to study in a metro area rather than rural) as opposed to preferencing Kensington first and the other 2 after it?
Thanks in advance!

No, I see what you’re saying but the number of people who preference those locations still far outweighs the places that are on offer so as to make this irrelevant. UNSW will determine which people are eligible for offers and will allocate based on preferences and position on the overall ‘list’ (ie. person at the top of the list definitely gets their first preference, further down the list that is no longer guaranteed, etc). Preference in the order you’d wish to study.

ETA: the way to maximise your chances is to commit (to yourself, prepare etc) to going to any campus. It doesn’t make you more likely to get an offer, just more likely to get one you’re happy with/willing to accept, if that makes sense…

 

[sunnyrain]

Ohhh okay, that makes sense - thank you so much LMG!!!!

 

[PippyBee]

Hello, could you please advise me how many EAS scores or ranks I will achieve if I have applied for 3 categories including hardship, financial and being a carer. I have applied for UNSW, WSU and USyd Medicine. My ATAR might range in 98+

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hello, could you please advise me how many EAS scores or ranks I will achieve if I have applied for 3 categories including hardship, financial and being a carer. I have applied for UNSW, WSU and USyd Medicine. My ATAR might range in 98+

I don’t believe we can actually advise on something this specific. The actual boost that someone gets is quite individual and based on a number of factors that aren’t necessarily clear enough for us to be able to make calculations. I think you’ll find out when your adjusted ATAR is determined and you’ll be able to see how much higher it is than your actual, but as far as I know, that’s about it.

 

[MyHeadee]

What is the purpose of having multiple round offers (1st, 2nd...) and how do they work?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

What is the purpose of having multiple round offers (1st, 2nd...) and how do they work?

1. Not everyone who gets an offer in the first round accepts it (for a variety of reasons), so subsequent rounds can be to 'top up' declined offers.
2. Not everyone has interviewed at the time of first round offers (usually interstate students). This way they can receive a local offer in their local TAC first offer round and not have to pay to fly interstate (as has historically been the case) to attend interviews for places they don't need/want. If they don't get a local offer, they can take up the offer of the interview and then, if successful, get an offer in a later round. For unis that do this, they 'save' second round places for interstate students (ie. UNSW and, to a lesser degree, Monash).

 

[A1]

What is the purpose of having multiple round offers (1st, 2nd...) and how do they work?

UAC may have 2-3 offer rounds in January, but usually the three NSW med schools jointly pick one of these to release offers together. The idea is so that if an applicant happens to qualify for all 3 offers they only get the highest-pref one, leaving the other two to be offered to other applicants. It'd be cruel to give one applicants multiple offers while leaving others hanging.

UNSW in particular holds a late-January interview round for interstate applicants. This date is after their home-state offers have been released, an applicant with a home-state offer may say thank you UNSW I'm not going to waste money to travel to your interview. UNSW sets aside estimate 30% of places to offer in February to this interstate lot, if not enough of them reach the offer cutoff to take all these places the surplus is back offered to round1 interviewees. JMP is similar.

WSU does the whole lot in the Jan round. Any declines/vacancies will be offered out in Feb, usually same date as UNSW/JMP's round2 but different in nature.

 

[PippyBee]

Actually can I ask one more question, I thought I did pretty well for the VR component, would you know what the approx cutoff for UWS entry for UCAT is? Thanks

OK Thanks and what are the UNSW cutoffs for an interview selection?

 

[A1]

what are the UNSW cutoffs for an interview selection?

There isn't a definitive UCAT cutoff for UNSW interview since it goes in combination with ATAR. A 88%ile with 99.90 can get an invite while a 90%ile with 99.30 is likely to miss out. We can't call 88%ile nor 90%ile the cutoff.

 

[Purplefolly]

There isn't a definitive UCAT cutoff for UNSW interview since it goes in combination with ATAR. A 88%ile with 99.90 can get an invite while a 90%ile with 99.30 is likely to miss out. We can't call 88%ile nor 90%ile the cutoff.

So can I check if I've understood this correctly please? For UNSW, to get an interview, ATAR:UCAT are given 50:50 weighting to get a new 'rank'. Then interviews are offered based on this rank?

Then after interviews, it goes ATAR:UCAT:interview score, equal thirds weighting to each component, to generate a new rank again with which they make Med offers? Have I understood it all correctly?

 

[A1]

So can I check if I've understood this correctly please? For UNSW, to get an interview, ATAR:UCAT are given 50:50 weighting to get a new 'rank'. Then interviews are offered based on this rank?

That's correct.

Then after interviews, it goes ATAR:UCAT:interview score, equal thirds weighting to each component, to generate a new rank again with which they make Med offers?

That's about 80% correct. We suspect with good reasons there's a minimum interview score that below it means auto rejection. For example if we standardise the three components to scale of 0-100, you have two 100s in ATAR & UCAT but your interview is 25, total 225 = 75 weighted average. This would put you well into the top third for a place offer but your interview score disqualifies you (thus UNSW says scores are not averaged to cover these cases).

 

[PippyBee]

OK Thanks and what are the UNSW cutoffs for an interview selection?

Thanks and oh BTW you guys were pretty ingenious for working out the weighted formula for WSU based on the past data, pretty amazing. I have another question: would you know what the range of EAS points are given for UNSW, the website says that EAS can account up to 10 adjustment factors, but for Medicine, would you know of their ranges? Thanks

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Thanks and oh BTW you guys were pretty ingenious for working out the weighted formula for WSU based on the past data, pretty amazing. I have another question: would you know what the range of EAS points are given for UNSW, the website says that EAS can account up to 10 adjustment factors, but for Medicine, would you know of their ranges? Thanks

No, they don’t publish this data as far as we are aware.

 

[A1]

would you know what the range of EAS points are given for UNSW

The closest info we have on this is in this post, hope it helps
> UCAT Results Discussion 2019

 

[MyHeadee]

The closest info we have on this is in this post, hope it helps
> UCAT Results Discussion 2019

In relation to that link, they say "Disadvantaged high school = +3 ATAR", but I'm wondering if there is a different level of EAS adjustment added if you attended an SO1C as opposed to a SO1R school? Because both of these are considered disadvantaged but the "C" schools seem to genuinely be in the middle of nowhere, whereas the "R" schools can be in reasonably sized towns/cities, idk just doesnt seem too "fair" if both got the same treatment you know?
Cheers