UNSW UNSW Medicine: General Entry Questions and Discussion

[doktor]

what are my chances for unsw rural as a 2880 ucat and projected 96+ atar (MM3 rural)
interview went good

also i preferenced syd first, do i have to return rurally after if i do go to kensington? do i get a choice in this

 

[A1]

Hi there,
I am from Sydney but high school studying overseas. Am I local or interstate applicant? Thanks a lot

By default you are interstate to all the schools including UNSW.

At the schools where they have different quota/cutoffs for interstate you can't do much about it.
UNSW treats in-state/interstate the same, only different on the interview dates. You can write to UNSW asking for a first-round interview, they have obliged to some applicants in the past.

 

[alice888]

By default you are interstate to all the schools including UNSW.

At the schools where they have different quota/cutoffs for interstate you can't do much about it.
UNSW treats in-state/interstate the same, only different on the interview dates. You can write to UNSW asking for a first-round interview, they have obliged to some applicants in the past.

Thanks and what’s the min ucat this year for UNSW interview invite?

___________
A1 replies: UCAT cutoff was around 92%ile last year. We can't tell what it will be this year, can only use the 92%ile as a guide.

 

[Seculx]

Hi, I’m an international student offer holder for 2025 entry. Can someone with enough privilege open a separate incoming student thread for connecting and information sharing?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hi, I’m an international student offer holder for 2025 entry. Can someone with enough privilege open a separate incoming student thread for connecting and information sharing?

There already is one.

UNSW - UNSW Medicine: Incoming Students

*Disclaimer: I'm posting this a bit early, offers aren't out yet!* Hey, hope everyone's doing well! If you're reading this thread, I'm assuming you got an offer to study Med at UNSW, so congratulations!! (If not then I hope you get one :D ) I'm creating this thread to let everyone get to know...

medstudentsonline.com.au

 

[mrmango]

Hey everyone, I’m in a bit of an unusual situation. I grew up in a rural location and didn’t know much about undergraduate medicine. Any doctor that I met or anyone who gave me advice about medicine always spoke about graduate level entry pathways and, to be perfectly honest, I was discouraged into seriously looking into it by some who said they believed most undergraduate trained doctors were less mature and lacked formation. I put most of my effort into studying to get into a medical related science undergraduate that I thought would put me in good stead for graduate level medicine.

I graduated year 12 at the end of 2023 and moved to a city to start my bachelors degree. After moving, I discovered all the different undergraduate medicine options and especially the UNSW programme and that, despite what I was originally told, undergraduate doctors made mature and highly skilled practitioners (I found out that the doctor and his surgical assistant who had first inspired me to do medicine were both UNSW graduates). After discovering this and doing some further research, I thought it would be futile attempting to enter with a selection rank not of the ostensible minimum of 99.5 (obviously still dependant on UCAT and interview). After the UCAT entrance cutoff for this year, I was told about the rural pathway and about the much lower selection criteria.

I now have to face a really tough decision. I will be in my second year of my bachelor’s degree in 2025 and have to weigh the benefits of both the UCAT and the GAMSAT. Right now, I am in a programme that makes it internally competitive to get into graduate entry medicine by a priority pathway, meaning that I probably have better chances than most undergraduates when pursuing the GAMSAT with the university I currently attend. My fear is that by studying for both the GAMSAT and the UCAT, I may be stretched too thin and not do well in either, not to mention the financial burden of both which I’ll be scrapping to afford. Another point which I’m taking into account is how much the rural pathway appeals to me, so much more than what I have seen with city based medicine. Having grown up in the country, the UNSW rural pathway would be my absolute dream by learning and giving back to the community.

My fear about pursuing UNSW is that I may not be high enough in all my other areas to get in, even if I received a stellar UCAT score. All the information I can find online is about standard rural applicants straight from school, but I can’t find anything about non standard 1-2-years-into-a-bachelor’s-degree rural applicants and their indicative scores for entrance. I saw that they take WAM into consideration and unfortunately due to quite a disruptive year with some difficult personal circumstances and just learning to live and study effectively away from everything I grew up with, I am only close to an 80. I do think that my first semester next year will be much better and should definitely help to boost my scores before the application.

After surfing online forums and scouring the web, I found that some school leavers got into the rural pathway with 92-93 ATAR and 2600-2700ish UCAT (I would assume they also performed immaculately in their interviews). Does anyone know if this would be similar for me even though I am non-standard?

I am going to contact UNSW but I thought it would be best to first check here with you all. I know that many of you have heaps of knowledge about this, and some of you are probably in the rural pathway now and may know even more than the university can tell me. If anyone knows the indicative scores or even ball park numbers for a person in my situation, I will be immensely grateful. If anyone can offer any advice about pursuing this option and if I have any chance at all, I will be equally grateful. I just want to become a doctor that can give the best medical help and who can empathetically care for my patients. Thank you to everyone who reached the end of my very long piece

 

[A1]

Hey everyone, I’m in a bit of an unusual situation. I grew up in a rural location and didn’t know much about undergraduate medicine.

First thing first before going further - do you qualify for rural-entry pathway with 5 consecutive or 10 total years living rurally?

If you do, you not only qualify for UNSW rural but also WSU/JMP/JCU rural despite their school locations not in rural. The ATAR/UCAT requirements are significantly lower, like UCAT 60ish %ile to get an interview.

After surfing online forums and scouring the web, I found that some school leavers got into the rural pathway with 92-93 ATAR and 2600-2700ish UCAT (I would assume they also performed immaculately in their interviews). Does anyone know if this would be similar for me even though I am non-standard?

Yes that is true for both school leavers and non-standard.

 

[mrmango]

First thing first before going further - do you qualify for rural-entry pathway with 5 consecutive or 10 total years living rurally?

If you do, you not only qualify for UNSW rural but also WSU/JMP/JCU rural despite their school locations not in rural. The ATAR/UCAT requirements are significantly lower, like UCAT 60ish %ile to get an interview.


Yes that is true for both school leavers and non-standard.

Yes, I lived in the same rural area and only just moved this year to start study.

Thank you for this! I hadn't looked into the programme for JCU as they have chemistry as a prerequisite, which I was unable to sit in year 12, however maybe I can apply now that I have completed 1-2 years worth of a bachelors. I've noticed that I would be eligible for WSU with their tertiary applications as they have a minimum of about 5.8 gpa which I definitely meet. As to the JMP, do you know what sort of gpa or wam would be required to be competetive or is this a question for the univeristy?

Just to confirm, with the UCAT score of about 2600-2700 for non school leavers for rural UNSW, would that be remotely competitive with the WAM of about 80 that I have so far in my degree through the rural pathway?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Just to confirm, with the UCAT score of about 2600-2700 for non school leavers for rural UNSW, would that be remotely competitive with the WAM of about 80 that I have so far in my degree through the rural pathway?

The best way to check the latest rural UCAT requirements will be to check out the interview invite thread from this year and see what kind of scores have secured spots. It’s fairly similar from year to year with maybe very slight increases (unless entry criteria are altered between now and 2026 entry which can happen but is rare).

 

[mrmango]

The best way to check the latest rural UCAT requirements will be to check out the interview invite thread from this year and see what kind of scores have secured spots. It’s fairly similar from year to year with maybe very slight increases (unless entry criteria are altered between now and 2026 entry which can happen but is rare).

Thanks for this, I'll definitely check them out. Would the UCAT requirements be raised for UNSW for me because I am applying after studying at university? Or should I go off the results off school leaver rural students and their UCAT's that received an interview offer?

 

[richbabyh1tman]

Thanks for this, I'll definitely check them out. Would the UCAT requirements be raised for UNSW for me because I am applying after studying at university? Or should I go off the results off school leaver rural students and their UCAT's that received an interview offer?

Do note that the UCAT format for 2025 has changed quite drastically [UCAT ANZ 2025 | UCAT ANZ Consortium] , so using previous scores as predictors might not be as useful

 

[mrmango]

Do note that the UCAT format for 2025 has changed quite drastically [UCAT ANZ 2025 | UCAT ANZ Consortium] , so using previous scores as predictors might not be as useful

Wow thank you I had no idea!! Probably a good thing as that has been my weakest link from the practices that I have done so far Is there any idea as to whether this would significantly change the outcome of the test or is it just speculation at this stage?

 

[A1]

I've noticed that I would be eligible for WSU with their tertiary applications as they have a minimum of about 5.8 gpa which I definitely meet. As to the JMP, do you know what sort of gpa or wam would be required to be competetive or is this a question for the univeristy?

Note that UNSW has a peculiar rule in that while your GPA is competitive for use you still need the minimum ATAR to be eligible, which is 91 raw for rural. I hope you meet this requirement.

JMP is a modest GPA 4.8 (could be lower for rural I'm not sure but you got that anyway). In particular GPA (or ATAR) is a hurdle not counted into selection. Interview invite is solely on UCAT and place offer solely on the interview.

Of the non-standard schools, only JCU makes a distinction between non-standard and school leavers (only 20-30 places out of 150ish for non-standard). Thus much fewer interviewees much higher competition to get an invite.

The other schools, non-standard & school leavers go into the same pool - same competition same cutoffs.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Do note that the UCAT format for 2025 has changed quite drastically [UCAT ANZ 2025 | UCAT ANZ Consortium] , so using previous scores as predictors might not be as useful

Oooh, thank you! Yes, this will change things.

 

[mrmango]

Note that UNSW has a peculiar rule in that while your GPA is competitive for use you still need the minimum ATAR to be eligible, which is 91 raw for rural. I hope you meet this requirement.

JMP is a modest GPA 4.8 (could be lower for rural I'm not sure but you got that anyway). In particular GPA (or ATAR) is a hurdle not counted into selection. Interview invite is solely on UCAT and place offer solely on the interview.

Of the non-standard schools, only JCU makes a distinction between non-standard and school leavers (only 20-30 places out of 150ish for non-standard). Thus much fewer interviewees much higher competition to get an invite.

The other schools, non-standard & school leavers go into the same pool - same competition same cutoffs.

Yes I do meet the minimum! I think my gpa might end up being higher, especially if I manage to get very high first semester results next year. Does that mean that UNSW would average out my WAM and ATAR or would they just use whichever is higher?

Wow the JMP is much lower than I thought! I think I misunderstood the process there too, I thought that they gave offers based off gpa, UCAT and interviews not just the latter two.

Thank you for this!! I was under the impression that there were separate pools for standard and non-standard for each university! Thank you so much, that makes a lot more sense

 

[mrmango]

Oooh, thank you! Yes, this will change things.

I saw on their official website that they removed abstract reasoning due to its 'coachability' in order to make it more equitable. Do you think this means that it will likely lower the average scores?

 

[A1]

Does that mean that UNSW would average out my WAM and ATAR or would they just use whichever is higher?

UNSW used to be 50/50 ATAR+GPA, now it's 'best of'.
Beware WAM is a UNSW internal thing. Med application is via UAC so it's GPA.

Hey everyone, I’m in a bit of an unusual situation. I grew up in a rural location and didn’t know much about undergraduate medicine....
I now have to face a really tough decision.

Where have you been?
MSO has been around to help for two decades

 

[DrDrLMG!]

I saw on their official website that they removed abstract reasoning due to its 'coachability' in order to make it more equitable. Do you think this means that it will likely lower the average scores?

No idea what will happen. Will have to wait and see. Even if it lowers averages, there will still be about the same amount of test takers and those people will be ranked against each other into percentiles, and the top X% will go on to get interviews… the same as every year. It may be a slightly different group of people at the ‘top’ due to strengths and weaknesses but ultimately the process is the same.

 

[melanie_o]

If I get 2700 next year I will be crying tears of joy.

 

[alice888]

I think you have a point. It's just that I'm a little confused as when I gave UNSW future students a call, and they said that if you don't receive offer for the dec round, even if your uni results are released before 18 dec, you'll still be considered for jan round. But I get your point though, if my score is for e.g. borderline of last year's cut off, highly likely that I won't be considered for the jan round if the cut offs are similar for both dec and jan.

Anyone receive invite today? Dec 18