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UTAS UTAS Medicine: Entry Information and Discussion

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Following discussion with several people from UTAS MBBS (and related) administration, we have now been told several times that 2018 entry will be the same as 2017 entry for UTAS. Given this (and given how different 2017 was from previous years, not to mention confusing!) I thought I'd put together all the information we diligently gathered last year in the hopes that it may spare someone the confusion and heartache we all rode in 2016/17! To be honest, I very much doubt I have that kinda power, but let's give it a go, regardless :D

Clarifying Information
The below is for local, interstate, and rural school leavers, and non-standard applicants. If you are an indigenous applicant, please let me know and I'll see what I can find for you, but we have had no other MSO members identifying in this way recently with regard to UTAS applications, so we haven't gathered the same amount of information.

BMedRes Students
If you are a non-UTAS BMedRes student applying to UTAS MBBS, you're classed as a non-standard applicant. If you are a UTAS BMedRes(Hons) student applying to UTAS MBBS, you're classed as a non-standard applicant. If you are a current UTAS BMedRes student applying to UTAS MBBS, I'd advise you approach Adele Holloway for information.

Tasmanian School Leavers
ATAR 95+. Very generous (low) UMAT requirement (due to agreement between UTAS and state government). No specific UMAT section requirements. If you've lived in Tassie for 5+ years in a row, or 10+ years total (or other rural locations around Australia), you can also apply via the Rural Application Process.

Updated 04/10/17: Information from a 2017 entry applicant indicates that local school leavers (and presumably, therefore, all applicants) are subject to a minimum UMAT cut-off of 150/300. This person received an email from UTAS indicating that they had not been successful in their 2017 entry application (local school leaver who completed a RAP application) as they did not meet the 150/300 threshold for UMAT scores. Given UTAS have repeatedly indicated selection criteria will remain the same for 2018 entry, we can probably assume this will continue to be the case.

Interstate Non-Rural School Leavers
ATAR 95+, section 2 UMAT 60+. Given the very, very few positions on offer for this group of applicants, UMAT/ATAR combinations for successful applicants tend to be very high. I don't believe we had anyone reporting offers here at MSO last year with UMATs below 96th%ile (see edit note by LMG! below). As indicated, you will also need to meet an additional UMAT hurdle, with a section two (Understanding People) score above 60. Last year, a MSO member in this category with a UMAT of 100th%ile and an ATAR of 99.90 received a rejection email. Their section 2 score was 53. It's rumoured this additional hurdle is in place due to the fact that UTAS do not interview applicants.

Interstate Rural School Leavers
ATAR 95+. This was confirmed last year at MSO when multiple members in this category received conditional offers based on their predicted ATARs. They were clearly instructed that their offers would only be confirmed once their actual ATARs were shown to be above 95.0, and this is exactly what went on to happen. UMAT requirements for this group are also generously low, and don't have individual section hurdles. The lowest successful UMAT score reported on MSO in 2016/17 was 58. Another student in this category has been confirmed to have achieved a UMAT of 55.

Students in this category should also apply via the Rural Application Process to maximise their options.

Non-Standard Applicants
GPA 6.0+ (most recent 3 semesters), section 2 UMAT 60+. From last year it quickly became apparent that once these two criteria were met, applicants were then ranked on their UMAT raw score/300. An applicant with a percentile rank of 99, and raw score of 204 received a very early offer, while an applicant with a percentile rank of 99, and a raw score of 203 did not. In subsequent rounds (that continued up until at least 3 days prior to the course starting), the raw score cut-off for 2017 non-standard entry dropped to 189 (96th%ile).

It does not appear (and this was reinforced but not confirmed by someone from UTAS School of Medicine administration) that non-standard applicants are considered via the Rural Application Process. It may still prove wise to submit an application if you're eligible.

Local and interstate non-standard applicants are all in the same pool. There is no benefit to being Tasmanian/disadvantage to being from interstate within this application pathway.

Other Factors to Consider
Chemistry and English are pre-requisites. UTAS offer a Foundation Chemistry bridging course (free of charge and via summer school) if you completed high school Chemistry more than 5 years ago and did not study tertiary level Chemistry. If you've studied in English (ie. the information was taught in English) at any Australian educational institution (University, TAFE, etc), then you meet the English requirement, regardless of how long ago you completed high school English.

ATAR will be used proportionally for non-standard applicants who have not completed more than 3 semesters of tertiary level study. If you've done a single semester, then the ATAR cutoff is 95.0 and the GPA cut off is 6.0. If you've done 2 semesters, then the GPA cutoff remains the same, but the ATAR cutoff drops to 90.0.

This information is for 2018 entry only. We know that 2019 entry will look very different as UTAS moves towards eliminating the non-standard entry path altogether, instead wholly preferencing UTAS BMedRes students in the 'mature aged' category.

Offer Release Dates
  • Interstate rural school leavers and first round non-standard offers were released in late November/early December, 2016.
  • Local school leaver offers were released on the 19th of December, 2016.
  • Interstate school leaver offers were released in early January, 2017.
  • Other non-standard (and presumably other categories, just none were reported to MSO) offers were continually released up until late February, 2017.

There tend to be offer 'flurries' immediately following UAC, VTAC etc offer releases, with those awaiting 'home-state' offers rejecting UTAS offers and freeing up spaces for subsequent offers.

Applications open 'early August'. The UTAS website says they re-open on the 4th (today), but I've just checked and they're not open currently. Maybe later today or early next week. They close on the 30th of September, 2017.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask them below.

Edited by A1: Hope @LMG doesn't mind me changing the UMAT below 99th to 98th (@Wendy and @chocolateiscool got offers with 98th).
Edited by LMG!: just found an offer in the offers only thread, non-rural interstate school leaver with ATAR 99.0+ and UMAT 96th%ile.
 
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FF93

Member
Amazing LMG!
Sounds like we are in the exact same position! Local, GPA satisfied..
Just chasing that S2: >60, Raw score: 190+!
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Amazing LMG!
Sounds like we are in the exact same position! Local, GPA satisfied..
Just chasing that S2: >60, Raw score: 190+!

Yep! Hopefully we will be classmates! The local part doesn't actually mean anything for non-standard applicants though. We are all in the same pool. Maybe I should make that clearer. Thanks :D
 

Dr.Blunt

Member
Sorry if this has already been answered and I'm just a bad reader but from my understanding wasn't the 95+ atar requirement at UTAS just a threshold atar that you need to pass after which all applicants would be ranked according to their UMAT percentiles (after applying the 60+ s2 critera). I'm asking as a non-rural interstate.
Or, is it the case that a 99.85 atar could sneak in with like a 92%Ile given they had a 60+ s2.
 

nira

Regular Member
Sorry if this has already been answered and I'm just a bad reader but from my understanding wasn't the 95+ atar requirement at UTAS just a threshold atar that you need to pass after which all applicants would be ranked according to their UMAT percentiles (after applying the 60+ s2 critera). I'm asking as a non-rural interstate.
Or, is it the case that a 99.85 atar could sneak in with like a 92%Ile given they had a 60+ s2.
Basically what you said. Once you past the 95 atar its purely Umat. So it doesn't matter if your atar is 99.95 or 95.1, it comes down to your Umat with a s2 of 60+
 

Dr.Blunt

Member
Basically what you said. Once you past the 95 atar its purely Umat. So it doesn't matter if your atar is 99.95 or 95.1, it comes down to your Umat with a s2 of 60+
Well thats no good then is it (for me at least)
 

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DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Original post edited to update ATAR requirements for non-standard applicants with only 1 or 2 semesters of tertiary study under their belts.
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
So just to clarify, how low is low for Tasmanian rural applicant? I got a low percentile but a highish S2 score
I saw your score in the other thread, we don't know for sure how low is low, as it changes every year, but I'd expect you to be competitive. Best of luck.
 
I spoke both to the School of Medicine and Admissions/General inquiries (the number i found on their website) and they both didn't give me a satisfied answer to the 'cut-off' question. The guy I spoke to from General inquiries said that they usually apply a loose 150 overall minimum score rule where 150+ is usually safe to be 'considered' for a place, and 180+ is usually classified as 'competitive'. After he told me that I then asked whether my 148 overall score would be enough, to which he said that there is a possibility that I might be considered (since its a loosely applied rule), but of course it all depends on the rest of the cohort and the competitiveness of everyone.

That being said, when I applied for 2017 entrance I did get an email around the time offers went out saying that because of the competitiveness of the course and because I did not get over a 150 overall score (I got 133 - rip) I was not eligible/ considered for an offer.

Yes, its all very confusing and I still dont know what is going on! lol

I hope this was helpful! :)

(yr12 leaver tassie local, btw)
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
I spoke both to the School of Medicine and Admissions/General inquiries (the number i found on their website) and they both didn't give me a satisfied answer to the 'cut-off' question. The guy I spoke to from General inquiries said that they usually apply a loose 150 overall minimum score rule where 150+ is usually safe to be 'considered' for a place, and 180+ is usually classified as 'competitive'. After he told me that I then asked whether my 148 overall score would be enough, to which he said that there is a possibility that I might be considered (since its a loosely applied rule), but of course it all depends on the rest of the cohort and the competitiveness of everyone.

That being said, when I applied for 2017 entrance I did get an email around the time offers went out saying that because of the competitiveness of the course and because I did not get over a 150 overall score (I got 133 - rip) I was not eligible/ considered for an offer.

Yes, its all very confusing and I still dont know what is going on! lol

I hope this was helpful! :)

(yr12 leaver tassie local, btw)

Welcome to the club of being mucked around by UTAS Admissions, last year was a real show, lemme tell you! Given you're a local school leaver, then a UMAT of 148 will be competitive. There is an agreement between the State government and UTAS that a significant portion of undergrad places in UTAS MBBS (rumoured to be as much as 70%) are to be given to Tasmanian school leavers. Once the cut off of 95.0 ATAR is met, the UMAT requirements really can vary quite a bit, but tend towards being much, much lower than anything advertised, and certainly much lower than for all other entry categories.

Don't forget to complete a RAP application if you've lived in Tassie for a long time :)

I'm just about to start a UTAS 2018 Hopefuls thread where we can share info and whatnot, so please come join me there!
 
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I spoke both to the School of Medicine and Admissions/General inquiries (the number i found on their website) and they both didn't give me a satisfied answer to the 'cut-off' question. The guy I spoke to from General inquiries said that they usually apply a loose 150 overall minimum score rule where 150+ is usually safe to be 'considered' for a place, and 180+ is usually classified as 'competitive'. After he told me that I then asked whether my 148 overall score would be enough, to which he said that there is a possibility that I might be considered (since its a loosely applied rule), but of course it all depends on the rest of the cohort and the competitiveness of everyone.

That being said, when I applied for 2017 entrance I did get an email around the time offers went out saying that because of the competitiveness of the course and because I did not get over a 150 overall score (I got 133 - rip) I was not eligible/ considered for an offer.

Yes, its all very confusing and I still dont know what is going on! lol

I hope this was helpful! :)

(yr12 leaver tassie local, btw)
Thanks that is so helpful!!
 
Other Factors to Consider
Chemistry and English are pre-requisites. UTAS offer a Foundation Chemistry bridging course (free of charge and via summer school) if you completed high school Chemistry more than 5 years ago and did not study tertiary level Chemistry. If you've studied in English (ie. the information was taught in English) at any Australian educational institution (University, TAFE, etc), then you meet the English requirement, regardless of how long ago you completed high school English.


I am a non standard applicant (currently doing 2nd year undergraduate degree) hoping to gain entry to MBBS UTAS in 2018. I am currently a bit confused whether I am eligible to apply as I did not complete Chemistry in high school. I have done some research on this but there seems to be no concrete answer to my question. I am wondering if I can apply now for the 2018 entry, and if offered a place, do a Chemistry bridging course at UTAS before the commencement of the course in February 2018. Will my application be even considered in the first place? As mentioned in your post, “UTAS offer a Foundation Chemistry bridging course (free of charge and via summer school) if you completed high school Chemistry more than 5 years ago and did not study tertiary level Chemistry.” but in my case, I have not done Chemistry in High School at all. Am I eligible for this Chemistry bridging course?

Any insight to this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
I am a non standard applicant (currently doing 2nd year undergraduate degree) hoping to gain entry to MBBS UTAS in 2018. I am currently a bit confused whether I am eligible to apply as I did not complete Chemistry in high school. I have done some research on this but there seems to be no concrete answer to my question. I am wondering if I can apply now for the 2018 entry, and if offered a place, do a Chemistry bridging course at UTAS before the commencement of the course in February 2018. Will my application be even considered in the first place? As mentioned in your post, “UTAS offer a Foundation Chemistry bridging course (free of charge and via summer school) if you completed high school Chemistry more than 5 years ago and did not study tertiary level Chemistry.” but in my case, I have not done Chemistry in High School at all. Am I eligible for this Chemistry bridging course?

Any insight to this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Yes, you're eligible to do the bridging course at UTAS regardless of high school chemistry as it's intended to be a replacement for, not a step up from, high school chemistry. It's delivered online over eight weeks from early Jan, with two full, compulsory lab days onsite at UTAS at the end of that two weeks. To enrol (which you will need to do prior to submitting your MBBS application, and then, I would recommend, point out your enrolment at whatever even tangentially related opportunity you have in the MBBS application itself so they don't miss it!), you have to apply to study the Bachelor of General Studies (Science, Engineering and Technology) then the Foundation Chemistry unit, specifically. You need to do this via a summer school application. It's fully covered by the government, but this is difficult to figure out, so if you get an invoice for the course (as I did), contact the Uni and they'll sort it out (as they did for me). You'll just need to pay the compulsory student union fee associated with the unit.

The unit itself is totally 'doable', even without a science background, and, in fact, I loved it so much it really cemented my desire to do Med.

Ruth Amos is the lecturer and she's amazing!

If you need any further help, please let me know :D

If you don't mind me asking, what is your GPA/UMAT?
 
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Yes, you're eligible to do the bridging course at UTAS regardless of high school chemistry as it's intended to be a replacement for, not a step up from, high school chemistry. It's delivered online over eight weeks from early Jan, with two full, compulsory lab days onsite at UTAS at the end of that two weeks. To enrol (which you will need to do prior to submitting your MBBS application, and then, I would recommend, point out your enrolment at whatever even tangentially related opportunity you have in the MBBS application itself so they don't miss it!), you have to apply to study the Bachelor of General Studies (Science, Engineering and Technology) then the Foundation Chemistry unit, specifically. You need to do this via a summer school application. It's fully covered by the government, but this is difficult to figure out, so if you get an invoice for the course (as I did), contact the Uni and they'll sort it out (as they did for me). You'll just need to pay the compulsory student union fee associated with the unit.

The unit itself is totally 'doable', even without a science background, and, in fact, I loved it so much it really cemented my desire to do Med.

Ruth Amos is the lecturer and she's amazing!

If you need any further help, please let me know :D

If you don't mind me asking, what is your GPA/UMAT?

Hey LMG,

Thanks for the super quick and detailed reply!

What I meant was because I didn’t take chemistry at all, and according to your post, UTAS offers the Foundation Chemistry bridging course on the condition that I completed high school chemistry (which I didn’t) would I be eligible for the bridging course?

Could you also go into a bit more detail about the specific application process? I don’t quite understand the applying for a Bachelor of General studies part. Would I apply for 2 degrees then?? MBBS and Bachelor of General Studies? Sorry, I don’t have a lot of experience with direct university applications!

As for grades and GPA:
ATAR: 99.85 (2015)
UMAT: 70/65/75, raw 210, percentile 100
GPA: 7.0
Entry: non-standard (in 2nd year uni rn)
RAP eligible: No
Pre-requisites: No chemistry T_T
Local: No (interstate from Victoria)
Unis: any that will take me (I think I can only apply to WSU, UNSW, JMP and hopefully UTAS?)
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Hey LMG,

Thanks for the super quick and detailed reply!

What I meant was because I didn’t take chemistry at all, and according to your post, UTAS offers the Foundation Chemistry bridging course on the condition that I completed high school chemistry (which I didn’t) would I be eligible for the bridging course?

Could you also go into a bit more detail about the specific application process? I don’t quite understand the applying for a Bachelor of General studies part. Would I apply for 2 degrees then?? MBBS and Bachelor of General Studies? Sorry, I don’t have a lot of experience with direct university applications!

As for grades and GPA:
ATAR: 99.85 (2015)
UMAT: 70/65/75, raw 210, percentile 100
GPA: 7.0
Entry: non-standard (in 2nd year uni rn)
RAP eligible: No
Pre-requisites: No chemistry T_T
Local: No (interstate from Victoria)
Unis: any that will take me (I think I can only apply to WSU, UNSW, JMP and hopefully UTAS?)

No problemo re. they reply.

As my opening reply sentence said, you're eligible to enrol in the bridging course regardless of high school chemistry. In other words, regardless of whether you did high school chemistry, you can do the bridging course now.

Yes, you need to apply for two degrees. One is a summer school 2017/18 application (BGenStudies) that you'd only be doing a single unit in (Found. Chem.), and the other is a semester one 2018 application (MBBS).

You can't enrol in a unit (ie. Found. Chem. or Found. Med.) without first being enrolled in a degree (BGenStudies or MBBS).

ETA: that's a great UMAT/GPA combo! Do you have a Uni preference?

Also, if you're really concerned, I'd suggest giving UTAS admissions a call and getting them to guide you through BGenStudies enrolment. That way they can definitely confirm they're still accepting enrolment in (rather than prior completion of) bridging chem for Med (as I did it in 2016 and UTAS Med has imploded since then!).
 
No problemo re. they reply.

As my opening reply sentence said, you're eligible to enrol in the bridging course regardless of high school chemistry. In other words, regardless of whether you did high school chemistry, you can do the bridging course now.

Yes, you need to apply for two degrees. One is a summer school 2017/18 application (BGenStudies) that you'd only be doing a single unit in (Found. Chem.), and the other is a semester one 2018 application (MBBS).

You can't enrol in a unit (ie. Found. Chem. or Found. Med.) without first being enrolled in a degree (BGenStudies or MBBS).

ETA: that's a great UMAT/GPA combo! Do you have a Uni preference?

Also, if you're really concerned, I'd suggest giving UTAS admissions a call and getting them to guide you through BGenStudies enrolment. That way they can definitely confirm they're still accepting enrolment in (rather than prior completion of) bridging chem for Med (as I did it in 2016 and UTAS Med has imploded since then!).

Yes I’ll definitely give UTAS a call to help me with my application! I’m so scared of stuffing it up!!

Thanks :) Honestly, I don’t really have a preference. I just want a uni to take me! But I would prefer a 5 year course (over a 6 year course) with as much clinical hands on time/placements as possible.

Btw, what do you mean UTAS med has imploded?!
 

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