realmadrid000
Member
Can someone give me a rundown of how this works. Is VR weighed higher at WSU. And also im confused regarding the whole HSC not even being done yet, surely they cant just go off predicted?
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JPM WSU/CSU JPM: UCAT Section Weighting Discussion and Questions
- Thread starter doggy
- Start date
A1 has provided an explanation that is as close as we currently have. Read back through the posts.
They don't go off predicted ATAR, they don't use ATAR at all for interview invites (ETA: neither do JMP or UAdel).
Thanks for all your work A1! Much appreciated.
Q. Out of interest - Could WSU for example use the above possible UCAT formula (or whatever scaling method they have chosen) for interview selection purpose AND keep this same scaling for the UCAT % of final place offer?
Or could they have a different approach AFTER the interview eg just add all 4 sections of UCAT without any scaling for UCAT ranking added to the interview score for final place offer assuming you reach the ATAR/GPA hurdle (perhaps 25% UCAT and 75% Interview)? Is there any way of knowing? Given JMP may simply add the 4 sections for interview- ? Uni point of difference
realmadrid000
Member
Oh really? I just saw people listing their predicted ATARs so I thought that ATARs were taken into account
Also, is there any formula that can be used for GWS applicants?
I have no idea, but I very, very much doubt they change the scaling between interview invite and offer. I would imagine they work their scaling magic and assign applicants a new 'score' (likely calculated in a way similar to A1 has outlined) and that score now makes up 25% of their offer weighting. It wouldn't make sense for WSU to decide "this is important, we will scale in this manner" and then to just throw that out the window for offers.
But that is just my own speculation.
People are using the standard interview invite reporting form (as some Unis will use predicted ATAR/actual ATAR - depending on timing of release). If you look at the collated thread, you will note that predicted ATARs are not recorded.
Only possible if (a) the section scores are 630-530-900-900 (most optimal btwn DM-QR-AR) and
(b) the weightings are 60%VR + 0%DM + 20%QR + 20%AR.
Lawrencealot
Newish member
I had VR:640 DM:690 QR:870 AR:690 Total:2890
No invite so far.
No invite so far.
Is it true that this year for WSU, so many more people with >95% did not get an interview invite compared to previous years? I see so many 2900/3000+ scores missing out by comparison to last year's collated info.
If that’s what you are seeing then that’s probably what everyone else is seeing too!
Fingerscrossed1
Member
No invite here either 
- non GWS - 94%
VR 720
DM 810
QR 730
AR 670
Total 2930
SJ 702
- non GWS - 94%VR 720
DM 810
QR 730
AR 670
Total 2930
SJ 702
Wait whaaaaat your VR score is well above the 670 cutoff at the moment. Let's not give up hope! Please give out some more invites on Monday, WSU
We aren’t thinking that VR has a specific cut-off (WSU have never used cut-offs and nothing we’ve seen so far suggests they are now). Rather, they weight sections differently. It’s very clear they have heavily weighted VR this year to the point that even high (or exceptionally high) scores in non-VR sections can’t quite compensate.
There’s no one VR score likely to rule a candidate out (within reason), rather it’s a combination of factors that mean the weighted UCAT conversion isn’t competitive.
That said, I still hope there are more interviews to go out on Monday!
ETA: obviously our calculations are all speculation (and A1’s stats wizarding), so if WSU admissions would like to confirm or deny, that would be fab
Last edited:
JMP has confirmed they aren’t weighting any sections.
How’s that freedom of information case thingy that lovely med student was preparing going? I really don’t know much about law but I just think for something important like Med school admission, we should be able to verify if the selection criteria is being properly applied. It won’t take anything away from the schools but it will make the students’ confusion drop dramatically.
Can anyone suggest one reason why Med schools like WSU don’t reveal how they use the UCAT? I can’t think of any!
I was listening to a podcast on Spotify hosted by a doctor in the US regarding interview preparation (it’s called ‘The PreMed Years’ if anyone’s interested - highly recommend) & there were a few podcasts with deans of medicine from big name unis like New York uni as guests. I was so surprised that some unis had nothing they hid from applicants with regards to admission. They publish who got the lowest GPA & got in, who got lowest MCAT & got in, who had the lowest combination & got in, how the combination score of GPA & MCAT is calculated & what the percentage chance is for you getting an interview based on your scores. The dean said that she doesn’t understand why other unis keep it a secret when all it does is make the applicants’ lives easier.
Anyway, those are just my thoughts. To see GWS students missing out on an email on Friday with scores as high as 96%ile scores is tough. I know if I had a score that high and was a GWS student that I would definitely be expecting an invite. I’m not saying they should definitely get an interview, im saying that if we knew in advance that scores will be used in the way they are being used to determine interview invites then we can minimise huge anticipation & then disappointment.
Let’s hope we have some more emails on Monday.
Can anyone suggest one reason why Med schools like WSU don’t reveal how they use the UCAT? I can’t think of any!
I was listening to a podcast on Spotify hosted by a doctor in the US regarding interview preparation (it’s called ‘The PreMed Years’ if anyone’s interested - highly recommend) & there were a few podcasts with deans of medicine from big name unis like New York uni as guests. I was so surprised that some unis had nothing they hid from applicants with regards to admission. They publish who got the lowest GPA & got in, who got lowest MCAT & got in, who had the lowest combination & got in, how the combination score of GPA & MCAT is calculated & what the percentage chance is for you getting an interview based on your scores. The dean said that she doesn’t understand why other unis keep it a secret when all it does is make the applicants’ lives easier.
Anyway, those are just my thoughts. To see GWS students missing out on an email on Friday with scores as high as 96%ile scores is tough. I know if I had a score that high and was a GWS student that I would definitely be expecting an invite. I’m not saying they should definitely get an interview, im saying that if we knew in advance that scores will be used in the way they are being used to determine interview invites then we can minimise huge anticipation & then disappointment.
Let’s hope we have some more emails on Monday.
I know. Still, I can't help being a little nervous.
Didn't WSU imply via Facebook replies that they weren't going to rank sections either?
I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone outside of the medicine admissions team running the account. We regularly hear different accounts from different staff members depending on their position at the uni.