Hey galaxy21!
I'm new to ATARNotes so apologies if this is coming out wonky...
So I am currently doing UMEP Bio and still have a semester to go, so perhaps I can't answer
all your questions, but I'll try answering from what I have done so far
is there a great amount of commitment outside of class (e.g. study/homework wise?)
I think it does require quite a bit of commitment, i.e. watching lectures, writing up notes, going to practicals, etc. However, it shouldn't be a massive burden, especially if you've already done 3/4 subjects in Year 11, the free periods really help.. But as reiinicole has said, the pace is quite fast-so be prepared for that
What I have found in Uni is that tutors and lecturers are not like high school teachers-they're not going to hassle you on homework or assignments that needs to be done; you either do it or you don't. In saying that, they don't really assign homeworks
per se, but there is 'essential reading' that we are recommended to do every week.
Studying does get a bit hectic towards the exam, but I reckon everything gets hectic leading up to the exams anyway, so that's to be expected.
is it more beneficial to do it on-campus or at one of the schools?
Honestly, it depends-if you want to experience Uni life, get used to being on campus, meet other people doing their first-year Bachelor of Science-then doing it on-campus would be the best option!
However, if you want to meet other Year 12 students and/or live far away from Melbourne Uni, going to your local school centre would be better.
I'm doing it on-campus, so I can't really say which is more beneficial-though in my opinion doing it on-campus does set you up for Uni if you do end up going to Melbourne Uni.
In comparison to VCE biology, how hard is it to get a good grade? Like how would a 90% in VCE biology be equivalent to for this
Actually a good question-and tbh I did ask the same thing before...
I reckon it's not harder, but different to VCE Bio. There are topics that overlap, but sometimes it goes into more detail, or cover other aspects of the topic.
So it's a bit hard to find the equivalent score. From my experience though, I was averaging ~80% in VCE and got ~70% in Uni. But this score differs from people to people so don't take it as a general rule-who knows you might ace Uni!
Can doing this course help to get into the bachelor of science at melbourne uni?
You still need to satisfy the prerequisite subjects and the clearly-in ATAR to get into science, so it doesn't immediately guarantee you a place.
But, it does allow you to have one less subject to do when you get into Uni (or to be precise 2 less because subjects run in semesters in uni), which means you can have more free time then!
Plus it'll look good on your resume
Is it better to drop a VCE subject to pick this up instead (and do 3 3/4 subjects - I am doing 2 this year) or keep the 4th one too?
Depends on what that 4th subject is and how passionate you feel about it! Keep in mind that to do UMEP Bio you need to be doing VCE 3/4 in Year 12 or have completed 3/4 in Year 11. In saying that, though, if you do only 3 subjects in Year 12, you'll get heaps of spare time which will definitely help in managing time between Uni and VCE.
And how hard is it to get in, too?
I actually don't know-there's no stats on how many applied and how many got in, so I have no idea.... If you've been getting good grades and got all the documents needed, you should be fine!
I hope that helps!!