Medicine FAQ / So You Want To Be A Doctor

[whys]

Also I just wanted to ask, what's the minimum ATAR and UCAT score that a person who goes to a disadvantaged school get and still get into undergrad medicine?

I'm not a med student/doctor, but there is no hard and fast rule. It also depends on the uni - I'll assume Monash. If you have Monash Guarantee, you are guaranteed an interview, but nothing else. If you have SEAS, that's good to help you meet the ATAR requirement/reach a competitive ATAR the uni will consider. For UCAT, a 90+ percentile is safe, and 95+ is safer, but people have gotten in with a lower percentile due to better ATARs/interviews. There are people with 99.50< ATARs who don't get in, and people with sub-98 ATARs who do get in. Monash weights all 3 sections equally, so there can be no definite answer as to what ATAR/UCAT will guarantee entry due to the presence and equal weighting of an interview. I was once told that an ATAR greater than 99.50 would be safe for Monash med, but not sure how true that holds. Always be on the safer side and aim high though! I know this answer probably wasn't that helpful, but unfortunately, there are no exact scores that will definitely guarantee entry into undergrad med, since it really varies.

[vox nihili]

Also I just wanted to ask, what's the minimum ATAR and UCAT score that a person who goes to a disadvantaged school get and still get into undergrad medicine?

The tldr of this is that there's no minimum and it changes year by year. As above, I've had friends who've got a 99+ ATAR and done decently on the UCAT (then UMAT) and not got in, but friends who've got an ATAR in the 95s and a UMAT in the low 80s and got in on a BMP.

[Comet striker]

any extracurricular activities that would be helpful towards your application? Would it be a huge determining factor?

[Sine]

any extracurricular activities that would be helpful towards your application? Would it be a huge determining factor?

Nah, it wouldn't be too much of a determining factor. Personally I am not a fan of students doing extracurricular activities for the sole reason of an application or an interview.

[Lear]

What is the maximum time that you would travel to do medicine at Monash Uni (undergrad)?
Would 2 hours on public transport each way be too much? And which campus do you study at exactly?

I was in the same position as this last year and was going to be in this year until COVID-19 happened. 2 hours one way via train and 1:30 one way if I drove (take into account exorbitant parking + toll fees).
I did the travel from the outer western suburbs to Clayton daily except for the odd Wednesday we had off, even showing up for most 8 am lectures. I believe it is somewhat manageable for preclinical but during clinical years it is not sustainable. Believe it or not, some have it worse. I know someone who did 3 hours one way and couldn't afford to miss a V/Line as the next one was often 2 hours later.

TLDR: Doable but you will eventually need to move out.

[1292]

Hi! I was just wondering if anyone has any advice for UNSW Med applications, anything they like to see, or just general recommendations. The questions are the likes of 'Tell us about yourself' and 'Why do you want to be a doctor?', which are really broad questions but the word limit is small so I need to pick what I say carefully and not ramble lol:) thank uuuu

[lm21074]

Hey 1292,

I don't have any experience applying to UNSW med, so someone with experience might be able to give you a better answer.

Why do you want to be a doctor? What kinds of experiences / events (if any) have shaped your decision? Talk about why you think medicine is right for you, with reference to specific aspects about being a doctor (e.g. doctors diagnose diseases, more in depth with the biomedical sciences than some other health professions). For the second question, you could potentially write about some experiences in life, the lessons you've learnt from them and how they link to your desire to study medicine / be a doctor.

With the word limits, it might be helpful to write answers to these questions and summarise them to cut them down to the word limit in order to end up only including the most important details).

From what I've seen, there have been a few people who have applied to UNSW med on this forum, so it could be helpful to PM them. Having a google, using the MedStudentsOnline forum and PagingDr (good for past interview questions) forums might be of use too.

All the best

[ghtoghto]

Hey,

So for undergraduate medicine, I know that for Newcastle/new England they accept people who are first/second year uni students but are there also any other universities that have this as an option?

Thanks