Postgraduate spots held for Year 12s at University of Melbourne

[Sah123]

When are they implementing this change? I would think that it wouldn't be coming into effect as of 2012 but I may be wrong.

[stonecold]

There was a followup story in yesterday's supplement: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/conflict-at-deals-for-top-year-12s/story-e6frgcjx-1226097787947

tldr; they scrapped the 75% requirement for 99.9 students and lowered it to 65% for others

He's out of office for a week, be patient

Paraphrasing what I got because it was rather candid compared to a press release, but it wasn't anything groundbreaking. It's just a rebalancing to make sure more high achievers aren't scared away from the university.

I stand by what I said.  Absolutely disgraceful decision from the university.  The 99.90+ students are already going stupid with their limited undergrad thresholds and now they are being rewarded for it.

When are they implementing this change? I would think that it wouldn't be coming into effect as of 2012 but I may be wrong.

It applies to students who complete VCE between now and 2013.

http://futurestudents.unimelb.edu.au/admissions/entry-requirements/guaranteed-entry/chancellors-scholars-programs

[simpak]

So wait, even 65% for med and for the JD? /:

[stonecold]

So wait, even 65% for med and for the JD? /:

No Mavis...it is just a pass + prereqs for MD and JD now. This is why I have been so annoyed.  :/

It is basically a complete backflip because now they are handing degrees to professional courses based entirely on high school results.

MD still needs a pass in the "satisfactory communication skills" interview, but this can now be taken immediately after VCE results come out and has been watered down.  They will effectively receive unconditional MD spots.  *sighs*

[Russ]

I posted this morning but it was lost when the servers blew up. All the students in the current MD cohort who would have benefited from this had an H1 average anyway etc etc. Still disapprove though.

[EvangelionZeta]

So wait, even 65% for med and for the JD? /:

No Mavis...it is just a pass + prereqs for MD and JD now. This is why I have been so annoyed.  :/

It is basically a complete backflip because now they are handing degrees to professional courses based entirely on high school results.

MD still needs a pass in the "satisfactory communication skills" interview, but this can now be taken immediately after VCE results come out and has been watered down.  They will effectively receive unconditional MD spots.  *sighs*

Seriously guys, the 99.9+ category is, what, sixty people?  And only a fraction of them will study MD/JD at Melbourne anyway?  And as Russ outlined, most of them would have gotten into either without much trouble at all anyway.  This doesn't really change anything at all...just gives more people incentive to choose Melbourne...

I find it interesting that the 65-75 average GPA was considered higher than what was needed to actually get into most of the postgrad courses too...  Again, it just seems to suggest to me that there's way too much fuss about this whole guaranteed entry scheme to begin with, and that really, it doesn't actually affect anyone (ala what I said re: Law earlier - incidentally, I did some research, and the LSAT requirement at Melbourne for a "competitive" spot is relatively easy to obtain).

[Russ]

I find it interesting that the 65-75 average GPA was considered higher than what was needed to actually get into most of the postgrad courses too...  Again, it just seems to suggest to me that there's way too much fuss about this whole guaranteed entry scheme to begin with, and that really, it doesn't actually affect anyone (ala what I said re: Law earlier - incidentally, I did some research, and the LSAT requirement at Melbourne for a "competitive" spot is relatively easy to obtain).

They're stopping just short of academic dishonesty with that though. They've taken the lowest WAM admitted as the cutoff (bearing in mind WAM doesn't translate to GPA easily) and said that since 65 is above that then it's okay to use it. There are students with 70+ averages who won't get into medicine, because it's not just about your academic marks (GAMSAT + MMI make up 2/3rds).

[EvangelionZeta]

I find it interesting that the 65-75 average GPA was considered higher than what was needed to actually get into most of the postgrad courses too...  Again, it just seems to suggest to me that there's way too much fuss about this whole guaranteed entry scheme to begin with, and that really, it doesn't actually affect anyone (ala what I said re: Law earlier - incidentally, I did some research, and the LSAT requirement at Melbourne for a "competitive" spot is relatively easy to obtain).

They're stopping just short of academic dishonesty with that though. They've taken the lowest WAM admitted as the cutoff (bearing in mind WAM doesn't translate to GPA easily) and said that since 65 is above that then it's okay to use it. There are students with 70+ averages who won't get into medicine, because it's not just about your academic marks (GAMSAT + MMI make up 2/3rds).

Med and Law are the only ones unaffected by the 65+ average thing.  No academic dishonesty going on here - they're not saying anything about how hard it is to get into Med and Law.

In relation to the new entry scheme as well, might I also point out that a lot of universities give semi-free entry into Med if the applicant has a 99.90/99.95 ATAR (eg. Monash...).

[Russ]

Good point, I was wrong because I didn't read the fine print and missed the exclusions!