Monash University Interview

[shinny]

Finally got myself to start doing some interview prep. so I was wondering if anyone could help me out with these questions, particularly those who are doing the course.

1. What's the difference between PCL (Monash's one) and PBL (What most other uni's use)? I remember Monash saying there was a difference at the open day.

2. Is there anything unique about the course at Monash? Only thing I found out is the opportunity to gain a BMedSc. Anything I should know about this degree?

3. What's the 'atmosphere' of the course? (Anyone on the Clayton campus could probably answer this)

4. Any details I should know about the 'integrated curriculum'? Is this unique to Monash or is it pretty standard now among all the unis?

5. Anything else show-offy I should know about? Any research projects currently held at Monash I should know? Any past research that has come out of Monash med I could say has inspired me to go there?

6. Anything special about the way they run their clinical experience programs? e.g. Do they offer more years of clinical experience than others etc.

7. Any other general tips on the interview itself?

8. How exactly does Monash go ahead in implementing their 'self-directed learning' program?

[ninwa]

7. Any other general tips on the interview itself?

yes, make sure you practice explaining chemistry concepts in layman's terms. I choked badly on that part of the interview (my term was "exothermic reaction", I had no idea how the hell to explain that one)

[shinny]

Yep already doing that. Detech really scares me. Btw, has anyone had any experience getting non-chemistry words at Monash? I know it's happened at other universities and they've gotten people to explain concepts such as 'jargon', 'IQ', 'social class'. These ones seem MUCH harder.

[dekoyl]

Sorry to hi-jack your thread shin, but this sounds interesting.
So basically for the interview, they ask you a wide range of questions, including picking a difficult concept and asking you to explain the concept in a manner easily understood by everyone?
How would one know about this interview structure? By asking the careers counselor?
It's still early for me but I think it'll be nice to know all this before hand.

[shinny]

The interview structure is on their website, which should answer your previous question too.

[dekoyl]

The interview structure is on their website, which should answer your previous question too.

Ah thanks. I guess I should really start exploring more.

[BA22]

1. What's the difference between PCL (Monash's one) and PBL (What most other uni's use)? I remember Monash saying there was a difference at the open day.

PCL is patient centred learning, PBL is problem based learning. PCL's differ by offering a narative for the patient, incoporating the social and cultural issues of a case as opposed to just the medical problem

2. Is there anything unique about the course at Monash? Only thing I found out is the opportunity to gain a BMedSc. Anything I should know about this degree?

This isn't really worth knowing, as it's very unlikely they'll ask you what seperates monash from the rest of the unis. I suppose you could discuss, if asked, the 4 themes of the course, maybe talk bout the health promotion and community based partnership programs in the second year of the course  

3. What's the 'atmosphere' of the course? (Anyone on the Clayton campus could probably answer this)

The course is, for the most part, laidback. People tend to get on pretty well, although some tutorials see some competitiveness come out, especially anatomy tutes

4. Any details I should know about the 'integrated curriculum'? Is this unique to Monash or is it pretty standard now among all the unis?

This is pretty much standard and you won't really be expected to know much about it, if anything

5. Anything else show-offy I should know about? Any research projects currently held at Monash I should know? Any past research that has come out of Monash med I could say has inspired me to go there?

I wouldn't worry to much about what you know now, the interviewers will be much more interested in you, this isn't a job interview so you don;t particularly need to impress the interviewer. They expect you to be intelligent and knowledgeable, its almost an assumed, so therefore they'll be more interested in other aspects of your personality

6. Anything special about the way they run their clinical experience programs? e.g. Do they offer more years of clinical experience than others etc.

Again not required knowledge, but something worth knowing is that monash do have a strong focus on clinical education. Students visit GP's and hospitals in their first year.

7. Any other general tips on the interview itself?

Just be honest and sincere, they really hope you get in too!

8. How exactly does Monash go ahead in implementing their 'self-directed learning' program?

Students get online tests to complete, you will be given tasks in your tutorials. The lectures won't cover all the material you need to know, this is especially true in anatomy, where you will ahve to do the largest proportion of learning in your own time

[shinny]

Wow thanks BA22. If I encounter any other questions in the next few days, I'll post 'em up.

[xox.happy1.xox]

Good luck, Shinjitsuzx! Hopefully you can do VN proud and get into Medicine;not only for yourself, but also for us '08er's!

[bec]

BA22, that advice is fantastic - much appreciated!

Anyone want to put together some prac detech terms? On this thread (or another, if that would be simpler), we can just put up a word/process and explain it.
I saw a great list on another website but a lot seemed irrelevant to VCE chem etc.

I just tried explaining exothermic reactions (to my dog) and my analogies got a bit too intense..."a reaction is what happens when two things touch each other and make something happen or change. think of it as being like two kids playing together, and they take each others' hats and swap shoes. sometimes when the children are playing, they run around so much that they get hot - that's basically what an exothermic reaction is, one that "makes" heat."

Anyway, to start the list.....explain the pH scale

[shonakennedy]

for pH cant you just say that its a scale for acidity? or does it have to be a full on explanation of detail...

[shinny]

You're explaining to someone which has no knowledge of chemistry whatsoever, so they won't even know what acidity is. Main problem I find is that I'm not sure where to draw the line between clarity (i.e. dumbing down) and scientific correctness. I guess overall I'd opt for the clarity though, since its mainly a test of communication, and not chemistry since we've already been assessed on that.

[BA22]

The best way is to

a) avoid using techincal jargon

b) use an everyday item to make an anology

My friend had to explain condensation, she asked her interviewer to imagine being in the shower and noticing how the windows get wet and fogged up, she explained that a gas becomes a liquid at a cooler temperature. Therefore when the hotter steam, the gas, hits the window, a cool surface, it becomes a liquid.

It's not perfect but a good example of the way in which you should present your example

[shinny]

Anyway, to start the list.....explain the pH scale

For this one, I'm not sure the extent to which I have to explain everything (i.e. what an acid is, what a base is), and if these were required, then the interviewers would just enquire themselves. My response might be something like this:

The pH scale is basically a number which indicates how 'acidic' something is. Think of acids as things that give off 'acid particles'. Whenever an acid acts, there is also something called a base, which is something that takes the acid particles that acids release. Acids and bases are usually found mixed in water, so think of the water as a fruit basket, and the acids as apples, and bases as oranges. The pH scale is basically just a measure of how many apples are found inside this fruit basket, and the numbers it takes generally ranges from 0 to 14. For example, water is given a pH rating of 7 as it has an equal number of apples and oranges. Also, milk has a pH of about 6, and the way that the scale works is that by going down one number, this means that milk has ten times as many apples as water does. Similarly, by going up one number such as with seawater which has a pH of 8, this means that seawater has ten times less apples than water.

And yes I am well aware of the heap of scientific incorrectness in that, but I'm not too fussed and I don't think they are either (such as not relating it back to the consequent decrease/increase of 'oranges' in the last section). Getting rid of technicalities makes this clearer I think, and that's what I'll aim for.

Any takers for electrolytic cell and/or galvanic cell? This has come up before, and this one's hard even using scientific terms -_-"

EDIT: Oh and yes how'd I forget. Any comments/criticisms of what I did? Go all out if you want. That was the first de-tech I did and I've only got 3 days to learn till the interview ._.""

[chlloe]

How did your interview go?