Review of decisions of the past year

Today I've been thinking of the various decisions that I have made with respect to medical school admission in the past year. While ultimately I will get a clearer picture at the end of the year, here are my thoughts right now:

Firstly, it was the correct decision to repeat the GAMSAT, despite my score last year being "high". My mark improved by 6 on the "normal" weighted scale, and 7 on the weird "equal weighting" used by UniMelb. I do predict that the Melbourne cutoff will rise this year because of the increase in biomed graduates, and any higher score is useful. Furthermore, the USyd experience has shown that my interview ability is rather weak like I thought it was, so a higher GAMSAT would be a very useful buffer in the selection overall score, especially for UniMelb where they don't have a minimum interview score required unlike USyd.

Secondly, it was the correct decision to apply to USyd. Although it hasn't offered me a safety net like I hoped it might, applying there required me to think about some MMI questions. I also got some real MMI experience too and have identified some things to work on for next time. This can only help for a possible Melbourne interview.

As for the other decisions, it is impossible to tell if I made the right decision right now. If the UQ issue has been resolved, then the GEMSAS preference list that I drew up is the correct one. However, if it has not been resolved, and if I also happen to not get into UniMelb, then it may not have been the right one (although it also means that I should have tried harder for practicing for the interview for Melbourne).

Apart from that, if both the UQ issue is not resolved, and I did not get into Melbourne, then it may mean that I should have applied to dentistry in Melbourne (no interview). To be honest, it was only during this year when I seriously considered dentistry, sparked by the lecture that the dentistry guy gave during the DPhysio/MD/DDS info session (he was pretty funny and perhaps his speech was rather unconventional). I have become more and more interested about the OMS (oral/maxillofacial surgery) specialization which requires both medicine and dentistry this year, partially because I like being at uni (and without wasting time either), and partially because both medicine and dentistry seem interesting. But if I do get into medicine, then not applying would have been the right decision, since then I wouldn't need to pay $100 in application fees this year.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Or rather not. I guess I'll have to practice for the interview. That is best thing that I can do now.

USyd interviews: what went wrong. Points to improve for Melbourne.

I am not talkative in real life. Also, I am younger than most other people applying for graduate entry med (and male, so perhaps less mature than females the same age), and have not been in a job with lots of teamwork involved, so have not had many experiences with difficult interpersonal situations. So I haven't had much experience for those scenarios similar to some interview questions. Also, I score significantly above the average on the autism spectrum test, although not enough for a diagnosis. I also scored less than 50 in section two of the UMAT back in year 12; the "Understanding People" section. All these factors, and maybe more which I can't think of right now, make interviews difficult for me.

However, that does not mean that I cannot perform well in interviews given enough practice. Maybe I need a lot more practice than usual people though. There is also a list of things which I could have done differently for USyd if I was more serious (instead of it being a backup for Melbourne). I could have refused to turn it into a holiday with more than one other family member, and just focused on the interview and come back. I could have taken a plane instead of go by car, so I had more time to learn the answers that the interview practice group I was in came up with, and had more of a rest. Also, I could have told family members not to book cheap accommodation, where the place incidentally stuffed up our booking and made things stressful in the night before the interview. I could also have booked the interview on any day other than the first day of interviews to give myself a bit more time to learn the answers. And of course, as stated in an earlier post, I could act more confident.

Of these things, a lot of them (to do with traveling) are not applicable to the Melbourne interview, since I live in Melbourne. However, I do need to practice speaking confidently and looking in peoples' eyes (and not looking at the "silent observer" either but only the interviewer in front of me, although I do pay attention to the need to do that already), especially since apparently there is more nonverbal than verbal communication, although personally I find text communication or voice communication perfectly OK apart from when I have to draw diagrams or use math formulas which are hard to type or say, and I need to spend time to memorize answers. Also, maybe I shouldn't book for the first day of interviews if I have a choice.

Ah well. The main thing for Melbourne is more practice I guess. Notwithstanding the starting disadvantage that I may have, enough practice should be able to make up for it. If my improvement in section two of the GAMSAT (written communication) by 18 points was anything to go by (although a lot of it was luck), there is definitely hope for improvement of the interview...

[update] No USyd offer. Have to practice more for Melbourne.

The USyd medicine offers were released a lot earlier than expected today. Unfortunately, I didn't get one. I didn't apply for BMP though, only unbonded CSP. That said, there has been no mention of anyone who was on a "waitlist" on the forums, so it is possible that people will get offers after rejection in the future as people decline USyd offers for some on the GEMSAS consortium.

Anyway, I wasn't that confident out of the interview, so that wasn't too unexpected. I guess I'll have to work more on skills before Melbourne though. That interview offer may come out in a few weeks. It's good that I have had practice, although the bad thing is that I have not much of a safety net anymore, if the UQ issue is not resolved. Ah well, I did not really expect to have this experience anyway in the first place, and Melbourne has always been the aim. So I'll just let this experience guide me hopefully to a stronger performance in a Melbourne interview.

[update] Semester two has begun. Getting back into the uni routine.

As you would know from reading, this is my first week back at uni for semester two. The first one or two weeks in a semester involve getting back into a routine, and knowing roughly where and when each class is. The train was late on my first day back though (Monday), as is often the case in Melbourne, so I was late for my first class.

It is now three weeks to mid-August, when the USyd offers come out. Unlike what I said before though, the other unis' interview offers seem to be from 25-31 August according to the GMAC admission guide instead of mid-August. So they are one to two weeks after USyd offers.

Historically, UQ offers have been released before other unis' interview offers in the consortium. If I don't get an offer when UQ releases their main round offers, and if my GAMSAT score was higher than cutoff, then that would be an early indication that it is likely that Melbourne has given me an interview offer, since UQ is my second preference.

I guess that's about all I have to say for now.

[update] Semester two in three days

Semester two starts in three days. I only have three subjects this semester since I did a subject in summer semester. This was a deliberate plan on my part, because I wanted extra time for interview preparation just before a hypothetical Melbourne or other consortium uni interview. There would be extra time for practice with fewer subjects to worry about.

I also hope to actually get time to read my textbook. In the past for subjects in uni, I did read the textbook a bit for some of the biological type subjects, but often for less than half the covered material in class. The notes in uni usually cover most of the things to learn, and unlike VCE, the uni textbooks have a lot of unexaminable content there since they are not specifically designed for the subject (I hear of a major subject in some other people doing my course where the material taught in lectures is just all of a textbook, but that is unfortunately the exception rather than the rule). I also couldn't be bothered finding up the page reference numbers for what to read, unlike in VCE where I simply read the physics and chem books from start to finish; all of the chem book and the physics book for the distinct chapters which covered the core content and the detailed study we were taught to do.

That said, I think reading the textbook is good at third year level. It seems that often the same textbooks were prescribed for second and third year level, and only a bit of it was used in second year and a lot more was used in third year. So I'll try to do that this semester. Hopefully that will integrate knowledge better.

Apart from that... interviews... one month to find out the result from USyd and see if I get a Melbourne interview. It would have been more comforting if I knew for sure that the UQ issue is resolved, but I don't know that. That said, the plan A has always been to get into the Melbourne Medicine course.

Anyway, so semester two. It's the final semester of biomed if all things go to plan. It is likely to be the semester where I go to an interview for UniMelb medicine. It is also during then that I'll know whether or not I have received medical school offers for USyd and UniMelb medicine, setting the path for the next four years ahead. And it will begin in three days. I hope for a good outcome.

Let the games begin!

Support concession public transport travel for postgraduate and international students

Some of you who read this blog may have noticed that I have recently put links on the right hand side of my blog. Today, I added two extra links about concession travel on public transport.

How does it relate to my blog? Well, since the University of Melbourne gives an MD for medicine, which is classified as a masters level degree, instead of a MBBS like other unis in Australia, medicine students (and students of other professional degrees) at the University of Melbourne under the Melbourne Model are not eligible for concession travel, even though those at Monash and Deakin (for example) are eligible. Even before the worthy arguments about how "traditional" postgraduate degree students should have concession travel have taken place (which they do in most non-Victorian states), the current discrepancy between professional degrees of the same function in UniMelb and Monash for example, simply because Melbourne calls them "master level degrees", should rightly be addressed. (see http://www.capa.edu.au/transportconcessions)

Now... what can you do about it? I'm not sure how much this will help, but you can help by signing the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations Incorporated petition. You can also contact the transport minister in Victoria, Terry Mulder, through a contact form here. Or you can contact your local MP. That said, the issue has been around for quite some time now, but has not yet been resolved. We can always hope that this worthwhile issue gets attention in the future though.

Thank you for your support.

[update] One month until mid-August: USyd offers and GEMSAS interview offers

In about one month, it will be mid-August. That is when the USyd the main round of domestic medicine and dentistry offers are released, and when the GEMSAS/ACER interview offers will be released. Of course, I am hoping to get an offer at USyd, and I would be a bit disappointed if I didn't, but after all my first preference was always Melbourne. Either way, it will give me an indication of how much I must practice before the Melbourne interview which may turn up.

Anyway, semester two is just around the corner in a week an a half. Mid-August therefore lies in the fourth week of the semester, although if things are a bit early we may get the USyd offers and GEMSAS interview offers late in the third week.

That wasn't much of a break really. It was filled with interruptions due to interview practice and having to go to Sydney to interview. That said, it was an experience that I think was invaluable. On the other hand, if the break was too long, I might have become bored with not much to do, which has happened in the past.

Ah well. One and a half weeks to semester two, and about a month until USyd offers and GEMSAS interview offers, which hopefully will be a University of Melbourne one. After one and a half weeks, there's going to be study and interview practice ahead!

The difference between the GAMSAT and the interview (not so serious)

Sometimes people draw similarities between the GAMSAT and interview. After all, they are both high stakes hurdles where performance is measured in order to get into medical school. They both involve thinking very quickly to come up with the right answer (or a right answer in the interview or GAMSAT section 2 where there is more than one possible acceptable response).

However, there are a few serious differences. For instance, the GAMSAT is highly standardized while the interview is not so repeatable even under an MMI format of eight stations (although it is a great improvement over a panel interview where most of the variation of scores is due to the bias of interviewers to interviewees rather than actual ability). And of course, they test very different types of thinking, and there is little correlation between GAMSAT and MMI performance, although USyd found a positive correlation between the interview and GAMSAT sections one (humanities) or two (writing), and a slightly negative correlation between MMI and GAMSAT section three (science) performance.

As for another difference, despite both requiring quick thinking, there is another crucial difference in preparation. For the GAMSAT, I tried to come in as comfortable clothes as possible, so that I would not be hindered by my clothes while trying to write or think. I wore a polo shirt and tracksuit pants inside some windcheaters and sports jackets. I wore runners for footwear.

On the other hand, for the interview, in order to create a good impression, I wore a white shirt and a tie, trousers, leather shoes and a suit. Very different indeed. That said, I don't really hate wearing those interview type of clothes, although they are not the most comfortable things to wear. I don't wear them very often though. I actually don't think that GAMSAT scores would be affected that much by having more comfortable clothes though, although any suspected difference is useful. It would seem more likely that the GAMSAT performance would be better with more comfortable clothes than with less comfortable ones though, although I do not know of any such study demonstrating anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if a really big sample size was required to see any effect, and then it would also could not be a double-blind study either, as it's pretty obvious to yourself what clothes you are wearing. At best, the only thing that could happen was that the participants not know the actual objective of the study (that is, comparing comfortable with not so comfortable clothes, even if the clothes are supplied by the study designers for randomization etc purposes) and that they just took intelligence tests without knowing the actual study purpose. Anyway, I guess that's overthinking it a bit.

[update] Back home after the trip.

Today I have arrived back home after the USyd interview trip. Now the wait for the outcome really starts. The outcome is expected to be known in mid-August. About five weeks.

Given my position coming into the interview due to GAMSAT (83 overall), I would be a bit disappointed if I failed the interview. However, I think my score may be borderline, although I find it hard to judge how I went. Some stations went well, others not so. Just have to wait and see I guess. If it happened though, I guess it doesn't really matter, but it means I have not much of a safety net left, unless the UQ issue is really resolved (which may or may not be the case).

If I really wanted to go to USyd though, the prudent thing to do would be to neglect studying for my exams during the exam period (since I would have passed the 5.5 hurdle this year with passes in both semesters anyway) and just study up on the interview. However, that was not the plan. Since I do want to go to unimelb, GPA is good to focus on, given unimelb weights GPA in ranking and third year has the highest weighting in their GPA (unlike USyd, UQ which weight all years equally).

Anyway, the next main test on the horizon will be a likely Melbourne interview. Unlike USyd, unimelb's interview has no minimum pass mark, so that is good for me. I'll have to prepare for that before the midsem break of semester 2. Seems like quite a bit of time. In any case, I guess I have gained more interview experience from USyd which will hopefully help a bit.

That's about it for now. There seems to be about two weeks and two days left to the break. Then it'd be back to uni for semester two, with all the studying again, and with interview practice for unimelb (or some other uni in the unlikely case that the cutoffs rise that dramatically for unimelb) in between. Then I hope I can get an offer or two in that time before the end of the year.

[update] USyd interview complete...

I just completed my USyd interview recently. I could have done better. I wouldn't be surprised if I pass or failed. I hope I passed though, but if I failed, then I would be a bit disappointed, but I guess it is not too bad. At least I did get some practice before Melbourne's one.

I should have been more confident when they asked me whether I had more things to mention, and said no, instead of spending time being unsure about what to say. Ah well. Obviously I will not say what questions were asked here, as that is unethical and breaches the confidentiality agreement.

Anyway, I have visited the Reserve Bank of Australia like planned. I will be back home in a few days.

I hope everyone who has done interviews has gone well. Anyway, the computer here is running out of time now, so I'll talk later.

[update] Semester one results released.

Yesterday my results were released for semester one. I got 3 subjects 80+ which all have a GAMSA grade of 7.0 (two barely) and one 75-79 with a GAMSA grade of 6.5. While I would have liked all H1, I am OK with this. This makes my weighted GPA about 6.8 after semester one. I guess all I would need was a pass for semester 1 and sem 2 for USyd or UQ as GPA is only a hurdle there (5.5 or 5.0 unweighted), although Melbourne is my first preference so I am still trying to get 80+ marks for everything.

Ironically, the subject which I did worst in had the most multiple choice and the one I did best in had no multiple choice in midsems and exams, and they were essay type questions. However I guess I was the most confident in that subject's subject material.

Anyway... so I passed everything by quite a margin like I expected myself to do, and things seem to be going quite smoothly so far. It's good that I have received my semester results before my interview. Next week I will be having a USyd medical interview. I'm not 100% confident, much less so than for the GAMSAT. I hope I can pass this thing too. Hopefully all the preparation that I have done will become useful in the end.