Unimelb 2014 entry medicine interviews finished

Yesterday was the last day of the interviews for 2014 medicine entry at the University of Melbourne. I have heard that they have had a shake up on the topics being assessed in the interview!

I hope you have all done well in your interviews. Now it is the long wait until offers.

2014 entry: GEMSAS medicine interview offers and UQ offers released

The GEMSAS medicine interview offers and UQ medicine offers were mostly released yesterday and today, with the GEMSAS unsuccessful application notice also coming out two days ago. To all my students and readers of this blog, congratulations if you have received an interview or offer at UQ. Good luck for your interviews!

Also, commiserations to all of you who may not have received an interview or offer at UQ.

2013 entry: GEMSAS simulations complete, med offers start to be released.

The GEMSAS simulations have completed today after 27 simulations. Some universities have already released offers or are releasing them now, including Wollongong, Monash, Notre Dame (Fremantle) and Melbourne. Some others are yet to release offers. The unsuccessful first round emails have been sent by GEMSAS, although there is probability of receiving later round offers as people decline offers.

All the best if you're still waiting for an offer. Commiserations if you received the letter from GEMSAS, although there is some chance of getting a later round offer.

2013 entry: UniMelb DDS offers released. GEMSAS medicine offers soon...

It seems like the first round of University of Melbourne DDS offers were released today for local students. Congratulations to everyone who has received one!

Both CSP and FFP places were released. If you received no offer or received a FFP offer this round, there is some chance that you will get upgraded as people decline their dentistry offer for a place at  dentistry at another university (eg Sydney Dentistry or UWA dentistry) or for a medicine offer.

The GEMSAS offers for medicine are scheduled for release tomorrow, and will come out after the GEMSAS simulations are complete. It seems like they're up to simulation 16 at the moment...

2013 entry: First GEMSAS simulation. Last week for Unimelb Undergrad semester 2, 2012.

According to a tweet from the Twitter account of Mavis Duncanson (@MavisDuncanson), Head of Population and Public Health and Head of Student Matters at School of Medicine, Sydney (University of Notre Dame Australia), the simulations of the GEMSAS have just begun.

I wonder how many simulations they'll go through this time for 2013 entry. For 2012 entry, there were 19 simulations. Hopefully with experience they'll take less time this time around.

Good luck if you're waiting for an offer!

This week is also the last week of class for UniMelb undergraduate students. Good luck everyone for the upcoming exams!

End of UniMelb medicine interviews, 2013 entry.

Today was the last day for UniMelb medicine and physiotherapy interviews for prospective local students for 2013 entry. Some other universities, such as ANU, have also finished interviewing locals for their medicine admission processes, while other universities will be finishing their interviewing processes soon.

Anyway, since UniMelb have finished their interviews, that means that MD1 students will be back to uni next week (which is the same as undergraduate students at the university). I have been reading some of my pathology textbook, although I also decided to refresh my mind about history taking and examinations. Although PCP1 is only worth 12.5 credit points compared to FBS 81.25 credit points, I still shouldn't neglect it...

2013 entry GEMSAS interviews start

Today is the start of the midsemester break for the University of Melbourne undergraduate students. Over the next few weeks, the universities in GEMSAS other than UQ will interview prospective local medical students.

For UniMelb, interviews will start on 24 September, in just over a week's time. That is the same time that I have my midsemester break for Medicine, which is one week less than for undergraduate students at UniMelb. Last year they used the CSL rooms on level 7 and in the basement. However, at the moment the basement is undergoing renovations, so I guess they'd need to have slightly different arrangement. They expected the basement renovations to finish earlier, but now they expect it to be unavailable for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, my table tennis bat is stranded in the locker there...

Good luck if you have an interview coming up!

2013 entry GEMSAS interview offer simulations done! To be released soon...

GEMSAS has done its last simulation for interview offers and UQ medicine offers for locals for 2013 entry, and all the medical schools are happy with the results of it. They have started to release their interview offers now, although some schools will take a few days to arrange all the interviews. The University of Melbourne MDHS has indicated that they will send out the interview offers tomorrow morning.

Good luck for if you're waiting for an interview offer or UQ offer! Not long to go now... hang in there.

GEMSAS interview offers for 2013 entry delayed until 30 August 2012

The GEMSAS interview offers and UQ medicine place offers for 2013 for local students were initially planned to be released today. However, there has been a slight delay, and according to the GEMSAS website, they are now expected to be released tomorrow; 30 August 2012.

Good luck if you are waiting for an offer!

Approximately one week until GEMSAS interview offers + UQ medicine offers for locals

According to the key dates under the GEMSAS website, the GEMSAS interview offers this year will be released on 29 August 2012. That means that there is a week left if they release as predicted. Good luck if you are a local student waiting for an interview offer, or a place in UQ medicine.

UniMelb undergraduate results out by today (Semester 1, 2012)

Today is the day that Semester 1, 2012 results for UniMelb are supposed to be released by for undergraduate students. For anyone reading who is studying at university, I hope you have done well in your results in the semester which has just gone by.

For those applying to medicine in most unis, now that the semester 1 results are released, the next major event (other than semester 2 itself) is the interview offer date, and then the interview date. If applying to UQ as a first preference, then the next event will hopefully be an offer. It seems like for locals applying to GEMSAS, the interview offers or UQ place offers should be released on 29 August, and for USyd it will be 6 August.

GEMSAS 2011 Participant Survey released + GEMSAS 2012 applications open 30 April 2012.

From the GEMSAS website and the Facebook page of the MDHS faculty at the University of Melbourne, there was a link to an online survey for people who applied through GEMSAS in 2011 for 2012 entry into medical school. The survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=21tUD5dqvdZtYfDzwTauVA%3D%3D

Let them know if you can suggest any improvements.

I notice also on the GEMSAS website that the applications for medical school for 2013 entry will open on 30 April, 2012. It's interesting for them to set a date of opening, because it was never done in the past with either GMAC or the first iteration of GEMSAS for 2012 entry. This opening date is slightly earlier than it was in previous years when it was about one week into May. However, unless they also release GAMSAT results earlier, letting people apply to GEMSAS earlier probably won't be something that affects most people unless they did the GAMSAT last year and not this year so they only have that score to use (and if that score was OK).

[update] MD conditional offer turned into firm offer.

A few days ago, my MD conditional offer was turned into a firm offer, and I was notified through email. It was something I expected to happen, since my GPA after 3 years was almost identical to just after semester 1 of third year (decrease by 0.01 points under the way I think they calculate it), but confirmation is always good.

My Working With Children Check card also came by mail recently, which is good.

Right now, I'm up in Queensland. I'm planning to check out a few medical schools (UQ, Griffith, Bond) among other things. I'm actually in UQ Ipswich right now to see what all the fuss is about. There's plants inside the library haha.


Meanwhile, in admissions related news, GEMSAS seems to have released a few more offers within the past few days.

Indicative interview cutoffs for GEMSAS unis have been released

I'm not sure how long this has been around, but I only noticed just now. GEMSAS has published the indicative scores for 2012 entry for some unis but not others.

It seems like for Melbourne, for those successful in getting an interview, the average GPA was 6.6 and GAMSAT (presumably Melbourne equal section weighted) was 65. For Monash, the cutoff (GPA hurdle 5.0) was 65 GAMSAT for urban applicants and 59 for rural. For comparison, the 2011 entry cutoff scores are here and 2010 entry cutoff are here.

It seems like UWA, Monash and both UNDS and UNDF have risen in GAMSAT cutoff (Monash) or average GPA and GAMSAT (UWA, UNDS and UNDF). Other unis haven't seem to have published averages for both years. This increase in scores has also been noted on the Paging Dr Forum, together with increases for other unis too.

There are a few possible factors in the increase. One is the GEMSAS system itself meaning relatively strong applicants did not fall through the cracks; where they would have been eligible for interview at preference 2 if they put it first in the past (for example Monash), but may not have gotten an interview after being passed on.

Another factor (especially for Melbourne, Monash and Deakin) is that there were a lot more Melbourne Biomedicine students graduating this year than last year. The number is approximately 367 this year and about 215 last year. There were also more science students at Melbourne graduating this year than last year. This increase in demand for places at Melbourne in particular without a corresponding increase in places at Melbourne, and also an increased demand for Monash and Deakin (in Victoria) as a flow on effect and a bit less so in other unis interstate, has driven up scores.

For Flinders in particular, it has been noted that provisional entry people who will enter in 2012 (prior to this there were no provisional entry people entering Flinders) has driven up scores there, due to reduced supply available to non-provisionals.


In the past, it was said that graduate entry medicine had a lot less competition than undergraduate entry medicine. I remember being told during year 11 or 12 that if I didn't get into undergraduate medicine (which I didn't), then graduate entry had a much higher success rate. Perhaps with Melbourne, an arguably prestigious uni, switching to graduate entry only (Melbourne model), and UWA following, more and more people will be persuaded to try for graduate entry medicine after initially not getting into undergraduate medicine, rather than giving up. Also it seems like more and more people know of the graduate entry path. Maybe there will be a time in the future when the success rate of graduate entry will diminish to be similar to undergraduate entry.

GEMSAS first round of top up offers released

Some of the first top up offers (ie second round offers) have started to be released. From the twitter account of Lyndal Parker-Newlyn, Associate Professor of Medical Education at the University of Wollongong (who also posts on Paging Dr), it seems like Wollongong has made 5 top up offers. Other unis should also send them out soon. Good luck if you're waiting for one.

GEMSAS second round offers: 12-14 December

Just in case anyone's missed it, I've read from the Paging Dr Forum that the GEMSAS "first round of top-up offers" is expected on 12-14 December. This is shown in the GEMSAS website too, which is listed under my "official websites" links.

Good luck for second round offers if you haven't received one yet. It seems like some people have declined GEMSAS offers for USyd (and also the other way around), and there has been two-way declining between med and dent too.

UQ (lower preference) issue appears to be resolved + GEMSAS critique

On the paging dr forum, a member (naskies) posted that UQ has updated the cut off scores for domestic students for 2012 entry. Whereas it was previously 73 for CSP and 66* for BMP, it now displays as 72 for CSP and 64* for BMP.

From that, I think two things can explain this:

The first (less likely) reason is that maybe UQ reserved some places for offers in the offer round after the GEMSAS offers in case people were not successful in higher preferenced universities and got passed onto UQ by the computer.

The second (I think more likely) reason is that enough people who received places from both USyd (who pulled out of the GEMSAS consortium) and UQ declined their UQ offer for USyd, so this was more than enough to compensate for the number of people who got passed onto UQ from higher preferenced unis and above UQ's initial cutoff score.

Either way, the issue of not getting a place from UQ as a lower preference, even if your GAMSAT would have met the cutoff if you preferenced them first, now seems to have disappeared. This is a good outcome.


I feel that the GEMSAS system is a definite improvement over the old system. There are two possible improvements though, which I see some others have noted too.

One of them is if you can fine tune the preference list so you can put a CSP from a lower preferenced uni higher than a BMP for a higher preferenced university, for example; especially a CSP or BMP from one lower preferenced uni above a FFP from a higher up one on the preference list. I know someone who had the scores for a UQ CSP but got a FFP at Melbourne.

The second one is that if someone (person A) pulls out of their offer at a given university, someone else (person B) should be able to take it, regardless of whether or not they already have a place at a lower preferenced university. Although it would be more hassle for the unis, it's not really fair for an applicant who had a lower combined score (person C) to get a place at that particular university just because he didn't already have a place, ahead of someone (person B) who happened to be offered a place at another university lower on their preference list. People should be able to receive second round offers higher up than their initial one if they are eligible and competitive, like they do in VTAC, UAC, TISC etc.


There's also another argument about how interviews are not entirely the same everywhere, so perhaps the whole thing about standardizing interview scores might be frowned upon, although if we want to get around this, then we have to let everyone go and sit interviews at all unis they preference and have competitive scores before interviews for. So it depends on what people think the balance between inconvenience and cost, compared to having the "right interview format", should be.

GPA... GAMSAT... Interview...: One year on

It's been one year since I made my first post on my blog, back in 24 November 2010. And it has really been quite an interesting year since then.

At the end of last year, I visited Malaysia and Singapore, as noted a few blog posts back. This was my first visit ever to Asia, and Malaysia was the first developing country that I have ever visited. It was an interesting experience to have.

After that holiday and about half a month break, I started uni again for my final year of biomed; earlier than most other people because I enrolled in a summer semester of linear algebra. I decided to do this because I felt it might be beneficial to have a lighter workload in semester two so I could prepare for the Melbourne interview if necessary. The subject wasn't that intense, and it still felt like a break (technically it was a half workload too anyway; you can usually take up to two subjects in summer).

After that came the start of the standard Semester 1. A full load this semester, like most other uni semesters. Within the semester, there was the GAMSAT. I already sat it last year and did reasonably well, but I wanted to improve my score if possible still. After sitting it and waiting almost eight weeks for results, I was pleased that I improved on my old results, from 77 overall (70 Melbourne) to 83 overall (77 Melbourne); while maintaining a 100 in the science section. Waiting for those results took most of the semester.

Meanwhile, it was known that USyd was conducting interviews during the midyear break. Because it was before the Melbourne interview, I felt it would be good to have a go and have a practice. It would also have been a good backup if I didn't get into Melbourne. It was also my first time visiting Sydney in over ten years. However, I didn't prepare enough before the interview, and I didn't get a CSP offer at USyd.

Anyway, so there was Semester 2, with a lighter workload due to taking Linear Algebra in summer. I got a Melbourne interview, as I thought I would, and this time I did a lot more preparation. I felt more confident out of the interview, and after six to seven weeks of waiting for GEMSAS, I received my MD CSP provisional offer from Melbourne. Then I finished all my exams for biomed, and this is where things stand today; waiting for exam results for semester two.

During this one year since I started this blog, I've noticed that the number of blog views have increased over time. In November and December 2010, there were hardly any hits. In January 2011, the number of hits went up noticeably to 150, and stayed around there for a while. There was a noticeable spike at May when the GAMSAT results were released, and it's stayed around that mark until this month where views rose dramatically due to the GEMSAS offers being released and the suspense leading up to it, with @deakinblog publishing a few links to some of my posts. I expect the view count to ease off next month though, since there is not going to be anything as big as the GEMSAS offers then, or any time soon.

I'd like to thank all the readers of my blog for their interest in what I have to say, especially those who have posted constructive comments which have led to good discussions about any issues I have raised. I hope you all continue to enjoy reading my blog into the future.

[update] Melbourne offer! CSP Metro 1!

This evening, I received my provisional offer from the University of Melbourne! It was a CSP Metro 1 too; the best possible outcome for me.

Monash, Deakin, UWA and Griffith have also sent out offers today, as well as GEMSAS sending out an "e-mail of death" (or coma as the new vocabulary is).

Anyway, this is good for me. I'm happy with the outcome. I will write another post this evening detailing more about my experience with the interviews and the admissions process.

I hope those who applied and are reading this got offers. If not, I wish you all the best for the next round of offers, or in trying again next year if you're still determined to get into medicine.

[update] GEMSAS simulation round 19 becomes main round offer list!

Just tonight, all the unis from GEMSAS agreed with the results of the 19th simulation round of the GEMSAS. The University of Wollongong has released all their offers tonight, and successful applicants from some other unis can expect to receive them tomorrow.

It's nice to see that they can stick to their deadline. Hopefully the process can be sped up next year with a code already in place.

I'll be waiting for tomorrow in anticipation. I wonder if I got into Melbourne. We shall see soon enough!


On another note, for the first half of this month, I've received page views greater than the total for any other month in my blog's history. After some investigation looking at my blog stats, it seems like @deakinblog on twitter posted a link to my previous post about the 17th GEMSAS simulation, and as a result I've been receiving a lot of hits through that. Apart from that, I've received the usual results through Paging Dr which have increased recently due to the imminent release of GEMSAS offers.

Anyway, to all the people who are seeing this blog for the first time, welcome. I hope to provide good reading for you into the future.