MBBS Categories
Local Applicants
Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents and New Zealand citizens.
International Applicants
All applicants other than Australian citizens, Australian Permanent Residents or New Zealand citizens - either onshore or offshore.
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Applicants
Eligible applicants may apply under this scheme - please visit the ATSI site for further information.
Advanced Science Pathway
Applicants who complete Year 1 (full time) of any of the three Advanced Science courses (Science, Medical Science or Natural Sciences) will be considered for an interview if they achieve a GPA of 5.5 or more, achieve 50 percentile or more in UMAT and have met all mandatory requirements of the Advanced Science course as advised by the Head of Program. There are a total of six spaces available for interview in this category (six in total, not six per course). If there are more eligible applicants than there are interview places, applicants will be ranked using their UMAT total percentile.
Transfer Requests
Applicants who are currently (or have previously been) enrolled in a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery at another university (onshore or overseas) can apply using the Transfer Request form. This category of applicant may apply via UAC to compete for a Year 1 position.
Local Applicants
A local applicant is someone who is either:
· An Australian Citizen
· An Australian Permanent Resident
· A New Zealand Citizen
(NZ permanent residents must apply as an International applicant)
Local applicants must apply by:
1. sitting UMAT
2. applying to the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC)
3. submitting a registration form directly to the UWS School of Medicine
4. submitting a Predicted ATAR (or equivalent) for current school leavers.
1. UMAT
Register and sit the UMAT, conducted by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER). UMAT has strict deadlines for registration and sitting the test. For details about registration and dates for the UMAT please see the ACER web page or contact ACER directly:
Phone: (03) 9277 5746 International: (+61 3) 9277 5746
Fax: (03) 9277 5757 International: (+61 3) 9277 5757
Email: umat@acer.edu.au
2. UAC
Lodge an application with the Universities Admissions Centre NSW and ACT (UAC), ensuring you include: UAC Code 725500 – Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery and/or UAC Code 725510 for BMed/BSurg/BArts.
UAC have strict guidelines and dates for the lodgement of all applications; please see the UAC Guide for full details or contact UAC directly:
Phone: 02 9752 0200
UAC InfoLine: 1900 957 500
3. MBBS Registration Form directly to the UWS School of Medicine
The MBBS Registration form will be available online from 1 August 2011 and will be located on this site. Completed forms must have reached the School of Medicine by 5pm AEST on 30 September 2011. Late applications cannot be considered.
Applicants who submit a registration form on time will receive an auto-confirmation – please keep this for your records.
4. Prediction of Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) Form
If you are currently completing Year 12 you must also submit a Predicted ATAR (or equivalent) form which will be located on this site in August 2011.
This form must be completed by the Principal of your High School (or their delegate) and submitted to the School of Medicine by the due date indicated on the form.
The completed form may be scanned and emailed to medstudent@uws.edu.au or faxed to (02) 4620 3888.
Declaration for Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Applicants
The University has a commitment to the Greater Western Sydney community in which it is located. To that end, a proportion of the places available in this course will be allocated to applicants from the Greater Western Sydney area. Applicants whose residence falls within a School of Medicine specified GWS postcode AND have lived within that GWS defined area for at least five consecutive years immediately prior to course commencement course are eligible to be considered for these places.
The GWS declaration forms part of the online registration form.
Any candidate found to have falsified information regarding their GWS eligibility may be subsequently excluded from the course.
To qualify as a GWS applicant, a candidate must have lived in one of the following local government electorates for at least five consecutive years:
Included Postcodes:
Note: UWS School of Medicine does not recognise the subject bonus nor does it offer early offers. If you accept an early offer you will not be eligible for selection into the School of Medicine. The SoM’s definition of Greater Western Sydney instead using the NSW Government’s boundaries due to the NSW Government’s involvement in the creation of the medical school.
http://future.uws.edu.au/tripleadvantage
Admission Criteria
To be eligible for a place in the MBBS, applicants must meet three criteria - two discrete thresholds (academic and UMAT) plus performance in an interview. The School does not consider any other criteria.Criteria 1 – Academic Rank
Non Greater Western Sydney applicants - ATAR (or equivalent) of 95.5
· Equivalency: IB 37 or higher; OP3 or higher; GCE of A*A*AA or higher
· Up to 1 semester full time GPA = 6.5
· Between 1 semester full time and 1 year GPA = 6.1
· Between 1 year and 3 years GPA = 6.0
· 3 years, but incomplete GPA = 5.6
· Completed degree GPA = 5.6
Greater Western Sydney applicants - ATAR (or equivalent) of 93.5
· Equivalency: IB 35 or higher; OP 4 or higher
· Up to 1 semester full time GPA = 6.0
· Between 1 semester full time and 1 year GPA = 5.7
· Between 1 year and 3 years GPA = 5.5
· 3 years, but incomplete GPA = 5.1
· Completed degree GPA = 5.1
Historical Criteria
Students applying for entry in 2009 were required to achieve a minimum ATAR threshold of 95.00 for non GWS applicants or 93.00 for GWS applicants. However, this requirement has been raised for 2010 as applicants must meet one of the following thresholds: ATAR (or equivalent) of 95.40 for non-Greater Western Sydney [GWS] applicants or 93.55 for GWS applicants or GPA of 5.5 or more on a 7 point scale for students who have completed a degree or have completed a minimum of one year’s full time study in a degree course. The final ranks of applicants are not based on ATAR; a student’s ATAR plays no further role in admissions other than to differentiate between those who achieved the minimum ATAR required and those who didn’t.
In 2007 the median UAI was about 98. There were 43% of students scoring between 98 and 100, 37% scoring between 95 and 97, and 20% scoring between 93 and 94. In 2008, the median UAI was about 99, and in 2009, the median ATAR was just under 99; please note that ATAR is merely a hurdle at UWS and, provided a score over 95 (or 93 GWS applicants), is attained, there is no further consideration of ATAR.
For those students who have undertaken one or more years of tertiary (university) study, but have not completed their degree, students must have attained either an ATAR of 95.40 (93.55 for GWS applicants) or a GPA of 5.5. It is not necessary to fulfill both these requirements.
For graduate students, a GPA of 5.5 or above must have been attained in their bachelor degree (if their undergraduate degree is combined both degrees are included).
For those who are in year 12 at the time they apply, a predicted ATAR (or equivalent) as well as UMAT results will be used to decide who will be invited to interviews. In order for a predicted ATAR to be used, all current year 12 applicants must lodge a Prediction of Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) (or equivalent) form by the advertised deadline. This form will be available online from July, 2010.
For those with combined degrees, grades in both degrees will be included. The degree may be in any discipline, from a University recognised for this purpose by the University of Western Sydney.
NOTE: The School of Medicine is not able to advise applicants if their qualifications meet the required rank. All queries in relation to qualifications and how they are converted should be directed to the UWS Admissions Office via email toadmissions@uws.edu.au.
Currently, the academic requirements are higher than they ever have been previously.
Criteria 2 - UMAT
The threshold level of achievement the University requires in UMAT changes each year and is determined by the performance of all applicants competing for a place in the MBBS course and will not be officially disclosed. GWS applicants may have a slightly lower threshold than non-GWS applicants. However, we are able on MSO, by sampling the wide range of entrance scores to be able to provide a rough estimate for each year. Please refer to the Undergrad Entry forum for details.
Applicants who meet both academic and UMAT thresholds are subsequently invited to interview. Final rankings for offers for the MBBS will be based on interview performance, plus UMAT scores (with a greater emphasis being on the interviews).
Historical Criteria
The threshold level of achievement the University will require in UMAT will be determined each year depending on the performance of all applicants competing for a place in the MBBS course and will not be disclosed, although a MSO estimate is provided below. GWS applicants may have a slightly lower threshold than non-GWS applicants, as mentioned above.
Applicants who meet both academic and UMAT thresholds are subsequently invited to interview. Final rankings for offers into MBBS will be based on interview performance, plus UMAT scores (with a greater emphasis being on the interviews).
The UMAT is worth 33.3% of applicant’s final rank and is used to decide which applicants will be invited for an interview. In 2007, successful applicants were in the top 10% of all students who took the UMAT. A non GWS applicant required an UMAT raw score of 183 to be offered an interview while a GWS applicant required a raw score of 164.
As of 2008, UWS did not use raw scores to assess a candidate's eligibility, rather, a weighted system was used instead. This weighted system is believed to be 1:1:0.5 for sections 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The UMAT cutoff to receive an interview in 2008, was estimated to be 138.5 (weighted) for GWS applicants and 151 (weighted) for non GWS applicants.
In 2009, the UMAT cutoff to receive an interview was estimated to be 137.5 (weighted) for GWS applicants and 152 (weighted) for non GWS applicants.
Criteria 3 - MMI
The interview will take the format of a Multistation Mini Interview (MMI). This involves the applicant being asked a series of questions; each question is asked by a separate interviewer in a separate interview station. Applicants will have approximately eight minutes to respond to the question before being asked to move to the next interview station. Traditionally, there have been 9 stations in total, 8 interviews and 1 rest station.
Applicants who achieve the required minimum ATAR score and UMAT raw score are invited to attend an interview. There are about 300 people interviewed for a total of about 100 places. The interview is worth 66.6% of the applicants final rank.
The interview system used is the Multi-station Mini Interview (MMI). This involves a series of stations that are intended to assess a variety of desirable skills such as empathy, communication, stress and coping skills, teamwork etc. as well as traditional queries about motivation to study medicine and a candidate's background. This style of interview is favoured because of its ability to dilute the chances of interviewer/situational bias.
In 2008, there were 8 different stations with 8 different interviewers. It is thought that this will reduce the impact of ‘easy’ or ‘hard’ interviewers.
In 2009, there were 10 different stations with 9 different interviewers, 8 minutes per interviewer with a rest stop at the tenth.
In 2010, MMIs will be held at the University of Western Sydney’s Campbelltown Campus. Tuesday 30 November to Friday 3 December 2010.
A supplementary round of interviews will be held in late January 2011 for Interstate applicants, plus those applicants who meet the ATAR threshold but whose predicted ATAR did not. Whilst January interviews will not be available to applicants who are unable to attend the December interviews, interstate applicants may choose to attend the December interviews if eligible.
Applicants who are invited to attend an interview but who fail to attend at the specified date, time and location will be regarded as having withdrawn their application. Only those candidates who have attended an interview will be considered for final selection.
MBBS/BA Applicants
The School will take up to three local students into the combined seven year MBBS/BA course. Whilst the application process is identical to the MBBS, students will need to achieve an ATAR (or equivalent rank) of 99.85 to be eligible for consideration into this combined course.
Important dates
TBA - Last day to submit UMAT Application with ACER.
TBA - Sit UMAT
01-Aug-12 - MBBS Registration Form enabled.
31-Aug-12 - International applications close
30-Sep-12 - Applications close at 5.00 pm for local applicants - late forms cannot be accepted.
30-Sep-12 - Last date to submit on time applications to UAC ensuring you place UWS Medicine as a preference.
Early-Oct - All applicants emailed to acknowledge receipt of required information - if any information is missing, you will be notified.
Mid-Oct - All applicants emailed to advise application outcome - those who are not eligible to interview will be advised of the reason.
TBA - Main Round interviews held
TBA - Anticipated Main Round Offers released via UAC
TBA - Interviews for Interstate Applicants
TBA - Year 1 commences
All correspondence will be emailed to the email address you provide on the MBBS registration form - please ensure your email filter is modified to accept emails from [name]@uws.edu.au.
You will receive an auto receipt on lodgement of the MBBS Registration form (please retain this for your records).
You will be contacted in early October if any data is missing from your record. If you have not received an email from the School of Medicine by the end of the first week of October, 2012, please email medstudent@uws.edu.au to advise. Ensure you have checked your "junk" email folder first.
Interview Information
MMIs will be held at the University of Western Sydney’s Campbelltown Campus from (TBA). Candidates will book their own interview time and date via the Automated Interview Booking System, (AIBS). A supplementary round of interviews will be held on (TBA) January 2013 and will be strictly limited to:
· Interstate applicants
· Applicants with a predicted ATAR that does not meet the criteria, who on release of results, become eligible.
Whilst it may be possible to accommodate an Interstate applicant request to attend the December interviews, NSW & ACT applicants are not permitted to attend the supplementary round of interviews.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure they are available for interview. No alternative arrangements will be made for applicants who are unable to attend during the scheduled time.
Applicants who are invited to attend an interview and fail to attend on the specified date, time and location will be regarded as having withdrawn their application. Only those candidates who attend an interview will be considered for final selection.
Full instructions will be included with your invitation to interview.
Prerequisites
There are no formal prerequisites required for study, however, HSC level Chemistry is assumed knowledge.
Offer Categories
The School of Medicine will have approximately 120 places within the four different categories of Commonwealth Supported, Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship Scheme (MRBS), Bonded Medical Places (BMP) and International.
Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP)
A Commonwealth Supported Place is a higher education place for which the Commonwealth Government makes a contribution towards the cost of the student’s education. Students placed into this category have no bonding or government funded scholarship attached to their enrolment. For more information, please seehttp://www.goingtouni.gov.au. The School offers approximately 75 unfettered CSPs each year.
Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship Scheme (MRBS)
The MRBS is a Commonwealth Government initiative to deliver more doctors and improved services to rural communities. Upon completion of the MBBS, students who have entered into a contract with the Commonwealth Government for the scholarship, agree to practice for six years in rural areas of Australia. The School offers approximately four MRBS places each year. The MRBS places are offered after students have commenced the course. For further information regarding the conditions and monetary value of the Scholarship please contact the Department of Health and Ageing on:
Freecall: 1800 248 720
Email: MRBscholarships@health.gov.au
Website: http://www.health.gov.au/mrbscholarships
Bonded Medical Places (BMP) Scheme
This scheme was devised by the Commonwealth Government to provide bonded medical places across all existing medical schools, creating additional CSP places that would not otherwise be available. The School offers approximately 26 BMPs each year.
Students who accept a BMP in the medical course agree to work in a district of workforce shortage for a period of five years upon completion of their subsequent vocational training. To obtain further information on the BMP, please contact the Department of Health and Aging on:
Freecall: 1800 987 104
Email: BMPScheme@health.gov.au
Website: http://www.health.gov.au/bmpscheme
Links
UWS Course Description
UWS SOM Website
UWS Medical Society
Contact Details
Postal Address
School of Medicine
University of Western Sydney
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith South DC NSW 1797
Australia
School Enquiries
Email: medstudent@uws.edu.au
Course Enquiries
Australian Students
Tel: 1300 897 669
Fax: + 61 2 9678 7160
Course enquiries form
International Students
Tel: + 61 2 9852 5499
Fax: + 61 2 9685 9298
International course enquiries form
Manager of Medical School Admissions
Ms Lyndal McCulloch
Ph: (02) 9852 4630
Fax: (02) 9852 4630
Email: l.mcculloch@uws.edu.au
Student Support Officer, School of Medicine
Ms Penny Lee
Ph: (02) 9852 4632
Fax: (02) 9852 4700
Email: p.lee@uws.edu.au
Questions?
If you have any questions about the application process for UWS that have not been answered feel free to ask questions in any of the many threads related to applications or start a new thread if your question hasn't been answered elsewhere.
