UQ Will Introduce Interviews

[Announcing] UQ Will Introduce Interviews In 2019 – This Will Affect ALL Medical Schools (Not Just UQ) And How You Can Prepare Yourself For The Changes

Things are changing in a big way. The one and only Australian post-grad medical school which did not do interviews, will now be doing them. This will change the applications landscape for anyone wanting to get into ANY post-grad medical school (not just UQ) from 2019 onwards.

The University of Queensland was the go-to university for people who got a high GAMSAT score and didn’t want to risk doing an interview. It was like a safe-haven – a guaranteed entry for those with high GAMSAT scores and more than a passing GPA of 5.0 but who don’t interview well, or are worried about the process.

Skipping the interviews would have saved the university a lot of money on the costly process – especially considering it has the largest cohort of any post graduate medical school in Australia. It accepts some 140 local and 210 international students every year.

Interviewing enough people to fill those spots is an enormous undertaking because they will need to interview anywhere from 210 to 280 domestic candidates – even more international ones! That’s a logistical nightmare. So no wonder they skipped it for so many years.

However, not doing interviews would have had many unintended consequences for the university, and medicine in general.

The main one being the type of students they had in their degree and the type of doctors they produced. Interviews are a powerful tool to access factors that determine a high quality medical student and doctor.

Qualities such as ethical understanding and behaviour, emotional intelligence, empathy, communication skills, interpersonal skills, teamwork – all vital to making a great doctor – can only be accessed in an interview using the current methods.

The university says on it’s website that they are introducing interviews so that they attract candidates, “who demonstrate the attributes and abilities most suited to the profession of medicine, and most likely to succeed in the MD program.” https://medicine.uq.edu.au/future-students/changes-md-admissions/multiple-mini-interview-mmi

Does that mean the current students don’t fill this requirement?

UQ wasn’t doing interviews for many years. They would have attracted people who could study but may not have the vital skills of a doctor, as mentioned above. That’s a problem – for the university – when students are not keeping up with the personal stresses and challenges of a medical degree; and also for the medical profession – where doctors are lacking these vital skills.

With that said, this does not mean all UQ medical students lack these things, and by no means do we mean to imply that either.

We have helped countless amazing people get into UQ and there are many other amazing students who got in without our help.

However it looks like the cost of having students who were not tested for these skills has outweighed the benefits of skipping the headache of running interviews. It’s a great step for UQ and medicine in general. So, thank you UQ.

However, due to the fact that UQ takes in the largest cohort of any medical school (4 times more than many others), introducing interviews will have HUGE implications on the entry requirements for UQ and all the other medical schools too.

Some can be predicated now, others will be unintended and unexpected.

This adds a new level of uncertainty to an already difficult admissions process for applicants.

How Does This Affect You And Your Application Process?

This is HUGE. It will affect everyone applying for interviews in 2019 and beyond, not just those interested in UQ.

Here’s what I mean:

Firstly, it means that just getting a high GAMSAT score will no longer be enough to get in to a medical school. There is no safe-haven. You now must have the skills they are testing in an interview. There is no more go-to university for people who cannot interview well. 

Secondly, Academic requirements (GPA and GAMSAT) will change for UQ. Most likely, they will fall.

Why?

An applicant in Melbourne with a GAMSAT score of 78 and high GPA may have applied for UQ rather than University of Melbourne (UoM) because they would have been guaranteed a position at UQ without the interview, whereas the interview at UoM would have added an extra hurdle and uncertainty to the process.

Now that they will need to sit an interview wherever they apply, they may as well just choose the local university over UQ. This means that they will take their 78 elsewhere and less people with high scores will be applying for UQ.

Also, a candidate with a lower gamsat score may perform better on the interview than a candidate with a higher GAMSAT scoring one, and will be offered a position, hence lowering the gamsat score.

Thirdly, it opens it up to more potential people who may get a position at UQ. UQ will need to interview at least 210 domestic candidates who now stand a chance of getting into a medical school.

Fourthly, this will also affect other medical schools entrance requirements. Those who would have applied for UQ because there was no interview, will now apply to other schools, raising the entry requirements.

Finally, UQ will get better quality students. They will be screened to ensure they have the personal characteristics and skills to make great students and doctors.

So no matter which university you want to get into, things will be very different in 2019 onwards. There is a lot more uncertainty, scores will rise and everyone needs to know how to interview.

Like I said, this is big.

So how you you make sure you’re ready for the changes? How do you make sure you thrive in this uncertainty?

Simple really, get the highest gamsat score you can and make sure you develop the correct interview skills. There is no way around it now. I often talk about how things are getting more competitive with post graduate medical schools, this is just another example of that. So make sure you’re as prepared as possible and leave nothing to chance.

If you would like help with you GAMSAT score, check this out.

If you would like help with your interview, check this out.