The Universities Admissions Centre, abbreviated as UAC, is the largest tertiary admissions centre that manages the application process of most undergraduate universities that follow the UAC guidelines. Most institutions under the UAC Consortium are situated in New South Wales and ACT. Furthermore, the Universities Admissions Centre is currently collaborating with universities that offer postgraduate courses, such as the University of Notre Dame and University of Sydney, to process student's medical applications.
This particular piece will shed light on the UAC medicine application for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, UAC medicine GPA, and ATAR requirements across Australian medical schools.
Navigating through the UAC website is relatively easy, and if you are a Year 12 student, you will be asked specifically for entry requirements to qualify for a UAC medicine course. So let us get right into the core of the matter and discuss the eligibility criteria to apply for undergraduate medicine:
Now that you have a detailed understanding of the undergraduate medicine application process, let us further probe into the postgraduate medicine eligibility criteria:
The first important factor about ATAR is that it is not a score but a rank you receive amongst other applicants in your cohort. Therefore, universities are then inclined to your ATAR as it eases the admission procedure to select eligible students.
Before we dive into how UAC calculates your ATAR, it is important to understand if you are eligible to receive one.
The eligibility criteria for an ATAR in NSW can be compiled as follows:
After determining your eligibility to receive an ATAR, you can dedicate a brief duration to understand the ATAR scaling process. So, first, let us break down UAC's ATAR scaling procedure using a simple real-life analogy of differing currency values from across the world.
We are certain that you know $1 (AUD) is not equal in value to $1 (US Dollar), this is because individual units of different currencies vary due to multiple factors. Similarly, you can't compare the marks allocated in different courses because the courses are entirely different. Hence, the scaling process is introduced to simplify and fairly weigh the marks achieved in different courses.
The main purpose of the UAC scaling system is to derive a mean and distribute marks obtained in the course parallel to the mean and distribution of marks a student achieves in all of their HSC subjects. Regardless of the proportion of scaled scores, you must still achieve a high HSC mark to obtain a high scaled score.
That students who achieve a higher rank usually go for these courses.
Just as how significant an ATAR is to pursue an undergraduate medical degree, GPA scores are equally relevant to undertake a postgraduate medicine. Different universities have distinct approaches to compare an applicant's achievements. Hence, UAC converts these grades into numerical values and calculates a standardised grade point average (GPA). Kindly note that UAC considers the grade equivalent of a student's marks over the individual marks.
The UAC takes the following factors into account while calculating the GPA scores:
The UAC's GPA calculation utilises a 7-point numeric scale, where the number 7 represents the highest level of achievement, while 0 is the lowest.
The following table summarises the numeric equivalent to each grade:
Additionally, here’s an arithmetic way of calculating your GPA:
GPA = ∑ (credit value x grade)
∑ credit/load value
Note: The GPA is a summation of the credit value obtained in each subject multiplied by the numeric values of the grades (as mentioned above), divided by the summation of credit values for all the grades. The ∑ symbol refers to the total value obtained from adding all the grades/credit values. Additionally, some universities will weight your GPA according to the year of attainment. For example, in your first year of study, courses are weighted ⅓ of what they are weighted in your third year of university. For more information, check out the GPA section of the Ultimate Guide to University Applications.
Now that you have assembled the relevant documents, it is time to submit your medical school application through UAC. Based on the number of preferences listed in the above section, it is highly critical to lay out the course you most likely wish to pursue on top, followed by your second, third, fourth and fifth preferences. UAC's allocation process is fair and transparent; hence if you are declined on your first preference, you will be equally considered for your following preferences amongst other eligible applicants.
Interested applicants must visit the UAC website to create login details, upload academic transcripts and personal information to apply before the 30 September. Fortunately, as per the UAC guidelines, eligible applicants are invited for a medical interview regardless of their order of preferences.
The postgraduate medicine application process under UAC is no different from the undergraduate medicine process. To apply to a medical school that is participating in the UAC Consortium, you are required to apply through the UAC website, but instead of choosing undergraduate from the drop-down list, you click on the postgraduate icon.
Once your e-application opens, the UAC website will direct you to provide personal information, upload academic transcripts and click 'Continue' to land on the course preferences page.
Once you successfully navigate your way through to the course preferences, you can now add up to six-course preferences in the order of your most favoured course, followed by your second preference, and so on. After completing this step, you can choose to apply to all universities in the drop-down list or simply stick to the specific universities that offer your preferred courses.
Besides the fact that UAC processes applications for more than 2,000 undergraduate courses, UAC also provides free support to schools and students through their community engagement programs.
We hope that our UAC Admissions Guide was useful, for both undergraduate and postgraduate medicine programs across Australia. Fraser's website is an information hub that generates relevant content for the UCAT, GAMSAT and the medical interview process.
Furthermore, our website also hosts an array of useful FREE Resources and Tools that provides solid insights into GAMSAT preparation, UCAT study preparation and ways to ace panel interviews and approach MMI stations. Make certain you read our articles to familiarise yourself with admission related information and important key dates to progress with your application.