UNSW Medicine Information Evening 2025

Estimated read time: 1:20

Learn to use AI like a Pro

Get the latest AI workflows to boost your productivity and business performance, delivered weekly by expert consultants. Enjoy step-by-step guides, weekly Q&A sessions, and full access to our AI workflow archive.

Summary

The 2025 UNSW Medicine Information Evening hosted by the UNSW Community provided an in-depth overview of the medicine program, focusing on domestic applicants looking to start their studies in 2026. Led by Cheryl Jones, Dean of Medicine & Health, the event covered various aspects of the program including eligibility, the application process, and the unique opportunities offered by UNSW. Faculty leaders, current students, and rural campus representatives offered insights into student life, practical learning on rural campuses, the benefits of the program, and career pathways in medicine.

Highlights

UNSW's top global ranking in medicine and employment outcomes attracts aspiring doctors. 🌟
Dean Cheryl Jones emphasized the importance of real-world research and clinical excellence. 📊
Prospective students learned about hands-on learning at rural campuses like Wagga Wagga. 🌾
Current students shared their personal journeys and the rich student life at UNSW. 👫
The detailed admissions process highlighted opportunities for both local and rural applicants. 📋

Key Takeaways

UNSW Medicine is welcoming applications for 2026, focusing on creating global health leaders. 🌎
The Medicine program integrates clinical practice with world-class research and innovative health education. 🧠
UNSW ranks among the top global universities, offering diverse medical courses and rural study opportunities. 🏥
Students can apply through various special admission schemes, including Gateway and Rural Entry. 🚀
Interview preparation doesn't require coaching—be genuine and showcase personal motivations. 👍

Overview

UNSW Medicine's Information Evening 2025 offered a comprehensive look at what the future holds for prospective medical students. Attendees were introduced to the core components of the program by Cheryl Jones, the Dean of Medicine & Health, who underscored UNSW's leading global rankings and robust research-driven education model.

Students were enlightened about the multifaceted opportunities, including studying in rural settings, which provide a unique exposure to diverse medical conditions and practices. Guest speakers shared vivid accounts of how engaging with real-world scenarios has shaped their training, emphasizing UNSW's focus on producing well-rounded medical professionals.

One of the night's highlights was the detailed insight into the admissions process, covering pathways like the Rural Entry Scheme, Gateway Entry, and special programs for indigenous students. The encouragement to maintain authenticity during interviews and the reassurance that there's no need for extensive coaching resonated with many, painting UNSW as a supportive environment for aspiring doctors.

Chapters

00:00 - 02:30: Welcome and Event Overview The chapter titled 'Welcome and Event Overview' starts with music playing in the background.
02:30 - 06:00: Acknowledgment of Country and UNSW Overview The chapter begins with an acknowledgment of the traditional custodians of the land and pays respect to Elders past, present, and emerging. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing the history and culture of Indigenous Australians. The chapter then transitions into an overview of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), highlighting its commitment to diversity, inclusion, and excellence in education. The music played at the start sets a respectful and contemplative tone for the content that follows.
06:00 - 10:00: UNSW Faculty of Medicine & Health The Introduction of Cheryl Jones as the Dean of Medicine & Health at UNSW during the 2025 Medicine Information Evening.
10:00 - 15:00: Future Health Professionals and Exploration The chapter begins with a professor of pediatric infectious diseases addressing prospective applicants to a medicine program. The primary focus is on domestic applicants, with a separate event scheduled for international students on March 20th. The information shared is particularly relevant for individuals planning to apply this year to commence their studies in 2026.
15:00 - 20:00: Medicine Program Structure The chapter titled 'Medicine Program Structure' begins with a welcoming message to younger or future applicants of the program, acknowledging that program details can change yearly. The recommendation is made to check for updated information in the year of application. Furthermore, the speaker takes an opportunity to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, specifically the Bidjigal people of the Eora nation, where the Kensington campus is located. Their continuous connection to the land is recognized, setting a respectful tone before diving into the main session.
20:00 - 25:00: Research and Career Opportunities The chapter begins with an acknowledgment of respect towards the traditional custodians of the land and the elders of all campuses involved, particularly addressing any First Nations people present. Following this, the narrative highlights the prestige of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), emphasizing its strong global reputation. UNSW is noted for its top-tier ranking, being in the top 20 universities worldwide and holding the first position in Australia for employment outcomes, as reflected in the 2025 QS World University Rankings.
25:00 - 30:30: Student Life and MedSoc At UNSW, the focus is on inspiring students to become the best versions of themselves and to establish a foundation for impactful and rewarding careers. Students are encouraged to follow their passions from the very beginning and are taught by leaders in their respective fields. The chapter highlights UNSW's strong reputation for innovation, particularly noting that many startup founders have studied there.
30:30 - 39:00: Rural Campuses and Experience The chapter discusses the dedication of UNSW to providing exceptional education and research experiences, guided by its Latin motto 'Scientia Corde Manu et Mente', which means 'knowledge by heart, hand and mind'. This reflects the university's spirit of 'progress for all', aiming to drive societal impact.
39:00 - 47:00: Admissions Process and Entry Schemes The chapter titled 'Admissions Process and Entry Schemes' highlights the faculty's global recognition for its innovative research programs and commitment to addressing significant global health challenges. It emphasizes excellence in teaching, research, advocacy, and social impact. The faculty is acknowledged for its world-class research, especially in areas such as cancer, and is highly ranked by QS rankings.
47:00 - 55:30: Alternative Pathways and Q&A Introduction The chapter discusses alternative pathways and introduces a Q&A session. It highlights the University of New South Wales' (UNSW) focus on areas such as neuroscience, mental health addiction, infectious diseases, and other non-communicable diseases. The UNSW's medicine degree has been the most in-demand degree in New South Wales for the past eight years. Additionally, the chapter mentions the new Randwick health and innovation precinct, a $1.5 million project that includes collaboration between UNSW and four hospitals in Randwick.
55:30 - 62:00: Q&A Session The transcript discusses the UNSW's Health Translation Hub, a new building near completion that is set to open later in the year. This facility aims to integrate world-class innovative health education, training, and research with acute health services to improve health outcomes for patients, carers, and the New South Wales community. It will feature new teaching spaces.
62:00 - 62:30: Closing Remarks and Thanks students that you will be able to experience when you start with us. In the faculty, we know now more than ever that we need a range of health professions, clinicians and otherwise to prepare for the future of health. From the epidemic of obesity to global aging and the resurgence of communicable diseases such as influenza and covid-19, the critical health issues facing our modern world creates numerous and diverse needs that our

UNSW Medicine Information Evening 2025 Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 [Music] oh a [Music]
00:30 - 01:00 [Music]
01:00 - 01:30 Welcome everyone and thank you for joining our 2025 UNSW Medicine Information Evening. My name is Cheryl Jones, I'm the dean of Medicine & Health at UNSW and I'm
01:30 - 02:00 a professor of pediatric infectious diseases. Tonight we are going to be covering information that's relevant to our domestic applicants for our medicine program. If you're an international student, I recommend you join our international specific event which runs on the 20th of March. What we'll share is also mostly relevant for those of you who are thinking of applying this year to start in 2026.
02:00 - 02:30 So if you happen to be a little bit younger or not planning on applying until later we're still pleased to have you. Do stay with us, but keep in mind that things do change a little bit from year to year and we recommend that you watch in the future the years information prior to your application. Before we get into our session it's really important that I acknowledge country. I respectfully acknowledge the Bidjigal people of the Eora nation who are the traditional custodians of the land where I am today on our Kensington campus. I recognize their continuing connection to land,
02:30 - 03:00 waters and community and also pay my respects to elders past present and extend that respect to any First Nations people joining us tonight and acknowledge all the campuses of UNSW and their aboriginal elders. UNSW is a university with a really strong reputation. We are ranked in the top 20 universities globally and first in Australia for employment outcomes in the latest 2025 QS World University Rankings.
03:00 - 03:30 At UNSW, we aim to inspire students to create the best versions of their future selves and to set the foundation for impactful, rewarding career. To achieve this from day one, our students are encouraged to follow their passions and are taught by leaders in their fields. We have a strong reputation for Innovation with more startup founders having studied
03:30 - 04:00 at UNSW than anywhere else in the world. In doing so, we are guided by our university's Latin motto 'Scientia Corde Manu et Mente' which translates to 'knowledge by heart, hand and mind' and this captures UNSW's spirit of 'progress for all' as we strive to deliver the most exceptional education and research experiences possible while driving societal impact. Our Medicine & Health
04:00 - 04:30 faculty is known worldwide for our innovative research programs and our transformative research. We bring our excellence in teaching research and advocacy and commitment to social impact to address the most significant health challenges the world faces. We are recognized as one of the best in the world by our QS rankings. Our research is world-class particularly in areas such as cancer,
04:30 - 05:00 neuroscience, mental health addiction, infectious diseases and other non-communicable diseases. Our world-class medicine degree which we'll talk about tonight has been the most in demand degree in the state of New South Wales for the last eight years running. We also have our incredible new Randwick health and innovation precinct which is a $1.5 million project that joins University of New South Wales with four hospitals in Randwick and our community.
05:00 - 05:30 The building you can see here is UNSW's Health Translation Hub, it is near completion of construction and set to open later this year. The new building will integrate world-class Innovative health education and training and research with our acute health services, delivering better health outcomes to patients, carers and the New South Wales community. We will have new teaching spaces for our
05:30 - 06:00 students that you will be able to experience when you start with us. In the faculty, we know now more than ever that we need a range of health professions, clinicians and otherwise to prepare for the future of health. From the epidemic of obesity to global aging and the resurgence of communicable diseases such as influenza and covid-19, the critical health issues facing our modern world creates numerous and diverse needs that our
06:00 - 06:30 faculty addresses to drive real world change. We're here to talk to you tonight about the medicine program but I also wanted to show you some of the other degrees at UNSW where our graduates are critical in driving better health outcomes. In the clinical space you can study to become an exercise physiologist, a physiotherapist, a dietician, a pharmacist or an optometrist or Vision scientist or a combination of the degrees, and outside of these careers in public health as well as medical and vision
06:30 - 07:00 scientists and engineering and biomedical engineering all play key roles as well. Our clinical schools in metropolitan Sydney and rural New South Wales as Wagga Wagga, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Aubury and Griffith have state-of-the-art facilities for clinical education and biomedical sciences. I encourage you to consider some of these other fields professions as well as choosing to study in Medicine and Health at UNSW.
07:00 - 07:30 UNSW Medicine and Health aims to develop compassionate innovators and global leaders in health through transformative education and learning experiences. The actions we set in motion here will be felt across Australia and the world's health landscape for years to come. So thank you for joining us online tonight and I hope to see you on campus next year. I'll now pass on to Nicole from the
07:30 - 08:00 future students team, who will take you through the rest of this evening's event. Thank you again. Thank you Cheryl. Hi, my name is Nicole. I'm part of the Marketing and Digital Experience team here at UNSW. I engage with people like you who in who are interested in studying in Medicine and Health. Tonight, we'll start off with a program overview. Then you'll hear from our MedSoc president who will speak around their experience as a medicine student, as well as provide some information on student support and Student Life.
08:00 - 08:30 We'll then hand over to our rural campuses where Tara will provide information on studying at rural campuses during rural placements as well as her experience as a rural physician. And finally we'll get into the admissions process and pathways to studying Medicine at UNSW which I know you're all really keen to hear about. I'll know you have questions along the way, which you can ask in the Microsoft Teams chat and at the end of tonight we'll have a Q&A session to answer
08:30 - 09:00 as many of these questions as we can and we also have a few advisers replying live in the chat. I'll also mention that this session is being recorded and will be shared online afterwards we'll also add some closed captions to that video. That's all from me now, I'm excited to introduce Associate Professor Sean Kennedy Sean is the program authority of our Bachelor of Medical Studies/Doctor of Medicine program in the faculty of Medicine and Health. He's an awarded educator and researcher and plays a really key role in the medicine degree at UNSW.
09:00 - 09:30 Good evening everyone or afternoon or morning - whenever you're watching this this. I'm very happy to be here today talking to you all and I want to give you an overview of what studying medicine at the University of New South Wales is is like and what it's about. Importantly, when you graduate from our six-year program you'll graduate with a dual degree with two degrees - there's a Bachelor of Medical Studies and a Doctor of Medicine and
09:30 - 10:00 it's really divided into the three years. The first three years contribute to the bachelor and then the MD comes from the second. But - the full six years join together and the way that we have divided up the teaching and learning is into three phases and the style of learning that you have in each of the phases is slightly different. i In phase one, where we've taken most of you straight from high school - you get
10:00 - 10:30 that introduction to some of the biological sciences, biomedical sciences and social sciences which lay the foundation for working as a doctor but at the same time that you're learning the sciences you'll also be learning the clinical skills the communication skills, the physical examination that we use all the time as doctors and said it's a very integrated course
10:30 - 11:00 and it's integrated mainly through scenario group teaching so you're getting real life scenarios about patients, about health care situations and while you're learning it, you're working through the scenarios you're learning the basic sciences and the clinical sciences. It's also integrated between two years , so for most of the courses not for the first one in the year but for the others then when you're learning if you're in first year some of the students in
11:00 - 11:30 your scenario groups will be in second year. That's the first two years of the program - phase one. Then you move into third year which is the beginning of phase three. Phase three is much more time spent in the health care setting, so during the first two years you'll spend some time in hospitals but in year three you'll spend the majority of your time in health settings - mainly hospitals and I'll talk more about the teaching hospitals that we have on offer.
11:30 - 12:00 But at the same time you'll have lectures tutorials lab sessions where you'll still be going over those basic and clinical sciences but all the time integrated with clinical learning. The second half of phase two which is year four - I'll talk more about the next slide but that's a very specialized year where you do more research, but once you come back from the research year you're going to phase three and phase three has a bit more of that traditional medical teaching
12:00 - 12:30 where most of it's in hospitals where you'll be attached to teams and you rotate through various different specialities so you may do eight weeks where you're working in psychiatry and learning about psychiatry and then the next eight weeks it'll be in women's health obstetrics gynecology and so forth, over the two years and then at the end of six year course there are final exams but
12:30 - 13:00 we have examinations all the way through and we have what we call a portfolio that monitors your learning all the way through the six years. So let's go back now to the year four. So year four is an important year where you learn and practice particularly research skills. That sounds a little bit daunting sometimes for people they think well you know how do I do research when I'm only a fourth year medical student?
13:00 - 13:30 But it's a very structured and well supported year, but it's also a great year for expanding your interests because you have the opportunity to choose research projects with research supervisors who are experienced supervisors and researchers from all of our campuses and you can concentrate on learning how we do research, how we interpret research, how we communicate research.
13:30 - 14:00 There's two arms - most students will go into honors that year, so their research project will also be linked with some cours work that they do and then when they graduate they'll graduate with a Bachelor of Science Med (Honors) but other students will also do research that year and will contribute to the same fourth year learning but it's as an independent learning project. And there's plenty of help in second and third year to help you choose which path is best for
14:00 - 14:30 you and which project suits you the best. So that's the six years that you spend at UNSW but that's only the beginning of your path to being a doctor and whatever type of doctor you end up being, because in New South Wales and Australia to get full um registration you need to do one year in hospitals a supervised practice as an intern and then beyond that,
14:30 - 15:00 then you go into more vocational training where you'll what we call specialize. Now, that specialization could be in general practice, it could be in one of the many medical or surgical specialties or it could be going off into other careers, but for whatever you do one of the beauties and one of the really things that is attractive about medicine as a career is that you never stop learning. Sure, you get past the exams and you don't
15:00 - 15:30 have to keep doing exams and sitting in lectures all the time but you always are a learner and that's one of the really important things that we teach our students during those six years - how to be a lifelong learner. So what are some of those specializations and careers? So, these are most in Australia mostly run by colleges and there's College of Physicians, the College of Surgeons, Within the College of Physicians you can do pediatrics you can
15:30 - 16:00 do all of the adult specialties like oncology, gastroenterology neurology, all those ologies. There's other colleges which oversee training in anesthetics, in obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, radiology, medical imaging or pathology and there's the non-clinical careers where you're not necessarily working all the time with patients but you're can have a massive impact on the health of patients and society in general. Things like public health and medical management,
16:00 - 16:30 looking after hospitals and making sure hospitals run right which is not an easy job. Medical research in any of the vast fields of of research, policy making and doing passing more on to the next generation of education, and importantly you can have a career mainly in medical education or research, but even if you have some of those careers in the top lines, you'll still be doing education and research while you're working as a clinician.
16:30 - 17:00 Our program of course is usually an undergraduate program. You start with a bachelor's degree and we're usually taking students straight from school. We take you through, as we said a stepways integration from learning the basic sciences to integrating it with clinical sciences. Also, what you're learning all those six years is how to be a university student because being a student at University is very different to being a student in high school.
17:00 - 17:30 And then when you graduate, you're finished you're ready to be registered as a doctor to do that internship. Other universities offer post-graduate programs where you would have had to do a previous graduate or bachelor's degree in a different specialty not in not a medical degree maybe a medical science degree. We take a small number of students from our medical Sciences degree into medicine but it's a very small number each year and they enter in our into our third year.
17:30 - 18:00 One of the really fun and again those diverse things about UNSW is that where you learn we have great opportunities around New South Wales. Where I'm talking from today is at the Kensington campus and just next door to the Kensington campus literally across the road is the randwick Health Innovation Precinct and on campus there we have Prince of Wales hospital,
18:00 - 18:30 we have Sydney Children's Hospital ,we have the Royal hospital for women. These are all world-leading hospitals, they're providing care across the Spectrum from from birth - from cradle to grave as we say. Elsewhere in Sydney and not very far away - easy to get to by public transport, St. Vincent's Hospital, St George Hospital, Sutherland Hospital, the Southwest Sydney campus which includes the really big, really important,
18:30 - 19:00 really busy hospitals, Liverpool Hospital, Campbelltown Hospital, Bankstown Hospital, Fairfield Hospital, these are all the hospitals that you'll learn out in Sydney. Our rural students have the potential for starting from first year in Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga but the rural students can then beyond phase one, can also do their learning in Coffs Harbour, in Albury-Wodonga and some of the rotations in Griffith Hospital and students who aren't via the
19:00 - 19:30 rural entry scheme will also have the opportunity to spend time in some of these rural areas. So you can see one of the attractive things about UNSW is a lot of the campuses are in great spots so you can have great extracurricular activities wherever you're based. So, I just want to end in closing that medicine as we said is the start of a lifetime degree by studying with us.
19:30 - 20:00 It's a challenge to get into, it'll be challenging to complete the course, it's not easy and we don't make apologies for that and the selection is sometimes appears really different difficult but we don't make apologies for that either because we select students that we think have what it takes to succeed in our course but also more importantly have what it takes to go on to be great doctors and really make a difference in the lives of individuals and society as as a whole.
20:00 - 20:30 Thanks Sean for taking us through the detail of our medicine degree. Now that we've had a look at the structure of our program, let's learn more about student life and support from a current student. I'm going to hand over to Minnie who is in her third year of her medicine degree she is also the current president of MedSoc, our medicine student society. Hi I'm Minnie and as Nicole said, I'm in my third year of medicine and I'm the MedSoc president.
20:30 - 21:00 I understand many of you watching tonight are interested in studying our medicine course at UNSW and perhaps would like to hear about what this student experience is like while studying at our university. I'll talk to you about our Medical Society, who we are, what we do and as well as some other really fun opportunities we have. Let's dive into UNSW MedSoc as the primary representative body for all medical students at UNSW, MedSoc consists of over 100 dedicated volunteers.
21:00 - 21:30 Every medicine student is automatically part of MedSoc, fostering a strong sense of community and involvement. Our mission is simple - to enhance the medical student journey and improve the field of medicine overall. Everything we do revolves around this purpose, how do we achieve it? Through our three core pillars - advocacy: we strive to secure the best learning opportunities and curriculum for our students. By maintaining close collaborative relationship
21:30 - 22:00 with the faculty we constantly seek ways to improve the program. Experiences: we create unforgettable events and activities that not only represent students but also provide meaningful opportunities for personal growth, development and of course fun! Community: building a supportive, engaging and exciting community is at the heart of what we do. Beyond earning a degree we aim to help students graduate with lasting friendships and cherished memories.
22:00 - 22:30 While this may feel like just words on a screen, let me share some of the incredible opportunities waiting for you at UNSW Medicine. We host a variety of exciting events including College cup social sports competitions every term, hands-on upskilling sessions for future doctors and countless social gatherings throughout the year. We even face-off against our faculty in fun competitions like the students-versus- teachers debate. We also offer special interest groups for medicine students to delve into the fields that they're passionate about.
22:30 - 23:00 These groups cover areas such as internal medicine women and children's health, surgery, psychiatry, radiology, dermatology, critical care and opthalmology. They host fantastic events throughout the year including conferences, suturing workshops and clinical skills nights. For those with the creative spark or looking to explore beyond medicine, we have performing arts groups like MedShow and the Medical Music Society. MedShow is an entirely student-led production written
23:00 - 23:30 directed and performed with over 100 dedicated medical students consistently wowing audiences. The Medical Music Society hosts an annual concert, jam sessions and opportunities to join bands for those musically inclined. At UNSW, supporting and representing students is a top priority. To promote mental health and well-being, students can take two self-care days per term to avoid burn-out. Our MedSoc academics team also provides robust assessment support
23:30 - 24:00 through regular tutorials leading up to exams. Furthermore, our vice presidents oversee Equity, Diversity and Inclusion portfolios which support our women's, queer's, Indigenous and international officers. In conclusion, there's so much to look forward to after high school, especially at UNSW Medicine, it's a dynamic vibrant and endlessly fun Community where each day offers something new and exciting. I'd be thrilled to welcome you into this
24:00 - 24:30 incredible world, see you soon! Now I'll hand back over to Nicole. Thank you Minnie for those great insights. Now that you've heard about the experience of our students at the Kensington campus in Sydney, I'm going to pass over to Professor Tara McKenzie who is the Associate Dean and Head of School Clinical Medicine Rural. Tara will take us through all the things rural, as well as give you an insight to what it's like to be a rural physician.
24:30 - 25:00 Good evening, my name is Professor Tara McKenzie and I'm here to talk to you this evening about studying medicine in one of our rural campuses at UNSW. As you know, University of New South Wales is actually a university that has many campuses - one of which is Kensington, but we have five rural campuses and many of our students choose to study their medicine for 6 years at one of our rural campuses. There's many good reasons for this, there is definitely a broader scope of practice,
25:00 - 25:30 you can actually have hands-on experience learning from patients rather than learning from textbooks and it's actually really great to be involved with consultants and senior doctors who get to know you as people and a lot of people really enjoy that part of it. You also get a lot more responsibility working in a rural campus and you'll find that your clinical skills, your technical skills are actually far more advanced because you are actually much more hands-on, it helps when you then become a doctor because you have more confidence
25:30 - 26:00 clinical decision making and leadership skills. We also find and we say that you're part of our family in our rural campuses and so you're not just joining a university, you're not just joining a faculty but you're actually joining a family of rural people who are dedicated to your learning and dedicated to make sure that you become the best doctors that you can and you will find that you get to know your patients on a much deeper level than you
26:00 - 26:30 do often in a larger place such as Sydney. You have a wide range of clinical cases, you work in many different specialties but one of the big advantages of being rural is the generalism and that includes our general practice colleagues as well as our rural generalists and you'll find that rather than just learning about lungs or heart or bowels, you can actually learn about the whole patient which of course at the end of the day is why you're there. The other big advantage about being rural is actually the class sizes which are much smaller in
26:30 - 27:00 every year group - that includes both the lectures as well as the tutorial groups as well as the pracs and all of you will have a mentor throughout your six years to be able to help you grow into be the doctors that we know that you can become. That's the work side of it and the learning side of it and in my opinion that's second to none but the other advantage of course is the work-life balance and if you think about how long you sit in traffic in Sydney at the moment, that's a very simple thing you won't need to do in any of our rural campuses, costs of living are
27:00 - 27:30 lower than in the city but more importantly, in my opinion, having worked as a respiratory physician in wager for nearly 20 years the people who live in our rural towns deserve the same standard of health care as those that live in Sydney and UNSW is doing a really big thing to become part of that and actually train up doctors who can serve the communities and serve them to the same standard as if you were sitting in Pitt Street in Sydney in a specialist suite and don't for one minute think
27:30 - 28:00 that your career opportunities are limited if you stay rural, anything can be further from the truth and if you look at all of our graduating students from UNSW from our rural clinical schools, the vast majority if not all go on to the areas that they wish to specialize in of their choice ranging from general practice, rural generalism, cardiology, neurosurgery, you can do anything you want from a rural setting and UNSW program is exactly the same whether you're studying in Sydney
28:00 - 28:30 or whether you're studying in a rural setting. We also, as you probably gathered advocate very strongly for our rural patients and that's another big advantage of actually being rural. In terms of student opportunities, we have some amazing facilities including a brand new $28 million building in Wagga that was opened only a couple of weeks ago and this is a place where you have all the same sort of labs that you have in Sydney, you have the the tutorial spaces, you have the clinical spaces and you get to learn alongside other nursing students some, Allied Health
28:30 - 29:00 students so they really is an interdisciplinary learning part to being rural where you actually work with these people in the clinics and on the wards at the same way that you train with them and it really gives you a well-rounded experience. I'm sharing now some of the feedback from some of our students who have done rural placements and there's no limit to what you can do in a rural placement so this was a rural flying doctor's um placement for one of our students and you can see there that they actually um shared something that most of our students who do placements share that
29:00 - 29:30 they want to stay longer um because they're all too short to learn what they'd like to learn. Here's another example of one of our four-week rotations for our Metropolitan students who all do a four-week rotation throughout their six years and this person rotated to Maclean up in the mid-north coast and again you can see found it to be wonderfully rewarding and rewarding to help you become a great doctor no matter where you're going to work in the future.
29:30 - 30:00 So, look, at the end of the day we have five amazing campuses, we have 300 students across those campuses, we deliver the entire program end-to-end, we have dedicated academics, professional staff and clinicians who contribute to your training and really, I don't know why you'd want to train anywhere else. Thank you very much. Thanks Tara. Now that we know more about the degree and you've seen what it's like to learn across our campuses, we're going to look at how you apply to medicine at UNSW. I will take you through the admissions process
30:00 - 30:30 as well as our entry schemes and pathways to get into the program. As mentioned earlier, this application process is for domestic applicants only. Just another reminder, if you're an international applicant, we'll be holding our International Information evening on the 20th of March. A local applicant is anyone who is an Australian or New Zealand citizen, an Australian permanent resident or a permanent humanitarian visa holder. There are four steps to applying as a local local applicant.
30:30 - 31:00 Firstly you need to register for and sit the UCAT ANZ. You will then need to apply to UNSW through the medicine application portal often referred to as the map. You will also need to ensure you submit your application to UAC and preference UNSW Medicine as one of your preferences. The last step is the interview if you're selected. It's key to note there are two applications:
31:00 - 31:30 the MAP and UAC and three selection criteria - selection rank UCAT ANZ and the interview. The selection rank is your ATAR plus any eligible adjustment factors which for medicine is only the Educational Access Scheme (EAS) which is accessible via UAC. The median and lowest selection selection ranks for those who received an offer in 2024 will give you an indication of the scores required for entry in 2026.
31:30 - 32:00 We recommend you check our website for the most up-to-date selection ranks. For 2024 entry, the selection rank for local students was a median of 99.75 with the lowest being 97.15 For rural students, the median selection was 97.53 and the lowest 91.3. At UNSW, we do not have pre requisite subjects, however, we do have assumed knowledge.
32:00 - 32:30 For the medicine program, assumed knowledge is English Standard. This helps us ensure you can communicate and research effectively, we also recommend chemistry and biology. Now let's talk about the university clinical aptitude test for Australia and New Zealand known as UCAT ANZ. The UCAT ANZ is a computer-based test done at Pearson testing centers. Multiple sessions are available throughout July and early August across Australia and overseas.
32:30 - 33:00 Your results are given immediately after the test and there are no medical questions in the test. A key change in testing in 2025 is the removal of the abstract reasoning subtest. There are now three unique sections individually timed right after the other and please note, UNSW does not include the situational judgment mark. Another change is a maximum score for the the cognitive subset is now 2,700 so please
33:00 - 33:30 note that the previous cohorts UCAT score data we have published does not provide a good indication of what to achieve. We don't recommend third-party test preparation courses, these can in fact be detrimental to your performance. Free practice questions and helpful resources on the official UCAT ANZ website are useful. We recommend you register for the UCAT ANZ even if you're unsure about medicine which allows you to keep your options open. And lastly we have the interviews.
33:30 - 34:00 The medicine interviews are intended to get to know you as a person. They are structured interviewed over a limited time and two interviewers on each panel, usually one doctor and one community member. Coaching for the interview is not recommended, it is in fact easily detected and may be detrimental to your performance. There are no two questions so just be honest and you will do your best.
34:00 - 34:30 Being invited for an interview is competitive. As an indication for the 2024 intake 1,613 applicants submitted an application through both MAP and UAC and we interviewed 411 of them. Interviews are scheduled for the end of 2025 and early 2026. Specific interview dates will be available on our medicine local applicant website. We recommend you keep an eye on there for the most up-to-date information.
34:30 - 35:00 Now, let's take a look at the application timeline UCAT registrations are already open and close on the 16th of May. We recommend that you book in a test ASAP. UAC and MAP applications open early April and won't close until late September. UCAT exams are set between July and August and our Open Day which we recommend everyone attends is on the 6th of September and then from November through to January we contact interviews.
35:00 - 35:30 With regard to where you will study local applicants will receive offers to study at our Kensington campus only. Rural places are given to students who apply through the Rural Entry Scheme, which we will go into shortly. Rural applicants will be given offers to either study at our Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga campuses. We used to talk about bonded and unbonded places, now everyone is automatically considered for both based on competitiveness.
35:30 - 36:00 If eligible, you'll be offered an unbonded place, otherwise you'll receive an offer for a bonded place if you're admitted to the program. Now we'll take a look at our four special admission schemes: the gateway, rural, Indigenous and lateral entry schemes. The Gateway entry scheme pathway is an alternative entry pathway for applicants meeting certain criteria. To be eligible for this pathway, you must be
36:00 - 36:30 an Australian citizen or New Zealand New Zealand citizen or permanent resident of Australia. You must be completing an Australian Year 12 qualification in the year of application and attend a gateway school or live in a low-socioeconomic area. Applicants are required to apply via UAC. When submitting your UNSW medicine application via the MAP, please select Gateway entry applicant as your applicant type.
36:30 - 37:00 Applicant's applications submitted under the scheme that do not meet the criteria will be informed and automatically changed to a standard local applicant. Applicants who have lived in a defined rural area may be considered under the Rural Entry Scheme. Students need to have lived in a defined area for at least five consecutive or ten cumulative years between the ages of 5 and 18 . On top of your UCT and selection rank, additional
37:00 - 37:30 UNSW rurality criteria also applies. When you apply through the medicine application portal, please make sure you select Rural Entry Scheme. Applicants via the Rural Entry Scheme have lower entry requirements and are interviewed separately, generally at the closest rural campus to your home address. Students who are successful through the Rural Entry Scheme will receive an offer to study at either the Port Macquarie or Wagga Wagga clinical campuses.
37:30 - 38:00 Next is our Indigenous Entry Scheme. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students can apply to complete a 3-week residential program - the Pre-Medicine Program through Nura Gili, the UNSW center for Indigenous programs. In the pre-program, your suitability and amplitude will be assessed for potential entry into the UNSW medicine program. Successful applicants then continue on to the medicine program.
38:00 - 38:30 As part of the process, applicants will need to provide high school marks and a personal statement. The UCAT ANZ is not required for this application. And lastly, we have the Lateral Entry Scheme which is for students studying the UNSW Bachelor of Medical Science. Students in their second year of the UNSW Bachelor of Medical Science apply via MAP for the Lateral Entry Scheme. Students are required to sit the UCAT ANZ in the same year. Assessment for entry is based on the UCAT ANZ. The results of Core Medical Science
38:30 - 39:00 courses and the interview. Successful applicants are then required to complete their third year of the Bachelor of Medical Science complete an honor year and then go on to complete the three remaining years of the medicine program. There are up to 10 places available each year, so this pathway is extremely competitive. If selecting this pathway you need to be prepared to continue in The Bachelor of Medical Science.
39:00 - 39:30 Now that we've covered our entry schemes, let's talk about some of the alternative pathways you may take if you aren't successful in getting an offer of this intake. One option is to apply the following year with a new UCAT ANZ and interview. If you would like to improve your academic marks you could also consider starting another degree and applying using those marks if you meet the eligibility criteria. You would need to complete at least 0.75 full-time equivalent study load in order for your marks to be considered along with your section rank.
39:30 - 40:00 Minimum entry requirements for this pathway are that your secondary qualification results reach an ATAR of 96 or 91 for rural students or equivalent and your tertiary studies component must reach at least a weighted average mark of 70 or equivalent. Once you have met these requirements, the best of Al algorithm would apply and the qualifications with High selection rank would be used as a final selection rank for the admission process.
40:00 - 40:30 Note - you will need to set the UCAT ANZ every year you apply. If you don't meet the 96 ATAR criteria out of high school you are not eligible to apply with your secondary results. In this case you'll need to complete another tertiary degree in any field and once completed these results can be used for your selection rank. We recommend you choose a degree you're passionate about so you can succeed and get the highest marks.
40:30 - 41:00 Other options include applying for postgraduate medicine at other universities. We also recommend trying out other clinical or medical careers. Getting into medicine is a competitive process but if you're determined, it should not be a question of if you're going to get in but when. Now we're going to move on on to the Q&A. We have lots of questions in the chat and won't be able to get through them all so please thumbs up any questions you want to hear answered so we can get to those first like I said earlier anything we don't get to tonight our Future
41:00 - 41:30 Students Advisors are always happy to help. I will now hand over to my colleague Anna for our Q&A. Thanks Nicole and thank you Sean, Minnie and Aiden - one of our fifth year students for joining us at the Q&A. We've had a lot of questions coming through throughout the night and we'll try to answer as many as we can but I'll start off with you both. Um Aiden and Minnie - so we've had a lot of questions coming from the students about what made you choose medicine because it's such a
41:30 - 42:00 big decision and a big time commitment, so what made you choose medicine and do you know which specialization you want to choose when you graduate? Aiden we'll start with you. Well I think for me what made me choose medicine was the diverse range of opportunities that it has whether it be clinical practice research teaching even Public Health as well and I think as I've gone through medicine my interests have definitely changed as I get exposed to new specialties
42:00 - 42:30 and new opportunities but I think right now I'm leaning more towards general practice dermatology and anesthesiology. Well thanks Aiden, and Minnie? Yeah, um, so what Aiden said really aligns with what I think as well so I just add on to what he said um for me I've always had an interest in the human body and learning about how it works and also doctors really get help people at their time of need when they're most vulnerable and that's such a rich, rewarding experience.
42:30 - 43:00 Um and in terms of specialisations I'm quite interested in general practice right now but I'm open to anything. Yeah, wonderful great to hear you're both interested in general practice. So, a question for you Sean, we're getting a lot about the bonded and unbonded places can you tell us the difference between these? Yeah, so both bonded and unbonded, well just bonded places are just open for Australian citizens and permanent residents and they're Common Supported Place so the
43:00 - 43:30 federal government is paying for you your student fees essentially we have a certain number each year of bonded places that we can offer if you receive an offer for a bonded place that's what it comes with to bond and you have to accept it if you want to take up the offer to study with us. Accepting it means that you agree to work for at least three years after graduation in a rural or regional area.
43:30 - 44:00 It doesn't have to be in the first three years immediately after graduation. In fact currently the guidelines are it can be in over an 18-year period so there's plenty of opportunity but that's what a bonded place comes with that agreement and an unbonded place is just really the other standard Commonwealth Supported Places for us. Yeah, wonderful, so unbonded um places students are able to to study in those rural and regional places as well they get to choose where they want
44:00 - 44:30 to, yeah, yeah, where they study and also of course where you want to be an intern and continue your training - can can be metropolitan, can be rural, regional, interstate, anywhere in Australia. Yeah, wonderful, thanks Sean. Um, so we have a question from a student asking if they have to study chemistry in high school so I thought I'd quickly answer that one as Nicole um mentioned it in the admissions portion of tonight. So we don't have any prerequisites at UNSW, so we only have assumed knowledge so that's the level that academics will assume you have when you come into your
44:30 - 45:00 first class um when you start studying medicine and for medicine we only have English Standard which is assumed um you can still be given an offer without the assumed knowledge um, however, we do recommend that you take it, um and we also have further recommendations to take chemistry and biology in high school but again you don't need it to receive an offer so I wanted to ask um Minnie what did you study in high school?
45:00 - 45:30 Yeah, so, I studied 4-unit mathematics, 3-unit English, economics, um, chemistry and physics so I did not take biology. And how have you found that starting studying here? I think that um initially you might feel a little behind but there's a lot of resources to help you that are provided by faculty and also the university and older students such as Aiden will also be really happy to help you as well. Perfect and Aiden what did you study? So, I took the The International Baccalaureate and I studied mathematics, English, French, business management, sports science and psychology so no chemistry and no biology and I definitely think that I was still able to cope with the course and what assisted in that was the chemistry bridging course that was offered by the university when I began first year. Yeah, wonderful.
45:30 - 46:00 Thank you for mentioning the bridging courses as well because we do offer bridging courses at UNSW for chemistry, maths and physics. So if you haven't taken those subjects, it can help you before you start start your studies, um, so thank you both.
46:00 - 46:30 Um, next question will be over to Sean so we have a lot as always every year about the interviews so what are we looking for in the interviews we can't give away our secrets but people are asking is there medical knowledge in it or not? Yeah I can't give away the secrets, no unfortunately not, okay, no it's not looking for medical knowledge and it's not looking that you have prepared or have been to any interview training, tutors or courses really. What we're looking for in the interview are those high school students usually uh who we think will be good medical students who will and be able to
46:30 - 47:00 thrive in our program but then of course that feeds on to, you'll make a good doctor so really what the interview is about is trying to get to know you get a to know a little bit about you, a little about bit about your motivations your prior experiences so that's questions are pretty straightforward aren't they they're not trick questions and uh you you know when you're
47:00 - 47:30 in the interview you just answer honestly Yeah ,wonderful and Minnie is someone who has taken it three years ago the interview um do you have any advice about taking the interview? Yeah, um, thanks for that question I remember the interview like it was yesterday um but for me um the interview is about knowing who you are and being able to talk about what the experiences make you have
47:30 - 48:00 made you to be who you are today so you should um do some self-reflection chat with friends um know which experiences you would like to talk about if they come up um why you want to study medicine as well, that's some of my advice. Yeah, wonderful, thanks Minnie um so we have a few more questions around the ukat so um back to you many because I know you studied the HSC students are asking how do you balance preparing for the UCAT ANZ and doing the HSC in your year 12? Right, okay, um that was also pretty recent for me, um and I know that it can feel overwhelming especially since if your
48:00 - 48:30 other friends they want to pursue law or other degrees they don't need to sit this additional exam but for me it was learning to, um, be more efficient in my studies I started scheduling when I would study what exactly I would study during those time periods and also remembering that you need some downtime to recover for yourself as well I never sacrificed my sleep in Year 12.
48:30 - 49:00 Um, I always try to spend some time with my friends and family and also reaching out to my teachers as well for support. Yeah, perfect and that work life balance is important and you should carry through your whole life not even just through university studies, um, Aiden do you have any further advice for students on taking the UCAT? Yeah, I think the UCAT's an interesting exam because, uh, there is a lot of resources available on the official website um whether be practice questions practice tests as well and just information about the exam in general. I think it's really important
49:00 - 49:30 for students to try and access that and give them a proper understanding of what the exam entails, uh, especially because as of 2025 the structure has changed slightly with abstract reasoning uh being removed. Yeah, perfect and Nicole mentioned that as well um earlier tonight on those changes um we have some questions we're going to bring it back focused on the program now um so Sean people are wanting to know a bit more about the types of projects that can be done in the ILP
49:30 - 50:00 or honors years and where can students take their projects? Yeah, like it's a massive scale u in terms of breadth of projects that are available they can and I know Aiden's just done his last year you can you can do research in the you know scientists looking down a microscope type of research looking at cell cultures or something like that, you can do research in the sense of a clinical trial
50:00 - 50:30 where you're actually directly involved with patients who who might be undergoing a surgical treatment or a medical treatment, you can do research with data with big data uh and research with with population databases or just reporting on uh patient experiences the research can be that quantitative where you've got to work with a lot of numbers and statistics or more qualitative where you do interviews with patients or or other participants. The research can be done really with
50:30 - 51:00 any supervisor who's affiliated with our faculty so that's massive like as you've heard we have campuses all around Sydney and around New South Wales and within those campuses, the people who are working there, teaching, supervising can be clinicians doctors who are working at the front line, but also scientists and a lot of people who do a bit of both. We also have the medical
51:00 - 51:30 research institutes that we're involved with uh so yeah it's a huge scope of what you can do. Yeah, wow, sounds like a lot of options for you to take when it comes to that and Aiden as we just mentioned you you've done your honors year last year, so, um, could you talk a little bit about the project that you did? Yeah, of course, so my project was looking at the impact of intervention on the microbiome in pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis and what I really liked about the kind of whole
51:30 - 52:00 honors experience was that it exposes you to so many different aspects of the research process. So, whether that be um obtaining ethics approval for a project um it includes recruiting patients as well taking samples because my project was prospective, um, data analysis too even just writing up a scientific report in the style that would be published in a journal, getting exposed to it at a university level I think really prepares you for later on because research is such an
52:00 - 52:30 important part of being a medical practitioner. Yeah, wonderful, all right so a few more um more admissions based questions that I'll take so how many places are there in the medicine program um we offer just under 200 places every year and we do publish those numbers each year so keep an eye out for those and that's for our local students we do then offer about 100 places for our International students so two thirds of our students are local students. Um, do you accept, um, various adjustment factors?
52:30 - 53:00 so UNSW does have different adjustment factor schemes but as Nicole mentioned earlier tonight that we only accept the educational access scheme for the medicine program um, if you're applying to other programs you can definitely use the HC Plus or the Elite Athletes, Performers and Leaders Program, um, but for us it's just EAS you apply through UAC for those. All right, um, back to a question for you Sean, we have some parents asking about the academic support that is provided for students throughout their studies um, do you have anything you can add? Yeah, look, it
53:00 - 53:30 I think the first thing is to say it's not easy you students have to work hard but not across the whole year and and just like many was able to do during our HSC, you could still prioritize your sleep can't you preferably not during classes and lectures but um, so there's, it's hard work, it's structured, it's clearly structured and there's a lot of teaching whether it's small group teaching
53:30 - 54:00 larger lectures one-on-one there's peer-to-peer teaching so even just at that level how the material is shared with students is um is fairly intensive in terms of support that's provided. But you know granted that it's not as easy for everyone and some students have more challenges than others and sometimes things that are going on outside of study do impact so we have schemes
54:00 - 54:30 that allow special consideration when it comes to assessment for um to Equitable learning service that allows students who have uh other challenges including things like caring responsibilities to to have some um accommodations made. There are academic support services that are provided centrally at the University level and then also within the faculty, we can do it on a smaller scale
54:30 - 55:00 we have mentoring schemes that are both done by other students but also by academics or clinicians there's a clinical mentoring scheme that students are able to sign up for it's not compulsory where they can be put in touch with a clinician someone who's graduated out there working as a doctor who can just give them advice not so much academic support but other support and as um as you you've heard and and you could see if you look at through the unw website there's
55:00 - 55:30 tons of supports for for health for mental health, for um financial even so there's plenty of supports offer. Yeah, perfect, thank you and Minnie, you mentioned a few things that MedSoc does also provide in terms of academic support, did you want to touch on that a little bit? Yeah, so, in my part of the talk I talked about how grateful we were to um, give back to our community. I'd also like to talk about how we have a very close relationship with faculty so our academics executive works with faculty to run past sessions.
55:30 - 56:00 I believe Aiden was a tutor last year and so he helped a lot of students there. MedSoc, we run some tutorials, we also run mock exams for clinical exams um and I can speak to this because uh some senior students. When I approach them they were happy to stay back after their clinical days or their campus days to help me run some examinations Aiden was very happy to help me as well um but I think there is a lot of support in UNSW as long as you know where and
56:00 - 56:30 you're happy to find it yourself. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Um, Aiden, I have a question for you about if you can think way back when in year 11 and 12 um, were you keeping up with extracurriculars while studying? We're having a lot of questions around work-life balance throughout the HSC all your last years of high school. Yeah, 100%, I think it's really important to maintain those extracurricular involvements, um, especially ones that you're interested in, so for me personally it
56:30 - 57:00 was maintaining my sporting commitments, so tennis and basketball, um and then also debating on Friday nights that was kind of the staple of the Friday nights, um going to debating and I think it really helps just take your mind of some of the academic focuses as well and it also can provide you with valuable skills as well I know with debating uh debating for example, the public speaking skills that I was able to tone and practice through that are still really important today even speaking to
57:00 - 57:30 patients and being able to communicate effectively is really an integral part of being a doctor. Yeah, perfect and we have a few questions around those extracurriculars and if they play a role in our admissions process. Um, the answer is no in that if you do a certain extracurricular that won't help you get in however um all of the experience that you have in high school and all those extracurriculars make you the person that you are which I'm sure you two can both attest to, um and that will shine through in your interview so we're not looking for you to list I have this
57:30 - 58:00 achievement that achievement it's seeing how those experiences and really self-reflecting as Mini mentioned how that can make you a better person in general and a better medicine applicant so that's what I'll say um to those. So one last question for you Sean, um for people who are tossing up between medicine and other health related degrees what advice would you give them? That there is a degree for you that you know there is there will be a career for you if you
58:00 - 58:30 want to if this is what you want to do you want to be in health professions and that's not just being a doctor and and as we've heard even if it's being a doctor there's so many different types of doctoring, uh, but if it's about helping people, if it's about supporting the health of our community, there are so many other professions that work with us doctors to to achieve
58:30 - 59:00 that end. Within our faculty if you've heard you know we've got the other health professionals, pharmacy, nutrition science and dietetics and um exercise physiology and physiotherapy and vision science, all critically important for for the health of individuals and society and with it. Other or um institutions there's plenty of other degrees so if you know someone who wants to help people, if you're someone who wants to work in health, if you're someone who likes biology you
59:00 - 59:30 know that for whatever reason but there are plenty of options so don't don't put all your eggs in one basket necessarily. Yeah, thank you and as we're running out of time, I'll ask uh a final question to each of you, um, what is the best piece of advice that you would give to everyone watching and thinking about studying medicine? So, I'll start off with you Aiden and we'll go along. So I think it's really important to understand that medicine is a lifelong career so after university,
59:30 - 60:00 um, whether it be you're working in the hospitals working in the private sector, um, there's a lot of lifelong learning involved and I think doing your research into why you want to study medicine even why you want to attend UNSW as well looking at the Student Life the culture here as well is really important I think having that understanding can set you up to enjoy university life uh better and also to enjoy the actual career um a lot more as well. Yeah, thank you. Yeah so I'll would
60:00 - 60:30 talk to any aspiring medes who are watching I would say don't get discouraged if you get knocked down I always say life always finds a way um so even if you fail one thing don't just don't give up keep trying because if you know you want to do med you will find a way to study medicine um and and even if you don't do Med, you might end up finding a passion that was your lifelong passion
60:30 - 61:00 all along so um just stay positive. Great and Sean? Yeah I'll pick up with what many said, um in the sense that something will happen it will turn out all right for you but it may not really look like what you think it'll look like now, like if I go back to when I was you know your age um and if I said or if anyone else said that I be sitting here talking about this because I have this job now I wouldn't have you know I thought it would have been a joke so and and my career
61:00 - 61:30 across since I graduated, you know every few you know three five years something different comes up and you you know you go on your path changes so yes have a passion, yes have a have a desire that this is what you want to do but the end result may actually look different to what you're visualizing it as at the moment and go with it and and trust trust in your own uh ability and and your own um
61:30 - 62:00 passion. Wonderful three great pieces of advice for you there and that's what we'll leave you with so thank you again um for joining our Q&A and I'll pass back over to Nicole to close the event. Well, that's all we have time for tonight and we really have covered a lot I really do encourage you to keep the conversation going with us. If you can come along to our open day on Saturday the 6th of September and like I said get in touch with our future students advisors who will happily answer your questions I'd like to say a really big thank you to Cheryl, Sean,Tara, Anna, Minnie
62:00 - 62:30 and Aiden. You've all added so much insight for everyone who has joined us tonight and finally a big thank you to you for joining us we all wish you the very best finishing off your studies this year all the best for your application and hopefully we see you on campus soon enough.