How bad are unsw interviews? (1 Viewer)

[iStudent]

I'm fairly confident I'll get an interview but at the same time I'm fairly confident I won't do well. Why? Because apparently they focus on your life experiences. I'll be frank, I have next to no extra curriculars (I dont do music, sport and all that) except once I volunteered at a tutor company for a few weeks.

I'm looking into volunteering after hsc but will this be enough for an offer? I think I know how to talk to the interviewers (communication skills) and all that but this doesn't mean much if I don't have anything to talk about.

I'm kind of worried that I'll run out of things to talk about 20 minutes into the interview (and well my life has been pretty bland...). Have there been people who got a good umat (95), a good atar (99+) but has done next to no extra curriculars (and hence probably didn't do that well in interviews) but still got an offer?

Also, what about other unis (i.e. uws and une). Do they focus much on past experiences? (because if it's scenario based I probably still have a bit of hope)

 

[bangladesh]

really bad

 

[bangladesh]

Nah kidding, but yes there have been many people (that i personally know of) with 99+ atar and 95%ile + umat ( i knew one with 97umat) who didn't get an offer AT ALL. Not even bonded.

 

[QZP]

I've heard of people making it up

 

[emilios]

yeah nah lots of dodginess goes on with these interviews i.e. people fabricating large amounts of stuff

 

[Speed6]

There's something called bs'ing.

 

[emilios]

LOL doctor ethics are peaking

 

[Speed6]

20 minutes of bs'ing and lieing like you have never done before.

 

[Queenroot]

I would find somewhere to volunteer now. You've still got 2 months until interviews are conducted.

 

[mreditor16]

LOL doctor ethics are peaking

lol'd

 

[bangladesh]

lol, awkward because most people fail because of their responses to scenario questions not their lack of volunteer work/motivation... you guys are all mistaken..

EVEN in MMI's, there's only 1 station asking you about motivation for med/volunteering. The rest are all scenarios..

 

[Queenroot]

lol, awkward because most people fail because of their responses to scenario questions not their lack of volunteer work/motivation... you guys are all mistaken..

EVEN in MMI's, there's only 1 station asking you about motivation for med/volunteering. The rest are all scenarios..

Have you taken your interview yet?

 

[Xt]

Do they focus much on past experiences? (because if it's scenario based I probably still have a bit of hope)

You don't really need to volunteer, they didn't ask me about any volunteering work. It was more about relationship with friends/family. What you remembered/what was your experience from primary/high school. Conflicts you've had in the past and how you resolved them, hobbies you have, why you want to do medicine, and examples of teamwork.

Altho I must say volunteering/paid employment, sports/EC will enhance your responses. Only because it was easy to draw upon conflict resolutions and teamwork experiences from them.

lol, awkward because most people fail because of their responses to scenario questions not their lack of volunteer work/motivation... you guys are all mistaken..

EVEN in MMI's, there's only 1 station asking you about motivation for med/volunteering. The rest are all scenarios..

UNSW is different from the other schools. UNSW uses the panel format and there's no scenario questions.

 

[mreditor16]

arghh dude OP, YOU ARE GETTING AN INTERVIEW. Don't go into it with negative thoughts such as "I'm not going to do well so I'm not even going to bother trying" because tbh thats how its coming across right now :/ Like personally I desperately want an interview because I feel that out of the three components- ATAR, UMAT and interview, thats where I would probably do the best in. But I don't even have the chance prove myself because of my hopeless umat LOL /rant

Basically what I'm saying is don't throw away the opportunity. You have made it through a brilliant atar and umat, that's 50% of the way to being a doctor (the academic side of things). Its okay if you don't have any volunteering experience but I would suggest that the minute HSC ends just spend a week or so working somewhere worthwhile. Also, focus on the quality of what you're offering– its no use listing out "I did this and this and tihs" if you're not going to explain the skills you gained from the experience and how you think they're applicable to medicine. If you want, you can tailor your whole interview around one activity but make it seem so big and important and really highlight what you gained from it and how you contributed and I don't think you'll be at a disadvantage.

Also, do you have many extra-curriculars (non-academic)? Any sport? Music? Arts? draw on them and I'm sure you can tailor them to fit the style of the questions. I doubt the interviewers are going to outright ask you "where did you volunteer?", but instead they'll probably ask something more along the lines of "can you describe a situation where you demonstrated effective decision making skills" and thats when you can choose what you want to draw upon– either ECs or volunteering.

And please don't make things up haha. Firstly the interviewers are probably experienced enough to figure out if you're fudging, plus you might entangle yourself in your own lies. Secondly as people have already pointed out its pretty damn unethical to lie in such a high-stakes interview where you're basically in the turning moment of your career. Other people may miss out on a chance at their dream because you manipulated the truth for your own personal success.

But good luck and well done on making it so far! You've done really well academically

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to harrypotterfan again.

 

[mreditor16]

cl1ck on da star at da b0ttom of ur scr33n

and make sure the user you're giving rep to is mreditor16

 

[Medman]

I'm fairly confident I'll get an interview but at the same time I'm fairly confident I won't do well. Why? Because apparently they focus on your life experiences. I'll be frank, I have next to no extra curriculars (I dont do music, sport and all that) except once I volunteered at a tutor company for a few weeks.

I'm looking into volunteering after hsc but will this be enough for an offer? I think I know how to talk to the interviewers (communication skills) and all that but this doesn't mean much if I don't have anything to talk about.

I'm kind of worried that I'll run out of things to talk about 20 minutes into the interview (and well my life has been pretty bland...). Have there been people who got a good umat (95), a good atar (99+) but has done next to no extra curriculars (and hence probably didn't do that well in interviews) but still got an offer?

Also, what about other unis (i.e. uws and une). Do they focus much on past experiences? (because if it's scenario based I probably still have a bit of hope)

I'm giving this advice on the back of helping over 40 students get into medicine and dentistry.

UNSW don't really have scenario questions. It's mainly personal questions. I want you to look at it from the perspective of an interview. If I were a student and said I love to help people. But this statement in itself is meaningless unless I have something to back it up. If I said I love to help people because every week for the past year I have volunteer at the soup kitchen. I feel very grateful when I personally get thanked for helping strangers and those in difficult times. Anyone off the street can say "I am this, that and what not". If you have nothing backing your statements up for all I know you could be making it up. If the interviewers suspect you not telling the truth you will fail. It may not always be the case but I don't like students lying because this is the first step to a honorable career.

For students who have been successful. Most of them have at least 2-3 extracurricular activities. Most students who have failed to get in have 2 or less (I have had students with 2 or less get in still so hope is not all lost). I only have a small sample size so don't just purely rely on this as a predictor.

The students who I've said you will get in 100%. All of them have received offers.

I feel communication is not always a reliable factor for receiving an offer. It's also maturity and your emotional intelligence and a whole bunch of other factors. I am in the process of planning the general interview session so hopefully that will be running next week.

 

[mreditor16]

...and keep dreaming


LOL I know how to rep, but what is it even haha. The 'rep power' thingy seems pretty random when you look at user points vs their rep

nah rep counts to the green bar thingo

the more times someone reps you through using the star button, the longer the bar becomes.....

EDIT - let's get back on subject. don't want to derail this thread, which has valuable info...

 

[obliviousninja]

I got rektd by coop interview. Grilld burgers

 

[bangladesh]

UNSW is different from the other schools. UNSW uses the panel format and there's no scenario questions.

I know that its panel, but many of my friends who were interviewed last year talked about scenario questions too.

 

[Medman]

I know that its panel, but many of my friends who were interviewed last year talked about scenario questions too.

Interesting, what type of scenarios? When I think of scenario questions I think of very tough ones. The only ones I've heard from UNSW are much simpler.