Unfair advantage??? (1 Viewer)

[Trebla]

Some people take Medicine just because they can. I had a talk with some people who got really high UAIs and they said they took Combined Law or Medicine because they can or do not want to "waste" their UAI (not to mention that they want to feel some sense of 'eliteness' doing some hardcore course which has a famously high UAI cut-off).
E.g. A person I know actually considered doing an engineering degree. When he found out his UAI was much higher than he expected, he dropped engineering altogether and decided to do Combined Law. Apparently this happens frequently in top 10 schools where 99+ UAIs are fairly abundant. And you won't believe how many 99+ UAI students almost fall asleep in Commerce lectures....lol. Even those who got state rankings in Science and Maths subjects somehow chose to do Commerce/Law?

Pretty stupid and selfish if you ask me because if people are doing courses just because they got that good UAI to get in and are not following their interests and careers (or are perhaps money driven), then people who genuinely have an interest in the course but just got a few points under are missing out because of them. So both sides may suffer. The people who got into Medicine or Combined Law just because they didn't want to 'waste' their UAI may suffer boredom if they don't develop an interest in this course whereas those who really have an interest in the course but just didn't make the UAI, suffer in missing out. Those people who got in just because they got a good UAI (and aren't genuinely interested in it), will continue to make the UAI cut-off beyond the reach of some of these genuinely interested people....

Anyway, back to the original topic - If people can't handle Biology or Chemistry, then it's their loss if they do Medicine because both get more hardcore in uni. It won't be an unfair advantage because it'll be likely they will have a hard time keeping afloat in uni anyway....
Besides, I think a bridging course costs a lot of extra dollars doesn't it? So you would be at a somewhat advantage if you knew your Chemistry and Biology in Year 12.

 

[airie]

I see your point, but it's hard to say. There's this girl at my school doing really well in her subjects (like, first in, uhh...four? subjects last year...), and she wants to do med next year, even though she's not doing any sciences in year 12. Who can judge that, oh, if she did do some sciences, she'd get worse marks? It's everyone's own choice. They make the decision as of what subjects suit them most, and what uni courses they've got their hearts on.

Anyway, why would you care? Not like you can do anything "constructive". I'd use the time to brush up my own skills, rather than to complain others got an advantage over me

 

[Sad Statue]

haha yeah but i figure..if ur a 3u or 2u maths person then if u did general maths and u cane it u can get a pretty good uai aight?

General is a totally different course, so if you haven't dropped by now, I wouldn't recommend going down in the near future. Too much stupid stuff to learn.

And holy crap, I can't stop staring at your sig.

 

[jaaaaay]

It is much better to choose subjects you both enjoy and are good at rather than choose 'Chemistry' for example because you 'need' it. The whole point of selecting candidates based on their UAI is to show the students potential to learn and develop broad life knowledge - not necessaily how well they grasp the concepts of the HSC syllabus. The Chem/Phy/Bio learnt at uni is far broader than year 12 science anyway; and can be much more in depth and specific to real life applications - rather than generalised concepts which address the syllabus dot points.

People trust doctors with their most intimate and personal information. I think it is ridiculous to suggest that candidates for medicine should be judged purely on how well they pass an exam purely in Science. That is why there is the interview process and UMAT selection criteria. Having people from all different backgrounds, life experience and people who attain broad knowledge (i.e. not purely science), are what make good doctors. I do not see any unfair advantage.

 

[gaoOO]

I don't think it's an unfair advantage because you're meant to pick subjects you enjoy and you're good at. It's your fault if you pick subjects purely on scaling with no other considerations.


what i do think is unfair is that people can use laptops in subjects like legal studies, english, history if they have 'bad handwriting'. I understand this if you a disability or you've injured your hand or something, but honestly, people that have messy handwriting or pretend to have messy handwriting shouldn't have these handicaps. I think they get 10 minutes extra for each hour and typing on a laptop means that an average 1000 word essay quickly becomes a 1750 essay.