Is the median ATAR of medical students at USyd/UniMelb higher than at UNSW/Monash?
3 years ago by Rob
No, in fact, it is far lower.
People assume that because the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne have a certain limited number of places for their “guaranteed entry” scheme (for which the minimum ATAR required is 99.90 or 99.95) the median ATAR of medical students at such universities must be very high. This is a myth and is completely untrue.
The University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne have about 300+ places each in their graduate entry programs and only about 10% of places are from the guaranteed entry stream. The rest of the places are generally for those whose ATAR and/or UCAT score was not high enough to get in through the direct/school-leaver entry pathway (the median ATAR of these students is likely to be in the range of about 95). Therefore, the median ATAR of all the medical students at the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne is likely to be about 96, far lower than the median ATAR of medical students at UNSW or Monash (which is significantly higher, at about 99.5). In fact, the median ATAR of medical students at any graduate entry medical school will be lower than the median ATAR of medical students at any school leaver entry medical school.
Graduate entry medical schools such as the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne have "guaranteed entry" pathways as a ploy to attract very high ATAR students, and to create the myth that they are hard medical schools to get into. Such universities gain the innumerable benefits of attracting perfect ATAR students, while at the same time increasing their income by utilising the longer graduate entry pathway.
Remember, school leaver/direct entry programs are good for the student; graduate entry programs are good for the universities (for reasons explored in other MedEntry blogs).
