Should I take a gap year and retry UMAT? (1 Viewer)

[tmkarp]

Just graduated and got 99.90, but with a very trash UMAT. I have the option of Melbourne UNI Chancellor's scholars or griffith but would prefer to stay here in NSW for various reasons. Is a gap year worth it to retry UMAT? Would love to hear from anyone who has previously done one

 

[ST001]

Just graduated and got 99.90, but with a very trash UMAT. I have the option of Melbourne UNI Chancellor's scholars or griffith but would prefer to stay here in NSW for various reasons. Is a gap year worth it to retry UMAT? Would love to hear from anyone who has previously done one

It is definitely worth the extra year if Medicine is truly your passion and what you want to do, if it is then an extra year, two or three is really not that big of a deal. i hope this got you thinking now.

I was in similar situation to yours, did UMAT again, and got into med. Did the prep course though after my first UMAt attempt. My mistake was that I went upreared the first time round, only did acer booklets, next time I was much more confident as I did lots of prep with the course books I was using.

 

[bangladesh]

I guess the logical thing to do would be to take a gap year, but the problem with that is you simply may not improve on umat next year and that would've been a waste(ish) if a year. If you have travelling plans etc then it won't be a waste but if your plan is to just stay at home and study umat, then i'd probs suggest take umelb offer and retake umat next year and try and transfer back into nsw.

 

[TheDeebs]

If it's medicine that you would really love to pursue, doesn't UniMelb offer a med entry pathway through their postgrad system? If you receive an atar over 99.00 you can receive a guaranteed placement in their med program, though I think the catch is that you can't defer your fees and you need to maintain a certain grade throughout the undergrad degree. I'm not 100% sure about it, but they had this program when I graduated last year (if this is what you're doing then just ignore this). The Chancellor's scholarship IMO is quite an amazing scholarship as it offers you so many opportunities for interactions with professors and researchers as well as many valuable experiences. I didn't quite get the 99.90 atar, but if I had achieved the Chancellor's Scholarship, I would've gone interstate to Melbourne.

However if you really don't want to move, another option is to study a med related degree (e.g. science, med-science) and then sit the GAMSAT in your second or third year. I didn't take the UMAT in high school and it's what I'm doing now haha. While it is a more difficult and strenuous exam, you can sit the GAMSAT multiple times (twice each year), which is a bonus factor, and also receive a bachelor's degree at the same time

 

[A1P]

If you receive an atar over 99.00 you can receive a guaranteed placement in their med program

Beware that with the 99.00 program you need to achieve 75% GPA and the Med place offered is Aus full-fee, not CSP.

 

[addybrah]

hey tmkarp, this is a bit late and you've probably already set on what you'll be doing. nonetheless want to add my 2c.
first off congrats on your insane atar, awesome work. youll get scholarships at a few unis, and it gives you a very good leg-up for unsw med.

did my hsc in 2014 and got a mid 99 atar, mid 70s for my umat. decided to take a gap yr, and ended up getting 86 percentile this year. only got one interview offer (from uncle, rejected in the end).
i know a couple of mates who did a gap yr and got 95+ umat (after getting 70s the first time) with high 98/low 99 atars, and they were accepted into unsw med. also know a few people who did a gap yr and still didn't get an offer (one guy had his umat drop by 10 lol).

Whether a gap year is worth doing really depends on the individual. personally, i think it was a waste of a year for me (mainly because i didn't make it into med). the guys who did make it into med are over the moon tho haha.

if you're really set on med in nsw, there are some advantages to taking a gap year:
benefits:
- full year to study umat, with no hsc pressure. honestly, it just makes so much more sense when you dont have 10 units to think about and 5 essays to memorise.
- can get a job, $$$, pay for your textbooks/travel/food etc next yr
- enjoy, travel, explore other interests
- no uni record, easier to get in as they'll only look at your atar (which is top). uni subjects are much harder to do well in than hsc.

there are some big issues you have to address if you do take the gap year though:
issues:
- what will you do in all your spare time? you have no structure to your day, and it can get very hard to be motivated for/look forward to anything. straight out of high school, most people dont have any significant passions or hobbies which they are dedicated to, so the gap year just becomes a massive timesink (you feel tired and sleep half the day)

- no sense of accomplishment. this is probably the biggest one. when you're in school, or uni, you get the feeling that 'hey, i'm actually working toward something (degree/hsc).' with a gap year, you'll feel like you're doing nothing, and that you're stuck in the past while everyone else is moving ahead with their lives. it's a really shitty feeling.

- if you dont go well enough on umat (don't get me wrong, not trying to discourage you, but it is possible), what then? will you feel like you've wasted a year?

considering your atar, personally i would take a gap yr and resit the umat. if you can pull a 90+ percentile you're basically guaranteed for unsw/uws/uncle. However, you really have to think about the issues with it. looking back, i'd only go ahead with the gap yr if:

a) you have a full time job lined up
b) you plan on travelling somewhere (volunteering, etc)
c) you find an outlet to reconnect with friends over (eg gym, soccer or smth - this is important, don't lose touch)

like bangladesh said, if you just wanna stay at home and study umat, go with umelb. there is no way you will be able to stay healthy/sane or even do well on the umat like that.

studying for umat
just buy the distance package of a company and go through the past papers.
after you do s3 for a while it's kinda the same stuff. keep in mind, they did change the type of s3 qns asked this year. i made a mistakes book, and wrote down all the common changes in elements/patterns that they tested.
for harder s1 qns do LSAT (google it) sample papers (when you're bored and have nothing else to do haha)

after umat/offers
if you make it into med in nsw, congrats!
if not, take the melb scholarship and run haha. from what i've heard, they still require you to do an interview. you can choose whether to do this before admission, or at the end of your undergrad degree iirc. you should do it before being admitted, because that way you know if you're definitely in or not. otherwise take griffith.

if you still really want to do med in nsw (would not recommend try transferring from melb/griffith instead), you can do whatever degree you want (law, engo, com, whatever) and transfer in at unsw, provided your wam/umat is high enough (usually 85+ wam, 95+ umat). they take about 10 ppl in every year from other degrees. degrees like arts/comm are a breeze if you study and will help you get the wam easily. medsci is also an option, although advanced standing entry (the one where you enter 4th yr unsw med) is very tough to get into.

closing advice
in the long run, a few extra yes spent in uni won't matter too much.
just remember to enjoy yourself, whatever you end up choosing
good luck! pm me if you have anything else you wanna talk about.