Hey @chocomilkenthusiast,

Great question and this is one of the things that many people don't know for sure because it's so subjective. But I just want to note that I'm not in JCU med because I ended up getting a higher preference but I did get into the interview stage which is selected from the written application. So, I am happy to take a look over your written application once you've completed it!
If there are any tips I could give:

  • DO NOT be cliche in your application.
  • Write actual real-life experiences and not generalised situations.
  • This is obvious but avoid grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and try to write neatly.

This is the process I took:

  1. I printed out the form in colour and made that one my official copy.
  2. I got my signature very early from my principal on the official form so I didn't have to worry about that later and because of the UCAT and the holidays etc., I just got that out of the way.
  3. Write the actual application questions in a Word doc so you don't have any errors in your responses.
  4. Then take another copy of the form and practise writing your responses from the Word doc into the given lines. Ensure not to go over the line amount because I don't know what happens if you do 😅 .
  5. Once you are confident that there are no mistakes in your responses (get it checked by people too) and that it fits within the line count in your official form, then proceed to write it into your official form.

I know this might seem a bit like paranoia but I did end up getting an interview and no one else in my school did. People tend to believe that the interview offer and thus the medicine offer is easy to get but actually, it is incredibly difficult so please don't underestimate it.

Hope this helps!

  • PP

    doe

    Hey @doe,

    It is more difficult than many people think it to be like I said before. And the annoying thing is that the whole interview and offer process is very vague and subjective. But I'll try my best. If you are living or have lived in a rural place for enough time, they do prefer taking in rural applicants. They have a large emphasis on rural and remote health so you do have an advantage there. If your predicted ATAR is between 96-98, I would say you definitely do have a chance at JCU. Considering you are a rural applicant, this allows you to get an interview or med offer with a lower ATAR. But I do want to note that you probably need some extra-curricular, leadership or service activities. If you have any of those or excelled quite a lot in either of those, you have a very high chance at JCU med. Coupled with your rural experience, you can definitely get in. For me, I was a domestic, non-rural applicant. But the biggest advantage I had is that I have countless extra-curricular, leadership and service activities and on top of that, I got awards in quite a few. This gave me a big advantage to get an interview.

    Another thing to note is where you preference them in your QTAC preference list. It increases your chances of getting in if you preference them first or second. I have heard stories where the Dean personally calls the applicants who had JCU as their first preference to tell them they got in. I had them as my fourth or fifth preference which reduced my likelihood of getting a med offer by quite a lot.

    Again, as you can tell, these are all very vague criteria and information. It's because their application process is very subjective and up to them. In the end, it's definitely likely for you.

    Hope it helps!

    • PP
    • doe replied to this.

        PhytoPlankton
        Thank you so much! This is so helpful 🙂
        Just wondering, by extra curricular, I will have a bronze and silver award for duke of ed, and 4 weeks work experience at a hospital. Is this good, does duke of ed have any relevance with applying for med? I also intend to do some volunteering at a hospital after my exams finish.

            doe

            No problem - happy to help!

            Yeah, that's actually really good! I had only a Bronze Duke of Ed so if you have a silver, that's really good! It certainly does have relevance to med because you log a service, a sport and a skill activity and JCU looks for all three, especially the service part. Work experience at a hospital is also really good too but even better would be if it was a rural hospital (all good if not). As for volunteering after your exams finish really depends on whether it's before or after your application due date. Although it may be good to mention, it might not mean much in your application if it's a future thing. They want to know what you have done; not what you are going to. Does that make sense?

            Let me know if you have any questions!

            • PP

              Oh wow, glad to hear Duke of Ed helps. My service for Duke of Ed hasn't been anything great, I have been doing some service at school (flags and canteen work), is that worth mentioning in the application, or too irrelevant?
              Unfortunately my work experience wasn't at a rural hospital, it was in a hospital in the city.

              Oh that's right, my exams will finish after the due date. I will see if I can do some volunteering in the upcoming holidays, thank you for letting me know 🙂

              It's really kind of you to answer my questions! It's honestly such a big help, thank you so much!

                5 days later

                PhytoPlankton

                Thank you so much (I will definitely start writing my written application!), yeah I'm also a rural applicant (I apply for both the 10 or 5 year one so I guess I can choose which one maybe), but I think my ATAR may just BARELY scratch the surface of 95. I am also taking the UCAT, but I don't think I'm going to do well on that, but yeah don't know if I have a chance. I only have one extracurricular activity which is a social justice committee. Do you think there's any hope for me to get in?

                    doe

                    That's great to hear - I'm happy to help!

                    I would say it isn't really worth mentioning but if you really don't have anything else to write in the application then I would write it with a bit of exaggeration 😅. Yeah, I guess you can also really dig back and think of anything else that you did or maybe even think about something you did when you were overseas or in a third-world country?

                    Let me know if you have any other questions!

                    • PP
                    • doe likes this.
                    • doe replied to this.

                        chocomilkenthusiast

                        That's all good - it's my pleasure.

                        I would have to say it's tough but considering you are a rural applicant, I think you have a chance. They specifically prefer rural Queensland applicants and if you preference it first, then I think you have a chance. It's very difficult to say because these are all so subjective things but based on my years of research and following the medicine entrance programs, it would be tough but you have a chance. If you were a non-rural candidate, I would say you definitely cannot because if you have a 95 ATAR, you would need extensive extra-curricular activities or a national or international level sport/music or leadership etc. But with your rurality, if you pull a really good interview and write your application well, I would say you can get in. By far, definitely do NOT give up; try your very best because I have seen literal miracles of people getting into med unis in Queensland with very low UCATs and lower ATARs and NOT rural.

                        Hope that helped but as I mentioned earlier, it's very arbitrary and vague but I wish you all the best for UCAT and the application. Let me know if you have any other questions!

                        • PP

                            PhytoPlankton
                            Oh right 😂
                            I haven't really done anything overseas or third world country 🙁
                            Thank you so much for your help so far! I have applied for some volunteer work now, hopefully I get the opportunity to do something!

                                doe

                                Oh sorry for the bad wording. My parents are originally from a third-world country so we visit there quite often to see relatives and I help around in disadvantaged areas while being there - that's what I meant 😅. I didn't mean that you have to visit there specifically for volunteering 😂.

                                Yeah, better late than never so try and do as many things as you can and whether or not it helps you for your application, it always be useful for you.

                                • PP

                                  PhytoPlankton

                                  Ahh flipsticks, okay, hoping I can get into another committee at the moment, and then hopefully I don't screw up too bad on the ATAR and the UCAT. Do you think I could mention in my application that I was quite literally unable to participate in extra-curricular activities due to living 1 hour away from where I attended school (meaning 2 hours of travel each day?)? And would doing some volunteering work be a good idea? Maybe going bonded for JCU would also help because I think there's a lower ATAR requirement? Thank you once again!

                                    Study-Hard

                                    Hey @Study-Hard,

                                    Again, it is a bit difficult to gauge the actual criteria but from what I've heard around, they do prefer Queensland domestic students over interstate students. But that isn't to say that with enough extras, leadership, service activities etc. and a good ATAR, you can't get in; you definitely can. But good luck!

                                    Hope that helps!

                                    • PP
                                        16 days later

                                        PhytoPlankton
                                        Hello, I'm also an interstate applicant for JCU. In yr 10, I got into the Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program offered by the University of Melbourne. Do you reckon that's something I could mention in my written application? Selection for that is based on leadership initiatives and academic performance and it runs till the end of yr 12. I'm a bit confused about what else I could write for extracurricular stuff so would you we able to give a few examples? I'm also a rural (ra2) student with a predicted ATAR of around 92-3 - is that too low? Also, are the written applications actually written? Someone told me it was typed? One last question, methods is a prerequisite for med but they don't give an actual study score that you have to get. Does that mean that they just want you to do it?

                                        Sorry for bombarding you with questions! Thankyou!

                                            Vel1
                                            Hey VisVel,

                                            Again, these aspects are very vague but what you need to understand is that each aspect of the application process for JCU is like a slider. So the higher the ATAR is on that slider, the lower the other things you need on those sliders and vice versa. To be completely honest, a grade 10 program seems a little old but depending on what it is, it could be useful. I didn't have anything prior to grade 11 in my application but if your scholars' program is something based on incredible leadership activities then it would be useful. The other thing is that if you don't have anything else to write, obviously, you should write that down. You have to prioritise all your activities depending on their significance to leadership/service/rural experience and also their recency then write them on your application in that order.

                                            In terms of your ATAR, if you are rural, that could be enough. I've heard that JCU has implemented a bonus point system that gives you bonus points if you are rural for your ATAR (@chocomilkenthusiast). The best thing to do is to call them directly or look on their website for previous year results.

                                            If I recall correctly, you can either type or handwrite. I actually completely hand wrote mine since I thought I could write it smaller while maintaining the readability of it. If you are handwriting it, ensure you do two things: type the paragraphs up in a Word doc prior to writing it down (so there are no mistakes and you can see the word count) and secondly, ensure you do your best handwriting for the application (for legibility and impression). But feel free to choose whatever you are more comfortable with.

                                            Finally, usually, when they don't say anything, it just means that you have to pass methods and that's it. For example, JCU specifically mentions you only have to get a C (pass) in English, Methods and Chemistry to satisfy their subject entry requirements.

                                            That's all good and hope this helps!

                                            • PP
                                              4 months later

                                              PhytoPlankton

                                              I applied for JCU med this year. My predicted ATAR was 99, and I had three reference letters. One for rural medicine, one for rural dentistry, and one for a non-profit organisation where I volunteered and helped out the community. I am NOT a rural applicant. I live in Victoria, so I'm an inter-state applicant. I did not get the first-round interview offer. Do you think I might have a chance for the second-round offer? I think my ATAR might range from 96-98.

                                              Thanks

                                                9 months later

                                                @PhytoPlankton
                                                Hey! I've been reading a lot of your replies and helpful information to others but was just wondering what ATAR you got in order to still receive an offer to JCU while having it as a pretty low preference. Hopefully you're comfortable sharing this information, if not, all good! 😊

                                                -glor

                                                  glor
                                                  Hey @glor,

                                                  No worries at all! So in 2021, interview offers were based on a predicted ATAR (this would be predicted yourself and then signed off by a deputy or principal at your school) and written application (with reference letters). So the predicted ATAR was just general thresholds (so in my case, it was 99+). I know quite a few people who just ticked the 99+ box on the predicted ATAR form, got it signed by the deputy principal and only ended up with a ATAR 96 for example and that's what JCU based the interview offer on. So, I think a lot of the weight was on the written application. However, I believe since last year they have changed the JCU written application to an "academic history" or similar: "JCU will consider your entire academic history within your application, with the highest weighting given to your most recent studies." For JCU intake of medicine 2025, "medicine applicants do not submit written statements OR letters of support at any point during the application, interview or selection process."

                                                  Hope that helps clarify that but to answer your question and for context, I received an interview offer based on my 99+ predicted ATAR and written application but am unsure as to whether I received a medical offer as I received a higher preference. I ended up with a 99.80 ATAR but as mentioned above, my real ATAR is only considered for the medicine offer; not the interview offer.

                                                  Sorry if I repeated myself a few times but hope this clears up any confusion up and more than happy to help if you have any more questions!

                                                  Hope it helps!

                                                  • PP
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