hey all,

I'm thinking of applying to Sydney, anyone reading this who is there right now? What kind of grades/mcat are they asking for? (I know that the minimums are 8/8/8/M and a 5.5/7.0 GPA; I was thinking along the lines of what people had who actually made it IN) Can anyone tell me what
a 5.5 out of 7.0 is in percent? I'm canadian, so percent is better than 4.0 scale.

I am an Australian and whilst I cannot help you with contacts in the uni of Sydney I can explain the 7 point GPA system. Most universities grade on a scale from fail or pass conceded (2 or 3) to pass (4) to credit pass (5) to distinction (6) to high distinction (7) for any given subject. What it takes to get a grade of lets say high distinction is somewhat arbitary as subject x at uni y will grant a high distinction with a cumulative test/assignment/lab report percentage of 80% and subject w at uni z will require a mark of 90% before giving the same grade (so percentage is irrelevant). How to calculate your GPA is done as follows. Lets say for example you do 3 subjects those being anatomy (a 10 credit point subject), biochem (10 credit points) and physiology (a 20 credit point subject) and receive a grade of credit (5), distinction (6) and high distinction (7) respectively. Total credit points studied were 40. So GPA is [(5X10)+(6X10)+(7x20)/40] = 250/40 =6.25. Assuming equal weighting for credit points a GPA of 5.5 is half way between credit and distinction. By the way if you are considering an Australian school go for it. Currently there is not a single private med school in Australia and every domestic student is admitted on merit alone, thus the schools are centres of excellence. The standard of living is also higher and safer and your dollar is quite strong compared to ours. Good luck and God Bless.

__________________
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." Einstein
"One of the essential qualities of the clinician is interest in humanity, for the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient." Peabody

Could you tell me what kinds of interview questions they may ask at USYD? What about Queensland? thanks

So now we have an idea how to calculate cumulative GPA on a 7.0 scale if all our grades were given in it. But I'm still quite lost as to how to convert a percentage grade to a 7.0 GPA scale.

For example, it seems like:
"distinction" or "6.0/7.0" = "Good" or "B/B+" or "72-79%" or "3.0-3.3/4.0"

So "5.5/7.0" would be equivalent to "Satisfactory" or "B-" or "68-71%" or 2.67-3.00/4.0"?

lol

Anything above 80% is considered an honours or 7.0. However, dont bother calculating gpas for Aussie schools, the explicitly tell you in the application package not to do so. The school will review your transcript itself. This applies only to international applicants. One of the previous posts was from an Aussie, more familiar with the 7 pt system. From what I have heard, 24m for the MCAT and a stellar interview are minimums for getting in. If you like PBL which I think is far more effective than didactic curriculum, Aus is the place!

- not necessarily true..not all schools use the PBL; remember there are undergrad schools as well

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