What are the UCAT Medical Schools Ranking Results?
Well, it’s official, the UMAT is being changed to the UCAT for medical schools in Australia and New Zealand. However, with it, there is a lot of uncertainty over the best choice for 2020 entry and beyond.
It’s difficult enough to make a decision about which university you want to attend without being in the midst of a serious change to the admissions process. We’re here to make that decision a bit easier. We’ve compiled the UCAT university rankings for UCAT medical schools to give you an idea of the academic strengths of the universities you might be considering!
What are the UCAT medical schools?
The UCAT medical schools are the programmes which require the UCAT at entry. This could either be for immediate entry or transfer from another health or life sciences course after a year or two of study.
It’s complicated by the fact that not all UCAT medical schools accept school leavers directly onto medical courses, and some universities require you to be enrolled at the university already. This means it’s really important to do your research about the requirements of the courses you are interested in.
Ensure that you have the options that you are interested in – whether you prioritise direct entry to Medicine or would like to have a year to find your feet. We have compiled the UCAT university rankings for those schools which require the UCAT for the application process, whenever that process occurs.
UCAT university rankings:
1) Monash University
2) The University of Queensland
3) The University of Adelaide
4) The University of Auckland
5) The University of New South Wales
6) The University of Western Australia
7) The University of Newcastle, Australia
8) University of Otago
9) University of Tasmania
10) Western Sydney University
11) Curtin University
The UCAT university rankings given here are based on the QS World University Rankings for Medicine. Monash University comes out highest, with a ranking of =29 globally for Medicine, and ranked in the Top 5 Australia/New Zealand universities by the Times Higher Education rankings for general performance. The University of Queensland also made this Top 5 by THE, indicating a good all-round performance as well as a strong performance in the QS medical rankings. However, this isn’t the only metric which you should consider.
The following universities in this list received the 5* QS rating:
- University of Auckland
- University of New South Wales
- University of Western Australia
- University of Otago
- Western Sydney University
What does the 5* rating mean?
This 5* rating means that the university performs well at the ranked criteria, such as student satisfaction, but also some metrics which aren’t ranked, such as facilities, innovation, and delivery of a specialist subject.
This rating shows that a university has a lot to offer in terms of a rounded student experience, as well as some of the key features which the ranking considers. This feature is a bonus which universities pay to have assessed, so a university lacking a starred rating doesn’t mean it didn’t perform well, but a 4* or 5* rating is an encouraging indication about what a university has to offer.
Therefore, these five UCAT medical schools have been judged to do well across a whole range of criteria, including sports facilities, libraries, commitment to cultural activities, proportions of international students, and more. This is a good indication of why it’s important to read rankings critically. A university might be lower on UCAT university rankings, but have amazing things to offer its students.
There are also lots of things which don’t factor into rankings, but which might matter when choosing between UCAT medical schools. For example, Curtin University and Western Sydney University have the advantage of offering five-year school-leavers courses. In fact, Curtin offers the only undergraduate medical degree in Western Australia. These universities offer great opportunities to jump straight into Medicine if you leave school knowing that it’s your vocation!
How well do rankings reflect the quality of UCAT medical schools?
This is a great question! Rankings are notorious for prioritising aspects of university life which do not reflect the needs of everyone who uses them. A prospective undergraduate student does not need to know much about research quality, and a thinktank researcher is not going to be very interested in student satisfaction.
*Remember that, for UCAT medical schools as well as for universities in general, rankings won’t always reflect the things that you are interested in.*
The QS World University Rankings used here placed a great emphasis on academic peer review, which is a good indication of the research quality but gives no information about undergraduate teaching. For this reason, you should be careful to look at everything a university is offering you rather than taking a ranking at face value!
Remember to consider that different ranking platforms will give you different results. Monash University came =29 globally on the QS rankings but =46 on the Times Higher Education ranking, which places more emphasis on reputational surveys.
In the same ranking, the University of Western Australia outperforms the University of Adelaide on the overall criteria, but the University of Adelaide does better when you choose to rank the universities by teaching quality. Rankings are a useful tool, but you need to know what you are prioritising by looking at them.
Let’s have a chat!
For further guidance on your medical school application, look no further than UniAdmisisons. We’d be more than happy to explain the process from tips on choosing the right medical school to sharpening your skills to better your application. You can book in a free consultation to find out more.
Are you thinking about applying to Medicine? We can triple your chances of success! UCAT tuition is just one of the programmes available at UniAdmissions, so why not check it out?
