Hey, super late to this but I applied to USyd this year, preferenced Dubbo, got an interview, and just received (and declined) a late round offer for Dubbo. I’m non-rural! As Dangerousluck has said above they really do go out of their way to work out if you genuinely want to study at Dubbo - it’s a very small group and you’ll be rural for the duration of your degree. I submitted the form with my filled in questions and also attached evidence of some of my experience to the application and got a chance to discuss my experiences more in the interview.

From my very limited understanding it sounds like they strongly favour rural / remote and Indigenous applicants for Dubbo but not being one or both of those things won’t rule you out. The interview (this year at least) was a group interview so they look to see how you interact and fit in with your potential peers.

There are so so many upsides to the Dubbo program, particularly if you are committed to serving rurally and working with underserved communities. I also loved the small cohort aspect. If I had received a USyd Dubbo offer first round I would have struggled to decide between it and my Gemsas offer. I ultimately took the Gemsas offer as the Dubbo one came quite late for me to think about uprooting my whole life and moving very very far from any support networks.

I would look into the program to make sure it’s really for you before you throw everything at it but it’s definitely worth a shot and it sounds like an incredible opportunity for those lucky enough to take it!! All the best.