Is it too late to change career goals? (1 Viewer)

[svad]

Hii
Since year 11 i've been focused on getting into engineering (software) at UNSW, requiring a 90+ ATAR. However during these holidays i've been looking into medicine, which requires an ATAR of 97+ (please correct me if i'm wrong) & UCAT. Everyone I know who is thinking about medicine have had their goals set since year 9/10~. From what I've seen on BOS, the best time to start studying for the UCAT was at the end of term 3 year 11. There is an significant jump from aiming for a 90 to 97, and I havn't started studying for the UCAT. Should I stick to aiming for a engineering? or is medicine possible?

Ps, would it be possible to switch between engineering to medicine in uni? I've heard people say its possible but i don't know how it works lol

 

[katev3s]

Hii
Since year 11 i've been focused on getting into engineering (software) at UNSW, requiring a 90+ ATAR which i've been aiming for. However during these holidays i've been looking into medicine, specifically radiology, which requires an ATAR of 97+ (please correct me if i'm wrong) & UCAT. All the people I know who are going into medicine have had this goal since year 9/10~. From what I've seen on BOS, the best time to start studying for the UCAT was at the end of term 3 year 11. There is an significant jump from aiming for a 90 to 97, and I havn't started studying for the UCAT. Should I stick to aiming for a engineering? or is medicine possible?

its definitely possible and you can always go for post graduate medicine if it doesn't work out. i only realised I wanted to do medicine after I bombed the hsc. there's many different pathways to medicine and you're not alone. i knew some people who studied the ucat like 2 months before the exam and did quite decent. likewise, there's always the gamsat u can take lol.

post grad med is any degree, so even if u stick to engineering and have a soft spot for medicine; having a high gpa and doing the gamsat will allow to do medicine. there is only internally transferring into medicine (very hard) and degrees if you are uninterested in your course. you have a lot of time to figure yourself out so no need to jump. there's also bonus points for hsc and rural I think that contribute to your selection rank.

focus on what you can control and you'll see your results more quickly than u anticipated. best of luck if you want more information, definitely go on medstudentsonline.com and follow this https://medstudentsonline.com.au/fo...-leavers-and-other-medicine-applicants.32824/

can possibly give u some insight very similar to BOS

 

[Armon]

Medicine with only a 97 is incredibly, incredibly, incredibly unlikely.

In my year, a friend with a 99.90 and a 3200 UCAT (which is like what, 96th percentile?) got rejected from all but his last choice med school (USYD), and only got into that due to his low SEIFA reducing the required interview ATAR from 99.95 to 99.55.
Similarly, a kid with a 3070 UCAT (94th percentile I think?) and 99.85 ATAR this year did not even get offered an interview at UNSW for medicine this year.

Getting into medicine is hard - really hard, and getting into undergrad is a whole next level. Quite frankly, if you aren't a selective school NPC taking 4u, chem, phys, engadv, expecting a 99.55+ and have a tiger mum paying for UCAT tutoring, its not even worth thinking about.

Why are you interested specifically in Engineering and Medicine? They are two entirely different fields that are not remotely similar in uni experience, content, learning styles, career paths, or anything else. The only commonality is that immigrant parents both like the supposed "money, stability & prestige" associated with those degrees. If your motivation is anything related to that, I'd recommend you scrap both degrees because Software Engineering has too competitive a job market for passionless people and the opportunity costs of pursuing Medicine are so high for someone not 100% fervently set on it.

 

[svad]

its definitely possible and you can always go for post graduate medicine if it doesn't work out. i only realised I wanted to do medicine after I bombed the hsc. there's many different pathways to medicine and you're not alone. i knew some people who studied the ucat like 2 months before the exam and did quite decent. likewise, there's always the gamsat u can take lol.

post grad med is any degree, so even if u stick to engineering and have a soft spot for medicine; having a high gpa and doing the gamsat will allow to do medicine. there is only internally transferring into medicine (very hard) and degrees if you are uninterested in your course. you have a lot of time to figure yourself out so no need to jump. there's also bonus points for hsc and rural I think that contribute to your selection rank.

focus on what you can control and you'll see your results more quickly than u anticipated. best of luck if you want more information, definitely go on medstudentsonline.com and follow this https://medstudentsonline.com.au/fo...-leavers-and-other-medicine-applicants.32824/

can possibly give u some insight very similar to BOS

Thank you so much!!

 

[svad]

Why are you interested specifically in Engineering and Medicine? They are two entirely different fields that are not remotely similar in uni experience, content, learning styles, career paths, or anything else. The only commonality is that immigrant parents both like the supposed "money, stability & prestige" associated with those degrees. If your motivation is anything related to that, I'd recommend you scrap both degrees because Software Engineering has too competitive a job market for passionless people and the opportunity costs of pursuing Medicine are so high for someone not 100% fervently set on it.

Honestly i'm not really focused on uni life, content or learning styles, more on the degree's impact after graduation like career's etc. I was into Software as a genuine interest for a long time. But I attended a career's talk at school (around the last week of school?) where I was introduced to radiology and found it interesting too. I mean, radiology has only been a thought for now. My immigrant parents are lowk chill with whatever I chose as long as I can make a good living So I don't have any pressure from them on a certain career with any 'prestige'. I know medicine should be seen beyond its "money, stability & prestige", those arn't really my motivations.

Idk i just found out about radiology, and thought it was cool. I think i'll just stick to engineering.

 

[Aeonium]

Hii
Since year 11 i've been focused on getting into engineering (software) at UNSW, requiring a 90+ ATAR. However during these holidays i've been looking into medicine, which requires an ATAR of 97+ (please correct me if i'm wrong) & UCAT. Everyone I know who is thinking about medicine have had their goals set since year 9/10~. From what I've seen on BOS, the best time to start studying for the UCAT was at the end of term 3 year 11. There is an significant jump from aiming for a 90 to 97, and I havn't started studying for the UCAT. Should I stick to aiming for a engineering? or is medicine possible?

Ps, would it be possible to switch between engineering to medicine in uni? I've heard people say its possible but i don't know how it works lol

medicine requires a ucat score of 3k+ and probably a 99+ if you don’t count for adjustments.

if you want to transfer into med later, generally you take the gamsat to get into postgrad med (i dont think your degree matters in that case), however i’ve heard this is even more competitive as the applicant pool is larger by heaps (and people retake gamsat each year anyways)

i agree with armon; it’s not worth going for med so suddenly especially if you aren’t 100% into it — you have to pay for medify/medentry/etc and interview prep on top of the 300+ for taking the ucat itself.

i have heard that the ucat format has changed though — might be something to consider

 

[Study to success]

How about medicine at western Sydney uni. The minimum selection rank is 95.5 or 93.5 if u live in western Sydney. Or is it still really competitive to get in there

 

[Aeonium]

How about medicine at western Sydney uni. The minimum selection rank is 95.5 or 93.5 if u live in western Sydney. Or is it still really competitive to get in there

they focus more on UCAT & interview

 

[v.tex]

Bro, DO what you want to do. One of my friends sister got an 80 ATAR and got into medicine through the post grad pathway.m Yeah direct entry medicine is just full of guys who have had there whole life preparing to get into medicine, its honestly a bit sad.

 

[svad]

How about medicine at western Sydney uni. The minimum selection rank is 95.5 or 93.5 if u live in western Sydney. Or is it still really competitive to get in there

I didnt know that omg. Im guessing its still very competitive tho? because the ATAR requirement is significantly lower than other unis so more people would apply, creating more competition? idk, ill have to research that but thank you!

 

[Study to success]

I didnt know that omg. Im guessing its still very competitive tho? because the ATAR requirement is significantly lower than other unis so more people would apply, creating more competition? idk, ill have to research that but thank you!

I’ve heard of someone who got in there with a 96 atar and did no sciences. But I dunno how competitive it is

 

[Armon]

Honestly i'm not really focused on uni life, content or learning styles, more on the degree's impact after graduation like career's etc. I was into Software as a genuine interest for a long time. But I attended a career's talk at school (around the last week of school?) where I was introduced to radiology and found it interesting too. I mean, radiology has only been a thought for now. My immigrant parents are lowk chill with whatever I chose as long as I can make a good living So I don't have any pressure from them on a certain career with any 'prestige'. I know medicine should be seen beyond its "money, stability & prestige", those arn't really my motivations.

Idk i just found out about radiology, and thought it was cool. I think i'll just stick to engineering.

My point is that the two degrees you've identified could not be more different in terms of the careers they lead to;

Medicine as a career has a long training (often in excess of 15 years from high school graduation to being a specialist doctor), hands on work, very patient-orientated, mostly shift work, much more individual responsibility (likely to at times be the only doctor present in a hospital), and huge stakes.

Software engineering has a rather vocational university training (3 years), mostly remote work, very abstractly orientated, set work week, more focused on a collaborative work environment, and low stakes.

Genuinely, could not think of any two degrees more different in careers. If radiology is your interest, why are you asking about whetehr starting with engineering at university first if you don't get into medicine is a good idea, rather than pursuing a very clearly related allied health degree like radiography as your premed?

From your post, your only apparent career motivations are "having a career" and "making a good living", so I'd suggest that if these are your motivations you're much better off dropping out, pursuing a trade and becoming a FIFO worker in the mines. That has a hell of a lot more job security and money in it than software engineering or medicine in the long run.

 

[iloveeggs]

anytime anyone says they like med but aren't sure and ask for my advice i always tell them to not go for undergrad unless they are very sure about having a career in medicine and willing to drop everything in year 12 and work their butt off. this is because its extremely competitive to get in in through undergrad and very soul-sucking if you go into that area with a lot of other ambitious people and you end up really disliking it.

while its not too late to prep for ucat it is very expensive and also if you are starting this late you better be pretty sure you're alr in terms of atar (looking at a 98-99 atar estimate). even for unis with lower atar reqs they have very high ucat reqs to meet e.g. western sydney so it doesnt matter if the atar req is low

thats not to say you shouldn't go for postgrad, you def should. another thing i wanted to mention is that if its radiology or similar fields you want to go into specifically you could look into undergrad degrees in relation to that e.g. diagnostic radiography which is a course a lot of unis offer. its not the same as being a radiologist obviously but its a similar field and a bit less stressful than the whole medicine degree thingy while learning radiology-relevant things.

 

[Ellztrap]

One of the intensive care registrars I work with went from being a bricklayer to an intensive care registrar - like I don’t think it’s ever really too late to change careers.

 

[rh_06]

Hii
Since year 11 i've been focused on getting into engineering (software) at UNSW, requiring a 90+ ATAR. However during these holidays i've been looking into medicine, which requires an ATAR of 97+ (please correct me if i'm wrong) & UCAT. Everyone I know who is thinking about medicine have had their goals set since year 9/10~. From what I've seen on BOS, the best time to start studying for the UCAT was at the end of term 3 year 11. There is an significant jump from aiming for a 90 to 97, and I havn't started studying for the UCAT. Should I stick to aiming for a engineering? or is medicine possible?

Ps, would it be possible to switch between engineering to medicine in uni? I've heard people say its possible but i don't know how it works lol

Hi! I've read through your other comments and what others have said. While some are correct, I don't think your seeing the whole picture. Firstly, getting into med is a long and gruelling process thats all about determination/persistence. I would know since I'm in the same boat. You have to be focused on getting into med, all or nothing. There is no 'backup plan.' You give your 100%.
I assume you've already looked into post-grad med- its pretty straight forward.

Now for the 'undergrad'/postgrad path for people who have already started another degree etc.
Assuming your atar is above 96 and you maintain a good GPA in any degree at UNSW (a 6.7 GPA = 99.5ish), you can resit the UCAT in your first year, do better and get an interview. Or you can go through the lateral entry scheme which is available only to those doing Medical Science at UNSW (highly competitive).

For Newcastle uni, if your atar was below 90, they only take your GPA (or the better of the two)- same process as UNSW, resit the UCAT and if its good along with your gpa or atar, get an interview. (I think Newcastle only requires a credit average which is easy to maintain)

Same goes for WSU except the atar requirement is like 93+ or they take your GPA which should be around 6.1 or 6.3 to be competitive. I believe WSU prioritises the interview with a ratio of 25% UCAT/ATAR/GPA and 75% Interview.

All of these paths rely on sitting the UCAT in first year and doing well, so that you can transfer in second year. I've also been told that if you aim to get into post grad med, you should take a medical related degree, wether it be science etc. This is because despite being a 'post grad' course, there is still a somewhat assumed knowledge thing for certain areas. Basically, focus on doing the UCAT in you first year whilst maintaining a high GPA- This is what I'm doing.

 

[svad]

Hi! I've read through your other comments and what others have said. While some are correct, I don't think your seeing the whole picture. Firstly, getting into med is a long and gruelling process thats all about determination/persistence. I would know since I'm in the same boat. You have to be focused on getting into med, all or nothing. There is no 'backup plan.' You give your 100%.
I assume you've already looked into post-grad med- its pretty straight forward.

Now for the 'undergrad'/postgrad path for people who have already started another degree etc.
Assuming your atar is above 96 and you maintain a good GPA in any degree at UNSW (a 6.7 GPA = 99.5ish), you can resit the UCAT in your first year, do better and get an interview. Or you can go through the lateral entry scheme which is available only to those doing Medical Science at UNSW (highly competitive).

For Newcastle uni, if your atar was below 90, they only take your GPA (or the better of the two)- same process as UNSW, resit the UCAT and if its good along with your gpa or atar, get an interview. (I think Newcastle only requires a credit average which is easy to maintain)

Same goes for WSU except the atar requirement is like 93+ or they take your GPA which should be around 6.1 or 6.3 to be competitive. I believe WSU prioritises the interview with a ratio of 25% UCAT/ATAR/GPA and 75% Interview.

All of these paths rely on sitting the UCAT in first year and doing well, so that you can transfer in second year. I've also been told that if you aim to get into post grad med, you should take a medical related degree, wether it be science etc. This is because despite being a 'post grad' course, there is still a somewhat assumed knowledge thing for certain areas. Basically, focus on doing the UCAT in you first year whilst maintaining a high GPA- This is what I'm doing.

Honestly I was willing to drop everything and give med 100% but really the only thing holding me back was whether or not it was too late to give it my all considering term 1 is already done. The reason why my decision was so late was because I was totally un-aware of radiology until very recently, which is a shame. Thank you so much for the information though, it's super insightful honestly.

Thank you to everyone else who also replied!

 

[idkkdi]

Honestly I was willing to drop everything and give med 100% but really the only thing holding me back was whether or not it was too late to give it my all considering term 1 is already done. The reason why my decision was so late was because I was totally un-aware of radiology until very recently, which is a shame. Thank you so much for the information though, it's super insightful honestly.

Thank you to everyone else who also replied!

might as well? if ur giving med a good go u should be getting the atar required for software if it all goes south

 

[katev3s]

Honestly I was willing to drop everything and give med 100% but really the only thing holding me back was whether or not it was too late to give it my all considering term 1 is already done. The reason why my decision was so late was because I was totally un-aware of radiology until very recently, which is a shame. Thank you so much for the information though, it's super insightful honestly.

Thank you to everyone else who also replied!

well regardless of where you end up, you should just give it your 100%. Control what you can now and it'll reflect once u receive your results. there's also a diagnostic radiology degree at usyd if u are interested in that as well or medical imaging degrees. you've got plenty of choices, worry later and focus on what u have rn