Newbie Medicine questions (1 Viewer)

[Tez]

I am seriously considering medicine. It was only recently though...but now, i am committed to getting into it no matter what it takes.

Thing is...I have no idea what i have to do to get into medicine if i cant get in 1st year.

Can anyone tell me how long, what marks i need, what courses are popular/recommended before post grad medicine, can i get in 2nd year by any chance. What things do i need to do...for example. what the hell is GAMSTAT, or whatever it is...what interview is needed, what if i stuff up the interview - where can i go from there. ummm...yeah...so basically the usual questions and what i have to do.

Cheers

 

[Survivor39]

to get into undergrad med, go to www.med.unsw.edu.au for more info (bascially UMAT aptitude test, interview and a high UAI)

to get into undergrad med from another degree you follow the above step provided your UAI is at least 95

To get into postgrad med you need to complete a degree, preferably science, and than do GAMSAT, a test that is kind of like UMAT for undergrad, as well as an interview, provided that your mark at uni is at least Distinction Average.

 

[Tez]

to get into undergrad med from another degree: what marks do i need. Does that mean i can just do one year of a degree and try and do UMAT and interview? and try every year until i get it?

also - for post grad. If i do some thing like Science/commerce combined where you do science in the first 3 years then complete the commerce course...is that 3 year science course considered a degree? and am i then eligible to do postgrad medicine?

For post grad medicine, is it harder or easier than undergrad. how difficult is it and how many people are offered? i mean...if you have your heart set for medicine and are willing to do postgrad - your telling me it all boils down to a interview AFTER the test? It sounds like a long shot...tell me more about how hard the test and the interview is.

is GAMSAT harder than UMAT?

 

[Bob.J]

to get into undergrad med from another degree: what marks do i need. Does that mean i can just do one year of a degree and try and do UMAT and interview? and try every year until i get it?

also - for post grad. If i do some thing like Science/commerce combined where you do science in the first 3 years then complete the commerce course...is that 3 year science course considered a degree? and am i then eligible to do postgrad medicine?

For post grad medicine, is it harder or easier than undergrad. how difficult is it and how many people are offered? i mean...if you have your heart set for medicine and are willing to do postgrad - your telling me it all boils down to a interview AFTER the test? It sounds like a long shot...tell me more about how hard the test and the interview is.

is GAMSAT harder than UMAT?

depends on which uni you're trying to get into, UNSW needs about upper distinction and High distinction avg in uni along with a high uai, around 98+
Yes, you can keep trying to get in every year

Sci/comm? I thought you were seriously considering medicine and that you will do what it takes to get into med. How does commerce help a med student? I'm just asking because I assuming you're doing commerce as well as a 'back up thing'. You can always do commerce after you finish science or whatever. As long as you get all the credit points for science within 3 years (which will mean plenty of overloading) then you prob will be able to grad after 3 yrs.

GRAD med, is harder to apply for, but once you get to the interview the ratio of getting in is much nicer than undergrad. eg. 300 interviewed for 200places (grad med). 400 interviewed for 64 places (undergrad med at Newcastle).

The difficulty of the test and interview depends on the person. These questions are very trivial and you should try researching all the info you need first before you ask questions. Eg Why ask what gamsat is when you can get an instant answer on google? I'd say that's laziness, that's a lot of commitment and motivation for med there.

 

[Survivor39]

and to add to what bob.j has already been said, the combined degree science/comm is not where you can choose to do 3 years of scence and than 1 year of comm..it's not like that at all... you do comm and sci simultaneously, and usually more Comm subject than science. And you can't just take out the science degree first because you feel like it, and do you think one year of work will give you a comm degree??

Quota for Undergrad med is about 150-200 i think.. for Postgrad, i'm not sure.

And i agree with bob.j, do your research first before asking questions, coz we answer questions like this over and over again till the point where we just can't bothered answering trivial questions that can be obtained from the med website.

 

[Tez]

Yeah I'm thinking of doing science/commerce - as a backup. I know that getting into medicine is hard - so i gotta be realistic. I'd do just science - but i heard job prospects arent very good. Is there anything wrong with doing sci/comm and trying to get into undergrad med? I would i be better off doing just science and IF i dont get into medicine do graduate courses after??

 

[Survivor39]

Ok. of you can't get into undergra med, the disdvantage of doing Sci/Comm is that it is a 4 year degree (so wait for one extra year to try postgrad med). And if you get into med after that, that's another 4 year. (8 years in total)
if you get in to postgrad med with a science degree, it will only take you 7 years in total. However, the advantage of taking a B Sci/Comm, as you have already said, is used for a back up. So the decision is yours really, no one can decided for you here.

If you don't get into undergrad med, and can either do B sci/comm or just B sci and keep trying to get undergrad med after you have completed one year of your degree. OR after you have completed two years of your degree if you don't get it after the first year (if you like). If all has failed, try postgrad med.

 

[Linda N]

Survivor39, any thoughts of where u wanna work when u graduate Bmedsc?

 

[Survivor39]

After my degree, I want to complete a 4th year Honours. Hopefully I then can complete my PhD.

 

[ishq]

Realistically, apart from the option of doing a PhD, what other opportunities are available after doing Medical Science?

 

[Survivor39]

Just get a normal job at a research centre, lab etc... lab technicians, research (CSIRO), making new discoveries, teaching at uni (e.g. becoming a tutor).

of course there are other options depending on what you specialise in