Physio @ Cumberland (2 Viewers)

[glass]

Can anyone doing physio give me a heads up on what subjects, hours per week and other relevant stuff you do in 1st year? There doesnt seem to be much info in those faculty books.
Also hows uni lfe for physio students? Are we able to use the main campus sporting facilities or would we have to pay extra on top of what we've already paid for at cumberland?

P.S. do physiotherapists even get good pay?

 

[jessied]

I do Physio at Cumbo, just finished 1st year. In 1st year you do 7 subjects each semester (but they're only worth 3-5 credit points, you do 24 credit points each semester) and they include functional anatomy, neuroscience, biomechanics, body systems (CV system and respiratory system), introductory health psychology and sociology, health research, muscle mechanics and this random physio subject. Not much of it except anatomy, body systems and neuro is "relevant" to physiotherapy. But that's 1st year for you..

It's fairly full on (well I thought it was), I think we had 20 or something hours of lectures/tutes/pracs/labs etc each week but that doesn't include the time you spend at cumbo between classes (usually takes up about 10 or so hours a week). We had stuff on every day of the week, didn't get a "day off" but Thursday's was only a 1 hour lecture (this year).

Uni life at Cumbo?? Well we have the JDV cafe and the Library oh and the lawn but it's not like the uni life of a main campus student (i.e the political stuff and the sporting facilities and the old buildings). We have a gym and it seems ok.

As for using main campus sporting facilites I'm not to sure cos we're part of the CSG (Cumberland Student Gluid) and they have something else. But with VSU coming in I dunno what will happen. Why do you need to use the main campus sporting facilites anyway? You can still play sport for USYD.

Average wage for a physio working in a public hospital is around $46 000 a year. But I'm sure you can earn more than that if you have your own private practice or work for a sporting team/organisation etc or if you have postgraduate qualifications.

If you have any more questions I'm more than happy to ask. Wish I knew half the stuff I know now at the start of the year but hey. Good luck!!

 

[glass]

Hey thanks for the info! I'll be totally clueless without a current student telling me stuff lol And yes, i have more questions

Wats biomechanics? And by the sounds of it, theres a fair bit of biology yeh? I needa do a physics bridging course since i didnt do physics in high school, do u think i'll be alrite?
oO i read somewhere that physio students get to see human cadaveric material, is that true? fun? lol hmm.. any physio balls? cruises? Are physio lectures filled with culturally diverse people or a particular race?

Oh and as for the main campus sporting facilities, they have heaps more fun stuff e.g. wall climbing & a pool etc. So just wanted to check it out since im a gym type person =]

You think its pretty easy to find a job in a hospital after u graduate?

Ahh so much questions haha hope im not gettin annoying

 

[jessied]

Haha, I'm more than happy to answer as many questions as you have.

Biomechanics is like physics, think mechanics but related to the body. You do biomechanics A in 1st sem and Biomechanics B in 2nd sem. BOTH are prereq's for subjects in 2nd year, you can't do clinical unless you pass them both.. Alot of people found this out the hard way this year.. But I don't mean to stress you already. I didn't do physics either in year 11 or 12 but I did do ext 1 maths and that helped alot with biomechanics. Not many people did do the physics bridging course but quite a few did the chem one. I dunno if they're that worthwhile doing...

Yeah, you get to do labs with human cadarvers. It's a bit confronting at first but you just forget that your working with dead humans. It's kinda cool in a weird way. The smell of the cadarvers is the worst thing ever. It's terrible and your hair and clothes smell terrible for the rest of the day.


There was a Physio ball at the end of the year, alot of my friends went and had an awesome time. Tickets were $95 or something..

Physio is fairly culturally diverse, alot of people do it because they didn't get into med. I'm from the country so I got a fairly big culture shock on the 1st day. "White" people, asians, lebs, wogs, you name it they do physio. It's a bit like high school because all the physios have the same timetable and do the same subjects so there's all groups and stuff like high school but everyone's nice.

I dunno if its worth going to main campus just for their sporting facilities unless you live close to main campus.

As for employment matters, I think it's fairly easy to get a job in a hospital 1st year out. With the ageing population and all that stuff more health care facilities and hence physios will be needed in the future.

Hope this is helping you, any more questions?

 

[glass]

Haha yup, this is helping ALOT! Thanks!!!

Hmm i think you've answered most of my questions, but i've got 1 more =]
Do you have to do a lot of maths? Cos by the sound of biomechanics and ur ext 1maths helping a lot, it seems like it.

 

[jessied]

Biomechanics invloves alot of calculations, especially in the exam. Ext 1 maths helped me but alot of people didn't do maths or ext 1 and still managed to pass biomechanics. But it's only 1 3 credit point subject so don't stress about it or anything.

 

[MagicDust]

Hi there,

I'm also interested in doing physio next yr. I was wondering just how much physics was actually in the course. Is it just biomechanics in first yr? How about other yrs?

For me personally, even though I did 4unit maths, I found the physics component most difficult. In terms in science subjects, I also did chem.

 

[quik.]

More questions :]

I took physics in year 11 but did not do very well ( i dont even think i passed ), however this was partly due to the teacher not explaining etc. Is physics a subject where you can understand the theories etc by reading the material?

Also, if anyone knows, how long do you have to continue in a course (health science in my case) before being able to request to transfer? (to physiotherapy)

Thanks for any replies!

Also, at the info day, i vaguely remember being informed that after you complete the course you are placed at a hospital for two years. So finding a job etc isnt a problem at the outset, for those wondering :]

 

[jessied]

MagicDust, as far as I know the only physics in the course is biomechanics which is only in 1st and 2nd semester in 1st year. If you did 4 unit maths you'll be totally fine. Did you get an offer?

Quik, the physics in biomechanics is more applied than recall (if that makes sense). The exams are sorta like maths exams with some short answer style questions. As for transfering i'm not sure what you need to do. You'll need to get a fairly high GPA to transfer into physio and you'll probably have to do the full 4 years and get some credit for your previous degree. Haven't heard anything about being placed in a hospital for 2 years, we do clinical for alot of the last 2 years of the degree but not sure about the job thing.

 

[glass]

woOhoo!! I got in! Enrolment on tuesday 23rd. How do i get to the campus from lidcombe station?

 

[jessied]

From Lidcombe Station you can either catch the bus or walk. I'm fairly sure the buses were still running in the holidays. Cumbo is about a 15minute walk from the station..

 

[quik.]

Yeah it's really close :> Good for a morning ride or something.

 

[nik_noodle]

woOhoo!! I got in! Enrolment on tuesday 23rd. How do i get to the campus from lidcombe station?

915 Bus from the station. Or you can walk.

Buses run every 15mins or so.

Come say hi to me in the lecture theatre. I'm the one in the oh so hot teal shirt running up and down the stairs answering everyones questions

 

[friction]

The lack of social life at cumberland is getting me down. I was going to do Exercise and sport science (cause i am really interested) and then major in physio, its only 1 extra year and i am heaps interested in the exercise and sport science and then i have 2 degrees and not just 1. But because of the lack of social life i might do exercise and sport science at wollongong (im from wollongong anyway and doing physio would of probably involved me getting accomodation up there) and then do post grad physio at sydney.

2 Things do you think i will be able to do this (BTW the UAI will not be the problem)? Will i be like an outsider coming from wollongong and doing Post Grad Physio at Sydney?

On the info day they said i could do go from wollongong to sydney with exercise and sport science and also i will probably get a scholarship at wollongong which makes it more attractive.

 

[jessied]

The lack of social life at cumberland is getting me down. I was going to do Exercise and sport science (cause i am really interested) and then major in physio, its only 1 extra year and i am heaps interested in the exercise and sport science and then i have 2 degrees and not just 1. But because of the lack of social life i might do exercise and sport science at wollongong (im from wollongong anyway and doing physio would of probably involved me getting accomodation up there) and then do post grad physio at sydney.

2 Things do you think i will be able to do this (BTW the UAI will not be the problem)? Will i be like an outsider coming from wollongong and doing Post Grad Physio at Sydney?

On the info day they said i could do go from wollongong to sydney with exercise and sport science and also i will probably get a scholarship at wollongong which makes it more attractive.

Realise it's a very late reply but... Cumbo isn't the most anti-social campus, there's a fair amount of stuff on during the year and the Exercise and Sports Science Association have pub crawls, boat cruises etc and I found that because it's a smaller campus and you have the same classes as everyone in your year you become better friends with those people as opposed to walking into a lecture and knowing no-one.

The problem with getting into post-grad physio is that it's highly competitive, there's only 60 or something places compared to the 160 in the under-grad course and you're competing against all the people who did exercise and sports science at uni's all over syd and nsw and everywhere (not saying your not smart enough to get in but if you didn't get in and could of got in to the under-grad program initally then that would suck). Why prolong your time at uni when you know what you want to do??? I don't see having 2 degrees as being a massive advantage in the physio world when it comes to getting a job, if you're a good physio it doesn't matter how many degrees you have and pay wise it's not going to make a hell of a difference.

Hope that helps.. The under-grad course is really good!!

 

[friction]

The thing is i dont know wat i want to do. Im interested in Exercise and Sport science but i dont really see a career in it. Also the Physio lady at one of the open days said if i have a credit average in Exercise and sport Science i will be assured a spot.

Im just not quiet sure wat i want to do yet.

 

[jessied]

The thing is i dont know wat i want to do. Im interested in Exercise and Sport science but i dont really see a career in it. Also the Physio lady at one of the open days said if i have a credit average in Exercise and sport Science i will be assured a spot.

Im just not quiet sure wat i want to do yet.

Yeah, that's the big problem with Exercise and Sports Science is that there's not that many jobs in it and sometimes the jobs that you get you could get without a degree. BUT if you're not sure what you want to do then it might be a good place to start then either transfer to another degree or do a masters. A credit average shouldn't be that hard to achieve if that's what they said you need to get into post-grad physio.. If you do want to do physio the undergrad course is definatly the way to go.

 

[fearless86]

the other thing is that doing the 'post-grad' physio after exercise and sport science is a bit of a bitch financially.
You've already paid heaps in fees to do sport science, then the extra 2 years for graduate physio is about another $28 000. (which is the cost of 4 years of undergrad physio).

 

[friction]

Yea i dont know. I got 98.35 and the lady at that day said i would need about 97 to get a scholarship for exercise and sport science but i think i might have a year off and earn some money first anyway so i didnt apply for scholarships.

I just dont know what to do aye so many options so many decisions. People dont seem as enthusiastic about cumberland campus as all the other unis and campuses. I just dont know what to do aye its pretty big choices for a kid to make.

 

[hayyleyy]

hey all!
i REALLY want to do physio at sydney uni next year, but my uai was 95.35 and the physio cutoff last yr was 96.25 :S
grrrr im so annoyed!
do you think that the cutoff could go down and i could make it in?

also, if i did exercise and sports science, is it very hard to transfer to physio?? do u know anyone who has done this?
thanks!