i fucking hate abos. anyways should i do comm at unsw and transfer to med later, by resitting umat?
I was stuck in a very similar situation last year. Having received an Atar well below the Medicine cut-off, I straight away knew that Medicine was a distant dream for me. I approached a lot of people. When I say A LOT, I really mean it. My numerous posts from last year are probably still out there LOL
My next option was to do either Medical Science/Science Adv/Pharmacy at USYD or UNSW. However, coming from a middle-class family; I wasn't prepared to take that 'risk'. I personally spoke to numerous Pharmacists and almost 95% of them told me to keep away from it for my own good (not because they wanted less competition). My cousin graduated out of Medical Science with a Distinction average and didn't find a job for many months; ended up working in a Pharmacy store as one of those retail assistants. So I decided to take advantage of the next thing that I excelled at school (IPT and IT), and hence choose Business/IT at UTS. I think it was a wise decision and I'm happy to be doing a course that potentially guarantees me a respectable profession when I graduate. However, I'm still very passionate about Medicine and so I will try sitting the UMAT and taking chance one more time in the near future. In comparison to my other friends doing a Science/Medical Science degrees, I feel less pressured because even if I don't make it; I haven't wasted my time and have a decent backup to fall on. If you're good at Maths and believe that you would excel in a Commerce degree, then it doesn't seem like a bad plan. I'd be completely honest here, and I know that many people may disagree - Many people get 'stuck' in medical science/science advanced degrees. They go into it thinking that they might easily transfer and attain a decent UMAT, but believe me; getting into Medicine is tough. For instance, I know few people from our school who graduated before us achieved atars in the 90's and now are considering GAMSAT upon the completion of their Medical Science degree at USYD. They are simple fed-up with the duration of their degree and are concerned about the future.
Having said that, all the best with whatever you do! Just don't let anyone influence you, not even me. Although doing a relevant degree (Medical Science etc..) is advantageous for Medicine, don't be afraid to try new things that you could excel in. I never did Business at school (not even in year 9) and I'm progressing well in that side of the course. Anyways, you could transfer into Medicine from ANY degree as long as your GPA and UMAT is reasonable. Universities usually have this entry program for students doing a Science/Medical Science degree (i.e. lower entry score etc), but a GPA of 5.75 (competitive transfer requirement for most universities) is not that hard to achieve if you put in the effort.