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Why Medicine? (1 Viewer)

mr EaZy

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i was interested in med earlier this year coz i loved bioscience and i loved to use it to help people. sounds pretty weak doesnt it? well i wanted to get into the practical nature of things - practice that is and i was also inspired by florey and mac farlane burnett and their works in medicine. Im not going to try to get in, i had my chance.


law is my place, ill help the less fortunate :)
 

mr EaZy

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hey luke!

i just found this site, they renovated it so i dunno wats it about
check it out

http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/default.asp?p=128

GRADUATE MEDICAL SCHEME
In addition to sponsoring medical students under the Undergraduate Scheme, the Navy, Army and Air Force also provides a Graduate Medical Scheme. It provides an excellent opportunity for those in course streams outside of Medicine but in a related faculty such as Science to make the move into the very competitive field of medicine. The Scheme allows those who already hold an appropriate degree qualification to be sponsored to qualify as a medical practitioner and then serve in the Navy, Army or Air Force as a Medical Officer.



i couldnt find any other related info about this.

if anyone else can, please post it up,
 

Fosweb

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Hrmm they sent us that email the day we found out we passed first year med. They can sponsor the last 4 years of a med degree, providing you give the number of years + 1 service to the Defence Force chosen... (This is with their Undergraduate Scheme btw)

But not everyone wants to work for the Defence Force, and even after that, not everyone is Officer material...


Anyway, back to this thread: the person who 'knows all these important people' (bearpooh) is slightly misled. Sure, some doctors want to change careers. But I'd rather want to be a doctor wanting to change careers than a cab driver wanting to change careers. Its bound to happen that no matter what career you choose, there will always be some people doing the job that don't like it.

Then there will be those that really love it. Like the taxi driver who brought us home pissed in sydney that was saying he loves his job as it lets him have multiple affairs with his wife.

Or those doctors that do drive Porches and Maseratis and other expensive cars, and live in multi million waterfront houses that they own.

Or the doctors that simply love their work (and in the first year, i've come into contact with more of these than the ones that really want to change jobs). Even the doctors that you speak to and they say they hate their job and want to change, say so out of cynicism for some aspect of their career (though not all of it), but when you ask what they'd do if they had their time over, they still say they'd do Medicine.

I want to drive an expensive car, and I want to live in a nice house. But I dont want to sacrifice what I do as a career to simply get these things. I could make $2.5K a week on web design for a while, pulling that $10K job every so often, but i'd get damn sick of it damn quickly.

And it would mean doing what I personally think would be a shit boring degree with a crappy employment opportunity when you come out.

Medicine is all the things that you guys who want to do it for the right reasons think it is, if you work hard enough (which I could have done a bit better) and stay positive, and get off your arse and go and see other things rather than just the degree. Do some additional work experience 'after' you get in (after/during your first year), go to the country for a while (you have to anyway these days), if your a city person apply for John Flynn, keep talking to people, blah blah...

Let me disect your post from my opinion poo-person:
>>I know a number of doctors very well. Most would change careers if they could.
You don't know enough. Or the ones that you know were the ones who went into med 'wanting' or 'expecting' that fortune.

>>There is very little prestige left in it.
Think of prestige as not what you get out of it, like the money, or the power, or the status, but the way you can benefit OTHERS rather than yourself. Then you will start to see how 'prestigous' an industry it is. How it does help people as a whole. Depending on what field of medicine you go into, your status is going to go from 'wow-i-sit-in-a-lab-all-day' to 'these-people-love-me-and-what-i-do-for-them'.

>>The money sucks.
The money does not suck.
Today's SMH has a starting salary for doctors which is well above that of other fields. Look for the article.
Once again, depending on your field, you can live quite comfortably to very well.
Insurance costs are an issue, like firstly overcoming $120K per/year premiums for O&G

>>Medical research in Oz is so backward that it is not funny. The brighter ones
>>head off to the US . Someone I knew very well is now Prof of Oncology in Cambridge.
Don't think so. You've only got to do some MedLine or PubMed searches to find many of the damn interesting and useful stuff done in australia.
I don't know a lot about this as yet however.

>>However having a medical degree does make it a lot easier to get funding for research.
I'd say bull to that however. It seems illogical. But depends on the type of research I guess.

>>Additionally. entry into medicine is non-transparent and non-UAI in an effort to keep out >>the Asian students who do well.
Despite what you think, there is no conspiracy that is actively preventing people of any culture or whatever getting into med. UAI does apply. As does UMAT/GAMSAT.
There is a large proportion of asian students in my year. So what.

>>A medical examiner ( ie: he takes med students for vivas ) attached to
>>sydney uni told me a few years ago that there are too many "Ngs and Ngo's"
>>getting into medicine.

>>The interview based entry is one way of fixing this "problem"
This is not a problem. You sound like a racist tool. Ever thought maybe these people make good doctors?

Anyway, I've had it with bitching for a while, going to the skate park. Bitch back all you want.

Anyone that actually has _questions_ to ask however, ask away. PM me, whatever. Skywalker is another person to contact.

Cheers,
Michael.
 

lukebennett

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mr EaZy said:
u legend! :)


can i ask: does school help u out in umat?
the careers advisor helps you find courses for umat.

the scores were obviously just below what was needed for an interview but meh. ill see what happens while i do science at uni
 

mr EaZy

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Fosweb said:
Hrmm they sent us that email the day we found out we passed first year med. They can sponsor the last 4 years of a med degree, providing you give the number of years + 1 service to the Defence Force chosen... (This is with their Undergraduate Scheme btw)

.
well, i was referring to the graduate entry scheme, i already know about that undergrad stuff, just cant find info on this new stuff.


Fosweb said:
But not everyone wants to work for the Defence Force, and even after that, not everyone is Officer material...

.
i agree with ya there ;)

----------------------------------------
btw
i originally thought of med coz i loved to put smiles on kids faces and thought of getting into pediatrics, but i later realised that u dont need to do med to get people happy (silly me!)
-------------------------------------
Fosweb said:
>>There is very little prestige left in it.
Think of prestige as not what you get out of it, like the money, or the power, or the status, but the way you can benefit OTHERS rather than yourself. Then you will start to see how 'prestigous' an industry it is. How it does help people as a whole. Depending on what field of medicine you go into, your status is going to go from 'wow-i-sit-in-a-lab-all-day' to 'these-people-love-me-and-what-i-do-for-them'.
.

the thing is that people these days dont appreciate what the knowledgable scientists have done for them, thats why scientists dont get paid anymore. 100 years ago, people lined up the streets just to donate money to guys on the verge of groundbreaking research -like donating 3 million........ to the guy called count zeppelin. that doesnt happen anymore :( scientists arent in the spotlight anymore and even the politicians are ignoring them (their opinions that is)
----------------------------------

i think the prestiege is reduced because people's false notions of it have dwarfed the tru meaning of serving the community with ur medical degree. :eek:
im probably wrong there


Fosweb said:
>>Medical research in Oz is so backward that it is not funny. The brighter ones
>>head off to the US . Someone I knew very well is now Prof of Oncology in Cambridge.
Don't think so. You've only got to do some MedLine or PubMed searches to find many of the damn interesting and useful stuff done in australia.
I don't know a lot about this as yet however.

>>However having a medical degree does make it a lot easier to get funding for research.
I'd say bull to that however. It seems illogical. But depends on the type of research I guess.
.


its tru that lots of med research (quality research that is ) is done in Australia :) even by university of wollongong :) -(i read one of their reports published in an overseas summit)
but its not the same as saying that med research is great down under. like u said " its not funny!" if more funding was provided, we'd have our brightests scientists with us and we (in my opinion :) ) would be leading the world!!
------------------------------------

having said so, i might combine medical science with law (just thought of it today ) . I definitely dont want to do medicine (not even gonana attempt the gamsat or umat again. If people ask me why med sci? ill say : for fun! i love med sci, it was my first choice in yr 11 for research. i can even get into public health management or crisis assesment in disaster zones. or i may do secret/private research :) i hope thats allowed ? ..... i love med sci :)
 
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Bob.J

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lukebennett said:
the careers advisor helps you find courses for umat.

the scores were obviously just below what was needed for an interview but meh. ill see what happens while i do science at uni
you got 72/70/98
so a total of 240
didn't you get a late round unsw interview?
did u apply interstate?
im pretty sure they're good enough for an interview interstate
 

CrashOveride

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How do you rate someone's chances of getting a unsw offer with umat 250 and low 99 uai?
 

Bob.J

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CrashOveride said:
How do you rate someone's chances of getting a unsw offer with umat 250 and low 99 uai?
if it makes you feel better, then you got a good chance
but if u want a totally honest answer,

it mainly depends on your interview
but an average interview score should give you a competitive edge
 

adrenaline88

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Congratulations on excellent UAI and UMAT results CrashOveride. i think you've got a very good chance at any offer! have you applied anywhere else?
 

+Po1ntDeXt3r+

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crashoverrride: i got about the same as u.. but i fudged my UNSW interview..so i got melb and adel instead

fosweb: yes yes u are right :)
 

1000words

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mr EaZy said:
well i wanted to get into the practical nature of things - practice that is and i was also inspired by florey and mac farlane burnett and their works in medicine. Im not going to try to get in, i had my chance.
That's the thing, however, keep in mind that Florey and MacFarlane Burnett are primarily composed of medical research scientists and not clinicians, despite being practical in nature as well. This is the key point that I am trying to make in this thread.
 

georgia86

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hey fosweb: i have a few questions if you wouldn't mind answering... :)

which year are you in at the moment?

do you go to unsw? (i think that i read somewhere that you did?)

if so, what is the lowest uai/umat score of someone in your year that you have heard of? I've heard that the median uai is exceptionally high so i am not very hopeful about getting in, even after a pretty good interview...

thanks very much - your other answers were also very helpful
 

lukebennett

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people get in with less than 95 some times if they enter the rural bonded scheme. there are usually a few people with 97 or below
 

1000words

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bearpooh said:
Medical research in Oz is so backward that it is not funny. The brighter ones head off to the US . Someone I knew very well is now Prof of Oncology in Cambridge.
Medical research, backward in Australia? That is the most strangest thing that I have heard in this forum so far. One of the strongest points of this nation is its medical research efforts and we are talking about quality and quantity.

What is your point in relation to you knowing a Professor of Oncology in Cambridge? Australians hold senior positions internationally as equally as foreign people hold senior positions in Australia's research institutions.

Perhaps you mean 'backwards' in terms of the funding system via NHMRC? It's apparent that funding for medical research is not great and this affects the ability to pay high incomes for research institutions. It's by no means backward despite the need for change.

bearpooh said:
However having a medical degree does make it a lot easier to get funding for research.
It doesn't, regardless of the type of research. Funding depends highly on the particular research project and the capabilities of the people completing the project, the most important criteria being their 'research' abilities. This is why medical doctors undertake PhDs to commence medical research projects. This is a major point that I'm trying to make in this thread.

Funding is also dependent on the particular area of medical research. There are human conditions which have a lower profile compared to the high profile conditions (such as heart disease, cancer, motor neurone disease etc) and thus attract less funding.
 

mr EaZy

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georgia86 said:
hey fosweb: i have a few questions if you wouldn't mind answering... :)

which year are you in at the moment?

do you go to unsw? (i think that i read somewhere that you did?)

if so, what is the lowest uai/umat score of someone in your year that you have heard of? I've heard that the median uai is exceptionally high so i am not very hopeful about getting in, even after a pretty good interview...

thanks very much - your other answers were also very helpful
i dont think he goes on much, but he did say to page him, he'll get bk to ya :D
 

Bob.J

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well we all find out about the offers in 2 weeks
so worrying now won't help much other than stress youself out
 

Fosweb

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georgia86 said:
which year are you in at the moment?

do you go to unsw? (i think that i read somewhere that you did?)

if so, what is the lowest uai/umat score of someone in your year that you have heard of? I've heard that the median uai is exceptionally high so i am not very hopeful about getting in, even after a pretty good interview...
- Just finished 1st year.
- At UNSW. (It says that in my signature, probably where you read it.)

- Hehe the lowest UMAT score... I've heard of one that was pretty damn low... I got an * for one section on UMAT - the second section (which is all that personal qualities/interaction/blah stuff, but i guess an interview sorted that out. I probably wouldnt have got an interview if I wasnt a rural entry person.

Um on UAI, i guess since it really means nothing after you get in, you dont hear about most people's... But i'd take a stab and say that for sydney people the average UAI would still be up there around 99.something ish... A bit less for rurals though. I know a 97 for a rural student. But like I said, it means nothing once you are in, so you dont bother to hear. At least i didnt. I couldnt really care anymore.
 

georgia86

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thanks guys and good luck - i know that stressing wont help but its so hard not to ;)
 

1000words

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Fosweb said:
Um on UAI, i guess since it really means nothing after you get in, you dont hear about most people's... But i'd take a stab and say that for sydney people the average UAI would still be up there around 99.something ish... A bit less for rurals though. I know a 97 for a rural student. But like I said, it means nothing once you are in, so you dont bother to hear. At least i didnt. I couldnt really care anymore.
That's very true and I think that applies to the other courses too.
 

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