undergraduate degree for post graduate medicine (1 Viewer)

[loul]

Okay, for those of us who stuffed up umat but still do not want to give up, will be looking into post graduate medicine.
I was just wondering what undergraduate degrees are most ppl going to pick for their preferences?


For me, i'm not sure what to pick. Here's some possibilities i'm thing of.

• For medical science, at unsw there's the direct medicine pathway. At usyd, i may get a scholarship for it.
• But after medical science, if (for some unkown reason) i dont want to do med or did crap in gamsat, i will be left with just medical science and wat most ppl are telling me "with no job."
• Or should i do engineering with good career security although not a good leadup to med.
• Or shud i do sciences e.g. advanced science, with decent lead up to med and decent career security.

Anyway, just wondering what most ppl are thinking of.

 

[Charity F]

you'd be much better off doing a course you reckon you'd enjoy.

think about which course/field you would pick if you weren't considering medicine?

it's really quite varied, there's people studying medicine who've dappled in science, medical science, law, optometry, nursing, architecture, commerce, etc

the common denominator however is that they all had good GPA's.
and to get a good GPA, you need to enjoy what you're studying and perform well in your course.

btw i wouldn't worry too much about 'getting a headstart' or 'leadup' to medicine in terms of course content, quite a few of them forget the details of what they've learnt before, and after a while everyone's basically on the same playing field anyway.

ps. looking at your options, maybe you could try for an engineering/medical science double degree (iirc unsw offered one)

 

[loul]

hmm, the double degree sounds good but i dont really want to spend a longer time in undergraduate.
thanks for the advice!

 

[dolbinau]

The only thing you need, is 1st year Chemistry/Biology year 12 Physics for GAMSAT.

 

[Charity F]

hmm, the double degree sounds good but i dont really want to spend a longer time in undergraduate.
thanks for the advice!

well the reason why i suggested the double because it leaves your options open
so you have the option/opportunity for med, med sci, or eng
or even two of the three depending on how things turn out, because you could always drop one of the degrees

there'll be a greater opportunity for you to make a decision once you're at uni
the people you meet
and how the course pans out, etc

 

[extensorindicis]

maybe consider pharmacy or physio or optometry? itl really motivate you to get into med. With engineering your connection with your ultimate dream or goal shifts further and further away with each year of engineering. Like I want to do grad med too and because i do physio i get a real feel for what orthapedics/rheumatology/ and even cardiology & pulmonology will entail if i do get into med and that really motivates me to do well and always keeps me on track to what i want to do.

Where as with something as faroff as engineering or commerce you may feel like your so far off your goals that its harder and harder to get in and you may feel disinterested with med and may end up feeling like 'yeah what i'm doing is fine, cbb studying to get into med'.

good luck let us know if you have any questions on physio.

 

[xxstef]

i did well enough in umat to get me an undergrad spot if i don't screw up my hsc and interview, but i might still be going for graduate med, doing combined arts/nursing at usyd as my undergrad degree

 

[dolbinau]

Unless the undergraduate spot is interstate or full fee at Bond, I can't imagine why you'd reject an undergraduate medicine offer. You may not get another offer again.

 

[ashllis92]

Unless the undergraduate spot is interstate or full fee at Bond, I can't imagine why you'd reject an undergraduate medicine offer. You may not get another offer again.

The only logical reason to reject an undergrad med offer is if it's full fee at bond but why would you apply if you knew you couldn't afford it? As to interstate, if you have the passion and the drive to study medicine, you would already have your bags packed! I know moving interstate is expensive and hard but there are people out there who can and will help.

Having said that, you may go ahead and reject your offer incase you are higher up in the ranking list they generate than me

 

[Casmira]

a lot of unis tell you its not recommended to pick med sci because u dont wanna focus too much on medicine, try out business see why its boring as batshit to really convince yourself med is for you

 

[dolbinau]

but there are people out there who can and will help.

Can you elaborate a bit more on this ?

 

[Survivor39]

loul, I see an awful lot of students who are in your situation and all I say to them is really do something you enjoy at the undergraduate level. You can get a job in pretty much any field if you are good. I did a MedSc degree and I (and other friends) didn't have a hard time to find a job at all!

As to your Points 2 and 3, there is no difference between a MedSc degree and an AdvSc degree if you are going to major in a medical science-related field. So either degree is an excellent preparation for Medicine.

Have you considered BOpt/BSc offered by UNSW? It will give an excellent career prospect but it is a 5-year degree and this may delay your Med entry. Other Health Sciences degrees are also good degrees to do.

I wish you the best of luck.

Okay, for those of us who stuffed up umat but still do not want to give up, will be looking into post graduate medicine.
I was just wondering what undergraduate degrees are most ppl going to pick for their preferences?


For me, i'm not sure what to pick. Here's some possibilities i'm thing of.

• For medical science, at unsw there's the direct medicine pathway. At usyd, i may get a scholarship for it.
• But after medical science, if (for some unkown reason) i dont want to do med or did crap in gamsat, i will be left with just medical science and wat most ppl are telling me "with no job."
• Or should i do engineering with good career security although not a good leadup to med.
• Or shud i do sciences e.g. advanced science, with decent lead up to med and decent career security.

Anyway, just wondering what most ppl are thinking of.

 

[ashllis92]

Can you elaborate a bit more on this ?

Ok, so if moving interstate is really hard for you financially look into equity scholarships, the government also has relocation scholarships, go into centrelink give them all your financial info and say "help!" Get yourself a job at a chain store eg maccas kfc woolworths... theyre crap jobs but easily transferable so you can have a job waiting for you whan you get there while you look for a decent job, its crap work but it pays the bills. Also see if a local business might sponser you or maybe your parents can help you out a bit, try asking them to give you some rent money instead of a b day chrissy present, theyll probably love the fact that you're trying to be financially responsible

If the big deal is moving so far away from home, download skype and grab yourself a webcam, free video chat whenever you want, also if youre doing something you really love then you'll realise that the seperation is worth the prize.

I'm not saying it's easy but it's certainly possible, good luck!

 

[loul]

loul, I see an awful lot of students who are in your situation and all I say to them is really do something you enjoy at the undergraduate level. You can get a job in pretty much any field if you are good. I did a MedSc degree and I (and other friends) didn't have a hard time to find a job at all!

As to your Points 2 and 3, there is no difference between a MedSc degree and an AdvSc degree if you are going to major in a medical science-related field. So either degree is an excellent preparation for Medicine.

Have you considered BOpt/BSc offered by UNSW? It will give an excellent career prospect but it is a 5-year degree and this may delay your Med entry. Other Health Sciences degrees are also good degrees to do.

I wish you the best of luck.

okay, i've put med science up near top of the preferences with advanced science under it. yeah, i was considering optometry but lik u said 5 years is a bit too long and i dont think i'm that interested in becoming an optometrist.
lol and i applied to every uni in australia that offered med, so if i hav to go to interstate, i will.
anyway, thanks for all the ppl that replied.

 

[siddharthlaha]

there is this thingo at U syd

you do a bachelor of health science, and then, if you maintain a credit average, you get guaranteed entry into a range of masters degrees including the following:
Diagnostic Radiography, Exercise Physiology, Health Informatics, Nuclear Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Orthoptics, Physiotherapy, Radiation Therapy, Rehabilitation Counselling and Speech Pathology.

if you do that, then you can go on and do gamsat, and if you do stuff that up, you can go into a allied health sort of field.

 

[xxstef]

why not nursing? its a 3year degree

 

[extensorindicis]

yeah sidd that pathway is quite difficult. Grad Physio route: Credit average sounds easy but with some pretty dense anatomy units in first that are the same as undergrad physio its pretty hard. Also its full fee for the masters costs about 20k per annum + 20ishk for he 3 year health science course. but i think the 4 year physio for me is 25k all up. Its highly competitive too 65places for 300odd applicants not just from usyd. so think it through if your considering it.

Also i wasn't able to reply to you're post in medstudentsonline but have you also considered UWS's physio course?

to OP: consider optom or physio or pharm because getting into training programs are very very competitve later on so i guess with optom/physio you can support your experiences if you want to get into opthalmology/orthapedics/rheumatology. Side note though.

 

[GUSSSSSSSSSSSSS]

why not nursing? its a 3year degree

my cousin did that xD

but my whole family payed him out cos he was a GUY doin NURSING lol .....shame i live with bogans lol

 

[siddharthlaha]

yeah sidd that pathway is quite difficult. Grad Physio route: Credit average sounds easy but with some pretty dense anatomy units in first that are the same as undergrad physio its pretty hard. Also its full fee for the masters costs about 20k per annum + 20ishk for he 3 year health science course. but i think the 4 year physio for me is 25k all up. Its highly competitive too 65places for 300odd applicants not just from usyd. so think it through if your considering it.

Also i wasn't able to reply to you're post in medstudentsonline but have you also considered UWS's physio course?

i went to the open day and they said it was guaranteed that you would get in if you maintained credit average, so competition shouldnt be a problem really should it?

and yes i know its probably not the easiest route, but i am only using it as a last resort really if i dont get into a straight physio degree. i have applied for usyd, newcastle and UWS.

 

[extensorindicis]

sounds alright then, newcastle is harder to get into than usyd atm, if you live in sydney you should probably put uws second after usyd

good luck