poor undergrad marks.. (2 Viewers)

[Casmira]

i'm going to graduate end of the year with a b of commerce @ unsw and i dont meet the minimum 5.5 GPA requirement (actually closer to 4.5 lol); i am pretty hell bent on getting into med in either unsw or usyd,

speaking to usyd they told me the only post grad coursework that would be looked at is masters but research (which u can imagine, is harder to get into than that min 5.5 gpa req) so ive considered doing b medical science

that way, if i maintain min 5.5 gpa i can do usyd, if i happen to go better than i can consider graduate entry into unsw

you guys think this is the best path? i'm pretty keen i can hammer anything science related, i just was bored out of my brains during my b commerce degree and spent more time reading on the biochem of the human body than anything commerce related

in particular, i applied for these courses via uac

1 429007 Bachelor of Medical Science - full time at UNSW
2 512080 Bachelor of Medical Science (First year entry) - full or part time at University of Sydney
3 300518 Bachelor of Medical Science - full or part time at Macquarie University, North Ryde campus
4 607050 Bachelor of Medical Science - full time at University of Technology, Sydney - City campus
5 757630 Bachelor of Medical and Health Sciences - full or part time at University of Wollongong
6 607040 Bachelor of Biomedical Science - full time at University of Technology, Sydney, City campus
7 429013 Bachelor of Science (Advanced Science) - full time at UNSW

i figured medical science would give me a basic idea of what med students go through to see if i'm interested at all, what do you all think of this plan?

 

[dolbinau]

The problem with Medical Science is you would be competing (I think) with a lot of other people who want to do medicine, or if not, at least you would be competing with high caliber students since the cut offs are quite high, which might make it harder to maintain a high GPA perhaps?


I guess if you're really skilled at it though/motivated it won't make much difference.

I think it's pretty cool how dedicated you are (willing to do another degree to get in!)

Obviously you should look at all the subjects in the degree programs and see if it interests you first (you've been at uni so much longer than me, and have so much more experience I guess you already know this ).

 

[Wooz]

They only look at your GPA from your last 3 years of study, also ACER weighs your GPA 4 becomes 4.5, 5 becomes 5.5, 6 becomes 6.75. GAMSAT - How to calculate your GPA

Why only UNSW and Usyd, there are 5 other med school's in NSW and; UWS and ND in Sydney.

UNSW is undergraduate only, you will need to sit UMAT and meet certain criteria, you may need to contact the school of Med at UNSW, as they usually look at UAI and your GPA for non-standards. But i'm not sure how the process would work for people in your situation, who are starting another undergrad program.

Usyd requires GAMSAT and a completed undergrad degree which meets the requirements of entry GPA, GAMSAT + interview, etc.

Also about med sci: I did one year of it, it is nothing like medicine. In medicine you will have Problem/Case Based Learning (one clinical case to solve and research during the week), what you would cover in one semester unit in med sci will be covered in 3-4 weeks in med. You are in hospital from second week and learning clinical skills and interacting with patients/clinicians, etc.

Med sci is like turning up to lectures, prac and tutes learning about pure science with the aim of learning how it works rather than the art of medicine: seeking treatment, cure, diagnosis, care of the patient, empathy, etc.

 

[velox]

I would just go for another university.

 

[Casmira]

The problem with Medical Science is you would be competing (I think) with a lot of other people who want to do medicine, or if not, at least you would be competing with high caliber students since the cut offs are quite high, which might make it harder to maintain a high GPA perhaps?


I guess if you're really skilled at it though/motivated it won't make much difference.

I think it's pretty cool how dedicated you are (willing to do another degree to get in!)

Obviously you should look at all the subjects in the degree programs and see if it interests you first (you've been at uni so much longer than me, and have so much more experience I guess you already know this ).

its my understandign that Cr/HD/D etc. are not assigned to percentages. it depends on the lecturer and quality of canditure. in 2006 uai for b economics at unsw dropped to 85 and you should of seen the amount of fails in accounting and qma, it was a massacre

They only look at your GPA from your last 3 years of study, also ACER weighs your GPA 4 becomes 4.5, 5 becomes 5.5, 6 becomes 6.75. GAMSAT - How to calculate your GPA

I got the jist of the calculation, my overall wam is about 53 it might end up to 54-54 if i'm lucky. looking at 'column a' and the GAMSA equivilant, it was saying 4.0-4.5. is this the right way to calculate it? afaik the later years are not weighted as much, year 1 and 2 is full of passes and fails(4), year 3 is Credit avg

Why only UNSW and Usyd, there are 5 other med school's in NSW and; UWS and ND in Sydney.

i've heard horror stories from medstudentsonline about hte facilities at these unis, plus i already go to unsw and get onsite parking lol

UNSW is undergraduate only, you will need to sit UMAT and meet certain criteria, you may need to contact the school of Med at UNSW, as they usually look at UAI and your GPA for non-standards. But i'm not sure how the process would work for people in your situation, who are starting another undergrad program.

i'd be taking graduate stream which means i do honours in med sci and thats 4yrs, i get credit for 3 years in med

Usyd requires GAMSAT and a completed undergrad degree which meets the requirements of entry GPA, GAMSAT + interview, etc.

but i dont have a 5.5 gpa and thats the clincher, this usyd is my backup plan if i cant get in via unsw. so if i dont beat all the batshit insane crazy competitive students, a simple 5.5GPA would jump the hurdle and let me sit the gamsat. i have all 3 years during my med sci degree to resit the gamsat several times and get better at it and hammer it

Also about med sci: I did one year of it, it is nothing like medicine. In medicine you will have Problem/Case Based Learning (one clinical case to solve and research during the week), what you would cover in one semester unit in med sci will be covered in 3-4 weeks in med. You are in hospital from second week and learning clinical skills and interacting with patients/clinicians, etc.

Med sci is like turning up to lectures, prac and tutes learning about pure science with the aim of learning how it works rather than the art of medicine: seeking treatment, cure, diagnosis, care of the patient, empathy, etc.

golden advice, thanks for that. so how would i know if i got what it takes for med then? i can't decide between IB and med.

I would just go for another university.

i considered doing 1 year of something like B Sc at uws and transfer apparently you can 1 year in, but then i've also read they will look at my B Comm which is not a good idea..

 

[zazzy1234]

=)

 

[KnifeySpoony]

i've heard horror stories from medstudentsonline about hte facilities at these unis, plus i already go to unsw and get onsite parking lol

Whaaaaattt?
Even UWS? but their med school is supposed to be really young with brand spanking new facilities...riight?!? That's what ive heard from errr, plenty of people

 

[blue_chameleon]

Casmira, I respect you man.

You're staring down the barrel of 10+ years of university study.

 

[Casmira]

Casmira, I respect you man.

You're staring down the barrel of 10+ years of university study.

better than staring down the barrel of working 10+ years of working for some faceless corporate bank and end up killing myself lol

edit: i got bored and did the math, according to the first 3 years of my uni my GPA is about 4. i equally weighted all 3 GPA's, my best was year 3 with a gpa of 5.32 lol

 

[Wooz]

i've heard horror stories from medstudentsonline about hte facilities at these unis, plus i already go to unsw and get onsite parking lol

i'd be taking graduate stream which means i do honours in med sci and thats 4yrs, i get credit for 3 years in med

but i dont have a 5.5 gpa and thats the clincher, this usyd is my backup plan if i cant get in via unsw. so if i dont beat all the batshit insane crazy competitive students, a simple 5.5GPA would jump the hurdle and let me sit the gamsat. i have all 3 years during my med sci degree to resit the gamsat several times and get better at it and hammer it


golden advice, thanks for that. so how would i know if i got what it takes for med then? i can't decide between IB and med.

i considered doing 1 year of something like B Sc at uws and transfer apparently you can 1 year in, but then i've also read they will look at my B Comm which is not a good idea..

What horror stories, the only horror stories that med students have heard recently was Bond universities failure with AMC accreditation which they have now rectified and cadaver abuse at UNSW last year. ND Sydney had issues with staffing when it started, etc. All med school's have their facilities, entire curriculum, etc regularly inspected and examined by the AMC. I can tell you that UWS has been inspected twice and has been awarded the maximum 5 year accrediatation both times, the longest any medical school can be given. All med schools that are AMC accredited (all of the med schools in Aust and Nz) meet the vigourus criteria and minimum standards set by the AMC.

Be warned about the UNSW Hons program it's highly competitive some of the former UNSW med science students who are now studying med say that 2/3-75% of the students in med sci at UNSW want to do med.

I think the decision ultimately comes down to you, whether you want to do IB or med sci, etc.

The UWS Adv Sci scheme isn't that straight forward you need to be in the top 6 students with a GPA > 5.5, a u good umat score, interview and you only get the one shot at it in first year, I think you should talk to the school of medicine to see if you qualify.

 

[Casmira]

i realise that.. but unsw or usyd will both take me 7yrs total so if i dont get into unsw pathway all i need a is a Cr average and i can take usyd

 

[black_kat_meow]

No, all you need is NOT purely that GPA, after that hurdle you have the GAMSAT and interviews to consider.

 

[Casmira]

No, all you need is NOT purely that GPA, after that hurdle you have the GAMSAT and interviews to consider.

yes but i cant sit gamsat unless i have a credit average so i should probably worry about that first

 

[Survivor39]

what you would cover in one semester unit in med sci will be covered in 3-4 weeks in med.

Whatever MedSc program you were in was definitely not the one I was in. I wish MedSc was that relaxed...

 

[Survivor39]

i realise that.. but unsw or usyd will both take me 7yrs total so if i dont get into unsw pathway all i need a is a Cr average and i can take usyd

Casmira, I admire your determination and courage to pursue a second degree in an attempt to get into Medicine.

Please be aware the workload in MedSc is twice as much as commerce (Contact hr 24-25 hrs per week) and you are expected to do a lot of self-directed learning. The first year is the most boring because you learn general biology, chemistry and maths (although you may get exemption from maths?). Second and third years were most interesting to me because you specialise in your own area of interest - I specialised in microbiology and immunology.

Have you try doing some science Gened? Did you enjoy doing it?

All I can tell you is it won't be easy but with hard work I'm sure you will succeed. I wish you the best of luck and let me know if you need any help/advice.

 

[velox]

Casmira, you have next to no chance at IB at the moment. Fix your marks, then you have a shot at Med, but I think the IB boat has come and passed. (IB - you need double degree or honours)

Survivor: How come you are going to cambridge now? Im guessing you got a scholarship?

 

[Survivor39]

Survivor: How come you are going to cambridge now? Im guessing you got a scholarship?

Yep. I got offered a fully funded Cambridge International Scholarship to do a PhD over there. So I dropped my UNSW PhD and got a MSc out of it instead, so that was pretty good.

 

[Casmira]

Casmira, I admire your determination and courage to pursue a second degree in an attempt to get into Medicine.

Please be aware the workload in MedSc is twice as much as commerce (Contact hr 24-25 hrs per week) and you are expected to do a lot of self-directed learning. The first year is the most boring because you learn general biology, chemistry and maths (although you may get exemption from maths?). Second and third years were most interesting to me because you specialise in your own area of interest - I specialised in microbiology and immunology.

Have you try doing some science Gened? Did you enjoy doing it?

All I can tell you is it won't be easy but with hard work I'm sure you will succeed. I wish you the best of luck and let me know if you need any help/advice.

I am aware of that dude, but when you're at uni learning stuff you actually enjoy you find that it isn't as bad as 12-13 contact hours of constant boring stuff.

I did do a med gen ed and I loved it, D without any study just listened in lecturs.. i've got another 9uoc of gen eds left I'll take on this summer that should help me further decide if i really am science minded

I'm considering taking in a job in some finance related firm over the summer and while doing med sci (although i might decide by that stage) and to see which I like the most. at any rate I can always do about a semester and decide from there, or if i really think i've made my mind up maybe 6 months in

I did do chem in high school, absoloutley loved it; i dont mind learning the maths again, comm maths is pretty nasty (esp with financial econometrics subjects i did) but I got the hang of it

my only gripe is that EVERYINE tells me how articulate, confident kinda person i am and I feel that might be wasted in med while better used in law or in finance; but i find it so fricken boring? pretty much my entire family is discouraging medicine saying i should do law lol :| doesnt help in the decision making, although i should do what I want I do respect the wisdom of those older than me

do you think med sci is the best degree to take up to see if i would ever have a interest in med? I saw your scholarship for cambridge, congrats on that. thanks for your response.

 

[Survivor39]

do you think med sci is the best degree to take up to see if i would ever have a interest in med? I saw your scholarship for cambridge, congrats on that. thanks for your response.

MedSc or AdvSc/BSc majoring in a medical science area would all excellent for you. The added advantage of MedSc is the lateral transfer scheme from UNSW MedSc to 4th year Med if you are good enough (one extra route of getting into med). So based on that, MedSc would be best choice for you.

 

[tallkid34]

Yep. I got offered a fully funded Cambridge International Scholarship to do a PhD over there. So I dropped my UNSW PhD and got a MSc out of it instead, so that was pretty good.

Holy fuck, congrats mate.