Medical School Options for an International Student

[tnicole]

Hello! I hope this is in the correct part of the forum, but I was wondering if anybody has been/is in a similar situation to myself.

I am set to graduate from the University of Melbourne with a BSc majoring in Microbiology & Immunology at the end of this year, and my lifelong dream is to study medicine. I am exceptionally grateful to have had the opportunity to study at Melbourne Uni, and that is in part due to having received a scholarship which made it possible for me to study here.

I haven't applied for entry into the MD at Melbourne Uni or any other uni, as I am very aware that I am not in a position to pay the fees. Do you know if there are any scholarships/financial aid schemes for high achieving international students (I imagine they are few and far between, if not non-existent)? Or, what my best option is to study medicine?

For some background, I am from Hong Kong and am eligible for local fees there - however, despite moving there when I was very young, I cannot speak Cantonese and that prohibits me from applying to medical school there (it is taught in English, but proficiency in Cantonese/Mandarin is expected). Would I be better off studying something in order to obtain PR in Australia (such as teaching or nursing) and then applying for medicine later on?

Any help, guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Asare360]

Um I'm not too sure about your options, but try making a post in the paging Dr forum website. They are more focused on graduate entry medicine, and might have some answers for you.

[tnicole]

Thanks a lot Asare360, I'll get onto to paging Dr.

[vox nihili]

Hello! I hope this is in the correct part of the forum, but I was wondering if anybody has been/is in a similar situation to myself.

I am set to graduate from the University of Melbourne with a BSc majoring in Microbiology & Immunology at the end of this year, and my lifelong dream is to study medicine. I am exceptionally grateful to have had the opportunity to study at Melbourne Uni, and that is in part due to having received a scholarship which made it possible for me to study here.

I haven't applied for entry into the MD at Melbourne Uni or any other uni, as I am very aware that I am not in a position to pay the fees. Do you know if there are any scholarships/financial aid schemes for high achieving international students (I imagine they are few and far between, if not non-existent)? Or, what my best option is to study medicine?

For some background, I am from Hong Kong and am eligible for local fees there - however, despite moving there when I was very young, I cannot speak Cantonese and that prohibits me from applying to medical school there (it is taught in English, but proficiency in Cantonese/Mandarin is expected). Would I be better off studying something in order to obtain PR in Australia (such as teaching or nursing) and then applying for medicine later on?

Any help, guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I don't know a huge amount about this issue, but my understanding is that there's not a lot in the way of help for international students studying here. Although, some countries will actually provide scholarships for people to go overseas to study, so I guess you could look into that? Hong Kong currently has a massive shortage of doctors, as I'm sure you know, so I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
You also need to consider what might happen after you graduate, too. Places for international students to do their internships are limited in some states, making it really tricky to properly qualify as a doctor. Reasonably sure that Victoria is a little bit better in this regard than other states, but it's still not a great environment for international students studying medicine here.

On deciding to study another degree and apply for medicine later...this is not a terrible idea (though the other degree will still mean $$$). If that's more affordable for you, there is genuinely no harm in spending some time doing something else, be it study or work, before you study medicine. Indeed, I personally think that those who have gone off to do other things add a lot more value to medical school than people who go straight through.