BIOMEDICINE AT MONASH VS MELBOURNE

[Mintk]

Hey guys!
I have graduated high school with an ATAR of 98.65 and I was wondering which Unis would be better for post-graduate medicine.

Monash is
- closer to my house (takes an hour by public transport)
- my best friends are all going Monash
- most importantly, guarantees 50 spots for top biomedicine students.

Melbourne is
- prestige (Mum: why would you want to waste your ATAR?)
- I participated in CBHP back in high school which is linked to Melbourne uni's CBHP club!! Many students in biomed/ post-graduate medicine in Melbourne Uni who may be able to help me? Also if I continue this club activity, it may help me with interview!!
- the competitiveness may help me with GAMSAT?
- guaranteed pathways to optometry and VET if I maintain 75% or 70%, and I heard that you need to get average 80+% for medicine anyways so optometry and VET will be good alternative options?

But Melbourne takes an hour and 30 minutes by public transport and living away from home is not an option due to difficult circumstances.
What do you think?
Also, is Monash less competitive than Melbourne Uni?

... and what would cost less by the way? I get HECs but for the curiosity's sake!!

[Alter]

Sounds like Monash is the better choice for you. Ultimately, it's a personal decision, but I'd warn against choosing a uni simply because the course has a higher clearly in. The idea of spending/wasting your atar is bullcrap, and I'd discourage you from buying into this argument.

If you're sure you want to do med, going to Monash will allow you to apply for postgrad med there, an option not available at other unis.

Monash isn't necessarily less competitive. Just choose off personal factors, such as scholarships, travel time, and personal preference for the vibe.

Posting from my phone so apologies for the brevity. Have a nice day.

[brenden]

I'd go to Monash just because the distance is way better. If you travel to uni 5 days a week - which you probably will be doing... That extra 30 minutes each way adds up to an extra 60 minutes per day....... which adds up to 5 hours per week.

That's 5 hours extra you could be studying for the GAMSAT, or like, you know, showering the pain of life away - whatever tickles your pickle.

(To be honest though the extra 5 hours and less commuting stress could make a difference in your grades and eventually getting into Medicine!)

[vox nihili]

Monash is the better choice here.


Certainly the courses are slightly different, but I think the cohorts are of a similar quality and the content itself at Monash is actually probably a bit better than Melbourne's Biomed programme anyway.
Having to travel is a pain in the arse—as Alter and I can both attest to!—so best try to avoid it as much as possible

[spectroscopy]

i feel like there is a big factor being omitted in your decision making process and that is: which uni has a course/subjects/extra-currics you are more interested in? i know people who picked melbourne > monash even though it was further and they had no friends there etc.  because it was so close to the city & they liked the campus. i also know people who chose monash over melb because they thought it would be more practical to drive and they hate trains. you should really throw a lot more into consideration here for this decision i think. i would recommend looking at individual subjects and majors and campuses etc.

[Auralee]

Just to answer your question about competitiveness, and this is my personal opinion.. but perhaps shared by others:

Competition for medicine is fierce whatever direction you want to look at it; whatever university you attend

I am not a complete fan of this carrot Monash University is dangling in front of hopeful medicine students. With the cessation of the Monash Undergraduate Medicine Course (last intake was 2016; this year), all of these student places (~300) are going to be absorbed into the already existing biomedicine cohort. This will increase the cohort by a rather significant amount. I'm sure you're a very capable, dedicated and resilient student...but I'd be willing to bet that so is everyone else you're up against. 50 places, whilst it's a decent number, is a bit of a gamble by anyone. Not only will you have no idea where you place, but attaining one of those 50 places would be absolutely gruelling work. Not that there is anything wrong with hard work at all... I merely advise students that they could be facing a potential VCE-style-intensity for an additional 3 years. This isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea and your physical, social and mental well-being should be your top priority.



*edit: I had to change this slightly because it wasn't quite correct and I don't want to be misleading.

[yazzman]

Certainly the courses are slightly different, but I think the cohorts are of a similar quality and the content itself at Monash is actually probably a bit better than Melbourne's Biomed programme anyway.

Curious, why do you think Monash has a better Biomed programme?

[vox nihili]

Curious, why do you think Monash has a better Biomed programme?

I think Melbourne's biomed programme is reasonably good. It gives you a really good introduction to a whole heap of areas. Where it fails, imo, is in how it develops scientific skills. For some students, the first time they have to do a literature search is in our capstone (i.e. final) subject. There are some students, who can go through their entire Biomed degree without having to write a single academic essay (NB: the reason some students can do this is because of different majors, what I'm saying is that these things aren't part of the core programme). Personally, I think that's pretty poor. A degree in Biomedicine should help embed the skills that will make you understand science for the next fifty years, not for the next five. It's so focused on the content as it's presented now, it forgets what science is all about and fails to teach skills relevant to understanding science more deeply.

I can't really speak for Monash's course too much. I know they get more practical experience as part of their core programme. I also know that they get introduced to topics such as Bioinformatics in more depth, which is good, as an understanding of bioinformatics really is key to an understanding of almost any field in biology. It feels like the Monash course more deliberately tries to equip their students with a core knowledge that will actually be useful post-degree, whereas UniMelb biomed seems to be more focused on introducing students to a variety of different areas.

[Mintk]

OMG I JUST REALISED HOW TO REPLY HERE!!! *perks of an ATARnotes Newbie XD*

Hey, thank you all for your advice and help ^_^
@biomed students, How many hours per week did you /do you study at Uni? And how long do you spend for assignments?
Also, how early does the lectures usually start? When do they finish?

THank you!!! ^_^

[cooldude123]

With the cessation of the Monash Undergraduate Medicine Course (last intake was 2016; this year), all of these student places (~300) are going to be absorbed into the already existing biomedicine cohort.

Sorry to have to nitpick but that's not quite right- the Direct Entry undergraduate medicine is still available as of 2017 as entry for school leavers. It's merely changed in naming/minor course changes (BMedSci/MD as a vertical double degree from MBBS) but number of spaces and entry requirements remain largely the same.

[Auralee]

Sorry to have to nitpick but that's not quite right- the Direct Entry undergraduate medicine is still available as of 2017 as entry for school leavers. It's merely changed in naming/minor course changes (BMedSci/MD as a vertical double degree from MBBS) but number of spaces and entry requirements remain largely the same.

Aha  Thanks for letting me know, apologies to anyone for the confusion.

[persistent_insomniac]

how many people study biomed at monash?

[Sine]

how many people study biomed at monash?

Overall including double degrees i think the number is approximate, 650-700 per year. UoM has a cohort of around 450