ATAR Notes: Forum
Uni Stuff => Universities - Victoria => University of Melbourne => Topic started by: lebnon on January 07, 2013, 07:47:22 pm
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Hi,
I've wanted to be a doctor for the past 2 years of my life. Or I thought I had wanted to be one. I figured I'd work real hard in Biomedicine and get to the promised land of medicine. However, after speaking to 5 doctors/surgeons, reading countless thread on another forum about medical life. I've decided it's not for me. Every surgeon I spoke to held the sentiment, 'In medicine, you miss out on important moments in an average person's life, medicine is amazing, but I don't really think the pros of medicine outweigh what you miss out on.' I did some further reading on life as a doctor and found the following. Standard working hours for a surgeon are well above 80 hours a week and most surgeons get one weekend off in a month. On top of all of this, until you're 35 you're sitting the hardest exams of your life trying to pass (which something like 30% of people do first time).
So in reality, life as a doctor is, studying until you're 25 at uni, an internship, a minimum of two years working in the hospital, (you're 28 at this point), then you apply for specialist training which for most specialities is 6 years and most people don't get in straight away or pass first time.
Medicine is not a career, it's a life. Are there any thoughts on this or do people disagree?
I'm not attacking people who have chosen medicine here. In fact, I have nothing but respect for people who have. It's a big sacrifice to certain parts of your life and your heart must truly be for the people if you are willing to work 100 hours a week in a hospital during the best part of your youth.
Now, at the this point, I have completed 8 subjects at uni. I'd like to transfer A.S.A.P as any Biomedicine subjects I do from here won't be credited if I transfer to science at Melbourne.
I know yada yada, this is done through VTAC, but the following reply from the head of science admissions who has said:
Dear
Associate Professor Michelle Livett has forwarded your email regarding a transfer to the Bachelor of Science in 2013 onto me as I am the Selection Officer for the BSc.
We cannot consider any late applications for the BSc until after round 1 offers have gone out so I will not be able to provide you with any further advice about whether or not there is a possibility of you being considered for entry until Monday 21 January.
I will be in touch again after this date.
Regards
Does anyone know if I have any chance of being successful through this and getting a spot in science at Melbourne from semester 1, 2013?
Thanks for your time!
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Sounds like there's nothing much you can do except wait until 21st January as stated in the email. Also, your chances would mainly depend on your 1st year Average marks in BioMed and also the number of new intakes for Bachelor of Science.
I think with a reasonable average (say 60+?), you'll stand a fair chance of transferring since the demand for biomed course is much higher in Melb Uni than for science.
Glad to see that you had a fair bit of thought over your career and had the courage to make such a drastic change :) The worst thing you'll want is realizing that Med is not for you after you finish studying.
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Sounds like there's nothing much you can do except wait until 21st January as stated in the email. Also, your chances would mainly depend on your 1st year Average marks in BioMed and also the number of new intakes for Bachelor of Science.
I think with a reasonable average (say 60+?), you'll stand a fair chance of transferring since the demand for biomed course is much higher in Melb Uni than for science.
Glad to see that you had a fair bit of thought over your career and had the courage to make such a drastic change :) The worst thing you'll want is realizing that Med is not for you after you finish studying.
My average is 83.
I honestly feel Melbourne model is brilliant for medicine. I know personally I was wooed by the glamour of medicine in year 12, once you get into the real world (even though uni is not quite the real world), your priorities change drastically. I mean as my GP said to me in year 12, 'be prepared to miss your kids birthdays' when I arrogantly ignored him. For some people, medicine is the right fit, however, I think for a lot of people, it probably isn't.
Now there are specialities that are less demanding time-wise, a few of them, but you're really pigeonholing yourself if you go into medicine with your eye on only one speciality.
I mean, compare medicine and engineering:
Pay:
-Medicine is probably better, however, engineers still earn at the minimum a very comfortable living. A good engineer can earn just as much as most doctors do.
Prestige: (This is no factor to me at all, but to a lot of people it is):
-74% of Americans stated Engineers were people they respected and 83% said doctors said they were people they respected.
Hours:
-9 til 5, or rather flexible in some engineering sectores. Med hours, crazy.
"Helping people":
-An engineer can help just as many needy people as doctors do, however most engineers don't and most doctors do. The humane and breathtaking beauty that is giving someone the gift of life is of course meaning that ~95% of doctors help more people than engineers do.
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What do your parents think of your dilemma? I always find that consulting with my parents on such issues helps.
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Deleted troll posts, don't troll please.
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My friend (who's looking into engineering) was considering doing BBiomed at Melbourne, and then an engineering masters. That could work for you if you can't transfer into science - I'd ask around about this option as well.
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I think you can easily transfer from 1st year Biomedicine into 2nd year Science, if you majored in Bioengineering in the biomed degree.
But you need to do Calculus 2, Linear Algebra and ESD2.
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I think you can easily transfer from 1st year Biomedicine into 2nd year Science, if you majored in Bioengineering in the biomed degree.
But you need to do Calculus 2, Linear Algebra and ESD2.
I was completing a Bioneng pathway in Biomedicine anyway so I've done Calc 2, L.Alg and ESD2.
However, I was told by several university academics, engineers and friends who work as engineers (they've graduated) that Biomedical Engineering is a waste of time and if I wanted to go into Bioeng to do electrical engineering. You can't do that from a Biomedicine degree so need to transfer.
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Can I ask you why Biomedical Engineering is a waste of time? I'm was planning to major in Bioengineering in Biomedicine, so I can fulfil engineering pre-requisities, should I want to move into engineering as a back-up option.
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It's a coincident, that the dilemma that you are in, is one that I've been planning out.....
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It's a coincident, that the dilemma that you are in, is one that I've been planning out.....
Engineers have a lot of transferable skills between disciplines. Biomedical engineering is really just a subset of electrical engineering. You may as well do electrical engineering to keep all the jobs open instead of biomedical engineering to limit yourself. when you apply for jobs, it's not going to be a dream boat, like, 'out of uni, I want to go and help design the bionic eye'. Your first job will be wherever you can get it and it's a hard job to get.
Electrical engineering is a much better option if you want to be an engineer. There are a lot of talks given to you on engineering prospects in first year ESD2. I suggest you pick science if you truly want to keep the engineering route option. One of the things they talked about was how they helped design a bionic ear implant. It was a team of surgeons, engineers, mathematicians amongst a whole bunch of people. So your knowledge in biology might not be as necessary as it seems because a lot of the time they can easily consult someone who does know anyway. It's just rather interesting, I'd highly recommend these 'perspective series lectures'.
Of course if you want to do tissue engineering or genetic engineering it's a different story, but be aware, these disciplines are really hard to find jobs in.
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I agree with many people saying that Biomed Eng < Electrical Eng. The idea is that you can more from the latter to the former, but not from the former to the latter.
You can actually double major in Electrical and Bioengineering in a BSc because they are quite similar. I haven't got the Powerpoint presentation that was on the LMS for ESD2 students last semester, but it is definitely possible.
Looking at the M.Eng(Elec) structure, you have so many free electives compared to Civil/Structural/Chemical (Mech has like 7 free electives). With these electives, you can basically do a minor in Biomedical engineering again. The course structure of M.Eng(Biomed) has a lot of electrical courses as well. The above poster is right in saying that you should not be diminishing you're graduate role opportunities by doing a niche field right away, CONSIDERING that you virtually do the same field under the brand of EE.
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Do most people doing Biomedicine, who is doing a Bio-engineering major have the intention of biomedical engineering at the masters level, or do they have the intention of doing other health sciences such as medicine, dentistry, optometry etc.
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Do most people doing Biomedicine, who is doing a Bio-engineering major have the intention of biomedical engineering at the masters level, or do they have the intention of doing other health sciences such as medicine, dentistry, optometry etc.
There's not many people doing a Bioengineering major in biomedicine. I think about ~20 people and I know most of them. The majority of them are looking at doing post-graduate medicine (or dent).
But interestingly, all (but one girl) of us started with the intention of doing medicine but most of us are not sure any more.
As I've outlined in this thread, we're an interesting demographic because we've had exposure to what the life of engineering is like and that in health science and I think a fair few of us prefer the life of an engineer.
If you're interested in engineering, do science.
One thing I'd like to note, when I finished year 12, I got a high atar score. I missed out on med, but I guess I kind of wanted to feel acknowledged for my score that I wasn't someone who got an 80s ATAR or the like and I did indeed do really well, just unlucky with UMAT. I mean, I didn't think like that at the time, but looking back, I think it was a part of me picking Biomed.
When you come to uni, nobody cares if you are in Biomed or Science after first sem is over.
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I suppose I'll make a longer post to help you out.
Here's a few things I feel you should consider.
Why do I want to be a doctor?
To help people
If you truly care about helping people, become a scientist or even an engineer. As my lecturer said once, an oncologist can help 10 or so people in a day. A team of scientists can help a million people with what they achieve.
It's amazing to be saving people's lives
In theory, I would whole heartedly agree. But medicine is not really like what it is on American television. Most of the doctors I spoke to said they found their job to be mundane. It's extremely stressful as many people don't appreciate your work and it is very difficult to cope with people dying around you or you not being able to help people.
$$$, Chicks and Prestige
Not joking with this one, if these three were on the cards, it'd tempt me to do med personally but in reality, I just don't feel medicine offers these. I remember I was talking to my now ex-girlfriend and she said she actually found it unattractive that I would become a doctor as they seem stressed out and work all the time. Consistently, none of my none of my mates got with girls because they were in biomed. Prestige in medicine is lol-worthy, it's just not really there anymore. $$$ are great in medicine once you specialise, but overall, if you want $$$, go with engineering or dentistry. Money will be on you straight out of uni and it is very handsome indeed. Median salary for an electrical engineer before overtime with 10 years experience in Australia is: $170,000 AUD. With overtime it's 200k+ and everyone does overtime.
Lifelong learning
Let's get something straight, if you do medicine and want to do surgery for instance:
25: Graduate
28: You can apply to specialise (No-one will get into surgery this soon in reality, some people even do a PhD to become more competitive in their application)
34: Finish your specialty (Less then 30% of people pass final exams first time, in reality, you would finish your specialty training at about 40).
Training for a speciality is crazy hours. Your life is the hospital. My friend's brother (radiologist) said it broke him down many times and he felt like giving up many times as he failed some exams repeatedly.
Contrast that to an Engineer:
23: Graduate
23-??: Work
Engineers are literally the most vibrant people on campus, always at the pub and genuinely enjoy life. In biomed, I look around and legit half the cohort seems depressed.
Regardless, I can't make this decision for you. I would, however, advise the following. Go to a hospital, ask to speak to a few doctors (5+) about whether they regret choosing medicine, whether they enjoy their job and any other questions you have.
Now, Biomedicine V Science, I will give an objective analysis here:
Biomedicine
Pros:
-The people in your degree push you to insane levels. You got 24/25 on that mid-sem test? Cool, half your mates got 25. You miss a class? Cool, your friends ask you where you were. First day of first year, people already hitting the books in the library. So if you want a good GPA, Biomedicine will help you. Also, people are very friendly and it is very healthy competition. People actively form groups for revision and people go out of their way to help you out.
-It does give you a better idea of what medicine/health science is than what science does. I can't be bothered arguing this point, but it does.
Cons:
-You are limiting yourself from day one. People say there are a lot of options with a Biomedicine degree, I find that hard to believe. Almost all the options you have in a Biomedicine degree are there in science + there are more.
-People are slightly socially awkward and think they are better than science students, which is annoying. Science and Arts students regularly take the piss out of this for what it's worth.
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I suppose I'll make a longer post to help you out.
Here's a few things I feel you should consider.
Why do I want to be a doctor?
To help people
If you truly care about helping people, become a scientist or even an engineer. As my lecturer said once, an oncologist can help 10 or so people in a day. A team of scientists can help a million people with what they achieve.
It's amazing to be saving people's lives
In theory, I would whole heartedly agree. But medicine is not really like what it is on American television. Most of the doctors I spoke to said they found their job to be mundane. It's extremely stressful as many people don't appreciate your work and it is very difficult to cope with people dying around you or you not being able to help people.
$$$, Chicks and Prestige
Not joking with this one, if these three were on the cards, it'd tempt me to do med personally but in reality, I just don't feel medicine offers these. I remember I was talking to my now ex-girlfriend and she said she actually found it unattractive that I would become a doctor as they seem stressed out and work all the time. Consistently, none of my none of my mates got with girls because they were in biomed. Prestige in medicine is lol-worthy, it's just not really there anymore. $$$ are great in medicine once you specialise, but overall, if you want $$$, go with engineering or dentistry. Money will be on you straight out of uni and it is very handsome indeed. Median salary for an electrical engineer before overtime with 10 years experience in Australia is: $170,000 AUD. With overtime it's 200k+ and everyone does overtime.
Lifelong learning
Let's get something straight, if you do medicine and want to do surgery for instance:
25: Graduate
28: You can apply to specialise (No-one will get into surgery this soon in reality, some people even do a PhD to become more competitive in their application)
34: Finish your specialty (Less then 30% of people pass final exams first time, in reality, you would finish your specialty training at about 40).
Training for a speciality is crazy hours. Your life is the hospital. My friend's brother (radiologist) said it broke him down many times and he felt like giving up many times as he failed some exams repeatedly.
Contrast that to an Engineer:
23: Graduate
23-??: Work
Engineers are literally the most vibrant people on campus, always at the pub and genuinely enjoy life. In biomed, I look around and legit half the cohort seems depressed.
Regardless, I can't make this decision for you. I would, however, advise the following. Go to a hospital, ask to speak to a few doctors (5+) about whether they regret choosing medicine, whether they enjoy their job and any other questions you have.
Some links I found on on google, which dwell into what practicing Medicine is really like:
Learning to survive being a doctor
What it's like being a doctor
The price of being a doctor
Sharing the stresses of being a doctor
I love being a doctor but I hate practicing medicine
The ugly side of being a doctor
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It would be nice if some of the people who do study medicine elaborated why they picked medicine. Some of the people here are extremely intelligent and I am sure there are good reasons for their decisions.
But basically, I can break up the people around me in Biomedicine who want to do med into two categories:
(a)Parents/No idea what med is really about
(b)People who truly are happy to sacrifice their own lives for the people. These people are nothing short of amazing. And they're far more frequent than I would have thought.
Have a read on life as a doctor on pagingdr forum. It is brutal reading for med wannabes. It shocked my system that's for sure.
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You only live once, why not spend that time helping others in a personal and unique way as to improve their lives for the better?
I know this encompasses many careers from various degrees, but for me, Medicine is one of those that ticks the boxes of: learning, science, and having a career where every day can be completely different from the previous one.
And yeah, it's going to be a hard path. But the way I see it, is that the people who I will be helping probably have it a lot worse off than me, so who am I to complain? :P
Just my view on it :)
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It's a well paid, prestigious job with pretty good job security that is interesting and lets me do things I like/work with people to help. If I decide I don't like it or can't do it later, I'll work something else out.
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The idea of studying into your 30s isn't very appealing, esp considering the debt and the hours you need to put in as well as the likelihood of failure.
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You get paid a full time wage for that though
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You get paid a full time wage for that though
And in between your 100hour+ working week and your cramming for exams, and if you want to have a family, in between taking care or oh-so-cute Russ Jr, when exactly do you spend it?
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^That. Except isn't it too late to transfer courses now? I'm not sure I wanna continue with 2nd year biomed but I also have no clue what else to do.
What's the job stability like for a biomed degree assuming you don't get into med?
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^That. Except isn't it too late to transfer courses now? I'm not sure I wanna continue with 2nd year biomed but I also have no clue what else to do.
What's the job stability like for a biomed degree assuming you don't get into med?
Several posters on PagingDR have said that if you want to have kids, have them during medical school, you will not get a chance later on or you will need to compromise your career. For what it's worth, my GP has a son at CGS and he's 55+.
After Biomed, if not med, dent, physio, eng, optom, audilogy, you have research or education.
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And in between your 100hour+ working week and your cramming for exams, and if you want to have a family, in between taking care or oh-so-cute Russ Jr, when exactly do you spend it?
Not everyone wants to become a hot-shot surgeon in some super-competitive specialty. Hence not everyone will be working crazy hours like that :P
The fact that I know people my age with one or both parents as doctors (surgeons, GPs, specialists, etc.) shows that it can definitely be done if you want to have a successful family.
Several posters on PagingDR have said that if you want to have kids, have them during medical school, you will not get a chance later on or you will need to compromise your career.
I found through reading threads on PD, is that a lot of the "loud" posters who speak up about their concerns also seem to be very ambitious. So that's understandable.
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Not everyone wants to become a hot-shot surgeon in some super-competitive specialty. Hence not everyone will be working crazy hours like that :P
The fact that I know people my age with one or both parents as doctors (surgeons, GPs, specialists, etc.) shows that it can definitely be done if you want to have a successful family.
I found through reading threads on PD, is that a lot of the "loud" posters who speak up about their concerns also seem to be very ambitious. So that's understandable.
I heartily agree. But you do realise, the specialisations that we're talking about are Emergency Physician, GP or Psychiatry right? Virtually all the other specialisations are as demanding as I've portrayed according to PD.
I've spoken to four GPs, three in person, one online, all of them were along the reply I got from the one I spoke to online:
"When you rule out medicine, surgery, GP, path, psyche, O&G, radiology and crit care (ICU, gas and ED), there's not a lot of other specialties left. Of course there are things like public health, rehab, eyes, skin and the like - but they constitute a minority. Suggest you have a look around the forum and outside sites to get an idea of job pathways available. Path, GP and psyche are currently the most common "easy" training pathways WRT lifestyle choices.
Would I have gone into medicine had I know what I know now? I knew about the pitfalls of the career in theory, but it has made a difference actually living through it. I most likely would not have gone into med with the benefit of hindsight - thought my problem was that other things didn't interest me or offer as much job stability as medicine did at the time I decided to do it. The main stumbling block regarding leaving the profession at my stage now is that I've invested so much into it, I'm not qualified to do much else now and that I'm actually very good at what I do. Again, we've discussed this out on the forum; suggest you have a read if you haven't already."
and
"First, we have to address a common misperception which we have repeatedly tried to correct on the forum: the intern year is NOT the most intense year. Thinking that it's all downhill after you complete internship is totally wrong - it's the opposite. It's intense in that you have a very steep learning curve, but WRT hours and the stress associated with carrying a lot of responsibility, your time as a trainee and lesser so as a consultant are far more demanding. Internship is a walk in the park when you look back on it.
The long and the short answer to your question is that if you want a predictably 40 hour week by the time you are 30, you might as well either a) work part time or b) aim for the "lifestyle friendly" specialties. I don't enjoy a 40 hour week, and I have been a doctor now for almost a decade. Critical care training could offer something like a 45-50 hour week, but that comes with the payoff of shift work, which essentially robs you of quality time (eg night and evening shifts ++). General practice, psychiatry and pathology would be amenable to the hours you want. Surgery and medicine would not.
Another thing worth pointing out is the massive amount of time you will have to spend studying and preparing for post graduate exams. Regardless of specialty, these represent a significant time burden (they make GAMSAT look like a piece of cake), and you're not guaranteed to pass the first go, either. You do this preparation IN ADDITION to your work - so in essence you're working full time whilst trying to study when you get home and on the weekends. You'll go into the hospital during your time off to prepare, too.
Once you are a consultant you can look for work according to the hours you want to work, but obviously it depends on job availability. If they want a full time doctor, you're looking at putting in more than 40 hours, once you factor in clinics running late, on-call, time spent after hours sorting things out and the like. They may not want to employ a part timer - it really depends on the specialty and your luck when you're out there applying.
Nutshell: if you want a predictable 9-5 job, medicine can theoretically provide that, but only if you're interested in a specialty that supports that, and only if you can tolerate the time it takes to become a fully fledged consultant (at which time you have more power/flexibility to call your hours). The time you spend training is not inconsiderable - you'll spend most of - if not all of - your twenties getting to where you want to be. There are much easier ways to become a professional. Medicine isn't particularly flexible or forgiving.
Your concern RE losing out on personal time is legitimate. I don't mean to be wholly discouraging, because this is a great job in a lot of ways, but I'd be lying if I said the personal sacrifice was always worth it.
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Of course those are the least demanding, but those three also comprise of a *lot* of medical grads (more than half).
And from what I've heard, some specialty training is worse than others. Of course a lot depends on time and place of work etc.
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He said youd be in debt and I pointed out that wasn't the case. 100 hours isn't the standard fyi, despite it happening too often
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He said youd be in debt and I pointed out that wasn't the case. 100 hours isn't the standard fyi, despite it happening too often
When speaking to a person who works with suregons****:
I've had a read of most of the relevant threads that I could find.
Very final question, if I wanted to become a surgeon, from the ages of 25-30, do you think I would be working 65+ hours a week? Basically yes or no.
This was the reply:
Yes, you'd be working very long hours, and could expect to be doing long hours once qualified, too. I don't really know of any good surgeons who don't work their asses off. I'm not a surgeon and I've had my fair share of 110+ hour weeks.
For what it's worth, there are of course pros of medicine. I was riding the tram to uni the other day and there was a boy with one of his eyes completely pale blue. My stomach did churn a little. I was lucky enough to talk to his (non-biological) mother who told me he was adopted from an Asian country as he was an orphan and they were on their way to RMH. TO have the chance to work with that boy and turn his life around, just wow. I'm an athiest. But if there is a God. The chance to work with that boy and help him would be a true gift from God.
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I guess what it comes down to is "each to their own" depending on ambitions, interests, priorities, etc.
I wouldn't mind riding such a roller-coaster (not that I'm at all sure about what I want to do if I pass my degree) for the tangible benefit to people I think I could have on people's lives.
But the next person might not, and that's society :)
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I guess what it comes down to is "each to their own" depending on ambitions, interests, priorities, etc.
I wouldn't mind riding such a roller-coaster (not that I'm at all sure about what I want to do if I pass my degree) for the tangible benefit to people I think I could have on people's lives.
But the next person might not, and that's society :)
Amen.
I suppose I looked at a lot of pretty girls around campus and figured medicine wasn't worth not getting to know them better, partying hard and relaxing more often and that was a main player in my thought process as shallow as it sounds.
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Main reason for not wanting to do it is the wtf do I do if I don't get in or if I do get in and find it too stressful/not what I expected. Starting another undergrad course when I'm 25 or something is a strong do not want.
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I respect the consideration you put into the decision you made. It's definitely better to change your mind now than at any point further down the track. And Melbourne Uni can be a very enjoyable place to be if you're not constantly stressed out. Make the most of it, but keep a good work-life balance :)
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When speaking to a person who works with suregons****:
You misunderstand me, I'm not saying that you'll never work dumb hours like that, I'm just saying it's not standard, which is what you seemed to be implying
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Amen.
I suppose I looked at a lot of pretty girls around campus and figured medicine wasn't worth not getting to know them better, partying hard and relaxing more often and that was a main player in my thought process as shallow as it sounds.
Haha! So much for "chicks, money, power and chicks" :P
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You misunderstand me, I'm not saying that you'll never work dumb hours like that, I'm just saying it's not standard, which is what you seemed to be implying
Yes, but you will certainly be working long hours as a surgeon. I have a family friend who is a general surgeon, he has said, 'I never really got a chance to have kids.' My point was that surgeons work incredibly long hours and from memory, get one weekend off a month.
@thush. Before you had an explosion of people going to uni, it was probably true that doctors got heaps of girls. They were seen as educated people with status and money, makes sense in a world full of uneducated people.
Like, my aunty (~50) was telling me that when she finished high school, some of her friends had the intentions of marrying a doctor. You never really hear of that kind of stuff happening any more. No girls (worth knowing) would get with you because you're a doctor. If anything, we call them 'gold-diggers' now.
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Yes, but you will certainly be working long hours as a surgeon. I have a family friend who is a general surgeon, he has said, 'I never really got a chance to have kids.' My point was that surgeons work incredibly long hours and from memory, get one weekend off a month.
@thush. Before you had an explosion of people going to uni, it was probably true that doctors got heaps of girls. They were seen as educated people with status and money, makes sense in a world full of uneducated people.
Like, my aunty (~50) was telling me that when she finished high school, some of her friends had the intentions of marrying a doctor. You never really hear of that kind of stuff happening any more. No girls (worth knowing) would get with you because you're a doctor. If anything, we call them 'gold-diggers' now.
Leb - I know I was just taking the piss :P
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I think we can all agree that the moral of the story is surgery is an inferior pathway and it's your own fault for doing those hours
-nods-
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I have a cousin who became a fully qualified cardiac surgeon at 30 years old. Whenever I ask him about his job, he get excited and it's very apparent that he enjoys what he does. I must admit that he does somewhat have a weird sense of humor though. At 34 now, he's already married and has 2 children, so there's definitely a "life" behind a surgeon.
However, his life is quite erratic. Every now and then (quite often actually), he gets a emergency call from his hospital and has to rush off to work regardless of the time, which can be extremely stressful for some people especially if they're in the middle of something.
P.S. Everyone gets impressed by him whenever a cake needs to be cut. He seems to do it so effortlessly and the pieces are always perfectly the same! There was once that he miss-cut the cake and wondered aloud that if that was a real person, that guy would've been dead...
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I think we can all agree that the moral of the story is surgery is an inferior pathway and it's your own fault for doing those hours
-nods-
I'd like to clarify my stance in this thread a little. I am by no means telling people what to do in life. I'm just trying to tell people that a career in medicine is a big decision (a wonderful one for certain people) and it'd be wise to delve a little deeper into it before deciding it's the career for you. I know my mother's GP absolutely loves her job and I know my GP seems like he hates it. I'm just trying to tell people which one you'll be before you decide to go into medicine because it's a massive commitment in your lie.
It's probably as big (in my opinion bigger) a decision as who you marry.
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That wasn't satire directed at you fyi, I was just making a joke (because surgery is bad)
I agree that a lot of people go into medicine without knowing what they want or what they're in for.
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That wasn't satire directed at you fyi, I was just making a joke (because surgery is bad)
I agree that a lot of people go into medicine without knowing what they want or what they're in for.
Case in point right here.
But hopefully it pays off.
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In retrospect, I really think undergraduate professional degrees are a poor idea. ~90%+ of year 12s have no idea if medicine is really for them. I'd go ahead and say ~90% of year 12s have no idea what being a scientist, engineer or lawyer entails either.
For what it's worth, only about 3 out of my 10 friends who came to Melbourne still have the same career path in mind as when they started.
Although I do feel the Melbourne Model was of course introduced for the $$$, that doesn't strictly mean it's bad for students.
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Hi,
I just thought I'd update this in case there's ever another student who searches the archives and wants to know what happens in this situation.
I was made an 'informal' offer to B.Science at Melbourne and got credited for all my first year Biomedicine subjects (so I have completed 100 points of a Science degree).
Moral of the story is, if you have a 75+ average and ATAR that would have been above the clearly in. Someone at the uni can make your transfer happen even if you didn't apply through VTAC, don't listen to their generic, 'you need to apply through VTAC', you just need to find someone high enough up, suck up to them and they'll make it happen.
Thanks for the help guys.