Medicine backup plan

[uni_student]

So after receiving my disappointing umat results, I need to consider a backup plan for medicine. I've come up with three ideas and am wondering which one would be the best choice (or if there's anything else I could do?)

1. Biomed/Medical science course. Pro: good gamsat preparation. Cons: hard to get a good gpa, minimal employment opportunities if I don't get into med (don't want to do research)

2. Science course. Pro: easier to get a good gpa. Cons: less focused on specific medical studies/less prep for gamsat.

3. Alternative health pathway e.g. Physio, dietetics
Pros: employment after degree. Cons: poor gamsat prep/less interested.

I haven't got any background in chem/bio/physics so I'm worried the gamsat will be hard to do well in.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Recommendations for unis would also be fantastic. Note - I'm a first year undergraduate.

[Shenz0r]

Science actually helps you prepare for the GAMSAT better than Biomed. They leave out stuff in Biomed because we cram chemistry and physics for one semester each, whereas science you do it for like a whole year or something.

Also, a lot of the GAMSAT is focused on scientific reasoning and much less so on your ability to recall knowledge. A good foundation is useful and will help your timing, but a lot of the material will be on things you've never studied so you need to get into the habit of critically thinking about all the things you learn and how to creatively apply it in new situations, simply by doing more and more questions from anything you can get your hands on. Generally speaking they give you enough information in the question stem for you to work with, it's up to you to apply it.

A better forum to ask about GAMSAT is pagingdr.net. A lot of people there also have no science backgrounds so it's worth checking it out.

[Tomw2]

Science actually helps you prepare for the GAMSAT better than Biomed. They leave out stuff in Biomed because we cram chemistry and physics for one semester each, whereas science you do it for like a whole year or something

I completely agree and think this point needs emphasis around here - specialised biomed undergrad courses do not prepare students better for GAMSAT or medicine/dentistry etc than science degrees with basic and medical science majors/minors.

As mentioned above, GAMSAT requires strong reasoning ability in the wider areas of chemistry and biology (not just the medically oriented aspects). Furthermore, dont ignore sections 1 & 2 - which are humanities oriented. If you apply to Melbourne, the humanities sections make up 2/3rds of your GAMSAT score used for admission.

I second a visit to pagingdr. Generally, my advice is to select an undergraduate qualification that is the most flexible.