Getting into Postgrad medicine

[pi]

+1 to Euler's post, sums up my feelings on the matter as well. I'd have gone with a UoM Bsci -> MEng as back-up option myself.

My ATAR showed me that I had really overestimated my own abilities, and I really don't want that to happen again. I really just scraped into my course, so I'm being kind of weary now.

ATAR =/= uni. Different ball, different point system, different game.

I don't want to end up with a BSc with a GPA of like 2.0 and have no where to go.

In fairness, if you got a GPA of 2.0 in any course you'd be left with no-where to go. And doing well in engineering seems to be pretty tough, I have mates who did very well in relevant VCE subjects (MM, SM, physics, etc.) and they're not pulling a lot of HDs. Every path is going to be tough, and doing poorly in any path is going to leave you with no-where to go because jobs are getting harder and harder to come by for us all.

Seems that you've thought long and hard about it, hope your choice works out for you

[Orson]

Why not do a engineering/science double degree?

That really solves all my problems...I'm going to be doing Chemistry in Engineering for sure, and I've started to gather biology resources to study in my spare time. My brother did very well in Biology so he can tutor me a but I guess.

I know my choices don't really make any sense...

In fairness, if you got a GPA of 2.0 in any course you'd be left with no-where to go. And doing well in engineering seems to be pretty tough, I have mates who did very well in relevant VCE subjects (MM, SM, physics, etc.) and they're not pulling a lot of HDs. Every path is going to be tough, and doing poorly in any path is going to leave you with no-where to go because jobs are getting harder and harder to come by for us all.

I know. I'll know within my first semester if all this worrying really mattered haha...

Seems that you've thought long and hard about it, hope your choice works out for you

Thank you. Thanks for all your help!

[extremeftw]

Alright, well let me say this:

Your ATAR is NOT an accurate indication of how well you will do at university. This probably won't hit home until after your first semester, but I just want that out in the open.

I'm sure you "know" that the two are unrelated, but you'll only properly understand this after you get results back. My only real advice is to try and not let things like "how well will I actually score?" bog your head in the meantime.

All the best, man - you'll kill it.

 Just wanted to reinforce this point. My WAM is actually a higher number than what my ATAR was which is pretty funny.

  It really isn't that difficult to maintain a HD average (particularly in first year units). Even with a horrifically bad class that I only got a 57 in (FUCK YOU ESC1011), I've still maintained an average around a HD pretty easily. Don't feel intimidated that you are bound to do poorly in university just because you didn't do as well as you would have liked in VCE.

[Orson]

Just wanted to reinforce this point. My WAM is actually a higher number than what my ATAR was which is pretty funny.

  It really isn't that difficult to maintain a HD average (particularly in first year units). Even with a horrifically bad class that I only got a 57 in (FUCK YOU ESC1011), I've still maintained an average around a HD pretty easily. Don't feel intimidated that you are bound to do poorly in university just because you didn't do as well as you would have liked in VCE.

Did that one 57 really mess with your GPA/WAM?

[extremeftw]

Did that one 57 really mess with your GPA/WAM?

 It definitely hurts. I would have a comfortable HD average in terms of WAM without that unit (would be approximately ~82, a HD average is 80) but as it stands my WAM is 78.5 with that unit dragging it down.

  I'm in an interesting situation where I have the ability to revoke that unit (since I transferred I can just not apply for credit for that particular unit which means it is not factored into my WAM/GPA for my new course), and I will overload next semester in a pretty easy WAM boosting unit, which fixes the problem .

 But yes, please pick your units very carefully, ESPECIALLY in the first semester because you want to ensure you get good results so you can transfer to another course if you desire. I picked ESC1011 because it seemed vaguely interesting and that was my biggest mistake so far at university .