To those that did not do so well

[thushan]

Hmm, ok. You have me leaning towards Science - because if I go to Science at Melbourne, I could double-major in Medicinal Chemistry and Biochem/Molbio [given I get credit for my monash uni chem]

[stonecold]

Hmm, ok. You have me leaning towards Science - because if I go to Science at Melbourne, I could double-major in Medicinal Chemistry and Biochem/Molbio [given I get credit for my monash uni chem]

Don't let what I have said overly influence you, but IMO it all boils down to one thing. Options.

Science allows you to keep your options open, and this is always a good thing.

[slothpomba]

I think biomed is more of a marketing tool than anything really.

Most people assume they'll have a much better chance of getting into medicine (from what i've seen among my friends, most people who choose to do biomed didn't make the cut for med/dent/pharm undergrad. Not slighting them, i understand that position, its just the truth of the matter) and really, they don't.

You can cover pretty much the same knowledge in a science degree so that enhances my suspicions even more.

In science you also have a bit more wiggle room to choose science units outside your major and things like that.

If you want prestiege or cred go biomed.

Even if i had the score i would still probably choose science to be honest. Thats my decision though.

Its up to you all out there but i'd definitely encourage you to look into it and not accept biomed as the absolute holy grail of getting into medicine.

(2222 posts!)

[acinod]

IMO Biomedicine is for all the kids that want to do Medicine and actually enjoy it but couldn't get into Monash.

If you're like most of the other kids that want to do Medicine because it leads to a better life, then you might as well do Science.

[slothpomba]

Exactly. I definitely agree with this.

There are people out there who are attracted by the huge amounts of cash and the prestige even if they really don't realise it.

I'd still be perfectly happy with my Bsc + PhD/Masters if i didn't get into medicine. Hell, i'd probably even be pretty happy with my Bsc. I know with the major im most likely to choose i will be impacting peoples lives in a positive way for sure if i continue along with it as a career path. Same with a lot of other life sciencey type subjects.

[Russ]

As for the Genetics restrictions, the academic board are reviewing it, but I spoke with the head of the department and as it stands now, biomed students are not allowed to take the second year second semester subject "Genes and Genomes", whereas Science students are.  This, coupled with the fact that certain biomed majors are no different from the science ones (exactly the same actually...you take the same subjects as the science kids in a genetics major for example), it has me questioning what the point of it all is.  I hope you can see where I am coming from with this.

That's...odd...I swear people did Genes and Genomes last year. The difference between Science majoring in X and Biomed majoring in X is the shared knowledge and the capstone subjects that tie everything together. They've got bits of all the majors in them and offer interesting perspectives that aren't available in science. Not that much of an advantage, but I'd rather be doing that than a third anatomy subject

Yeah, sure, Science allows you to keep your options open. If you don't know what you want out of uni, don't pick biomed. If you know you want a health science focused education, do.

I'd still be perfectly happy with my Bsc + PhD/Masters if i didn't get into medicine

MD + PhD is where it's at

[paulsterio]

Could anyone shed light onto why the ATAR for BioMed is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than for Science at Melbourne?

I don't intend to do them, but it's out of interest

[thushan]

Minimum (not clearly in) ATAR for biomed is 95 - this is set by unimelb. Demand for Biomed is extremely high, so clearly in shot up to 98.5.
Minimum (not clearly in) ATAR for science is 85 - this is again set by unimelb. Demand for Science wasn't very high, so clearly in was 85.05.

[paulsterio]

So basically, for some reason, there's just a massive demand for Biomedicine, cause at 98.50, it is probably one of the highest ATAR-only courses (along with Law degrees at Monash) hmmm...

But it can't be that ALL of the people in Biomed are wanting to get into the MD course - isn't there like 500-600 of them going for 150 MD places (+ all the BSc kids and the kids from other Universities)

Oh, and also, if I do a BSc at another Uni, say Monash, and I take all the required subjects as per their table for MD, am I disadvantaged compared to a Melbourne student?

[thushan]

Not just the MD course; they could be wanting to get into grad entry med school anywhere. Some want to do research, but I'm not sure how many are Monash Med wannabes...ask stonecold.

And the uni you go to shouldn't disadvantage you no.

[acinod]

This is my logic behind the high ATAR requirement for Biomedicine.

When Melbourne changed their model so that only Monash offers Medicine at undergraduate level, all the kids that failed Monash decided that Biomedicine was their only next option.
Since not everyone can get into Monash, everyone probably went to do Biomed after they failed to get into Monash.
As a result, the ATAR for Biomed was really high.
People then realised that you can also get into Doctor of Medicine through Science but then they saw the high ATAR requirement for Biomed so they just followed along I guess because they think its better?

[taiga]

I would say a massive lot of Biomed are intending on hopefully doing MD. I'm basing this mainly on my observations on people I know though, so it might be different for others.

[paulsterio]

Alright then, I'll ask stonecold if I get around to it

Oh that's alright then, looks like I might consider a Law/Science degree at Monash if I don't get medicine, Monash is only 15 mins away from my house, so I really want to go there

Taiga & Acinod - I think I agree with you, it makes sense, cause a lot of people with 99+ who don't get the required UMAT will probably feel as if they're wasting their ATAR by doing a BSc, so they do a Biomed

[Russ]

But it can't be that ALL of the people in Biomed are wanting to get into the MD course - isn't there like 500-600 of them going for 150 MD places (+ all the BSc kids and the kids from other Universities)

wanna bet?

[thushan]

I prefer the Melb BSc over the Melb Biomed, I find the Biomed course too restrictive...