How do you get a guaranteed place in Melbourne uni med?

[Mauli]

Hey everyone,

I've heard that if you get a really high ATAR its possible to be
guaranteed entry into med at melbourne or something like that

I'm not sure how it works exactly.. could someone enlighten me please?

thanks

[pi]

99.90+ gives you aplace at UoM MD after you pass the interview

[jmosh002]

Or if you gain an atar of 99.0+ it is guaranteed (in that you don't have to sit the gamsat, and only have to pass the interview). Although, it is a Full Fee place, meaning it is around 230K for the 4 year m.d course. By the way - internships are not guaranteed either, so you should really have a think about this and don't rush into it.

[shinny]

Or if you gain an atar of 99.0+ it is guaranteed (in that you don't have to sit the gamsat, and only have to pass the interview). Although, it is a Full Fee place, meaning it is around 230K for the 4 year m.d course. By the way - internships are not guaranteed either, so you should really have a think about this and don't rush into it.

Don't forget that you can take this option and try for a CSP spot anyway. And if it so happens that you don't get it, well, at least you've got a bit of a back up.

[jmosh002]

Does anybody know how many times you can sit the gamsat and be eligible for MD at melbourne uni? also what are some options that you could do if you have finished your 3 year biomedicine or science course, but still sitting the gamsat for another chance at MD?

[Russ]

As many as you want until you a) run out of money b) run out of time c) run into the 10 year rule (you have to have completed your degree within 10 years of applying

And honours/masters/workforce/time off etc. there are plenty of them

[paulsterio]

Like Russ said, you essentially have 10 chances, but the truth is, if you don't pass the first, give it another go, take a year off to study for the GAMSAT or take an Honours year to boost your GPA. If you still don't get in the second time, I think it's probably best to seek employment or further education (Masters/PhD), whilst still further attempting the GAMSAT, realistically, if you don't get in the first few times, it's unlikely you'll get in the 4th, 5th, 6th...etc. time, unless something drastic happens - i.e. your GAMSAT score for that year is higher than the last few, or you did further study which boosted your GPA.

[Peanuts11]

Like Russ said, you essentially have 10 chances, but the truth is, if you don't pass the first, give it another go, take a year off to study for the GAMSAT or take an Honours year to boost your GPA. If you still don't get in the second time, I think it's probably best to seek employment or further education (Masters/PhD), whilst still further attempting the GAMSAT, realistically, if you don't get in the first few times, it's unlikely you'll get in the 4th, 5th, 6th...etc. time, unless something drastic happens - i.e. your GAMSAT score for that year is higher than the last few, or you did further study which boosted your GPA.

Paul, I disagree here. I would also like you to provide a source that confirms what you have said.


'An honours year to boost your GPA', as I am interested in both medical research and clinical medicine I have enquired quite a bit about an honours year and spoken to a few current PhD students. The general trend is that honours is bloody hard. The general trend to me seems that the higher the level of education, the harder it is to score well.

Russ may be able to provide further information on scoring well in an honours year though?

[Peanuts11]

It's also worth noting something here.

I've met about 12 chancellor's scholars who plan on doing med.

3 from Camberwell Grammar, 4ish from Melbourne Grammar and three from MHS or Macrob, 1 from Scotch and 1 from Xavier.

I think you see the trend here ^.

What I find pretty annoying is that one of the kids actually had lower scores then myself in Methods, Physics and Spesh, whilst we drew in chemistry. He, however got 37 raw in latin and 50 in English (at a school that got like 7 50s or something) and he's a chancellor's scholar whilst I'm not. It's all a bit annoying to me.

End rant.

Interesting: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206681/Why-doctors-clever-used-be.html

Also, what is your view on this Russ ^

[paulsterio]

Paul, I disagree here. I would also like you to provide a source that confirms what you have said.


'An honours year to boost your GPA', as I am interested in both medical research and clinical medicine I have enquired quite a bit about an honours year and spoken to a few current PhD students. The general trend is that honours is bloody hard. The general trend to me seems that the higher the level of education, the harder it is to score well.

Russ may be able to provide further information on scoring well in an honours year though?

Well, you have nothing to lose, if your GPA is too low, it's too low and there's nothing you can do about that.
If you take an honours year, you will have the opportunity to increase your GPA, not guaranteed, but the opportunity exists

[Peanuts11]

Paul, I disagree here. I would also like you to provide a source that confirms what you have said.


'An honours year to boost your GPA', as I am interested in both medical research and clinical medicine I have enquired quite a bit about an honours year and spoken to a few current PhD students. The general trend is that honours is bloody hard. The general trend to me seems that the higher the level of education, the harder it is to score well.

Russ may be able to provide further information on scoring well in an honours year though?

Well, you have nothing to lose, if your GPA is too low, it's too low and there's nothing you can do about that.
If you take an honours year, you will have the opportunity to increase your GPA, not guaranteed, but the opportunity exists

I may be wrong, but I think you need a high GPA to be selected for an honours year in the first place? Again, I might be totally wrong here.

[Edmund]

Paul, I disagree here. I would also like you to provide a source that confirms what you have said.


'An honours year to boost your GPA', as I am interested in both medical research and clinical medicine I have enquired quite a bit about an honours year and spoken to a few current PhD students. The general trend is that honours is bloody hard. The general trend to me seems that the higher the level of education, the harder it is to score well.

Russ may be able to provide further information on scoring well in an honours year though?

Well, you have nothing to lose, if your GPA is too low, it's too low and there's nothing you can do about that.
If you take an honours year, you will have the opportunity to increase your GPA, not guaranteed, but the opportunity exists

I may be wrong, but I think you need a high GPA to be selected for an honours year in the first place? Again, I might be totally wrong here.

Entry into Honours is dependent on a range of criteria - GPA (plays some role, usually 70% minimum), have completed the appropriate major/subjects, number of applicants for that particular project etc

Obviously if you put in a decent amount of work in your project, you should have no problems getting a good mark. An Honours year is probably one of the most popular options for those who don't make it into Med the first time round. Whether or not doing an Honours year will raise the GPA will depend on the applicant's marks over their last 3 years. Because:

1. Most Honours marks are awarded at the end of the year, after the applications have been submitted
2. Therefore, only 2nd and 3rd year marks are counted
3. If you score anywhere between 70-79, it will be counted as a GPA of 6.0

[Russ]

I was originally going to comment on that, but figured it was kinda irrelevant. Hons won't increase your GPA unless you get first class honours, which is really hard, since I'm assuming applicants will have a 6.0 GPA already.

Hons is a good backup plan because it leads to a PhD and another career, not because it boosts your GPA. I really wanted to do it, but deferral isn't possible and transition to research with an MD is easier than the other way around.

[Peanuts11]

Russ, with respect to clinical work and research.

After the MD, what path would one take if they wished to do both clinical work and research/academia.

[Russ]

You'll need a PhD to get involved. When you do it is up to you, but unless you're disenchanted with medicine after graduating, I'd imagine after specializing