Ambivalent feelings

[brenden]

Oh but wait, you wouldn't have looked like a hero and been up voted, if you had done that.

Epl is an hero that doesn't afraid of anything

[thushan]

MCAT jenny - not GAMSAT. MCAT is what you're thinking I think.

[Surgeon]

Surgeon: Go where you feel at home. If you like Melbourne, go there, but be prepared to know that if the Ivies are your goal, you better be pushing 90+ averages all through your degree. It's doable I think (I'm only first year), but you'll be dedicating your next three years for the goal of getting into medicine. You'll be competing against the best in the world, not just Victoria anymore, and there are some smart cookies out there (not that you aren't bro (? hopefully the right gender)).

Also, why just the Ivies and JH Med? UC SF is top-notch, and so are many others. From what I've heard, it doesn't really matter where you graduate from for med, just as long as your are registered. If you're planning on doing law overseas however, a T14 uni will make your start of your legal career a hell of a lot easier.

Thanks man. No matter what happens, I'll definitely give university my best shot.

Stanford Master of Science (Eng) accepts Bologna model 3-year undergraduate degrees. Got so excited, then realised that it's 40k a year, and I wouldn't have accreditation to become a PE.

Isn't there any financial aid available?

Jenny did you sit the ISAT or the UMAT?

ISAT, but I didnt get high %ile
On career expo day, I asked Monash, they said, if I couldn get enough %ile requirement, even 99.95 ATAR cant help anything

I don't think you should put any university above another one, just because your friends go there.

Go to the university that you want to go to.

There will be plenty of opportunities to catch up with your current friends outside of university, and you'll make heaps of new friends

My friends are not the main reason though. I have other friends studying commerce, science at Monash as well LOL

Fair enough It just seemed like you put your second preference as your first preference just because of your friends at Melbourne Uni, going by what you said before.

The American medical system is all kinds of different to ours and if you're only considering the Ivies or T14 then you'd better have a Plan B that you're really happy with

Plan Bs are postgraduate med here, JD here, if they fail, may take an honors year then apply for med/dent again and if that fails, Master of Engineering, I guess.

Ultimately, if your goal is to live in the US one day, gaining admission to any university's med program overseas would be beneficial. I agree with BUMCHIN, you should be considering a broader spectrum than the Ivies/JH given you're overall life goal. Is there any other way to get PR in the US besides getting married to a citizen? What happens if you don't find the person you're looking for over there?

Yeah I may have to keep looking at "easier" places to get into if I'm adamant in going to the US. We'll see I guess. If I satisfy the prerequisites for JH/Ivy, I'm sure I would satisfy the prerequisite for other schools. I'll look into it and make sure I do.

I think it's possible to get permanent residency through employment, not sure what I'd do if I didn't find ms.right.

[Jenny_2108]

I asked this for you in the medical fb group:

"This is a highly random question and admissions related, but does anyone know the ISAT requirement to get an interview?"

And the responses I got were:

"when i took the isat, there wasn't a specific cutoff point"

"yep. my ISAT was 38% i think. and it was a passable for monash. in my opinion, in regards from pointers from the education provider that was handling my monash application, monash didnt set a benchmark on the ISAT points, as long as its passable enough, as in its not too low. i think the only uni that required a high ISAT score, in accordance to my experience as an international applicant, was tasmania uni. they required at least a 50% score to be CONSIDERED for an interview. "


I'd apply for it!

:OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Can I still change my preference list?

MCAT jenny - not GAMSAT. MCAT is what you're thinking I think.

I mean you do GAMSAT if applying postgrad in Aus or other test (yeah, its probably MCAT, I couldnt remember the name) if applying in non-Aus

[pi]

:OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Can I still change my preference list?

I think you still can atm

Note that those responses are by people who sat the ISAT and are DOING med in my year now, so they're accurate haha

[Hancock]

It's cool brah. With Stanford, they're getting a bit 'cash-cow'ish with their Eng department (just hearsay, don't quote me). I'm sure they have financial aid, however, the issue with me doing BSci (3 years) then M.Eng there is that it is not a professionally accredited course structure and will therefore will refuse me from professional engineering practise. Ah well, MBA in 7-9 years time somewhere good is on the table if my career/life/shiz goes to plan.

Remember that life will not always turn out what you want it to be, or what you plan it to be. You just have to make the best of the opportunities that are given to you. Getting a bit deep for a forum.

Remember that if you want to have a travel to America, you could always do it as an Exchange in your UGrad to see how you like it. It's what I'm doing.

In regards to your Monash/Melb debate, if you are set on post-grad med for yourself, and you feel more at home at Melbourne Uni, come to Melb. No point going to a uni you didn't want to and disliking going there everyday for the next 3 - 5 years.

[Surgeon]

It's cool brah. With Stanford, they're getting a bit 'cash-cow'ish with their Eng department (just hearsay, don't quote me). I'm sure they have financial aid, however, the issue with me doing BSci (3 years) then M.Eng there is that it is not a professionally accredited course structure and will therefore will refuse me from professional engineering practise. Ah well, MBA in 7-9 years time somewhere good is on the table if my career/life/shiz goes to plan.

Remember that life will not always turn out what you want it to be, or what you plan it to be. You just have to make the best of the opportunities that are given to you. Getting a bit deep for a forum.

Remember that if you want to have a travel to America, you could always do it as an Exchange in your UGrad to see how you like it. It's what I'm doing.

You're absolutely right, man

[Furbob]

@Surgeon - should make some plan B in case you dont get the 99.xx ATAR for either Biomed or MBBS (I know you dont necessarily need 99+ for MBBS but still) seeing your other threads complaining about doing poorly etc etc - you should question whether you can get over the line before thinking about these decisions

I'm not doubting whether you can get 99+, but majority of wannabe-med-students in VCE dont walk in everyday to school thinking they're in the top 1% of the state :S (certain forum member aside.)

dont bite off more than you can chew atm

maybe think about this once you get your ATAR

[Surgeon]

@Surgeon - should make some plan B in case you dont get the 99.xx ATAR for either Biomed or MBBS (I know you dont necessarily need 99+ for MBBS but still) seeing your other threads complaining about doing poorly etc etc - you should question whether you can get over the line before thinking about these decisions

I'm not doubting whether you can get 99+, but majority of wannabe-med-students in VCE dont walk in everyday to school thinking they're in the top 1% of the state :S (certain forum member aside.)

dont bite off more than you can chew atm

maybe think about this once you get your ATAR

I might be able to get into Biomed with a 95+ (SEAS), but if not, then I'll be doing Science at Melbourne Uni if I end up going to Melbourne Uni.

[Truck]

If you really want to do medicine, you really should do MBBS at Monash. If you don't get in / decide you're not sure, you may as well just do Science/Biomed at Monash .

[pi]

Personally, I found that getting into med anywhere was a privilege and something to grab with both hands when it luckily came my way (and I was lucky to get in to Monash). To get in, you have to satisfy a range of criteria, whether that be GAMSAT+GPA+Interview or UMAT+ATAR+Interview, it's a tough process and the majority of applicants come away with nothing, that's the harsh truth.

I see no logical reason why someone who had a chance of getting undergrad med somewhere (unless they had personal medical issues, or severe financial issues etc.) would go to UoM Biomed and try again for the MD that they might not even get (grad med entry is a completely different ball game imo).

Furthermore, who picks a course based on how nice the building look? Especially when an extra 2 years is on the line?

If I go to Melbourne University, I'll be at an awesome university that I love

I'm sure you've thoroughly researched the MD if this is the case and therefore I'm assuming you realise how many preclin years there are and how strange this statement sounds? And you don't love the uni, you just love how it looks. Big difference.

This whole notion of going to a uni for looks when the course in question is one that I find is a huge privilege to get into in the first place is why I find the first post so confusing, I just don't get it why this thread even exists.

In my opinion, get into med first, then decide where you'd like go.

[Surgeon]

Personally, I found that getting into med anywhere was a privilege and something to grab with both hands when it luckily came my way (and I was lucky to get in to Monash). To get in, you have to satisfy a range of criteria, whether that be GAMSAT+GPA+Interview or UMAT+ATAR+Interview, it's a tough process and the majority of applicants come away with nothing, that's the harsh truth.

I see no logical reason why someone who had a chance of getting undergrad med somewhere (unless they had personal medical issues, or severe financial issues etc.) would go to UoM Biomed and try again for the MD that they might not even get (grad med entry is a completely different ball game imo).

Furthermore, who picks a course based on how nice the building look? Especially when an extra 2 years is on the line?

If I go to Melbourne University, I'll be at an awesome university that I love

I'm sure you've thoroughly researched the MD if this is the case and therefore I'm assuming you realise how many preclin years there are and how strange this statement sounds? And you don't love the uni, you just love how it looks. Big difference.

This whole notion of going to a uni for looks when the course in question is one that I find is a huge privilege to get into in the first place is why I find the first post so confusing, I just don't get it why this thread even exists.

In my opinion, get into med first, then decide where you'd like go.

I'm not advocating that it is easy to get into undergraduate medicine, or that I wouldn't be terribly lucky to be offered a place.

However, I don't think you fully understand why I'm considering Biomed/Science then MD instead of saying that if offered a place in undergraduate medicine, I would snap it up in a heart beat.

Because I want to live and work in the USA, MBBS wouldn't be the best idea. This is the reason I'm not sure what I would pick.

If I go to Monash MBBS for example, I'll be spending 2 years at a campus that I didn't feel particularly comfortable or "welcome" in. I don't think university is simply a place to learn stuff. The social side of things is also very important. In my opinion, the way you feel about a place that you will be spending at least 2 years at is quite important.

I don't want to go into the course with the mentality of 'I need to get through X number of years here before I can get away". I'd much rather think, "I've only got X numbers of years left here ".

The looks of the buildings alone is not and will never be the deciding factor for my university choice.

I feel as though it's good to start thinking about these things in good time, so that I'm not completely overwhelmed and don't make a relatively uneducated decision in the spur of the moment having been offered undergraduate medicine or Biomed/Science.

MBBS or Biomed/Science aren't the only courses I'm applying for - I've got a very wide range of courses that I'm applying to.

[thushan]

Just want to make it clear here, the US knows that our MBBS is equal to their MD. That said, I assume they will rate the Melbourne MD higher than Monash's MBBS, purely because it's Melbourne.

[Truck]

If I go to Monash MBBS for example, I'll be spending 2 years at a campus that I didn't feel particularly comfortable or "welcome" in. I don't think university is simply a place to learn stuff. The social side of things is also very important. In my opinion, the way you feel about a place that you will be spending at least 2 years at is quite important.

I don't want to go into the course with the mentality of 'I need to get through X number of years here before I can get away". I'd much rather think, "I've only got X numbers of years left here ".

K, with your first point, you went to an --open day--,  possibly with preconceived notions about what your expectations of Monash would be (i.e. inferior to Melbourne). When you're saying you don't feel "comfortable" or "welcome", I just find it so vague and unsubstantiated - you haven't actually met the people who you're going to be studying with either in Monash or Melbourne, so how can you possibly know how comfortable you'll feel when really it all depends on who you're studying with. The way you're making a decision about the university seems borderline irresponsible to me, because I agree - the way you feel about a place you will spend at least 2 years at IS very important - but you're basing those decisions off ONE open day where you didn't meet people in your course and had some vague feelings about "being unwelcome".

Secondly, Monash has one of the most active student associations and runs HEAPS of student events. I am sure Melbourne does as well, but from what I've heard (and I suppose this is entirely subjective) if you want a great social life, Monash and Deakin are the best.

Finally, for your working in the US point, I can really empathize because I'd love to work/live overseas as well. But there are some realities you should be aware of - the economic climate in the U.S. is pretty dire at the moment, and they have a lot of problems that will make it very tough and very expensive for you to move there, without working in Australia for a bit first. I would definitely not say it's impossible, but I think potentially a better pathway (irrespective of whether you go to Melb. or Monash) is to first go on an exchange to the U.S. for a year. From that point post-grad (if you go the Melb route) is possible, but doing Medicine in the USA basically means you need to spend a lot of years there, doing your internship/working because you won't be able to get a job back in Australia. It's a big commitment away from friends and family, and not something you should be jumping into on romanticized notions of grandeur. I don't want to do Med myself so I can't give you specifics, only that it could quite possibly be a horrible decision so do some more research on it!

Anyway, good luck Surgeon, I hope you work out what you want to do and get into your first preference .

[paulsterio]

First of all, even though I give Melbourne so much shit, especially that Melbourne Model, I'll agree that it's a decent university, so is Monash, they're both equally good and both have their good points and their bad points.

I would honestly say that if you end up at Monash and regret for the next few years that you aren't at Melbourne - go to Melbourne. As crazy, unrealistic and vague as you sound in regards to why you prefer Melbourne, I sympathise with you because I know how it feels to be doing something that was never really your first choice. It's like doing something just because you can, whilst your dreams lie elsewhere, and I know how crap it feels when your friends tell you that they're at Melbourne, because deep down, you wish you were there too.

Some things aren't easy to put into words and I understand that this is one of those things, if you want to go to Melbourne and you feel a passion for it, you should go to Melbourne by all means. If there's something that I've learnt over the past year or so, it's that you should never settle for second best if you've still got a shot for what you really love, cause even though you might regret it later, you'll never forget that at the time, it was what you truly wanted.