Ambivalent feelings

[Russ]

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.

If you go to America as a foreign trained doctor you will have to do (at the absolute minimum) a residency again and work your way up from the bottom of the food chain again. Their entire medical system is structured differently to ours and you need to do different licensing exams and so forth. Given that you live in Australia I wouldn't understand why you'd trade our medical system for theirs -.-

[Surgeon]

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.

If you go to America as a foreign trained doctor you will have to do (at the absolute minimum) a residency again and work your way up from the bottom of the food chain again. Their entire medical system is structured differently to ours and you need to do different licensing exams and so forth. Given that you live in Australia I wouldn't understand why you'd trade our medical system for theirs -.-

I'm aware of this. That's why I want to do an MD in the US of I'm planning on working and living there. If I get an MD (or even JD, if I go into law) in Australia, I'll stay here.

[Jenny_2108]

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?

Thats true, I dont think lots of people who got offer of MBBS course from Monash will give it up to study at other Uni just because of the beautiful buildings except they have personal reasons.

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.

If you go to America as a foreign trained doctor you will have to do (at the absolute minimum) a residency again and work your way up from the bottom of the food chain again. Their entire medical system is structured differently to ours and you need to do different licensing exams and so forth. Given that you live in Australia I wouldn't understand why you'd trade our medical system for theirs -.-

I'm aware of this. That's why I want to do an MD in the US of I'm planning on working and living there. If I get an MD (or even JD, if I go into law) in Australia, I'll stay here.

I agree with you. I dont see anything wrong with doing an MD in US though
You still have chances, so just do what you dream of. Life is about challenges and there is nothing wrong to try a new life in a new country, new uni, new environment. At first, you have to cope with obstacles but then you will become stronger.

Just do what you like because one day, maybe you wont have any opportunities to do that.
Surgeon, if you wanna do medicine due to helping people, there is no big differences between helping people in Aus and US.

But if you can get MD and have a job in Aus, stay then 

[Russ]

I'm aware of this. That's why I want to do an MD in the US of I'm planning on working and living there. If I get an MD (or even JD, if I go into law) in Australia, I'll stay here.

It's probably easier to do the medical degree here and move there, than try to get into medical school there as an international student afaik

[Surgeon]

I'm aware of this. That's why I want to do an MD in the US of I'm planning on working and living there. If I get an MD (or even JD, if I go into law) in Australia, I'll stay here.

It's probably easier to do the medical degree here and move there, than try to get into medical school there as an international student afaik

Well it's not like I'm going to lose anything by applying to study there anyway. I'll also be applying for postgraduate medicine everywhere possible in Australia. If I can get into the course over in the US, great. If not, study somewhere here and decide whether I still want to move over there after graduating.

If I get into the MD at Melbourne, would it be possible to do the clinical years in the states? (I don't think so, asking just in case).

[shinny]

If I get into the MD at Melbourne, would it be possible to do the clinical years in the states? (I don't think so, asking just in case).

Nope. You'll have the opportunity to do a short (it's 6 weeks at Monash) elective there. All the rest would be at a UoM hospital.

[Russ]

You can do more than 6 weeks overseas, but all the core stuff is going to be here.

[alexa94]

If you really want to do medicine and got into Monash MBBS and chose UoM Biomed ahead of it (not including chancellor's scholarship), then to be honest I think you'd be absolutely nuts. I could maybe understand choosing biomed if you didn't want to go interstate for med or were unsure as to what you wanted to really do (may change your mind to dent instead of med, etc.) but choosing Melbourne Uni simply because it has a nicer campus seems a bit difficult to comprehend...

sure lots of people want to go to UoM cos it's on the edge of the cbd and looks nice, but firstly it'll be like doing year 12 all over again for the next 3 years, and even if you did will enough to get straight into postgrad med (by averaging HDs and smashing the GAMSAT?), the total time spent studying would be 7 years as opposed to mbbs at monash which is 5 years (i think). And in health sciences there is no added benefit to doing a postgrad degree compared to an undergrad degree, you are still only qualified to do the same shit (and it's not like law or anything either, what uni you went to generally won't affect job prospects in the health sciences). Also won't be a doctor/GP after 4-6 years, consider that after 5-7 years of med school there's 2 years of internship and probs another couple of years after that to study to become a GP

edit: just realised i only read the first page of this thread, feel free to ignore anything i've said if it's already been mentioned.

[nisha]

sure lots of people want to go to UoM cos it's on the edge of the cbd and looks nice, but firstly it'll be like doing year 12 all over again for the next 3 years,

That is the best advice I have heard all day.

[paulsterio]

I just don't agree, purely because I can understand where Surgeon is coming from - kids in year 12, you guys don't understand yet, but when you're somewhere where you never wanted to be, when you wake up every day of your life wishing you were somewhere else, doing something different, then you will understand.

That's why I think, Surgeon, if it's your dream to be an alumni of UoM and it's your dream to go there, then by all means, go there, heaps of people have gone through BioMed or Science there and are now in MD. You can't always take the safe passage in life.

Just remember that sometimes the things we want aren't rational, I understand that, thus, we have regrets about what we do. But in the end, we will always have more regrets if we choose to do things we don't want to as opposed to what we do want to.

You guys will understand what I mean some day, some of you next year, some of you in the near future, but in Year 12, everyone does pretty much the same thing, there's no "choice".

[golden]

I just don't agree, purely because I can understand where Surgeon is coming from - kids in year 12, you guys don't understand yet, but when you're somewhere where you never wanted to be, when you wake up every day of your life wishing you were somewhere else, doing something different, then you will understand.

That's why I think, Surgeon, if it's your dream to be an alumni of UoM and it's your dream to go there, then by all means, go there, heaps of people have gone through BioMed or Science there and are now in MD. You can't always take the safe passage in life.

Just remember that sometimes the things we want aren't rational, I understand that, thus, we have regrets about what we do. But in the end, we will always have more regrets if we choose to do things we don't want to as opposed to what we do want to.

You guys will understand what I mean some day, some of you next year, some of you in the near future, but in Year 12, everyone does pretty much the same thing, there's no "choice".

I agree with this. Imagine waking up next year and hating what you do yet knowing it will be a pain to change back but a pain to stay. Or imagine waking up 20 years from now and realising this isn't what you want to do but seriously by then it would be even more of a pain. If you absolutely hate it you probably won't try as hard and reach your potential. Although it isn't necessarily 'what you decide now = the rest of your life' it would most likely be of a reasonable significance. Right now many of you are considering what to do, I'd say consider very carefully.

[Russ]

sure lots of people want to go to UoM cos it's on the edge of the cbd and looks nice, but firstly it'll be like doing year 12 all over again for the next 3 years,

That is the best advice I have heard all day.

Whereas MBBS is going to be so much easier right...

[thushan]

Her point is that you are already in mbbs if you choose Monash. If you had wanted to do med and go to uom you'd be basically doing year 12 all over again in that you would be competing with others for places in graduate entry med.

[Russ]

That doesn't really make sense, it's hard work in either (MBBS is probably harder in first year anyway). There's no scaling or being marked against others in your year, it's just how hard you work, which, as I said, is similar.

[shinny]

But all you're aiming for is a pass in MBBS (which isn't difficult considering the exams are mostly multiple choice), whereas you need an extremely competitive score in Biomed to stand a chance of getting into the MD later. Point is, one you're already in Med, whereas the other, you're fighting your way to still get in. Worst case, even if you fail in MBBS, you can just repeat and get your qualification eventually down the track. On the other hand, failing in Biomed wouldn't go down so well in your MD hopes.