Commerce at Melb Q

[WhoTookMyUsername]

yeah I'm extremely uncertain as to whether to place commerce or biomedicine ahead of the other

last year there were 255 places, with 8 MRBS, 64 MBS, and 30 ERC?


"only" refers to /monash has more in undergrad/~450 - 500 kids in biomed + kids from other uni's all competing for 150 spots

[Russ]

Oh right you're including ERC, fair enough (I wasn't since they're not technically bonded). Yeah in that case closer to 150. Although the other kids will be competing for all the spots and the only thing that will determine your ability to get a place is yourself, you won't be scaled like in VCE.

If you like commerce and you want to try and make a career there, go for it. You can probably swing things to do the prereqs just in case

[WhoTookMyUsername]

M... By "If you like commerce and you want to try and make a career there, go for it. You can probably swing things to do the prereqs just in case"
Do you mean do commerce undergrad with prereqs for MD?

Thing is i don't really know if like commerce D; or anything really... Having not had exposure and relying on limited anecdotal evidence

[spongebob-7]

have you thought about science, you can get the prereqs for MD whilst doing breadths in commerce

[Russ]

Yeah, I think it's possible but it's pretty obviously not the optimal preparation (since you'll do them spread out across your entire degree and it could be hard with timetabling etc.)

Well I was assuming that you wanted to do medicine but also had an interest in commerce and were comfortable doing that instead, rather than doing biomed/sci and applying again. I think it's going to require a bit of thinking then, with what you preference where, if undergrad med doesn't happen. Maybe try to find some commerce students and talk to them I guess?

Oh and purely anecdotally, on that honours for actuary thing, you don't -need- to do it. My mate did actuary (ran the society or something) and he's working as an actuary or something this year without honours.

[pi]

The Honours for actuary only saves you from doing one or two exams (which you'd seriously love to be exempt from)

[WhoTookMyUsername]

thanks for everyone's help really appreciate it!

For Honours is there an actual quota? Or does the faculty just make an assessment based on if the student can "cope" with the honours year?

Also
If i go into commerce is it possible to do actuary major AND meet prereq for MD?

I know this is a dodgy question, but how hard relatively is getting into actuary honours compared to (from biomed) MD?


thanks

[pi]

Also
If i go into commerce is it possible to do actuary major AND meet prereq for MD?

I would highly doubt it, actuary is stricter compared to the other commerce majors.

[paulsterio]

Seriously, but Biomedicine before Commerce. Actuarial Studies has pretty much nothing in common with medicine and I can assure you, if you were faced with "what course do you intend to pursue if you don't get into medicine", you're making it difficult on yourself if you say "I want to do Commerce".

The natural reaction to this would be "why commerce", which you won't really be able to explain, cause you haven't thus far on this thread, from there on in, your motivation to do medicine will be questioned.

[WhoTookMyUsername]

It's not because i don't want to do medicine, it's because i'm afraid i'll be left at the end of 3 years of biomedicine with no career paths that really appeal to me. Commerce and actuary and that kind of stuff appeals to my mathematical side whilst also having a nice income, whereas medicine appeals to my "wanting to do a job that's actually worth something" side. So i'm trying to find as much information as i can about the alternatives to make an informed decision

For Honours is there an actual quota? Or does the faculty just make an assessment based on if the student can "cope" with the honours year?
I know this is a dodgy question, but how hard relatively is getting into actuary honours compared to (from biomed) MD?

[pi]

I know this is a dodgy question, but how hard relatively is getting into actuary honours compared to (from biomed) MD?

I don't think anyone could tell you that as:
1) No-one would have done both
2) If you're better at maths compared to bio or chem or essays obviously one is going to be easier than the other

[Greatness]

I find commerce really interesting and I never did anything commerce related before, in fact I thought it was one of my weaker areas. If you intend to do actuarial without much commerce background then some units may be a bit iffy but that would be in first year i.e.  accounting units hate them lol
You may be able to do Commerce with MD prereqs but it would restrict your Comm degree, you would probably only do 1 major but that's a guess. If you plan to do actuarial there is no way you'll be able to fit it in, you only get 3 breadth units.
Comparing actuarial honours to MD biomed is hard, they'll both be difficult no doubt, but it would depend on the person as to which is more difficult. You would want to maintain very high grades in both, perhaps not as high for actuarial but it would still need to be quite good. Difference is GAMSAT for MD and interview; however, you have the accreditation units for actuarial where you need to get a 73 ave between 2 subjects and there are quite a few modules of these that you need to satisfy to be accredited. Both equally difficult in some regards but it's hard to judge which is harder relative to the other, particularly since none of us done either lol But I don't think that's what you should make your decision on...  You've probably heard this over and over but do what you WANT TO DO and WHAT YOU THINK YOU WILL ENJOY. I guarantee you that if you think Commerce will get you a secure job after 3 years and you say to yourself yep let's do that then you will regret it if at this stage, you're not sure if you want to do it - especially since you have med aspirations and you're probably fully capable of getting into PG med. It is easy for your grades to fall below par in uni especially in 1st year commerce units where a lot of stuff is relatively simple, I know a lot of people who barely passed core units and some who failed a few units. I know it's a tough decision, I was in a similar situation as you but I'd realised med wasn't for me by then. Go with your passion and heart, if you fall short then no matter there are other jobs out there and you will be in field that enjoy and if you're good enough there is nothing stopping you from earning big $$$ if that's what you're keen on.

[tram]

1) there is a quota for honours, its about 40 for each major

2) honours actaury VS MD, i would say honours. MD is on marks, GAMSAT and interview, honours is just on marks. ANd if you really want to, getting a 80 av is very doable

3) I persoanlly had never don't a commerce subject in my life before starting commerce and i love it and couldn't imagine myself doing anything else, but that's just me

4) There would be very little wiggle room to do both actuary major and pre-req med breadth

5) Also on principle i disagree with the whole 'only if you do med will you be doing something worthwhile' sentiment, i think there are a multidute of ways you can take a commerce degree and make a difference to peoples lives, and i would argue, help a lot more people (granted it would be in the sense that you're giving people money i.e. through insurnace or working with the RBA or imporving a business, money *is* important and helps people's lives). Obvs there are many ways to leveradge commerce purely to make a monetary profit for yoursefl though, e.g. traders

6) Thomas the tank, you wouldn't happen to be refering to james morris would you when you're talking about your friend working now without honours would you?

[Russ]

Yeah I was, I guess you know him through the society or something?

[tram]

Yeah I was, I guess you know him through the society or something?

haha, yeah, I was on committee when he was president, ridiculously smart guy haha no surprises he was employed with just BCom, saw him recently and he seems to really be enjoying his work with Towers Watson, it was his dream job haha