University of Melbourne Doctor of Medicine Quotas

[Pup]

If only 117 students from the Biomedicine cohort got into medicine last year, but this year, there are 50 people in  Biomedicine chancellor's scholars program, does this mean that only 50 spots are available to Biomedicine students. Overall there are 255 CSP places. It seems that alot of Science students get in.  I'm kinda worried about my chances of getting in. Many people say its close to impossible, but why do through a full three year, if you think you can't make. Or will working hard pay off?

[pi]

There's no quota for UoM Biomed students afaik.

[Hancock]

Apparently you need a 6.5+ GPA to get in (not a definite number, just what I've heard). That means pulling at least 2H2As and 2H1s a semester. While many people have a guaranteed entry scheme, you can still get in. If only 50 people from Biomed got in last year, that means that the Science students must have been better. There is no quota according to which course you do, that would be really stupid on UoM's part.

People go through Biomed/Sci for Grad Med knowing that there are other graduate medicine schools besides UoM. From a lot of posts on this forum and others, I get the impression that everyone is thinking "Melb Medical School or bust" when in reality, there are many options for grad med (including Monash Gipps, Deakin, USyd and others). 

Edited for spelling.

[Pup]

If less biomedicine students get in, that doesn't justify the point of the biomed degree and would make the uni look stupid. Might as well cease the biomed degree if science is the better degree. Biomed is better for preparation for medicine while science is better to achieve higher GPA to get into medicine.

[MJRomeo81]

If less biomedicine students get in, that doesn't justify the point of the biomed degree and would make the uni look stupid. Might as well cease the biomed degree if science is the better degree. Biomed is better for preparation for medicine while science is better to achieve higher GPA to get into medicine.

unfortunately, dat der melb uni marketing

[pi]

It doesn't make the degree look stupid, just that graduating cohort looks stupid (if you define "stupid" as "not getting into MD").

Biomed is better for preparation for medicine while science is better to achieve higher GPA to get into medicine.

Interesting, why do you say that though?

Don't tell me you blindly went for Biomed for that reason.

[slothpomba]

If less biomedicine students get in, that doesn't justify the point of the biomed degree and would make the uni look stupid. Might as well cease the biomed degree if science is the better degree. Biomed is better for preparation for medicine while science is better to achieve higher GPA to get into medicine.

Well, they're certainly not going to rig or fix it behind the scenes, that would be extremely dodgy, dishonest and possibly illegal. It would be very unfair if biomed students get in simply because they're biomed students.

It's expected in many things in life (including this) that you do your due diligence before hand, that, as an adult now, you actually look at what you're getting into and the implications of that. If you believe biomed is indeed harder and you enter into it anyway, that is your choice, you've got no one to blame but yourself for the outcome. Likewise, if you *don't* look into these things, it is very silly and you've also got no one to blame but yourself.

UoM has never advertised you will get priority purely for being a biomed student. It is not said anywhere in a single document. If you're score is crap, well, you're not getting in. If your scores are right and your prerequisites are right, anyone can get in.

We've had debates and discussions over what exactly a biomed degree is and the pro's and con's verses science many times here, you'll find it if you search the forums. Biomed will not prepare you all that much more than a science degree would for getting in, i'm not sure where people keep getting this misconception from, they're basically equal in this regard. The kind and quality of work you put in matters much more than any of these things.

[Russ]

The fact that nearly half the amount of spots in the MD went to biomed kids should tell you that more of them are getting in than from any other course/from any other university. The ratio of biomed/sci kids is something stupid anyway. Plus there might be some bonuses for the clinical school allocations, but that's all anecdotal so *shrug*

(biomed is better preparation for the MD though, that's a thing)

[slothpomba]

The fact that nearly half the amount of spots in the MD went to biomed kids should tell you that more of them are getting in than from any other course/from any other university. The ratio of biomed/sci kids is something stupid anyway. Plus there might be some bonuses for the clinical school allocations, but that's all anecdotal so *shrug*

Isn't that probably because they had extremely high ATARs to begin with? They were already very capable, they might have *just* missed out or something like that. They obviously had fantastic ability and/or study skills and/or sheer effort to get in biomed in the first place, it kind of makes sense this suddenly wouldn't evaporate. If you transplanted this particular biomed cohort into a science degree instead, i doubt they would fare much worse.

Really isn't many surprises here anyway.

[Russ]

Yeah I was responding to the OP saying that more people from science were getting in which is not correct.

[Mao]

Isn't that probably because they had extremely high ATARs to begin with? They were already very capable, they might have *just* missed out or something like that. They obviously had fantastic ability and/or study skills and/or sheer effort to get in biomed in the first place, it kind of makes sense this suddenly wouldn't evaporate. If you transplanted this particular biomed cohort into a science degree instead, i doubt they would fare much worse.

Having a good ATAR score doesn't entitle anyone to a particular career. In fact, it is a terrible performance indicator. In my teaching experience, public school students with lower ATARs tend to be better students than high ATAR biomed students (there are exceptions, but the general trend is there).

Asking a student to maintain a high GPA isn't unreasonable, especially for entry into MD degrees. There is such a thing as weeding out high-achievers who actually can't process information independently.

[Pup]

I chose Biomedicine because it is a much more integrated degree which focuses on the health sciences. I got an atar less than the 98.80 clearly in rank, but I feel the pressure that most are intellectually better than me. I'm not blessed with intellectual talent, but I do work hard, even though I can get results I deserved. So this led me to have a low self esteem, believing I cannot compete with 98-99+ ATAR students. I go to a lowly ranked public high school by the way. All I can do is try my best, but there this doubt of whether I will get over the line.

[Mao]

I chose Biomedicine because it is a much more integrated degree which focuses on the health sciences. I got an atar less than the 98.80 clearly in rank, but I feel the pressure that most are intellectually better than me. I'm not blessed with intellectual talent, but I do work hard, even though I can get results I deserved. So this led me to have a low self esteem, believing I cannot compete with 98-99+ ATAR students. I go to a lowly ranked public high school by the way. All I can do is try my best, but there this doubt of whether I will get over the line.

You will find that your attitude would make you a better MD candidate than most of the 98-99+ students. Relax, you'll do just fine.