Subjects For Medicine

[Lazza03]

Hey all!
Im doing VCE next year and am aiming to get into medicine at Monash.

Im really interested in what HSC subjects students did to get into medicine.
If you are doing or have done medicine at any uni I would love to hear about your experience.

Even if you arent doing medicine i  really just want to learn about what subjects people enjoyed and what they did after school 

[Quantum44]

Chemistry is a prerequisite for medicine so obviously you have to do VCE chem and put in at least a bit of work to get above 30.

Biology is recommended. If you’re interested in med, you probably like bio so I don’t really see why you wouldn’t do it. If you don’t do it there will be quite a bit to catch up on in med so it’s best to learn it beforehand in VCE.

It could also be helpful to do methods and physics even if they are only tangentially related to what you study in med, but if you want space to do different subjects it’s definitely not a big deal.

[cookiedream]

Hello!

As Quantum44 said, a raw 30 in Chem as well as a raw 30 in English is a prerequisite.

It's definitely a HUGE plus if you do VCE Biology!!! A lot of the stuff that's covered in the syllabus comes up in what we're learning (e.g. cell organelles, cellular respiration, immunity, recombinant technology). Quite a few people in my cohort who didn't do Biology have it a bit rough with the extra workload and content to understand.

For Monash med, we have a subject called 'Medicine of the Mind' and it overlaps with a bit of VCE Psychology (particularly operant and classical conditioning). I found doing VCE Psychology helped me with understanding one of our lectures.

If you're aiming for med, I suggest you try out for interstate unis too!! Other unis have Methods as one of their prereqs, such as James Cook as far as I'm aware.

[vox nihili]

Hey all!
Im doing VCE next year and am aiming to get into medicine at Monash.

Im really interested in what HSC subjects students did to get into medicine.
If you are doing or have done medicine at any uni I would love to hear about your experience.

Even if you arent doing medicine i  really just want to learn about what subjects people enjoyed and what they did after school 

You've already been given good advice around prereqs. What sort of subjects are your interested in?

[Lazza03]

You've already been given good advice around prereqs. What sort of subjects are your interested in?

So far I have decided that I want to do Methods, Psyc, Biology, Chemistry, HHD, Philosophy, Eng Lang, and one other I'm not sure of.
Im doing Philosophy right now in Year 9 and next year I'll do 3/4 philosophy and 5 1/2 subjects.

In Yr 12 (2021) I will also do a university enhancement

Ps) I know I only have to complete 6 vce subjects but I have to do eight with the program I am in - its a bit annoying beacuse I would rather put more effort into less subjects

[sarangiya]

So far I have decided that I want to do Methods, Psyc, Biology, Chemistry, HHD, Philosophy, Eng Lang, and one other I'm not sure of.
Im doing Philosophy right now in Year 9 and next year I'll do 3/4 philosophy and 5 1/2 subjects.

In Yr 12 (2021) I will also do a university enhancement

Ps) I know I only have to complete 6 vce subjects but I have to do eight with the program I am in - its a bit annoying beacuse I would rather put more effort into less subjects

Sounds unique! Is it a program your school has made or are these choices directed by you?
Philosophy is a great subject. I think it can come in handy for med schools apps because of the evaluative and critical thinking strategies. Also some moral dilemmas might lend into the scenario based interview questions. Just a guess though, of course.

[exit]

A lot, if not most, Med students have done Specialist Maths as I think the skills developed in this subject is valuable and the generous scaling can pull you over the edge. Since you’re already doing Methods, I reckon you could give Spec a go unless you’re completely unconfident with Methods.

[vox nihili]

A lot, if not most, Med students have done Specialist Maths as I think the skills developed in this subject is valuable and the generous scaling can pull you over the edge. Since you’re already doing Methods, I reckon you could give Spec a go unless you’re completely unconfident with Methods.

This is not true. Don’t do spesh unless you enjoy maths

[Lazza03]

Sounds unique! Is it a program your school has made or are these choices directed by you?

Its called the SEAL program, and its organised by the school. I know its done at a lot of high schools but I think each school has the flexibility to alter the program a little bit, since its different to the mainstream curriculum.
 Its basically yr 7,8,9 completed in the first two years, third year is 'Yr 10', and the next three years are VCE. Students have the option to leave one year early but I dont know who would do that.

[Lazza03]

Philosophy is a great subject. I think it can come in handy for med schools apps because of the evaluative and critical thinking strategies. Also some moral dilemmas might lend into the scenario based interview questions.

Thats a really cool way of looking at it

[Sine]

if you are doing 9 subjects it would be useful to do English + EngLang just as a backup since underperforming in someones only english subject could make doing extremely well in the 8 other subjects relatively redundant.

As for spec maths the scaling above 50 is very useful (so if you think you can get that i would consider it) but the subject content is pretty useless outside of statistics for med

[sarangiya]

Its called the SEAL program, and its organised by the school. I know its done at a lot of high schools but I think each school has the flexibility to alter the program a little bit, since its different to the mainstream curriculum.
 Its basically yr 7,8,9 completed in the first two years, third year is 'Yr 10', and the next three years are VCE. Students have the option to leave one year early but I dont know who would do that.

Oh, I've heard of it! Sounds good. So is the university extension also conventional at your school?
Good luck with your subjection selection. You have lots of great advice to consider.