transferring to medicine (1 Viewer)

[ssejamafone]

Hey, i was wondering.... let's say i don't get into medicine, so i do another uni course. then I do REALLY well in that course and then at the end of the 1st year, i decide to transfer to medicine.... how exactly do i do that? I know that i won't have to take the gamsat (will i?) coz i'm not exactly a graduate yet, only having done 1 year of uni.... so will i have to go to an interview? Will i have to resit the umat? Or will they only consider my marks for that year?

 

[liverpool3k]

Usually transfers happen within the uni you're currently studying at. Taking the umat is pretty certain. The rest - marks, interview, not sure. Although I think they'd use a combination of ter/uni marks. Best calling the faculty/checking the site...

 

[jeremiahk]

Transferring into medicine is supposed to be freaking impossible.

People say its better to take a year off, do UMAT again and try for undergrad again.

Either way you will have to get a top UMAT mark as well as freaking good uni scores.

I think theres what, 10 transfer spots? Not sure at all, I just heard that number somewhere.

 

[watatank]

i know of someone who didn't get into medicine, did adv science @ syd i think, ripped up first year (this was last year) and then transferred into first year medicine this year. not sure on whether he had to do umat + interview etc all again and all that but its possible. probably insanely hard though.

 

[aussiechica7]

Hey,
Yes you can totally go into med after one year of uni. All non-year 12s are called "non-standards". At some unis there are quotas for non-standards, which means it's a bit difficult to get in because there are such few places.
You can use last year's UMAT or redo the UMAT this year and use this year's UMAT score (I recommend redoing the UMAT).
Most unis will take your GPA (grade point average) and get an equivalent UAI from that. They use this for the academic component. UNSW takes the average of your UAI and the equivalent UAI of your GPA.
As a non-standard you cannot apply to Monash or Adelaide and it's difficult to apply for Melbourne (only 5 places for non-standards). However, there are no quotas at Newcastle uni (and in fact, only 20 people in 1st yr med at Newc this year are straight out of year 12).
If your UAI was not up to scratch, consider starting uni and doing a degree in which you can get a good GPA, is something of interest, and preferably somewhat relevant to med. If your UAI was great but your UMAT wasn't good enough, take a gap year and redo the UMAT.
Personally my UAI was OK (97.65) but not brilliant (for med). I took a gap year and didn't even think of the UMAT, then started a year of biomedical science. It wasn't so much trying to improve my UAI as wanting to start another degree so that if I didn't get into med, I hadn't wasted a year, and I was on my way to completing something (which I could eventually use for grad entry med if possible). During that first year, I resat the UMAT and my new mark was 204. I applied to Newcastle, UNSW, UWS, JCU and UTAS (I forgot to send in a form for UWA so didn't apply there). I got first round offers to Newcastle and Tasmania.
Go to this link and read the first post. It's directed at year 12s but it's also relevant to "non-standards". The attached document is helpful too.
http://www.medstudentsonline.com/forums/how-to-get-into-aus-undergrad-med-schools-topic1806.html
(Feel free to post questions on that site too)
So in summary the unis you can apply to as a non-standard are: UNSW, UNCLE (Newcastle), UWS, UTAS, JCU, UWA and UMelb (but UMelb is pretty hard). With a decent GPA, UMAT and interview you stand a good chance at getting into one of these places (i.e. it's not impossible).
Good luck!

 

[ssejamafone]

Wow! Thanks. That was certainly enlightening

coz... i kinda have a pretty good (or bad) feeling that i'm not gonna get into med this year, so i was thinking of doing psychology or biomed and then transferring to med...

so, basically i can either:

a) If my uai and umat were bad: work my butt off for a year in some random course, and resit the umat.

b) If my uai was good but umat was bad: bum around in some random degree, and resit the umat.

c) If my uai was bad, but my umat was good: work my butt off for a year in some random course, and use my past umat result.

right?

coz, then i think i fit in perfectly with (a)... ^-^'

(wow aussiechica7, you know..... A LOT about this ^^)

 

[aussiechica7]

If UAI and UMAT are bad: start a degree and redo the UMAT.

If UAI is bad and UMAT is good: start a degree and you don't have to redo the UMAT (but it doesn't hurt, just in case u get a better mark).

If UMAT is bad and UAI is good (like 99 good): I wouldn't start another degree. Take a gap year, do a UMAT prep course, travel get some life experience, and resit the UMAT. Hopefully things will go better next year.

(The reasons I say don't start another degree if you have a really good UAI is because it's pretty hard to get a GPA which would be equivalent to a 99+ UAI. I think a 6.5 GPA, which is half distinctions and half high distinctions, is equivalent to 99.5. So in my thinking, if you've already worked hard for a high UAI there's no point risking getting a GPA which would convert to a lower UAI if you happen to do slightly worse at uni. Also, some degrees like Monash and Adelaide don't accept most people who have started tertiary studies so if you don't have to do uni to improve your UAI, don't).

(Lol, yeah, I applied to every med school in the country in 2004 and in 2006... and I spend a lot of time at MSO... so I've picked up a few things lol).

 

[ssejamafone]

If UAI is bad and UMAT is good: start a degree and you don't have to redo the UMAT (but it doesn't hurt, just in case u get a better mark).

But, if you do the umat twice, then don't they take the most recent mark, even if it's worse? or maybe i'm just misinformed... coz, otherwise, i'd definitely redo the umat.

(Lol, yeah, I applied to every med school in the country in 2004 and in 2006... and I spend a lot of time at MSO... so I've picked up a few things lol).

yeah, that sounds a lot like what i'll be doing.... applying to every single uni just to get into med.... >_>'

 

[aussiechica7]

Whichever UMAT ID number you give them is the score they use. Your UMAT is valid for 2 years. So for example, to apply for MED 08, you could use 2006 or 2007's UMAT score. The unis don't keep a record of how many times you do UMAT or whatever, so they will only know you by the UMAT ID number you give them.

 

[n.gallagher]

Hey,
This year I haven’t put enough effort in to do as well as anyone who has submitted a reply here (like 99.7 = impossible), but what I wanted to do was a bachelor of biomedical science, and after completing that I wanted to do post-grad medicine (cause I’m interested in pathology). You guys seem to know everything, so can you tell be how hard it is to get into post. grad medicine after completing biomed?

 

[Survivor39]

Apparently Usyd grad med doesn't really care about your undergrad WAM, as long as you have a degree. But I guess you would need to perform well both in the interview and GAMSAT.

 

[ssejamafone]

hmmm... the interview, i can do.... but gamsat... *shudder* i don't want to go near that test. apparently it's, like, 50 times harder than the umat.

 

[aussiechica7]

N.g, no idea, but I did a year of biomed and then went into medicine. You can use your UMAT and a GPA of an incomplete degree (and even a complete degree) to apply to undergrad entry med courses.
You don't need 99.7 to get into med, but it helps. For UWS and UNCLE, the cutoff is like low 90s and after that it's all UMAT and interview. Higher UAI just gives you other options (e.g. UMelb, etc.) to choose from.
Post grad med: look for the paging dr forum on google or something for info on that. Apparently GAMSAT is crazy hard.

 

[velox]

Apparently Usyd grad med doesn't really care about your undergrad WAM, as long as you have a degree. But I guess you would need to perform well both in the interview and GAMSAT.

they will soon, now they are caring about your gamsat mark. before it was just a hurdle to get the interview. now they count it in conjunction with your interview. I wouldnt be surprised if they start caring about your GAMSA (like gpa) like other unis.

 

[Wooz]

I was told to do a B. Arts and Sciences which is around 76 at Usyd by a Doctor who runs a umat prep course if i wanted to do post-grad, since GAMSAT is a test based on both english; literacy, comprehension, skills, vocab and yr 11-12 level physics, 1st year basic bio and chem. I was thinking about doing med. sci or sci (Adv) as a back-up course though.

 

[+Po1ntDeXt3r+]

Hey,
This year I haven’t put enough effort in to do as well as anyone who has submitted a reply here (like 99.7 = impossible), but what I wanted to do was a bachelor of biomedical science, and after completing that I wanted to do post-grad medicine (cause I’m interested in pathology). You guys seem to know everything, so can you tell be how hard it is to get into post. grad medicine after completing biomed?

I think u have to be careful.. Pathology as a career compared to research pathology is so different.. I have a personal interest in this and its a good career but i suspect u need to just research a lil more if u intend to do it...

in fact there are quite a few sub-specialities in pathology.. medicine is a very general degree really.. ...
i think that u have a chance.. u need to just work very hard for it..
getting in and staying in is pretty ok.. just need to realised its not completely impossible