How did you get into medicine? I am struggling to find a suitable pathway

[liliholmes]

If you are a med student, could you please tell me about your journey into medicine?
I am currently a year 12 student half way through term 2 (Physics, Bio, Methods, Eng, Health, Early Childhood studies are my subjects) and I decided to not sit the UCAT at the start of this year cuz I wanted to focus on my ATAR. Though, I'm starting to regret my decision since I learned that not getting the required ATAR will lead me into taking a transfer degree- which then forces me to sit the GAMSAT instead and apparently it is unimaginably more difficult than UCAT! Can anyone please help me out figure a pathway after year 12 based on your experience with medicine? How did you manage an entry? Is my situation helpless?

Sorry if this is the wrong forum!

[scientificllama]

Hey liliholmes!

You are definitely on the right forum to be asking your question.
Even though bookings for 2021's UCAT is over, your situation regarding getting into medicine isn't helpless without the UCAT.
Not only do you have the traditional route my entering med during your postgraduate studies, Universities such as James Cook University and Bond University, do not require a UCAT score to secure a place in their undergraduate medical program.

If you do manage to achieve exceptional results (which I'm sure you will) you may be eligible for the University of Melbourne's "guaranteed entry pathway to the Doctor of Medicine" or University of Sydney's similar program. However, both courses require an ATAR of 99.90+  to be eligible.

I hope this helps! And please don't be afraid to reach out if you have any questions

[juicebox_441]

I do exactly the same subjects as you! and am also interested in medicine but I _kinda screwed up IA1 and _{sort of} screwed IA2 as well, so I spoke with the guidance officer at my school and this is what I understood (please correct me if I'm wrong, I also need help!)

1- Assuming that you got the 99+ ATAR and prerequisite subjects, you can take a gap year to do the UCAT and in that time you should be doing big time practice papers starting from graduation till next year, but in reasonable amounts of course. (A gap year could also be an advantage to have part time jobs and gain money off McDonald's or something like that? idk that's what my guidance officer told me ) and then apply for Uni as soon as you get your UCAT since it only lasts for one year.

2- If you don't meet the ATAR requirement, you could do courses to "bump it up" but I'm still not sure if you have to do the GAMSAT afterwards cuz I don't quite get the difference between "bumping up" courses and normal uni courses, but I think UCAT is still an option since you didn't really graduate in a degree? (I also need help with this option)

3- You can do a course in biomedical science and actually graduate it (so basically three years gone) and then apply for as an undergrad with the course you had, assuming that you do exceptionally well and get very high distinctions during your course.

4- You can ignore the UCAT and only focus on your ATAR and make it into JCU or Griffith, and still negotiate if they accept "bump up" courses that are equivalent for ATAR. But in our case we don't do chemistry so definitely equivalent courses need to be taken instead.

5- I watched this guy on YouTube and this is how he got into med (vey useful info, wish my school told me that and cleared the confusion lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7XiJbTxwdY&t=1097s

let me know if u get any additional info or found out a decent pathway 👍

[whys]

I would like to add that biomedical science is not the ‘best’ undergraduate degree as a pathway to medicine unless you are mainly wanting to apply to Monash (they allocate most of their graduate places to their biomedical students) or you have a genuine interest in biomedicine. It’s not worth it to do it just to get into medicine. Instead, you might want to look at the variety of other health sciences courses that exist like physiotherapy, nursing and optometry. You can also look at other non-health science related courses if they interest you! But it is definitely not recommended to do a course just to get into medicine, as you are better off choosing a course that will lead you into a career you enjoy and good career prospects in the case that you do not get into the graduate pathways of medicine. I would also encourage you to look at non-standard pathways if you are interested in applying to interstate universities, as there are multiple that accept current university students. You would have to sit the UCAT to apply through most non-standard pathways.

I recommend you have a read of this and this if you want information about the next steps.

[liliholmes]

Hey liliholmes!

You are definitely on the right forum to be asking your question.
Even though bookings for 2021's UCAT is over, your situation regarding getting into medicine isn't helpless without the UCAT.
Not only do you have the traditional route my entering med during your postgraduate studies, Universities such as James Cook University and Bond University, do not require a UCAT score to secure a place in their undergraduate medical program.

If you do manage to achieve exceptional results (which I'm sure you will) you may be eligible for the University of Melbourne's "guaranteed entry pathway to the Doctor of Medicine" or University of Sydney's similar program. However, both courses require an ATAR of 99.90+  to be eligible.

I hope this helps! And please don't be afraid to reach out if you have any questions

yea but the problem here would be the travelling expenses- but hopefully these will be sorted out in the future

[liliholmes]

I do exactly the same subjects as you! and am also interested in medicine but I _kinda screwed up IA1 and _{sort of} screwed IA2 as well, so I spoke with the guidance officer at my school and this is what I understood (please correct me if I'm wrong, I also need help!)

1- Assuming that you got the 99+ ATAR and prerequisite subjects, you can take a gap year to do the UCAT and in that time you should be doing big time practice papers starting from graduation till next year, but in reasonable amounts of course. (A gap year could also be an advantage to have part time jobs and gain money off McDonald's or something like that? idk that's what my guidance officer told me ) and then apply for Uni as soon as you get your UCAT since it only lasts for one year.

2- If you don't meet the ATAR requirement, you could do courses to "bump it up" but I'm still not sure if you have to do the GAMSAT afterwards cuz I don't quite get the difference between "bumping up" courses and normal uni courses, but I think UCAT is still an option since you didn't really graduate in a degree? (I also need help with this option)

3- You can do a course in biomedical science and actually graduate it (so basically three years gone) and then apply for as an undergrad with the course you had, assuming that you do exceptionally well and get very high distinctions during your course.

4- You can ignore the UCAT and only focus on your ATAR and make it into JCU or Griffith, and still negotiate if they accept "bump up" courses that are equivalent for ATAR. But in our case we don't do chemistry so definitely equivalent courses need to be taken instead.

5- I watched this guy on YouTube and this is how he got into med (vey useful info, wish my school told me that and cleared the confusion lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7XiJbTxwdY&t=1097s

let me know if u get any additional info or found out a decent pathway 👍

That is so crazy! Never have I met anyone who did the same subjects as me lol. Thank you lots for stepping out various pathways, this is what I needed! I should definitely speak to my guidance counsellor as well seeming that you got a good discussion with yours.

Currently I believe that a gap year is the better option. I can do the UCAT and redo certain subjects courses to increase my ATAR by a bit and also prepare myself for the lifestyle of medicine. Let me know of any updates you get and I will do the same 👍

[liliholmes]

I would like to add that biomedical science is not the ‘best’ undergraduate degree as a pathway to medicine unless you are mainly wanting to apply to Monash (they allocate most of their graduate places to their biomedical students) or you have a genuine interest in biomedicine. It’s not worth it to do it just to get into medicine. Instead, you might want to look at the variety of other health sciences courses that exist like physiotherapy, nursing and optometry. You can also look at other non-health science related courses if they interest you! But it is definitely not recommended to do a course just to get into medicine, as you are better off choosing a course that will lead you into a career you enjoy and good career prospects in the case that you do not get into the graduate pathways of medicine. I would also encourage you to look at non-standard pathways if you are interested in applying to interstate universities, as there are multiple that accept current university students. You would have to sit the UCAT to apply through most non-standard pathways.

I recommend you have a read of this and this if you want information about the next steps.

Oh thank you for informing me about the biomed thing, I had no idea! But could you please explain to me what a non-standard pathway is? And yea once again interstate med could be a trouble for me due to the expenses but hopefully the future falls bright ahead of me

[whys]

Oh thank you for informing me about the biomed thing, I had no idea! But could you please explain to me what a non-standard pathway is? And yea once again interstate med could be a trouble for me due to the expenses but hopefully the future falls bright ahead of me

A non-standard is someone who is currently studying at uni, in simplistic terms. So, while completing a non-medical degree, you can apply for a medical degree. This is an option currently offered at several universities around Australia. For this option, you will need to sit the UCAT in the year of your application, and there may be certain GPA thresholds you will need to meet, as well as further ‘requirements’ to remain competitive in the applicant pool. The undergraduate universities that take non-school leavers (i.e. current uni students, aka non-standard applicants) are UNSW, WSU/CSU, JMP, Curtin (with strings attached), Bond, UTas (with strings attached) and JCU. JCU and Bond do not require the UCAT. If this is an option you are interested in considering in the future, I recommend you do your own research into the nitty gritty details of the unis you are interested in, because they each have specific requirements, prerequisites and ways of merging/calculating GPAs/ATARs/what not.