Monash Med BONDED or UniMelb Med???

[ian3150]

Hey everyone

I was fortunate enough to achieve a 99.90 ATAR this year and received offers for both Unimelb's Bachelor of Biomed (Chancellors Scholars) degree and Monash's Bachelor of medical science/Doctor of medicine degree (bonded). As someone very passionate for medicine, who wants to practice medicine in the city (and perhaps one day overseas), I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

Firstly, UniMelb's prestige gives lots of buying power on an international scale to practice medicine overseas(so this option will always be available to me), but the course is 2 years longer, it's much further away and it's contingent on passing an MMI interview in the third year. If I do manage to pass though, I'll receive a nonbonded CSP spot in postgrad med, as opposed to Monash's bonded.

On the other hand, Monash's degree is a lot faster, much closer to me (10min bus ride as opposed to 1.5hr commute) and from my research, provides more clinical training during medical school. There's also the guarantee of a med degree if I accept, whereas for unimelb there's always a slight chance of failing the interview. However, the downside of this is that I get put under contract to go to a place of workforce shortage for 3years (usually remote/rural locations) IN ADDITION to the 5years of medical school, effectively extending the course by 3yrs (so 8yrs Monash as opposed to 7yrs unimelb)

Just wondering if anyone has thoughts on this and which uni you'd choose and why?? Any help is appreciated at this point cuz yaboi is panicking. And if you've been in a similar position I'd love to hear which one you chose! And preferably ASAP cuz I gotta decide by the Jan 24th (

PS. really sorry if this post is in the wrong section!

[Sine]

University prestige (especially for med )is not that important you aren't going to get a better/worse degree by choosing either. Doing badly in a prestigious course is much worse than being near the top of a less prestigious course (if the discrepancy of prestige exists). However, yeah for overseas it may have some weight if people aren't too familiar with AUS.

I'm not so clear on why it is 8 year at Monash. From my understanding the bonded scheme is controlled by the government and has nothing to do with the university. Given the recent changes it is 3 years within 18 years after graduating and this is in areas of doctor shortage. So this can be inner city/outer city areas as well depending on the specialty. E.g. I think I heard neurology had a shortage all over Australia for certain years.

Also I think both courses have 3 years clinical training.

It's really up to you I won't give my opinion but I will try to give you as much information to make your choice.

Melbourne
Pros
-non-bonded
-prestige?? maybe
-can study breadths (you may have other interests)
-don't need to commit to a profession (you might decide something else in 3 years time)

cons
-not guaranteed
-more travel (will note 1.5 hrs is a long commute especially for a time sensitive course)

Monash
pros
-shorter course
-less travel
-costs less (5 years of uni vs 7)

cons
-bonded
-less prestige???
-less opportunity to look into other careers

Pros/cons depending on your perspective
- 3 years of biomedicine
- Ability to start working 2 years earlier

[K888]

Just want to say they've made changes to the bonded scheme recently so would be worth it looking over it:
https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/reformed-bonded-programs#2

An area of workforce shortage usually isn't even that remote. You won't necessarily be hours and hours from Melbourne and it's only for a period of like 3 years (which really isn't long at all). I believe there's also the option to pay off your bond if you really want to get out of it. As far as I'm aware (a relative did the bonded degree), the return of service period begins once you've obtained fellowship in your speciality (eg: GP, surgeon, physician) so doesn't occur as soon as you finish med school. It really sounds a lot more full on than it actually is

Ultimately depends how much you wanna study med and how soon you want to be qualified, I think. If you're really keen on med and really want to be a doctor, I'd probably go for Monash. If you're not too sure yet and think you might want to chase an alternate profession, maybe opt with UniMelb to give you a bit of time to consider your options.

[Jimmmy]

I don't want to say too much about each University's course, as I'm not well equipped to do so, but I would like to really emphasize the significant time traveled. Medicine (or BioMed) is a ridiculously intensive course from what I've heard, and losing roughly 10 hours a week (as I'm presuming you'd be at either Uni a lot due to the course difficulty) on public transport is a massive blow. It might seem novel initially, but as the year progresses I can guarantee it'll get tiring to some extent. Many people say they'll 'study' on the train/bus/tram, but ultimately there's been many a time where I've traveled into the City at the typical school/uni times (early morning, after school times) where I haven't had a seat, due to the large numbers of people working in the city.

This is exacerbated by the fact that Sine mentioned, that you do have to maintain an additional two years going into UniMelb anyway. If you pick Melbourne, you need to really plan exactly how you'll use that travel time and be at peace with it IMO, even if you accept that it'll effectively be your 'leisure time' and just listen to music or something.

[ian3150]

Thank you so much for the responses guys!!!

[TheEagle]

Hey everyone

Just curious to know if you are paid in the bonded years?

[Sine]

Hey everyone

Just curious to know if you are paid in the bonded years?

Yep you will be. Basically it is the same working/career progression as everyone else just the area you need to work in for a few years will be restricted a bit.

[TheEagle]

Yep you will be. Basically it is the same working/career progression as everyone else just the area you need to work in for a few years will be restricted a bit.

Thank you Sine!
You're always so swift at replying! Cheers