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March 29, 2024, 07:03:38 am

Author Topic: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine  (Read 3307 times)  Share 

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nenehet

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Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« on: December 15, 2018, 04:45:44 pm »
+1
Hello sorry if this post is in the wrong section.

I’m going to be in year 12 next year (2019) and when I was in year 10 choosing my VCE subjects I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I just chose subjects I was relatively confident in. (Korean Second Language, Japanese Second Language, English Language, Legal Studies and Further Maths)

Subjects that I personally think I did quite well in year 11.

I would really like to go into dermatology, however I don’t have the prerequisites necessary for what I’m assuming is a bachelor of science/medicine?

I could, hypothetically pick Chemistry 3,4 next year but I think that for the sake of my ATAR that’s a very, very bad idea...

Did anyone have any tips or the know how of any pathways or bridging courses I could take? I’ve tried asking my careers advisor and searched around on the internet and got nothing.


TheAspiringDoc

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2018, 05:28:55 pm »
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If you pick up chem as your 6th subject it can just be 10% increment (so as long as you can get the required 30) without too much time allocation. Could that be a good option?
« Last Edit: December 15, 2018, 05:33:53 pm by TheAspiringDoc »

sarangiya

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2018, 05:34:34 pm »
+4
Some things to consider:
If you wish to study medicine in 2020, you'll have to consider taking the UMAT next year.
If you do this and decide to apply for undergraduate medicine, most universities have chemistry as a prerequisite.

If you would like to do postgraduate medicine (after doing an undergraduate degree):
In Victoria, Deakin and Melbourne accept applicants from any background. However, Melbourne do have prerequisite requirements. Doing that while doing BA or something might be difficult (I'm looking into that ATM so will update if I find anything).
Afaik Deakin doesn't so that might be interesting.

In any case, if there's a will there's a way. If you are 100% sure you want to do medicine straight out of school, pick up chemistry and do the UMAT. If you don't, maybe contact unis that interest you to find out your options.

Good luck
Sometimes you make choices, and sometimes choices make you.

♡ Subjects ♡
2015: Japanese SL [42]
2016: Psychology [43] Philosophy [36] Japanese SL [50] [Premier's Award]
2017: UMEP Further Advanced Japanese [4.5]
2018: Methods [24] English Language [41] Chemistry [31] Psychology [41] Cert III in Allied Health Assistance [4.3]
ATAR: 97.45
2019-2024: Bachelor of Medical Science/Doctor of Medicine @ UNSW

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appleandbee

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2018, 10:37:06 pm »
+3
I think that you should do Chem 3/4 if your school allows you to do so. Scraping a 25 (minimum pre-req score) is fairly doable with some effort. While it may bring down your ATAR a bit as you may have to drop a subject may do better at (even though it will probably counted as a 10% subject so it will hurt less), a high ATAR is only so useful insofar as it allows you pursue courses and pathways that lead to your preferred career. There are quite a few humanities inclined students (as well as mathematically inclined ones who aren't strong in Science), that did Chemistry instead of a subject that they were stronger in so that that could pursue med (or science based courses that can lead to med). If you are really set on Med, a slightly lower ATAR that allows you to pursue that career is worth it. Even if you don't get into undergrad med (since some people find the UCAT difficult and the interviews are competitive), doing a science subject in year 12 is good preparation for university biology/chemistry subjects. It can be quite tough going from no science subjects for a couple of years to a few university science subjects. If you were to do a Bachelor of Arts in Unimelb (which could lead to a graduate med degree, I mentioned Arts because you wouldn't be able to do a Science degree since you don't seem to be planning on completing Methods, although you can transfer), VCE Chemistry would be helpful as there a limited number of breadth subjects for you to complete the pre-req subjects for Medicine. Not doing VCE Chemistry may potentially force you do an extra chemistry subject.

The Bachelor of Science at Monash is also another option (Further maths will suffice as a pre-req) as well as various health sciences and biomedical sciences in other Victorian universities (can't tell you the exact pre-reqs as I never looked into them when I was in high school, although I wish I did). In terms of graduate med entry; Deakin, ANU, Uni of Sydney, Griffith, UWA (Western Australia), UQ (Queensland), UOW (Wollongong) and Notre Dame do not require any science subjects at undergrad or high school level, although it would be advisable to complete a few as the GAMSAT (graduate entry exam) contains quite a lot of scientific content. University of Melbourne also allows you to complete an undergrad degree in any discipline but you have to complete a few Biology/Chemistry pre-req subjects.
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vox nihili

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2018, 12:16:32 am »
+4
Hello sorry if this post is in the wrong section.

I’m going to be in year 12 next year (2019) and when I was in year 10 choosing my VCE subjects I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I just chose subjects I was relatively confident in. (Korean Second Language, Japanese Second Language, English Language, Legal Studies and Further Maths)

Subjects that I personally think I did quite well in year 11.

I would really like to go into dermatology, however I don’t have the prerequisites necessary for what I’m assuming is a bachelor of science/medicine?

I could, hypothetically pick Chemistry 3,4 next year but I think that for the sake of my ATAR that’s a very, very bad idea...

Did anyone have any tips or the know how of any pathways or bridging courses I could take? I’ve tried asking my careers advisor and searched around on the internet and got nothing.



Just adding to the discussion above that even if you didn't add chem you can still do med. Deakin doesn't require any prereq subjects in its postgraduate programme. Moreover, it's possible to complete the Melbourne prereqs with a little bit of catch-up at uni (although this is hard).

It's really important to have people with humanities backgrounds in medicine. They often get a really different experience of the course and having them in classes really adds value to everyone's experience. I agree with the above that it might be an idea to add chemistry so you could pursue science, but really you should do what interests you as an undergrad and just satisfy the Melbourne prereqs so you have that option open.
2013-15: BBiomed (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), UniMelb
2016-20: MD, UniMelb
2019-20: MPH, UniMelb
2021-: GDipBiostat, USyd

mobius.strip

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2018, 04:53:27 pm »
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I have up until now only considered science/biomed degrees since I wish to get into graduate medicine however I'm quite interested in perhaps completing an arts degree at Melbourne now and doing the prereqs on the side. The main reason is because my study scores in both english and literature were quite high and I didn't do almost as well in biology despite putting a lot of time in it. I'm thinking that perhaps an arts degree will result in a better average so that I can have a better chance when applying for medicine. In terms of interest, I think I will quite enjoy both degrees so I'm wondering if vce study scores correlate at all to how one performs in university and whether students who have completed arts degrees who have gone onto graduate medicine encountered any major difficulties in the transition.

sarangiya

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2018, 04:20:56 am »
+4
I'm wondering if vce study scores correlate at all to how one performs in university and whether students who have completed arts degrees who have gone onto graduate medicine encountered any major difficulties in the transition.
In my personal opinion, I don't think study scores indicate how well you will do in any discipline at University. I mean, to some extent of course - chances are if you are good at math you'll get a high study score in methods and good marks doing idk math101 at uni. But I think it's more dependent on the will of the person, their ability to learn independently and what the Uni subject is actually like!

In terms of medics with humanities backgrounds, there is quite a bit of discussion on Medical Students Online. Notably, with the opinion that no, regardless of background anyone can do science if they try hard enough!

Best of luck :))
Sometimes you make choices, and sometimes choices make you.

♡ Subjects ♡
2015: Japanese SL [42]
2016: Psychology [43] Philosophy [36] Japanese SL [50] [Premier's Award]
2017: UMEP Further Advanced Japanese [4.5]
2018: Methods [24] English Language [41] Chemistry [31] Psychology [41] Cert III in Allied Health Assistance [4.3]
ATAR: 97.45
2019-2024: Bachelor of Medical Science/Doctor of Medicine @ UNSW

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AngelWings

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2018, 11:20:40 am »
+7
In my personal opinion, I don't think study scores indicate how well you will do in any discipline at University. I mean, to some extent of course - chances are if you are good at math you'll get a high study score in methods and good marks doing idk math101 at uni. But I think it's more dependent on the will of the person, their ability to learn independently and what the Uni subject is actually like!

In terms of medics with humanities backgrounds, there is quite a bit of discussion on Medical Students Online. Notably, with the opinion that no, regardless of background anyone can do science if they try hard enough!

Best of luck :))
Echoing the above message.  I’m going to add from my own experiences as a Monash BSci (Hons) student who only continued their worst scoring subjects from VCE (Chemistry and Japanese) at university level and not even studying biology since Year 9 until I started uni. Fast forward a few years and I now have an extended major in genetics and have done my Honours project in the same area, with minors in my two worst subjects in VCE. I actually scored a lot better in university chemistry than I did in high school, so high school marks doesn’t necessarily correlate to university marks. It’s pretty much a fresh slate.
VCE: Psych | Eng Lang | LOTE | Methods | Further | Chem                 
Uni: Bachelor of Science (Hons) - genetics
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sarangiya

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Re: Humanities student wanting to go into medicine
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2018, 04:33:22 pm »
+1
Echoing the above message.  I’m going to add from my own experiences as a Monash BSci (Hons) student who only continued their worst scoring subjects from VCE (Chemistry and Japanese) at university level and not even studying biology since Year 9 until I started uni. Fast forward a few years and I now have an extended major in genetics and have done my Honours project in the same area, with minors in my two worst subjects in VCE. I actually scored a lot better in university chemistry than I did in high school, so high school marks doesn’t necessarily correlate to university marks. It’s pretty much a fresh slate.
Super inspiring!! Congrats and great work AngelWings!!
Sometimes you make choices, and sometimes choices make you.

♡ Subjects ♡
2015: Japanese SL [42]
2016: Psychology [43] Philosophy [36] Japanese SL [50] [Premier's Award]
2017: UMEP Further Advanced Japanese [4.5]
2018: Methods [24] English Language [41] Chemistry [31] Psychology [41] Cert III in Allied Health Assistance [4.3]
ATAR: 97.45
2019-2024: Bachelor of Medical Science/Doctor of Medicine @ UNSW

Sarangiya's 사랑하는 VCE Journal
Is Repeating a VCE Subject Worth It?