Biomedical Science Opinions?

[ddvv]

Hi, I just graduated year 12 in Brisbane and am deciding between biomed courses at Monash, Melbourne, and UQ.

I was looking for any opinions on Monash uni and/or its biomedical science course - how interesting the content is, how hard it is (to maintain a good GPA), the course structure, etc. Any information would be much appreciated! Thank you!

[AngelWings]

Hey there ddvv! I hope you already applied via VTAC for these courses, as you’ve already missed the first round about a week ago (QCE students were included in the first-ever December round offers). The next round will be in mid January, which you can still apply for, so if you don’t have a VTAC account, you probably should get on to it ASAP!

As for opinions, I think you’ll find AN moderator Sine to be of help, who has done the Monash Biomed course. Another great resource is the Monash Subject Reviews, checking the Biomed spoiler (the grey bar thing), which has a number of reviews for Monash biomed subjects.

If you don’t mind me asking: are you hoping for postgraduate medicine in a Victorian uni? I ask this because this may help in your decision, as some unis are quite picky as to who they accept and medicine is a common course/career goal between quite a few biomed students.

I noticed you asked similar things about Melbourne Uni’s equivalent, which we also have reviews for. We have a lot of Monash and Melbourne Uni Biomed students on the forum, so one of them will hopefully be able to help you soon.

[Sine]

Hi, I just graduated year 12 in Brisbane and am deciding between biomed courses at Monash, Melbourne, and UQ.

I was looking for any opinions on Monash uni and/or its biomedical science course - how interesting the content is, how hard it is (to maintain a good GPA), the course structure, etc. Any information would be much appreciated! Thank you!

AngelWings has already given a lot of good advice so I'll go into the course side of things.

For your questions:
how interesting the content is?
I think it is quite interesting but it will always depend on the student to what interests them. The first year might seem a bit mundane as they are still trying to get everyone on the same base level of knowledge for biochemistry, physics, public health, biology, etc but beyond that you go into more real-world problems/disease which gives a lot of context to what you learn. In first year most people are still learning how to study so it should be fine.

how hard it is (to maintain a good GPA)?
Depends, personally I found it quite manageable and did relatively well in the overall course. However, there are many instances of students not being able to cope and transferring out/not enjoying the experience. Objectively I would say it is a difficult course in comparison to most degrees but if you put in the time/effort you will be rewarded.

the course structure?
The course consists of 6 units in the first year (biochemistry, biology, physics, molecular biology, neurobiology, public health/preventative medicine), 6 units in the second year (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, microbiology (infections/disease), bioinformatics) and two capstone units in the 3rd year which are double units so worth a total of 4 units in your degree.

That is 16 core biomed units and then you have 8 electives that you can choose from any faculty/discipline that you fulfil the prerequisites for.

[Billuminati]

Hello there, I have just completed my first year of the biomed degree at Monash so I'm just adding my 2¢ now. First of all, I need to quickly explain what I know about our nemesis, Unimelb. I chose Monash biomed for a (slim) chance at the 50-75 exclusive postgrad MD spots, if you went to Unimelb, you wouldn't be eligible for those spots, they're for Monash students only. I was also deterred by Unimelb's breadth subject system. If you go there, you will have to do 6 units of your whole degree outside your faculty (not a fan of compulsory arts units at all). I'm not sure about how biomed works at UQ, so you may have to chat with students there to find out more.

Biomed core units are pretty interesting at first year level, it's a mix of application and regurgitation based units so the content will vary from subject to subject. You'll be doing biochem, general bio and biophysics in sem 1 and epidemiology/stats, neurophysiology and molecular bio/biochem in sem 2. In 2nd year, you'll be doing anatomy, biochem and systems physiology in sem 1 (IMPORTANT: all 3 of these are Unimelb MD prereqs) and genetics, microbio and bioinformatics/molecular bio in sem 2. 3rd year is a bit different where every semester you do a double credit core unit that apparently takes everything you learned about biomedical science so far and mix them together. I have yet to survive years 2 and 3 so that will be an interesting experience when I get there.

It's certainly not hard to maintain a 4.0 GPA in first year, although your greatest obstacle would be BMS1052 cuz only 20% of people got HDs (>80% in a unit) this year according to the unit coordinator. However, I was warned many times by people in higher year levels that years 2-3 will nuke our WAMs and GPAs, so you might want to work significant harder than first year to maintain the same grades. As you can see in the Y1 S1 grade distribution here, in some units more people get HDs than Ds: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w0TJCmxQ0PypsPr-v6zBhkL5wGFk3fMk/view?usp=drivesdk

Sine pretty much covered everything you need to know about the course structure. One thing to note about electives is that most biomed students use it to study something that may benefit them for the GAMSAT at first year, then they usually do electives in a biomedical science discipline in years 2 and 3 such as biochem, immunology, dev bio, microbio, physiology, pathology, pharmacology (you can't minor or major in these due to prohibitions with your core units). Personally I did CHM1011 and CHM1022 because chem will be 40% of your section 3 grade on the GAMSAT, and I intend to major in chem to become a high school teacher should I fail to make it into med. Some other kids are doing MTH1020+MTH1030 which are calculus/maths units, they said they're really useful for the physics section on the GAMSAT. You can't do any elective bio or physics units at first year due to prohibitions with BMS1021 and BMS1031 respectively. I heard about other students taking arts subjects like bioethics too, but most people I know did STEM electives. You get 2 electives in 1st year, 2 in 2nd year and 4 in 3rd year (2 per sem due to your double credit capstone units).

You can find attached below my unit reviews for all the units I have completed this year, which is more or less a uni journal for me detailing my experience and feelings throughout my bumpy journey in first year biomed. Good luck with wherever you're heading to .

CORE
BMS1011 (biochem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148973#msg1148973
BMS1021 (bio):  https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148974#msg1148974
BMS1031 (physics): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148975#msg1148975
BMS1042 (epidemiology+stats): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148977#msg1148977
BMS1052: (neurophysiology): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148978#msg1148978
BMS1062: (molecular bio+biochem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148979#msg1148979

ELECTIVES
CHM1011 (physical chem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148976#msg1148976
CHM1022 (organic and inorganic chem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148980#msg1148980

[Sine]

(IMPORTANT: all 3 of these are Unimelb MD prereqs)[/url]

Should note that by the time OP graduates UoM wont require any prereqs.
https://medicine.unimelb.edu.au/news-and-events/towards-2022-the-new-doctor-of-medicine?fbclid=IwAR3n0Ema6cptHzGnLNJRyoXXheYdc3ybv-nyzktVXwJHwuTzzP5HLx2_R4w

[ddvv]

Hey there ddvv! I hope you already applied via VTAC for these courses, as you’ve already missed the first round about a week ago (QCE students were included in the first-ever December round offers). The next round will be in mid January, which you can still apply for, so if you don’t have a VTAC account, you probably should get on to it ASAP!

As for opinions, I think you’ll find AN moderator Sine to be of help, who has done the Monash Biomed course. Another great resource is the Monash Subject Reviews, checking the Biomed spoiler (the grey bar thing), which has a number of reviews for Monash biomed subjects.

If you don’t mind me asking: are you hoping for postgraduate medicine in a Victorian uni? I ask this because this may help in your decision, as some unis are quite picky as to who they accept and medicine is a common course/career goal between quite a few biomed students.

I noticed you asked similar things about Melbourne Uni’s equivalent, which we also have reviews for. We have a lot of Monash and Melbourne Uni Biomed students on the forum, so one of them will hopefully be able to help you soon.

Hi AngelWings! Thank you for the information! I have already applied to VTAC so that is all good. I am hoping for postgraduate medicine, although I don't mind where. However, I am trying to maximise my chances of getting in so any additional information about the Victorian unis would be great! Thanks again!

Should note that by the time OP graduates UoM wont require any prereqs.
https://medicine.unimelb.edu.au/news-and-events/towards-2022-the-new-doctor-of-medicine?fbclid=IwAR3n0Ema6cptHzGnLNJRyoXXheYdc3ybv-nyzktVXwJHwuTzzP5HLx2_R4w

Hi Sine, thank you for all the insight you gave me into the biomed course in your earlier reply! I also was not aware of the change for prereqs so thank you for that as well.

Hello there, I have just completed my first year of the biomed degree at Monash so I'm just adding my 2¢ now. First of all, I need to quickly explain what I know about our nemesis, Unimelb. I chose Monash biomed for a (slim) chance at the 50-75 exclusive postgrad MD spots, if you went to Unimelb, you wouldn't be eligible for those spots, they're for Monash students only. I was also deterred by Unimelb's breadth subject system. If you go there, you will have to do 6 units of your whole degree outside your faculty (not a fan of compulsory arts units at all). I'm not sure about how biomed works at UQ, so you may have to chat with students there to find out more.

Biomed core units are pretty interesting at first year level, it's a mix of application and regurgitation based units so the content will vary from subject to subject. You'll be doing biochem, general bio and biophysics in sem 1 and epidemiology/stats, neurophysiology and molecular bio/biochem in sem 2. In 2nd year, you'll be doing anatomy, biochem and systems physiology in sem 1 (IMPORTANT: all 3 of these are Unimelb MD prereqs) and genetics, microbio and bioinformatics/molecular bio in sem 2. 3rd year is a bit different where every semester you do a double credit core unit that apparently takes everything you learned about biomedical science so far and mix them together. I have yet to survive years 2 and 3 so that will be an interesting experience when I get there.

It's certainly not hard to maintain a 4.0 GPA in first year, although your greatest obstacle would be BMS1052 cuz only 20% of people got HDs (>80% in a unit) this year according to the unit coordinator. However, I was warned many times by people in higher year levels that years 2-3 will nuke our WAMs and GPAs, so you might want to work significant harder than first year to maintain the same grades. As you can see in the Y1 S1 grade distribution here, in some units more people get HDs than Ds: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w0TJCmxQ0PypsPr-v6zBhkL5wGFk3fMk/view?usp=drivesdk

Sine pretty much covered everything you need to know about the course structure. One thing to note about electives is that most biomed students use it to study something that may benefit them for the GAMSAT at first year, then they usually do electives in a biomedical science discipline in years 2 and 3 such as biochem, immunology, dev bio, microbio, physiology, pathology, pharmacology (you can't minor or major in these due to prohibitions with your core units). Personally I did CHM1011 and CHM1022 because chem will be 40% of your section 3 grade on the GAMSAT, and I intend to major in chem to become a high school teacher should I fail to make it into med. Some other kids are doing MTH1020+MTH1030 which are calculus/maths units, they said they're really useful for the physics section on the GAMSAT. You can't do any elective bio or physics units at first year due to prohibitions with BMS1021 and BMS1031 respectively. I heard about other students taking arts subjects like bioethics too, but most people I know did STEM electives. You get 2 electives in 1st year, 2 in 2nd year and 4 in 3rd year (2 per sem due to your double credit capstone units).

You can find attached below my unit reviews for all the units I have completed this year, which is more or less a uni journal for me detailing my experience and feelings throughout my bumpy journey in first year biomed. Good luck with wherever you're heading to .

CORE
BMS1011 (biochem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148973#msg1148973
BMS1021 (bio):  https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148974#msg1148974
BMS1031 (physics): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148975#msg1148975
BMS1042 (epidemiology+stats): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148977#msg1148977
BMS1052: (neurophysiology): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148978#msg1148978
BMS1062: (molecular bio+biochem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148979#msg1148979

ELECTIVES
CHM1011 (physical chem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148976#msg1148976
CHM1022 (organic and inorganic chem): https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=43048.msg1148980#msg1148980

Thanks so much for all of this info and your post regarding my UniMelb Biomed question! It is really helpful to see the different opinions and your elective recommendations so thanks again!

Mod edit: Double posting (posting twice in the same thread in a row within 24 hours) is typically discouraged, as multiposting is generally considered spam. To avoid this, you can quote and answer multiple people's questions in a single post.