I am studying medicine at the University of Melbourne, starting in 2012. I have previously attained a Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne in 2011. This blog documents some of my journey so far, starting from the year before I got into medicine. It also contains discussions of other issues with varying degrees of relevance to medicine or the selection process that I decide to bring up.
Sometimes I may be a bit vague with regard to details within posts. Sorry about that. Often, it's not because the details are uninteresting. However, I need to protect the anonymity of people who may not wish to be identified, like patients.
Posts are labeled as [update] in the title when they mainly describe events which have directly affected me, or which I undertake; usually in the past few days or the next few days. A post not labeled [update] is anything else. For example, it may be something which is ongoing, something which has happened a long time in the past, or something which doesn't directly affect me; such as information about medical school applications in years that I am not applying to medical school.
To provide more context for what I'm talking about, I've included a "definitions of terms and context" page to define a few terms, and also to describe some of the background context which may be the reason why I mention a term many times. You can also view this on the right hand side of the blog if you scroll down a bit.
I've also listed links to other blogs, and to official websites on the side of the page, and in separate pages.
Finally, if you want to quote anything from my blog, please remember to properly credit my blog by including a link to the website, http://additionelimination.blogspot.com/, and the exact page of the particular article I have written being quoted.
While I try to be as accurate as possible when reporting facts, I won't accept any liability for use of any correct or incorrect information on this blog leading to unwanted consequences. Always remember to check the official websites or contact the relevant employees in the relevant organizations. Also note that policies and medical knowledge evolve all the time, so what may be correct or best practice at one particular time may not be later. If I do present factually incorrect statements in my blog however, please inform me so I can make the necessary corrections.
That's about it for introductions. I hope you enjoy reading.
nucleophilic addition-elimination.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteLove this blog! I was going through it and found it un-jargoned, easy-to-read and extremely helpful, mainly as it's coming from first-hand experience.
I just had a question about the Unimelb GPA: do you know whether breadth subject scores are used in the calculation?
Cheers,
Ana :)
Hello Ana,
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you found it un-jargoned haha, I thought maybe I assumed too much prior knowledge about the system, so I tried to give a quick overview in my "definitions" page.
Yes, breadth subjects count for Melbourne GPA, leading to various strategies that people use to do "easy" subjects sometimes, or alternatively do pass/fail subjects like African Drum and Dance or Chior (many music subjects) to concentrate on other subjects.
*Choir
ReplyDeleteOh and on that note, I should add that pass/fail subjects aren't looked at, as long as they are passed, and as long as they don't take up too much of a GPA year (I think that means 1/3 of credit points; it should say on the GEMSAS website somewhere, although I see the GAMSAT website is revamped, and GMAC admission guides seem to be pulled down).
Haha I think I found it un-jargoned because I'm from a Science background and/or have read a bit about the graduate med system.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks for that..I'm very relieved to know that the breadth scores do count (they help my gpa quite a bit I think!)
I don't understand what you mean about the pass/fail subjects though..so if you have a 'pass' mark in a subject it wouldn't be taken into account? (Sorry, this question sounds a bit stupid.)
And congratulations on getting into Med @ Melbourne! I have a couple of other friends who also got in this year, after an agonising year-round process!
Cheers
Hehe, fair enough. It's good to know about the system and read the admission guides (and FAQs on the official websites); that answers most questions.
ReplyDeleteWith respect to pass/fail subjects, most subjects you do at uni are graded (ie they give percentages and H1, H2A, P etc on your academic transcript). Some subjects are pass/fail, like a lot of music breadth subjects at Melbourne it seems, so on the transcript they just show whether or not you successfully completed the subject, rather than give you a grade. So if you do these subjects and pass (in Melbourne I think the code is CMP for completed), then they don't use them for calculating GPA, because it doesn't really say how good you were in the subject on the transcript; whether you performed at a very good level or just a satisfactory level. Only if you fail, then they count it like other fails.
As an aside, I think traditionally unis have made medical courses graded, but some have switched to pass/fail; others having a three level grade system (to the effect of excellent, satisfactory or unsatisfactory). That's among other controversial reforms of medical education within the past two decades or so with PBL, self directed learning, less basic science and more "doctor-patient", "doctor-community" type stuff, and in Australia the rise of graduate entry medicine and de-emphasis of grades or high school achievement and the emphasis on aptitude tests and interviews for selection. I think Melbourne is still graded though; not 100% sure about that (I wonder if it's finalized yet for clinicals in the MD), but Monash is pass/fail. It's an area of debate whether or not to give grades in medical education. Personally I think having grades is better though.
Thanks for the congratulations. Yes, getting in is a long process haha.
Hi,
ReplyDeletejust wondering: Are there many students from outside a science background doing Med at Melbourne(i.e. arts, law).
Also, if i just scrape 80% on every exam/subject (i.e. just above the H1 cut-off), will that mean I get a perfect gpa of 7.0?
Hello Mayen,
ReplyDeleteThere are some people who I know with arts or law degrees, yes. I don't know percentages though. As usual, most students come from a science background.
Yes. If you get 80% or above in every subject in your undergraduate degree, you get a perfect GPA of 7.0 for med admissions at the moment.
Hey thanks for the prompt reply,
ReplyDeleteloving the blog - just what I've been looking for as a prospective med student!
Does doing a science-related degree offer a big advantage for the gamsat? My best subjects are humanities (German, English) and I'm contemplating doing Arts at Melbourne in order to gain a much higher GPA than I would receive if I was doing biomed or perhaps even science. Is it still possible to achieve a high score in the gamsat without doing a science related degree?
It's good if you like the blog! I'd say most of the advantage of a science-related degree is doing first year biology, chemistry (and physics, especially if you didn't do it in high school). Apart from that, I don't think there's that much advantage. There is some incremental advantage doing higher level sciences, but I already got 100 in section 3 at the start of second year, before I got taught most of the "higher level" things (beyond first year).
ReplyDeleteThere are a few people who have received high scores in section 3 (sciences) on the Paging Dr Forum without doing first year sciences at uni, but they generally needed to catch up to the prerequisite knowledge by reading textbooks in their own time. If you want to get into Melbourne though, you need to do second year anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. You won't be able to do all that in Arts, so you'd have to do the remaining ones out of your course if you want to get into Melbourne Medicine after Arts.
The first two sections (S1: social sciences and humanities; S2: written communication) are more favorable to Arts students though, and Melbourne doesn't double weight S3 (science) unlike other unis, so arguably it may be easier for Arts students to get into Melbourne than other unis (relatively speaking, although Melbourne has pretty high requirements overall and is under pretty high demand).
That Paging Dr forum may be of interest to you if you're a prospective med student. It has a lot of info in it about graduate entry med. http://pagingdr.net/forum/
Hey!
ReplyDeleteMy name's Aimee Lee and I'm doing the Bachelor of Science at Melbourne this year.
In regards to calculation of the GPA, do they scale certain subjects depending on their difficulty?
For example; would I be doing myself a disservice picking Chinese as a breadth subject (since languages are always hard)?
I also chose calculus 1 and calculus 2 but methods was my lowest scoring subject in VCE. Is there any advantage to doing harder subjects or am I making it difficult for myself to get into Med?
Also do you know if it's harder to get into Medicine if I'm doing science as opposed to Biomedicine?
I'm willing to work harder than anyone.
Congratulations on getting into medicine.
Aimee Lee.
Hello Aimee Lee,
DeleteA while back, Melbourne was intending to implement MAGPA to take into account subject difficulty, but I haven't heard anything about it recently, so unfortunately it seems like they have scrapped it.
There is no preference for biomed students over science students, and some biomed students have gone as far as arguing that it might be easier to get in if you did science, since some of our biomed core subjects may be a bit harder than science subjects.
Thanks for the congratulations. Good luck in trying to get in.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteIt seems Mel Uni Biomedicine is harder than Science. Is it a 75% GPA (i.e. above the H2A) in three year of study difficult/moderate achievable? How many percentages of BioMed student can achieve this grade? I know thish is probably the bottom line in successful application for graduate medical school.
Hen Luke
It is not too difficult to achieve if you keep up to date with the learning material. I think at least 50% of those who complete biomed achieves that GPA. A significant proportion of people drop out, presumably realizing that medicine or dentistry is not for them.
DeleteActually, it depends on GPA, GAMSAT and interview (for most schools). Melbourne weights GPA in ranking, but quite a few (eg Monash, Sydney, UQ) only use GPA as a hurdle.
Hi nucleophilic addition-elimination (LOL! awesome name),
ReplyDeleteI am an USYD science student who has been spending pretty much his whole highschool life + uni preparing to get into DMD(dent) at USYD. As I know the course is very competitive where i heard the professor say there are usually only 65 spots which is damn so small!I want to increase my chance as much as i can to get into Dent which i would love to have you to tutor me (base on your gamsat result you posted 100% for section 3!), but too bad you live in Melbourne. My plans so far is to transfer to oral health to get experience and confidence(hopefully it can help me somewhat for the MMI), get HD average. My main concern is the interview where I have never been to an interview in my life and I heard that is the main factor of the admission into either med and dent.
Sorry for the long post, but I hope you can give me helpful tips. Is there by any chance you can give me a email for PM. Thank you
Tyson Nguyen
Hello Tyson,
DeleteAt the moment the DMD entry criteria ranking process is based on 50% GAMSAT and 50% interview (MMI). I think a good place to look if you want tips for the GAMSAT and the MMI (and even past questions from previous year's MMIs for different medical schools) is the Paging Dr Forum (http://pagingdr.net/forum/).
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the awesome blog! I'm only in my y12 right now and I know it's still pretty early to worry about these stuff but I just want to know a brief idea about how the things work since I'm planning to get in Biomed next year. Firstly, how is uni (especially Biomed) different from high school study? I know we got recorded lecture for some subjects and lecture notes, but should I also read and summarise the important stuff in textbook too? Secondly, how's the workload like (I know second year is pretty hectic? ). Thirdly, I'm not doing Physics for my VCE, will that put me in a disadvantage in first year as well as for the GAMSAT? Do you know any non-Physics background students doing the subject and find it's challenging? Also, do you recommend studying for the GAMSAT straight at first year so that I can give it a try asap? Finally, I'm an international student and I just wonder if you see a lot of international students in Med ? (since I know the % cut-off for each year is pretty harsh).
I know that's quite a lot of questions but I would be very appreciated if you can just answer a few :D!
Again, thank you for your time in making this blog!
Kind regards,
Alice
Hello Alice,
DeleteIf I was in year 12, I would try to get into undergraduate medicine if I could.
At uni, in biomed, usually the lectures give the material you need to know and often textbooks are not required. However, I have heard from some people that for a minority of subjects, reading the textbooks cover some material that the lectures don't have which are on the exams.
First year is a bit faster paced than year 12, but second year is significantly faster again.
From my understanding, most of the physics in the GAMSAT would be covered in first year biomed at Melbourne, but the course may have changed since then. And lenses in particular was not covered. Not sure about anything else. However, I know people who didn't do year 12 physics do quite well in section III.
At Melbourne at the moment there are about 40 international students out of a total of 335 students. From what I have heard, it seems easier to get into medical school as an international student at some other unis which have a higher international student ratio.
Most people would attempt the GAMSAT in the second year. I would think that the appropriate time to start studying (especially section III) is in the holiday after the end of first year when you have all the foundation knowledge. This is only my opinion though. You may or may not want to start studying other sections earlier.
If you want more information or other opinions, go to the Paging Dr forum: http://pagingdr.net/forum/
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI just want to ask if I can enter medicine with a 6.1 GPA? Or is it only above 6.5? Cus I am just in my first year and I got 6.1.