Hi guys,

Haven't been here for ages (since my pre-U years) but amazingly, I've actually got to know one of my best friends here through one of my mere two posts in this forum in 2008! So I reckon it's a good time to maybe pay the forum a visit again! I'm a first year Graduate Entry Med student at the University of Sydney, so if anyone would be interested to ask any questions about Sydney University or Melbourne Uni (done my Undergrad there), feel free to ask! Otherwise, would be great to know some fellow Malaysian med students, can't seem to find a second Malaysian in my current cohort yet

(apologies if this seems too random, hope it's not the wrong place to get this posted!)

i presume you are back in hobart and starting year 3 tomorrow.....?

I believe this is their case for inflated fees, 3rd in Australia' after UMelb and USyd, and 33 in the world, as far as medical school is concerned.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/worl...cal-health.html

Ps. UMelb MD course fees are currently aud62.4k/year and USyd is just under aud61k/year, AFTER about aud100k tuition fees for the preceding bachelors 's degree.

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Added on February 5, 2012, 6:22 pmHi! Can you share what the journey has been like, and whether you wanted to do medicine from get go?

This post has been edited by podrunner: Feb 5 2012, 06:22 PM

Well, I'm actually one of those who didn't really know what I wanted to do right after SPM and jumped straight into Foundation studies in Australia (studied in Trinity College). And after half a year into my pre-U, I figured that I actually wanted to do Med but by then it was really too late to change the fact that I'm almost completing my year there and with my foundation studies I'm going to have a really hard time getting into Med in Australia.

Tried my best to get into Melb U's Dentistry (it was their last undergrad intake) but I missed out by 0.5 in my final score I think, took the ISAT and got invited to Adelaide Uni and Perth (UWA) for Undergrad Med interviews but I didn't pass the interviews..

So finally I gave up and completed my Biomed degree in MelbU last year, and thankfully (and finally!) got accepted by Sydney Uni for this year's intake! Oh not forgetting having to go through GAMSAT twice and having Skype interviews from Sydney Uni...long process indeed! Was literally over the moon when I got that offer letter..

Congratulations! Determination and perseverance paid off big time! Enjoy your course! Am I right about the course fees?

Thank you! Yup, spot on on the course fees with AUD100k for a standard three years undergrad course. Not quite easy to cope with the financial burden though. Well I should add on that I've actually applied to IMU during my undergrad years but they didn't accept my pre-U qualifications, even with the Biomed degree from Melb U they needed me to add on an extra year to do Honours.

Just wondering are there any lists around compiling what Unis do the Med students in this forum attend? Guess it'll be easier than trying to backlog the posts!

that is because, unfortunately, for most of the graduate entry-pms, they specifically want the imu bmed sc, so another prior degree from elsewhere is useless......

Yeah I get what you mean, that's why it's made kind of difficult. It's weird though, I mean it's just another avenue for them to make more money, why wouldn't they accept more students with equally qualified qualifications as the BMed Sc?

because this pathway was designed specifically for undergraduate entry students who wants to go to the graduate entry-pms....and the extra year for bmedsc satisfies the rules of these unis.....

actually, if you don't mind being narrowed down, uq and warwick will accept you 1st degree..... it's only anu, sydney and melbourne that are fussy......

Congrats on getting the offer. As for Malaysians studying Med in Australia, the number is definitely becoming smaller, especially after JPA killed its overseas med sponsorship to Aus. I doubt many people could afford the exorbitant fees - one of the most expensive degrees in the world (second only to Perdana I reckon lol). If I'm not mistaken, Canadians make up the majority of overseas med students at USyd.

Not to be killjoy or anything, but are you aware of the medical student tsunami in Australia? Most of the juniors (international) at my uni are clueless about the situation - I would really like to know how well the universities are communicating this situation to new and prospective med students.

This post has been edited by Huskies: Feb 5 2012, 07:59 PM

Congrats! not really into research? =)

yup =) looking forward to it. Feeling excited to study again.

The fees at Perdana is nearly ridiculous, RM1 Million...! Got my eyes popping when I first did the math. And..yup! You're right about mostly Canadians making up the International students numbers, probably a quarter of Internationals are Singaporean students though. That's the closest it can get to home I guess! And yup, I am reasonably aware about the upcoming medical student tsunami, especially in NSW if more than any other states in Australia. However I wasn't informed about that by the University, all I got from them was a statement saying that they are currently "trying their best" in fighting for guaranteed internship training for all International students and they foresee that'll become possible when we graduate, nothing more than that. I got to know about the issue from the PagingDr forum, which was a really useful resource imo.

Just wondering, which uni are you from?

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Added on February 5, 2012, 8:25 pmWell I actually am! Before I got the Med offer from Sydney I was almost set to go for Honours in Melbourne! But yeah, guess Med's the ultimate goal so hopefully I'll be able to do some research during my 4 years here!

This post has been edited by jolenemeteor: Feb 5 2012, 08:25 PM

there are lots of canadians in uq and jcu as well.....

are you sure sydney actually say they are 'trying' to guarantee internship places?......the standard response, afaik, is the disclaimer 'the university is not responsible for arrangement of internship after graduation'.......i don't think any oz uni can make any kind of guarantee at the moment, as this matter is beyond their control.......

Well, from what they've mentioned they're 'trying' to talk to the authorities at NSW Health about the issue and the discussions are ongoing. So definitely nothing's concrete at the moment, and you're right that no guarantees are to be made at all.

Still, it's good news that they're aware that International students are concerned about internship opportunities after splashing so much money into their country, and they're trying to look into it at the very least.

Our med student body is trying to fight for more internship places too. Last heard 2 years ago when there was a shortage in internship spots in Tasmania, not sure of the situation now. Really hope they'll be opening up more spots for us.

Shortage 2 years ago...what about this year? Were all 2011 graduates placed?

Yup, fingers crossed things will be better when we graduate! The situation in NSW and VIC is actually really bad for Internationals, we don't get concession fares for public transport (which has been an ongoing issue- petitions, signatures etc for years now in VIC as far as I know) and in my case this year I'll have to spend an additional $50 per month for public transport to get to our clinical schools once a week. I'm reasonably lucky as my clinical school's sort of 20-30kms away from the Uni, but for some who gets their clinical schools as far away as Blue Mountains, they're gonna fork out much more just for public transport. They really need to get these things sorted before the Int student numbers continue dropping..

Right now, Australia has two main points against them, as far as international students are concerned, fees (currency not helping) and internship uncertainty, and many are turning once again, to UK and Ireland, although Ireland also no longer guarantee internships. Plus, the Canadians are everywhere!!

True that, anyway it's getting late here in Sydney and it's officially first day of Med tomorrow! Quite excited but I'm sure its just Orientation stuff for the first week! Goodnight guys!

Just curious, why are there so many Canadians doing med in oz and also at graduate entry level.