2 Questions from a newbie

[WBGIII]

Hey All,
Wow. Australia. That would be awesome. so, 2 questions (Ive ran searches to no avail):

1) University of Melbourne- do they take international students? If so, does anyone have a link?

2) Application timeline- is it too late to apply for the fall of 2007?

Thanks!

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[jamalo]

hey wbgIII (really curious what that stands for) uni of melbourne does accept international applicants, but not many, from what ive gathered it seems to be one of the most difficult uni's for internationals to get into. http://www.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/international.html is a link for international students interested in studying medicine. australian schools work on a different timeline than in NA, just assuming thats where you're from. their schools start in january, applications are due in june of the previous year, and usually arent available til may or so and you have to do it through an organization called acer. hope that is helpful, a more useful and active forum that i've found is paging dr, you should check it out if you're interested. hope this is helpful

 

[WBGIII]

hey wbgIII (really curious what that stands for) uni of melbourne does accept international applicants, but not many, from what ive gathered it seems to be one of the most difficult uni's for internationals to get into. http://www.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/international.html is a link for international students interested in studying medicine. australian schools work on a different timeline than in NA, just assuming thats where you're from. their schools start in january, applications are due in june of the previous year, and usually arent available til may or so and you have to do it through an organization called acer. hope that is helpful, a more useful and active forum that i've found is paging dr, you should check it out if you're interested. hope this is helpful

I appreciate the help!
thanks again!

 

[jaketheory]

it is too late to apply.

regarding academic calendars differing from the US, the grad entry mbbs programs at both Uni of Melb and Uni of W. Australia both start mid year (~July) and are both 4.5 year programs. uni of melb is probably the most competitive school, however, i hear their grad entry doesnt have near as many international prospective students as the undergraad entry because most internationals are from malaysia/singapore and are mostly interested in undergrad entry only. of course there are only 10 spots in grad entry for internationals as well.

keep in mind that UMelb is ******ly expensive (the most expensive of all aussie schools). the whole program is 240k AUD. thats roughly 41k USD/year, and you have to spend that much for 4.5, not just 4 years. plus, Melbourne is not a cheap city to live in. going to melbourne as an international would be the least economical choice of all the aussie schools considering other schools (which are known better by NA residency directors) have cheaper tuition (about 30k USD), are in cheaper cities, and are only 4 years duration.

of course Melbourne is a much cooler city (the best place to be in aus in my opinion), but it probably isnt worth spending an arm and leg for, finishing a full year later (cuz its half year longer and starts half year later), especially when NA residency director wont care at all where you went. they will just know you are an international med grad and treat you as such.

 

[WBGIII]

it is too late to apply.


going to melbourne as an international would be the least economical choice of all the aussie schools considering other schools (which are known better by NA residency directors) have cheaper tuition (about 30k USD), are in cheaper cities, and are only 4 years duration.

Jake,
Thanks for the info. Do you know when applications open up, i.e. what the timeline is for the whole process, or have a link?
Also, you said "other schools (which are known better by NA residency directors) have cheaper tuition (about 30k USD), are in cheaper cities, and are only 4 years duration." In particular, is USyd a 4 year program? Do you know about their return rate to NA for international grads trying this route? I appreciate your insight.
-billy

 

[jaketheory]

WBG,
you should try searching for info. it is readily available. but i will point you in the right direction.

most schools actually have application timelines listed on their medical program's website. you should visit all the websites (google the school names with "medical" or "medicine". i practically have the entire websites of all the big name schools memorized. applications are made through a central agency called ACER, similar to how it is in the US, but way easier (and cheaper). an admissions guide will be available online in May describing all the grad entry programs. there is a link on u melbournes website to the 2007 edition of this guide which you would find helpful. application deadline is in June. an important point is that ACER has you list preferences. you dont actually apply to multiple schools. internationals are only allowed 2 preferences (locals get 3). your app is first sent to your first preference. either they reject you and it is passed to your second pref or you get an interview. you can only get one interview through the ACER app, so if you get an interview from your first pref and bomb it you are out of luck. fortunately, both UQ and Flinders let international applicants apply directly. so you can theoretically get up to 3 interviews. both UQ and UMelb do phone interviews while Flinders and USyd will come to the US. USyd interviews in Vancouver. I think Flinders interviews in both Toronto and DC. Not sure though.

the big nemes i would suggest looking at are USyd, U of Queensland and Flinders. another is Australian National Uni -it is newer, but the uni in general apparently has had a very good rep for sciences. another new one is Griffiths Uni in Queesland. these are all 4 year programs. Monash Uni is opening a new 4 year grad entry program about an hour or so outside of Melbourne in 2008. there are a few other schools, but my impression is that they wont be catering to the internationals as much .eg. the Uni of Wollongong school requires an essay about how you are suited to regional/rural healthcare, mostly cuz the new schools are opening to fill the major need of docs in regional/rural areas. other than that, the aus schools dont require essays or rec letters, nor will they accept them if you submit them.

also, since many other countries seem to use different grade scales than Aus, your gpa wont be that important. it will be used as a hurdle. either you meet the min or you dont. if so, getting an interview will mostly depend on your MCAT. then getting in will mostly depend on a combined score derived from your interview score and your MCAT. though some may also use gpa as a tie breaker.

all schools except UQ will only look at your last 3 years (since in aus, a bachelors degree is only 3 years). UQ will look at everything.

there is no real return rate known as the schools generally wont track this, and if they do, they arent giving it out. however, i KNOW a fair amount of people have gone back to the US from both Flinders and the US. some from both schools have even matched to very competitive specialties. I would expect the same from UQ but arent sure. I have found a list of some students from USyd and where they matched in the US and a similar list for Flinders. so people are definitely making it back. how many are failing at this is a different question.

anyway, surf through all the med school's websites and have a look at the 2007 admissions guide which you can find at the UMelb medicine site.

pm me any other questions.