Originally posted by Atlas:
•Hi there. This message is directed towards any students or graduates of Flinders University in Austrailia. I've recently drawn an interest in the school as a potential back-up plan if the US route doesn't work out for me. I have a few questions I'd like answered. I visited their website and had a hard time finding the information I was looking for, so I'll post my questions here in hopes of an honest, accurate response.
1.)What are the general education requirements for the school? Are they the same as the US schools?
2.)'' Avg. GPAs/MCATs of ACCEPTED students
3.)'' Tution/Living costs?
4.)How do you pay for the plane trips back and forth? Out-of-pocket or loans?
5.)What is the entering class size for international students?
6.)Roughly, how many applications do they receive for every entering class?
7.)How many times a year does the school have an entering class?
8.)What are your personal opinions of the school/Austrailia?
9.)What kind of residency placements do graduates get in the US?
Thank you for your time
Atlas•
Hi Atlas,
As a recent graduate of Flinders I am happy to help you obtain information. However, because some of the questions you've asked required extensive answers which have been answered before, I shall refer you to:
http://network54.com/Hide/Forum/75738
as well as
http://www.studentdoctor.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000078
http://www.studentdoctor.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000253
http://www.studentdoctor.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000342
On to your questions that I believe are not addressed elsewhere:
1) you are not required to take the typical US pre-med courses; however, you would be SERIOUSLY urged to do so. Nearly everyone who failed exams or failed a year were non-science majors and had not taken the pre-med courses. I am unaware of any Americans who had not done the typical US pre-med prep.
2) I do not know what it is currently. When I started it was about the same as for most US schools. They are getting more applications then ever, so these numbers may have increased (just as they have in the US).
3)Tuition is currently set at $30,000 AUD. With the exchange rate hovering around 53 cents, that would be about $17,000 USD/year. Living in Adelaide is extremely cheap. I have addressed this in other threads.
4)Trips back and forth to the US are paid for either through loans or out of your pocket. There is enough loan money available to finance some trips home. However, it is expensive and to be honest most of my classmates had parental help in addition to the loans - this allowed them to go home for every vacation, to buy cars, etc.
I paid for everything myself but was still able to afford at least 1 trip home per year just from loan monies. The total loan amount available is $33,500 USD ($18,500 - loan fees from Federal loans and $15,000 - loan fess from alternative sources).
5) Used to be 23 but I hear it has been raised. Another applicant told me 30 - since she is not an official source I cannot comment on whether that is correct.
6) 23-25 a few years ago; I suspect it is about the same or greater currently.
7) 1 entering class per year; starts in February and runs through November for the first 2 years. Starts in January for years 3 and 4. No alternative start dates allowed.
I've also addressed questions 8 & 9 extensively elsewhere. Residencies arrange from the expected primary care fields of Peds and IM to others of us in General Surgery, Ortho, and Radiology. To be honest, there just haven't been enough Americans going through to have a real clear picture. However, if you do well on the USMLE, get good LORS and grades, you will likely be very competitive for *most* fields. The students who matched into Ortho and Rads had lots of connections, research, etc. do it might require a fair bit of extra work.
Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask if you have any more queries.