Realistic for International student to get into NZ or OZ Med School

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

JLTmsu

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2014
Messages
25
Reaction score
9
The Headline pretty much says it all. I am a United States citizen and I am currently completing my undergrad. I am interested in doing Medical school abroad and then just staying abroad and then just practicing in that country. Is it realistic for an international student to get in to a NZ medical school?

Members don't see this ad.
 
The Headline pretty much says it all. I am a United States citizen and I am currently completing my undergrad. I am interested in doing Medical school abroad and then just staying abroad and then just practicing in that country. Is it realistic for an international student to get in to a NZ medical school?
Very realistic. Target the schools that guarantee internships for all its students and have a small cohort size. I'd recommend University of Melbourne, and would not recommended University of Queensland
 
Universities have no power over the internship process. No university guarantees internships for all students. The only students guaranteed internships are domestic students with Commonwealth funded places (regardless of the university they go to).
International students have a higher priority level than out of state domestic students in Victoria (who are guaranteed internship in the state they studied in), but there are no guarantees.
Another interesting difference is that Victoria has a merit based system where graduates compete for intern spots, whereas other states are computer matched based on preferences without any impact of academics or CVs. Queensland also has more regional intern places which aren't popular with domestic students...so you could argue you're more likely to get an intern place in Queensland as an international student than in Victoria.
I don't know any information about New Zealand.
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
I was of the impression Victoria med schools guarantee spots for all its students....same with Flinders in Adelaide.

And there's also the benefit of a class size of 100 or so versus 580
 
Melbourne class size is 380+
Universities have nothing to do with employing doctors.
Flinders does have a smaller class size. South Australia is also easier to get internships in because people prefer to live in the eastern states (I'm not sure why, Adelaide is nice for a small city). But there's no guarantees (and definitely no guarantee of being placed within in Adelaide).
 
From Melbourne University's own website:
http://medicine.unimelb.edu.au/students/doctor_of_medicine_course/internships
"Note to international students graduating from an Australian medical course: International students are not guaranteed Australian internships. However, in 2012 an estimated 75% of graduating international students who applied were offered internships in Victorian hospitals for 2013, with a small number offered internships in other Australian states. "
 
That's pretty good that UMelbourne puts that up. It would be very comforting as a student.

Another thing to look at is administration. UQ is known to be a bureaucratic hell. And consistently receives poor reviews on its academic quality by students. What are people's experiences with the other med schools?
 
That's not the question that was asked in this thread and has been discussed multiple times in previous threads.
But as a student at UQ I give it good reviews for it's academic quality. The quality control provided by the AMC ensures that all Australian medical schools are of a similar level.
 
Did you graduate? Are you in the four year program? I can't think of many people who enjoyed the UQ MBBS experience.
 
Thanks for all the answers thus far, does anyone know about the two NZ medical schools though?
 
Top