adelaide

[lexy]

Hey everyone - I finally made it to OZ- 26 1/2 hours of travelling
Is anyone in Adelaide right now to write the PQA? I just checked into my hotel,and the person at the desk told me there are a few people here for the same thing.
Anyone here for interviews right now?

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[erickoelink]

Originally posted by lexy
Hey everyone - I finally made it to OZ- 26 1/2 hours of travelling
Is anyone in Adelaide right now to write the PQA? I just checked into my hotel,and the person at the desk told me there are a few people here for the same thing.
Anyone here for interviews right now?

hey Lexy, congrats on surviving the trip. i'll be joining you there sometime around January 23rd. you flew from Vancouver, right? who did you fly with? and what route did you take? just wondering if you could share some of your impressions of Adelaide and Flinders with those of us on the other side of the world who will be going there soon. thanks! best of luck on the PQA and interview!

Eric

 

[lexy]

Hey Eric - I flew Cathay Pacific - great airline. I have never flown with them before - every seat has their own personal tv, with a remote control, socks, toothbrush/toothpaste. I watched 5 movies (a long flight) - but it kept me entertained. I flew Van - HongKong (13 hours), layover, HongKong - Adleiade (8 hours).
As far as Adelaide is concerned....I have to be honest. I was not impressed at all. I don't mean the city itself (although I was a bit surprised) - but with the school. I know Flinders has an excellent reputation, so it's probably unfair to compare the two. U of Adelaide was completely disorganized and frankly not even appologetic about it. I travelled across the world to come for that PQA exam - and I was not informed about alot of important details. I don't think any of the international students were actually - there was a campus tour the following day, a faculty tour, international student assistance day, etc. And none of us were informed? I (and many others) had to fly out the next morning, so I missed all of that. Plus, we were all given a written explanation of the PQA - it was to designed to assess our personality traits. NOT to test academic ability, or deductive reasoning. The first exam (given 1 hour only) was a 100% deductive reasoning test - which I was completely unprepared for (and from what I gathered, so were half the others). The second and third exams tested our moral and ethical standards - and asked us questions regarding specific physician-patient situations. I understood the reasoning behind the last 2 exams, but I was surprised and disappointed with the first. It was pretty much identical to the deductive reasoning component of the MCAT.
Anyways, my interview date (for U of Adelaide) was changed at last minute, and I was told that it could be tenatively changed to Oct.7 - and they would confirm and provide a time. I tried for 14 days prior to leaving to contact the one person who was in charge of rescheduling. She never did get back to me. So on the date of my PQA, I tracked her down, and she gave me a date and time. The school obviously didn't leave a very good impression ... is that how they treat their international students? I'm not even sure I want to go back to Adelaide for my interview on the 7th (and spend another $700 in flights and hotels)
I'm now in Newcastle, and have my interview tomorrow. Newcastle is, and always has been my first choice school - so I'm really trying here to get into a positive frame of mind, after what just happend in Adelaide. Lets just hope things go a little more smoothly.
Sorry to sound so pessimistic Eric - as I said earlier, lets not compare U of Adelaide and Flinders just because they are in the same city. Hopefully you will have much better rapport with the staff from Flinders.
Lexy

 

[pitman]

Lexy!!!

I'm in Adelaide right now! Am leaving for Sydney tomorrow night..WHERE ARE YOU??

I'm in Holiday Inn rm. 37, but checking out tomorrow morning.

Maybe will see you in Sydney (I'm there until 9 Oct)?

-pitman

 

[markdc]

Just out of curiosty, did you guys decide later on to apply or did you want to go to the schools to see them in person??

Originally I was going to go to see the schools first hand but then decided that I didn't want to spend over $3000 when it could go towards books later. I must admit though, I couldn't find many pictures for the Flinders campus. For the schools I was interested in I contacted students, staff etc and tried to find as much about the school as possible remotely. I may still go and investigate first hand later on.

For those of you who have flown over to personally check out the schools, I would love to hear your first impressions. PM me if you can.

 

[erickoelink]

I'm now in Newcastle, and have my interview tomorrow. Newcastle is, and always has been my first choice school - so I'm really trying here to get into a positive frame of mind, after what just happend in Adelaide. Lets just hope things go a little more smoothly.
Sorry to sound so pessimistic Eric - as I said earlier, lets not compare U of Adelaide and Flinders just because they are in the same city. Hopefully you will have much better rapport with the staff from Flinders.
Lexy [/B][/QUOTE]

hey Lexy.....thanks for the info! sounds like Cathay Pacific's a good way to go for flying....hopefully they're within my budget. now when you say you were surprised by the city of Adelaide, was that a good or a bad surprise? sorry to hear you've had such a bad experience with U of Adelaide.....i'd like to think that Flinders has their proverbial stuff together. so far all my dealings with them have been just fine, relatively timely, personable and helpful. that situation with the PQA sounds awful. how did the interview with Newscastle go? hope it's renewed your faith in Aussie med schools. are you applying to Flinders? have you visited their campus yet? thanks again!

 

[Winged Scapula]

Originally posted by markdc
I must admit though, I couldn't find many pictures for the Flinders campus.

Really? Did you check these links?

http://www.flinders.edu.au/about/gallery/

http://www.flinders.sa.gov.au/about_us/default.asp?id=AAA_PHAz_z&web=aboutus&group=environ

 

[crackerj]

I've got an interview from Newcastle and I will have it after 2 weeks, which is good for me since I do have some time to prepare.

I haven't heard from Adeleide and Tasmania but I will probably call them and see what happens.

I already had an interview from Flinders and it was pretty long (~1.5hrs). But I think I did okay for that =)

Good luck everyone!!

 

[DocRuth]

crakerj -- you had a 1 1/2 hour interview with Flinders? you poor soul - my gosh, what did they do to you? mine was an easy going 45 minute chit-chat. Regardless, I'm sure you did great.

Good luck to everybody who still has interviews!

 

[crackerj]

Okay for flinders my interview was:

1 case study and explain it on the white board, drawing hypothesis..

around 5 scenarios that I have to make the decision...

Other heaps of questions such as why do you want do be a doctor etc...

what about yours? DocRuth?

 

[DocRuth]

crackerj - that sounds about right. i'm wondering if I had 5 scenarios. it seems like it might have been fewer, but i'm not sure.

I enjoyed the whiteboard excercise. I was tempted to draw pictures, but I restrained myself.

The one thing that interested me is that he didn't ask why I wanted to be a doctor per se, so at the end of the interview when he asked if I had anything to say I explained that a bit.

What questions did you ask them?

 

[crackerj]

I asked about accomodation, since I have friends in Adelaide.
Also I asked about MD/PhD.... it seems that currently only Australian citizen/PR can only apply to that program but I don't think so...

For white board, I just drew flow chart..... not 'picture'...but it was pretty fun and not hard.....

Good luck for everything....

 

[sfg5]

I think my flinders interview went over 1.25 hours as well. I think (in my case), it was because I wouldn't shut up. I found the interviewer (Tim) very interesting and went on and on and on....

 

[pitman]

Mine was 1:40, with Tim Neild and Tony Edwards. I LOVED it, particularly the whiteboard presentation. sfg5 -- you could go nuts thinking about how you did, I know I did.

To answer markdc, I applied early but visited Aus. to see the three schools while interviewing (UQ, USyd, Flinders). It seemed important to me to get firsthand looks so I could make a more informed decision later. Trip cost ~$4000 (from east coast US, including 2 internal flights + 16 days accommodations), but I refuse to stay in dorm rooms, or without my own bathroom, so it could have been much cheaper.

At least two schools were at least moderately impressed that I flew over. I don't care what the official stance is, it can only help to show that you're serious enough about Aus. and their school to come to them (at least to set tone).

Heard back from one (accepted), waiting for the other two before I think too much about it (turned off to return to sanity as per above).

-pitman

 

[sfg5]

pitman-

i totally thought i blew the whiteboard bit. (actually i thought i blew the whole interview, to tell the truth...)

it was a really hard interview. i interviewed with USyd and thought it was much easier...

 

[pitman]

Sorry to hear that, sfg5. But yours may have been long because you captivated Tim! Agreed, USyd was seemingly "easier", in that it *seemed* to consist less of a series of "tests".

Anywho, I got really paranoid thinking about how I did at one of my interviews, after initially being happy with it -- double-guessed my presentation, the logic of my statements, whether I focused on what they were really looking for, even got worried wondering if my posture was good. So I stopped thinking. Then I got accepted by that school (I've heard from only one out of three, so I don't want to get into which one for now).

-pitman

 

[redshifteffect]

sfg5 I'm sure you will get in...

 

[crackerj]

I applied to Usyd, Flinders and Melb/UQ as well and so far, I had interviews from Usyd and Flinders.

For the Flinders interview, I had Dr. Edwards who flew all the way to Sydney to interview just 3 people. The first question was the whiteboard one which I thought I did well because it was like reading a textbook and draw a diagram from that. Apart from that, all the questions were straight forward.

For the Usyd interview.. it was short (~30min).. but that's why I'm a little worried.... it looks easier, but higher possibility to fail... but I'll see what happens..

So my point is that an 'easier' interview tends to be 'a trap'... but shouldn't worry too much..

 

[sfg5]

Originally posted by redshifteffect
sfg5 I'm sure you will get in...

thanks, i did actually. i found out the following week... but, it was a tough week.