Applying to Australia for 2016>

[Jloyay]

I am applying to UQ, USydney, and U of Melbourne for 2016 (long ways away but I heard they begin accepting people in May) via the Oztrekk program as a Canadian and my stats are 3.56 cGPA from the University of Toronto (graduated in June of this year) and I have done the MCAT 2 times (13-10-10-R first time in 2012 and 11-9-13 second time in October 2014),

Do these schools consider volunteering because OZTREKK seems to only want my transcript, MCAT report, passport page, and the university application fees?

Am I competitive? my extra-curriculars:

1) Volunteered to raise money for epilepsy research at a street festival.
2) Volunteered at a hospital clinic for children for one year (2010-2011)
3) Worked on two undergraduate research projects with one poster presentation at a symposium for faculty (2012-2014).
4) Went abroad to volunteer at a medical clinic in Latin America (one month 2014),

I'm currently working part-time at a fast food place to save up some money but I'll probably end up taking in loans if I do this route.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[qldking]

Melbourne is your best bet of the three. I would strongly advise against attending UQ.

 

[Jloyay]

Melbourne is your best bet of the three. I would strongly advise against attending UQ.

What is wrong with UQ?

 

[REDHAWK2]

Hi Jloyay,

I've been snooping around this forum as well as premed101 for sometime now, based on what i've read you are very competitive as long as your interview is strong. i dont think these schools consider your extracurricular activity. Usually its a combination of gpa, interview and mcats. Im studying for the mcat now what material did you use for the biological and physical science sections.

 

[pitman]

What is wrong with UQ?

qldking is obsessed with hating UQ, so much so that it doesn't matter what you ask, he'll respond by saying not to got to UQ. He'll latch onto any and every aspect of the school, changing what he says the issue is, but in his own words, it really comes down to his hating the "corporatization of education". If you encourage him, he will derail your thread, but you can go to any other and read all about it.

To answer your question, you would be competitive at any medical school here. Extracurriculars mean very little if anything for admissions.

 

[qldking]

What is wrong with UQ?

Check out the internship priority ranking in each of the states to which you are applying:

You'll be Priority 2 in Victoria, essentially ensuring you gain internship via ballot.

You'll be priority 4 in NSW, and have a very good chance with rural and secondary hospitals-probably overall a 65-70% chance of a position through the public system. NSW has the most internships and by a large margin.

At UQ you will be priority 4 and only have chances at about 2-3 hospitals, with about a 5-10% chance through the ballot system, and will rely on the CMI positions. CMI by all accounts have been excellent (ask pitman, he knows most about it) but you do not want to have to rely on it going in when you can instead have some options,.

UQs only strength is that it is located in probably the nicest region in the world. The education is atrocious and the school views education as a purely corporate enterprise and nothing more. The curriculum has been discussed before but if you have specific questions, feel free to ask here..

 

[torontopharm]

Hey wouldn't Australian National University be the best option? From my understanding, they don't discriminate between domestic and international.

 

[REDHAWK2]

Hey wouldn't Australian National University be the best option? From my understanding, they don't discriminate between domestic and international.

anu is fairly expensive roughly 68k aud, its also a relatively new program, for those who have studied in Australia, would 15k be adequate for living expenses assuming u live conservatively.

 

[qldking]

anu is fairly expensive roughly 68k aud, its also a relatively lnew program, for those who have studied in Australia, would 15k be adequate for living expenses assuming u live
connservatively.

lol maybe if you live in a hut in the Northern Territory.

I think I needed about 9k each term from Grad Plus loans to survive and that was in Queensland, and I live frugally as well (and worked part time). Cost of living is about 1.2-1.4 times higher in Melbourne/Sydney.

 

[pitman]

You'll be priority 4 in NSW, and have a very good chance with rural and secondary hospitals-probably overall a 65-70% chance of a position through the public system. NSW has the most internships and by a large margin.

At UQ you will be priority 4 and only have chances at about 2-3 hospitals, with about a 5-10% chance through the ballot system, and will rely on the CMI positions.

I don't believe these numbers. While NSW has the most internship spots, it also has the most international students graduating. At any rate, overall there hasn't been an issue with getting an internship in either state until (likely) this year's application season, and this year's numbers won't be known until sometime next year.

Going on the numbers that we DO know, it would appear instead that NSW has had a less favorable placement history for int'l students than Qld. The most recent set of reliable data comes from 2013, as per the 2014 MTRP (http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/work-pubs-mtrp):

Internship spots (2013)*:

NSW 923 (Int'ls placed: 43 state + 2 CMI)
QLD 678 (Int'ls placed: 58 state + 8 CMI)
VIC 707 (Int'ls placed: 76 state)
*(Table 3.2)

Graduates for 2013 placement*:

NSW 971 (838 dom + 133 int'l)
QLD 752 (618 dom + 134 int'l including 9 Ochsner)
VIC 795 (644 dom + 151 int'l)
*(Tables 2.19, 2.20)

Note that QLD had the FEWEST int'l students graduating locally, while NSW now has the most (Vic has since reduced its numbers).

Now if we simply take the number of total internship spots in each state and subtract the number of its graduates, we can get a rather loose idea of the "training deficit" if you will, or a proxy of how 'well' each state has been keeping pace with its internship spots in order to (potentially) accommodate its own grads (assuming all its grads wanted a spot there). Some people think that this is of moral importance. Of course, the caveat is that in the real world, there is considerable interstate (and overseas) movement of grads by choice.

NSW -48 (-5%)
QLD -74 (-10%)
VIC -88 (-12%)
In other words, gross numbers show a deficit for all three of the biggest training states, with Vic having the largest deficit. Note that each of the states guarantees a position for all of its domestic-fee students.

If we instead take the number of intl's placed for internship in each state and subtract the number of its int'l grads, we get a loose proxy for how 'well' each state is accommodating its int'l students in particular. The caveat here is similar -- it does not take into account the (large) movement of int'l grads overseas (usually back home):

NSW -88 (-66%)
QLD -68 (-51%)
VIC -75 (-50%)
In other words, if every int'l student graduating from a Qld school (including all Ochsner grads in New Orleans) had wanted an internship in Qld for 2013, then about half would not have been able to get one (in reality, all grads who wanted a spot got one). By this measure, Qld and Vic are doing about the same job, and NSW the worst.

If this year as expected there won't be any spots left unfilled, the big unknown will be how many of the remaining int'l grads wanted to stay (there's also been a history of many each year getting an internship spot in Australia only to bail out mid-year once they get one back home -- only CMI offers contractually ban this). Surveys are planned to help flesh out these numbers for this year's grads. However, while knowing whether int'l student grads got an internship/residency job elsewhere will be valuable, getting reliable self-reported data on *intentions* will always prove challenging.

In summary, using the best data available, I simply don't believe any unsubstantiated assertion that the odds of getting Australian internship as an int'l from NSW has been or is any easier than from Qld.

 

[REDHAWK2]

Since the number of graduates is expected to reach a plateau within the next couple of years do u anticipate the situation will get better for internationals in 4-5 years? in paging dr forums they say its expected to only get worst with time.

 

[pitman]

Yes, the plateau of grads is upon us. After this year, there aren't any meaningful increases in expected grad numbers:

2014: 3725
2015: 3732
...
2018: 3796
(an average annual increase of 0.5%)

I'm not sure who you're referring to over at paging dr. It could be they're talking instead about subsequent training years (PG2+), and how those numbers will increase for longer. More junior docs will spend additional years as hospital officers trying to get onto specialty programs (or pushed into less-competitive fields). The CMI program has been opening training to private hospitals, which will help take the surplus of junior docs. In the end, though, only the specialty colleges (with the help of some arm-twisting or bribes from govt) can solve the problem of how all those hospital officers will become specialists, both by opening up the colleges and by assuring there's enough supervision for the trainees (though it's expected that 50% of grads will necessarily become GPs, up from ~40% today).

But if they're arguing the grad/internship numbers will continue to go up and up in any way comparable to what's been seen over the past decade, or even the past few years, they are making ill-informed guesses contrary to the MTRP's findings (i.e., they're simply talking out of their butt). To the extent that grads can be accommodated this year, for example, would be as bad as one should expect things to get (the Commonwealth could conceivably cut the CMI program, as politically risky that would be, but it could increase its funding, while state-based training spots can continue to increase, at a less frenetic pace, and any competition for any CMI spots will mean more int'l students will prepare to go home, and so on...). Making assertions about what will change for the worse requires substantiation, and I haven't heard it.

 

[singmed15]

Hey wouldn't Australian National University be the best option? From my understanding, they don't discriminate between domestic and international.

Hey torontopharm, I think I can offer some advice regarding this. Keep in mind though that I'm not the most experienced person in explaining the med system in Aus.

So ANU is in Canberra, which recently passed a rule saying that while everyone graduating from ANU would be good for internship, that would only apply if they applied for it in Canberra (otherwise called ACT). If they applied elsewhere, they were knocked down in priority, hence jeopardizing their chances at getting an internship if they were unsuccessful in the other states.

Now, while the guarantee from Canberra may seem comforting, there are a couple caveats:

1. Canberra is small as hell. There are only a few major hospitals, which dramatically affects training prospects after PGY-1.

2. You're only given a one year contract. This means that the ACT could ditch you after your first year, and it'd be difficult to gain a job elsewhere, since you'd be in lower priority. I say this because normally ANU grads would go to NSW for further jobs, but a ruling a few years ago split up ACT and NSW such that the two now have separate med job allocation systems. NSW contracts run PGY - 1 & 2, ACT only PGY -1. See my point?

I think Pitman's advice here is pretty valid.

 

[abayaa]

I applied as well to UQ, Sydney, Deakin, and Wollongong. I have a 3.0 GPA from Canadian University for Electrical Engineering back in 2007. Worked in IT field, figured it wasn't me I needed job satisfaction. I then joined the local police force as a patrol constable. Always had a fascination with medicine, so returned last year and have taken 5 courses (3.95 GPA in those classes) and took the MCAT and scored a 30 (12 PS, 8 VR, 10 BS). I've applied to Irish medical schools as well. This waiting game sucks!!

 

[REDHAWK2]

I applied as well to UQ, Sydney, Deakin, and Wollongong. I have a 3.0 GPA from Canadian University for Electrical Engineering back in 2007. Worked in IT field, figured it wasn't me I needed job satisfaction. I then joined the local police force as a patrol constable. Always had a fascination with medicine, so returned last year and have taken 5 courses (3.95 GPA in those classes) and took the MCAT and scored a 30 (12 PS, 8 VR, 10 BS). I've applied to Irish medical schools as well. This waiting game sucks!!

If you get accepted into both Irish and Australian schools which of the two would you chose?

 

[abayaa]

If you get accepted into both Irish and Australian schools which of the two would you chose?

Personally, I would prefer Australian schools, especially UQ or Sydney, but I'm moving with my wife and both our families are living in Canada so Ireland would make more sense

 

[mourinho]

Anyone know how to calculate uk transcripts to converted gpa? I can't find any link online.

 

[REDHAWK2]

Anyone know how to calculate uk transcripts to converted gpa? I can't find any link online.

http://www.gemsas.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/GEMSAS-GPA-guidelines.pdf

hopefully this will help u

 

[ofcourse1]

I've been looking up the oztrekks pages and i wanted to know what a 5.0/7.0 is on a 4.0 scale. I have a GPA of 3.03, with a forthcoming publication affiliated with a research scientist at a hospital, but i haven't taken the MCAT/gamsat yet

 

[lyndal]

5.0 on a 7.0 point scale = 2.86 on a 4 point scale. Your GPA should be fine. (it would be fine for us here at Wollongong)

 

[ofcourse1]

5.0 on a 7.0 point scale = 2.86 on a 4 point scale. Your GPA should be fine. (it would be fine for us here at Wollongong)

I'm wondering if i can apply for jan 2016 admission by sitting the GAMSAT in September 2015 in UK, or are these scores too late for Jan 2016 entrance?

 

[lyndal]

For Wollongong we would theoretically accept a September GAMSAT score, but the difficulty is that we should have filled all our places by the time GAMSAT results are released in November so even if it was strong, there would potentially be no 2016 spots left. If you are considering sitting GAMSAT in September or even MCAT in the middle of the year, then Id recommend you contact us and submit a partial application ASAP - we have a rolling admissions process and are assessing applications and interviewing now. If you apply now even though your application is incomplete, we can assess the rest of it, even interview you if the rest of your application is strong, and wait and see what your GAMSAT/MCAT score is. It means that as soon as your score is in we can make a decisison straight away. Hope that makes sense. You can email me on [email protected] if you need more information.

 

[realaircanada]

Hey, I'm applying to Australia for 2016 as well! So far I've applied to UQ, USyd, ANU, and Deakin. I'm thinking I might also apply to Griffith since its in such a nice location. For reference my stats are: 30 MCAT (11 VR/ 10 BS/ 9 PS) and 3.08cGPA, which would be a lot higher if I didn't get a 0.58 GPA my first year :/ ... I'm also applying to Jagiellonian in Poland because it's a heck of a lot cheaper (12 000 Euro or $17012.40 Canadian, per year) and I speak Polish, as both my parents are Polish.

 

[lyndal]

Don't forget to consider Wollongong if you're interested in nice locations LOL

 

[REDHAWK2]

.

 

[lyndal]

REDHAWK2 - You can certainly apply to Wollongong - we will consider your application based on your 25 MCAT if you apply now, and can then add your April MCAT if you do better. Why don't you email me on [email protected] if you are interested and we can discuss. We will be in Toronto next week so if you are keen you can apply now and we can chat face to face when we get there.

 

[bwatts]

Hi Everyone!
This seems to be the best thread to post this in. I am currently finishing up my PhD at McMaster in Pharmacology and Physiology. I have a 3.2 GPA and my MCAT scores are 10/11/11. I originally applied for the 2015 intake but my committee screwed me and wouldn't let me finish on time (that is the way of the PhD life haha) so now I am re-applying for the 2016 intake. For the 2015 intake I applied and was accepted into: USyd, Melb, UQ, Griffith, Deakin, and Monash. I suspect that I will get accepted into these again for this year- but now I am faced with the question of which school is the best? USyd and Melb- as great the reputations are... they just don't seem to be financially feasible. With the tuition being over $70,000 and the cost of living being so high- yikes! Putting that aside though- my main priority is RESEARCH. In the future I would like to do a clinical practise and have a research faculty position so as the saying goes "Publish or Perish". I need to go somewhere that has a good reputation for research and possibly some place that has a combined MD/MSc program. I don't mind doing a MSc because the stipend would help supplement the med school tuition and I would be publishing...
Any thoughts guys? In the long run, I suppose I don't care where I end up after med school, either Canada, US, or Australia. Basically whatever will take me haha. I will say that UQ and Griffith seem to be appealing to me but I know there are a lot of hates for UQ.

 

[giraffedom]

most schools dont care about extracurricular here in aus ... only like three schools .... which im glad of because i hate doing portfolio stuff, and dont really like the portfolio schools at all, i think med admission should be about grades and test scores and interviews, anyone can do bull**** extracurriculars

 

[DalaiLama]

Hey, I'm applying to Australia for 2016 as well! So far I've applied to UQ, USyd, ANU, and Deakin. I'm thinking I might also apply to Griffith since its in such a nice location. For reference my stats are: 30 MCAT (11 VR/ 10 BS/ 9 PS) and 3.08cGPA, which would be a lot higher if I didn't get a 0.58 GPA my first year :/ ... I'm also applying to Jagiellonian in Poland because it's a heck of a lot cheaper (12 000 Euro or $17012.40 Canadian, per year) and I speak Polish, as both my parents are Polish.

Hey,
which schools did you get accepted to?

 

[DalaiLama]

Hi Everyone!
This seems to be the best thread to post this in. I am currently finishing up my PhD at McMaster in Pharmacology and Physiology. I have a 3.2 GPA and my MCAT scores are 10/11/11. I originally applied for the 2015 intake but my committee screwed me and wouldn't let me finish on time (that is the way of the PhD life haha) so now I am re-applying for the 2016 intake. For the 2015 intake I applied and was accepted into: USyd, Melb, UQ, Griffith, Deakin, and Monash. I suspect that I will get accepted into these again for this year- but now I am faced with the question of which school is the best? USyd and Melb- as great the reputations are... they just don't seem to be financially feasible. With the tuition being over $70,000 and the cost of living being so high- yikes! Putting that aside though- my main priority is RESEARCH. In the future I would like to do a clinical practise and have a research faculty position so as the saying goes "Publish or Perish". I need to go somewhere that has a good reputation for research and possibly some place that has a combined MD/MSc program. I don't mind doing a MSc because the stipend would help supplement the med school tuition and I would be publishing...
Any thoughts guys? In the long run, I suppose I don't care where I end up after med school, either Canada, US, or Australia. Basically whatever will take me haha. I will say that UQ and Griffith seem to be appealing to me but I know there are a lot of hates for UQ.

Hey,

Did you also apply to ANU? I want to get a rough idea of what kind of stats are required to get into ANU Med.

I also want to do an MD/MSc or MD/PhD, but since tuition is subject to raise each year, the best thing is probably to get it done in 4 years. Or else you might have to end up paying more money than originally planned for. (just food for thought!)