Australian Medical School 2022 Entry

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Bloom2000

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Hey everyone! I know it is early but I just wanted to start a discussion where we can all support each other on our med journey.
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Has anyone applied to both Australia and Ireland. If so where do you prefer to study and why? I am currently leaning towards Australia because of their internship program. I am worried that if I don't match because to NA after med school in Ireland I will just be in limbo and 400K in debt.
 
Another thought I had while scouring the internet was how do you obtain a clerkship in either Canada or the US while studying in Australia? Since the school year doesn't line up with North America's is it really difficult to obtain clerkships?
 
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Are you from the US or Canada? That changes things a lot. The path back to Canada from Australia is fairly well defined so there's plenty of support. Back to the US is less defined and probably more challenging, I would recommend UQ Ochsner over anything else if that's your goal.
 
Wolvvs said:
Are you from the US or Canada? That changes things a lot. The path back to Canada from Australia is fairly well defined so there's plenty of support. Back to the US is less defined and probably more challenging, I would recommend UQ Ochsner over anything else if that's your goal.
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Hi! I am from Canada 🙂
 
Bloom2000 said:
Hi! I am from Canada 🙂
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Ok cool. I'm from the US so please take what I say with a grain of salt.

Australia tends to be a popular choice for Canadian students because you can get a good education, the medical systems are fairly similar, and because only Canadian citizens and permanent residents qualify to match to residencies in Canada. If you haven't already, I would recommend talking to Amanda from Oztrekk, she should be able to help out a lot with the process for matching to Canada as well as how you might be able to get clerkships in Canada from an Australian school.

If your goal is the US, that makes things much more tricky as you'd be recognized as a non-US IMG for the purposes of the match. It would make getting residency in a competitive field or in a desirable location much more difficult. But if that's your goal, UQ is probably a good choice because of the existing relationship with Ochsner/resources built for US students. Otherwise you're probably going to be kind of on your own when it comes to arranging clerkships in the US and preparing for boards, it won't be impossible but it will be an additional burden on top of what you're already doing.

Hope this helps! And definitely please reach out to Oztrekk, they've worked with many Canadian students going to Australia and so have tons of experience with what works best.
 
Wolvvs said:
Ok cool. I'm from the US so please take what I say with a grain of salt.

Australia tends to be a popular choice for Canadian students because you can get a good education, the medical systems are fairly similar, and because only Canadian citizens and permanent residents qualify to match to residencies in Canada. If you haven't already, I would recommend talking to Amanda from Oztrekk, she should be able to help out a lot with the process for matching to Canada as well as how you might be able to get clerkships in Canada from an Australian school.

If your goal is the US, that makes things much more tricky as you'd be recognized as a non-US IMG for the purposes of the match. It would make getting residency in a competitive field or in a desirable location much more difficult. But if that's your goal, UQ is probably a good choice because of the existing relationship with Ochsner/resources built for US students. Otherwise you're probably going to be kind of on your own when it comes to arranging clerkships in the US and preparing for boards, it won't be impossible but it will be an additional burden on top of what you're already doing.

Hope this helps! And definitely please reach out to Oztrekk, they've worked with many Canadian students going to Australia and so have tons of experience with what works best.
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Thank you so much for your advice!!! I really appreciate the insight. Just curious are you currently attending an Australian Medical school?
 
Bloom2000 said:
Thank you so much for your advice!!! I really appreciate the insight. Just curious are you currently attending an Australian Medical school?
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Yes, I'm a first year student in the UQ-Ochsner program but I did a bunch of research into other Australian schools as well.
 
Wolvvs said:
Yes, I'm a first year student in the UQ-Ochsner program but I did a bunch of research into other Australian schools as well.
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Congrats on your acceptance btw. I was wondering how you felt about UQ? I have read some posts saying that they hate it because of the new dean.
 
Bloom2000 said:
Congrats on your acceptance btw. I was wondering how you felt about UQ? I have read some posts saying that they hate it because of the new dean.
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Thanks! My experience so far has been excellent, and I feel the administration has been doing what they can for us given a difficult situation.

I think the post you're referencing was made by someone who went to a different school and had issues with the dean before the dean came to UQ. I'm glad that people are sharing their experiences, but those comments haven't been reflective of my personal experience at all, and I'm very happy with UQ so far!
 
Wolvvs said:
Thanks! My experience so far has been excellent, and I feel the administration has been doing what they can for us given a difficult situation.

I think the post you're referencing was made by someone who went to a different school and had issues with the dean before the dean came to UQ. I'm glad that people are sharing their experiences, but those comments haven't been reflective of my personal experience at all, and I'm very happy with UQ so far!
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That's comforting to hear 🙂
 
Wolvvs said:
Ok cool. I'm from the US so please take what I say with a grain of salt.

Australia tends to be a popular choice for Canadian students because you can get a good education, the medical systems are fairly similar, and because only Canadian citizens and permanent residents qualify to match to residencies in Canada. If you haven't already, I would recommend talking to Amanda from Oztrekk, she should be able to help out a lot with the process for matching to Canada as well as how you might be able to get clerkships in Canada from an Australian school.

If your goal is the US, that makes things much more tricky as you'd be recognized as a non-US IMG for the purposes of the match. It would make getting residency in a competitive field or in a desirable location much more difficult. But if that's your goal, UQ is probably a good choice because of the existing relationship with Ochsner/resources built for US students. Otherwise you're probably going to be kind of on your own when it comes to arranging clerkships in the US and preparing for boards, it won't be impossible but it will be an additional burden on top of what you're already doing.

Hope this helps! And definitely please reach out to Oztrekk, they've worked with many Canadian students going to Australia and so have tons of experience with what works best.
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Hey Wolvvs, thanks for your input! Do you know if the rotations through Ochsner would extend to Canadian students studying at UQ as well?
 
purplemermaid said:
Hey Wolvvs, thanks for your input! Do you know if the rotations through Ochsner would extend to Canadian students studying at UQ as well?
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Yes, I think so. Here's what I found on the UQ website:

Opportunities are embedded in the program for students to undertake placements overseas or interstate. These include the Observership, Elective and for international students, the Rural and Remote Medicine placement that can be undertaken at a rural location in their home country. Further opportunities are available for students planning to practice overseas following graduation by way of pre-approved placements within our network of partners, such as Queen's University in Canada. In addition, students have the option to undertake placements at the UQ Ochsner Clinical School located in New Orleans, USA and optional elective placements that fall outside of the curriculum.
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Doctor of Medicine - Study - The University of Queensland

Our UQ Doctor of Medicine will provide you with a world-class medical education. You'll gain hands-on experience preparing you to work in any global setting.
future-students.uq.edu.au future-students.uq.edu.au
 
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Bloom2000 said:
Has anyone applied to both Australia and Ireland. If so where do you prefer to study and why? I am currently leaning towards Australia because of their internship program. I am worried that if I don't match because to NA after med school in Ireland I will just be in limbo and 400K in debt.
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Ireland is significantly cheaper for school (Unless you attend RCSI). But yes very difficult to stay unless you're an EU citizen. Admission requirements historically more stringent as fewer international spots in each class.

Australia more expensive to attend but yes easier to stay to train and easier to get in as an international. More spots.

Both countries have solid track records of matching grads back in the U.S. / Canada (Can be done with motivated individuals who sit their exams). Both countries provide solid medical school training and have good reputations for training.
 
Bloom2000 said:
Another thought I had while scouring the internet was how do you obtain a clerkship in either Canada or the US while studying in Australia? Since the school year doesn't line up with North America's is it really difficult to obtain clerkships?
Click to expand...

Many of the Australian schools have elective time built into their curriculum allowing you to do away rotations.
 
purplemermaid said:
Hey Wolvvs, thanks for your input! Do you know if the rotations through Ochsner would extend to Canadian students studying at UQ as well?
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Yes, each year (prior to the pandemic) UQ traditional students could do rotations at Ochsner if they wanted to. Priority is to those who sat the USMLE but I have never heard of someone not being able to get an Ochsner rotation if they wanted one (usually it is under-subscribed).
 
Hey just wanted to share that I have been shortlisted for an interview at Flinders! Does anyone know if their interviews are mmi or traditional?
 
Bloom2000 said:
Hey just wanted to share that I have been shortlisted for an interview at Flinders! Does anyone know if their interviews are mmi or traditional?
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Mine was MMI, but sort of a casual MMI and all the questions asked by one interviewer.
 
Wolvvs said:
It was a while ago at this point, but it wasn't super long. Maybe 30-45 minutes.
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Thanks for the reply! I was wondering let's say that I am offered a position at Flinders however they are not my first choice. If I pay the deposit for the seat how much will they refund if you later withdraw from their program?
 
Bloom2000 said:
Thanks for the reply! I was wondering let's say that I am offered a position at Flinders however they are not my first choice. If I pay the deposit for the seat how much will they refund if you later withdraw from their program?
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Good question and definitely something to consider. Their deposit is very expensive, like 18K USD. If you withdraw, you will get about 10K back (1/2 deposit plus OSHC). I actually put down the deposit because their offer was going to expire before I heard from UQ Ochsner and ended up losing that 8K. That really sucked...

What is your first choice BTW?
 
Wolvvs said:
Good question and definitely something to consider. Their deposit is very expensive, like 18K USD. If you withdraw, you will get about 10K back (1/2 deposit plus OSHC). I actually put down the deposit because their offer was going to expire before I heard from UQ Ochsner and ended up losing that 8K. That really sucked...

What is your first choice BTW?
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Thank you for letting me know I will have to definitely take that into consideration if I am lucky enough to receive a spot. Honestly, I am unsure of which school is my top choice. I would be pleased with Melbourne, UQ, or Sydney. This is mainly due to their connections with Canadian and US schools. What were your top choices and why?
 
Bloom2000 said:
Thank you for letting me know I will have to definitely take that into consideration if I am lucky enough to receive a spot. Honestly, I am unsure of which school is my top choice. I would be pleased with Melbourne, UQ, or Sydney. This is mainly due to their connections with Canadian and US schools. What were your top choices and why?
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If you don't mind me asking, what are your GPA and MCAT? No worries if you're not comfortable sharing, but if you are I can give you a pretty good assessment of your chances for those schools.
 
Bloom2000 said:
Thank you for letting me know I will have to definitely take that into consideration if I am lucky enough to receive a spot. Honestly, I am unsure of which school is my top choice. I would be pleased with Melbourne, UQ, or Sydney. This is mainly due to their connections with Canadian and US schools. What were your top choices and why?
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I just realized I didn't actually answer your question. I always had UQ Ochsner as my top choice because it is by far the best option for matching to the US. As a US citizen my access to loans is a bit different, you guys have an easier time getting access to loans for medical school in Australia than we do, so that was the major driver of my decisionmaking. If I couldn't get into UQO, Flinders was my next choice because it's the only other school that offers US government loans.

Finances aside, I probably would have chosen either Syndey (for the name) or Deakin (seems like a great school, loved the people who run the program, in Victoria). I didn't apply to UMelb as I didn't meet their prereqs but that would have been a great choice too.
 
Wolvvs said:
If you don't mind me asking, what are your GPA and MCAT? No worries if you're not comfortable sharing, but if you are I can give you a pretty good assessment of your chances for those schools.
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Yeah no worries my cGPA is a 3.74 (or 3.76 if I achieve a 4.0 this semester). However, my last 3 years are a 3.89, 3.85, and 4.0 (the 4.0 is my gpa thus far obviously I have yet to receive the final results of my last semester) and my mcat is a 504
 
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Cool, so Sydney doesn't care about your GPA as long as you meet their requirements (which you will no matter how well you do this semester). For their international applicants who meet the GPA requirement, they basically sort them by MCAT and send out interviews in that order. For the class starting 2020, the lowest MCAT for Canadian students was 504. So for Sydney it really depends on how many people apply and what their MCAT scores look like.

For UQ, minimum MCAT this year is 504 so you're good on that requirement. Your relatively high GPA does balance out your MCAT so that's good. They tend to weigh the interview fairly highly so it is important to prepare for that. Also you'll have to make sure you meet their subject prerequisites of Integrative Cell & Tissue Biology and Systems Physiology. Those requirements are new this year so you'll probably need to have your courses evaluated. Assuming you meet the requirements and don't bomb the interview you should be fine.

Melbourne got rid of their prerequisites this year which is good news, but I didn't apply there and I don't know how competitive they are otherwise. Generally speaking you should have a pretty good shot at any Australian school that evaluates both GPA and MCAT. If you reach out to OzTREKK, they have the stats for accepted students for all the Australian schools so they'll be able to help you apply to the schools you're most likely to be successful at.
 
Wolvvs said:
Cool, so Sydney doesn't care about your GPA as long as you meet their requirements (which you will no matter how well you do this semester). For their international applicants who meet the GPA requirement, they basically sort them by MCAT and send out interviews in that order. For the class starting 2020, the lowest MCAT for Canadian students was 504. So for Sydney it really depends on how many people apply and what their MCAT scores look like.

For UQ, minimum MCAT this year is 504 so you're good on that requirement. Your relatively high GPA does balance out your MCAT so that's good. They tend to weigh the interview fairly highly so it is important to prepare for that. Also you'll have to make sure you meet their subject prerequisites of Integrative Cell & Tissue Biology and Systems Physiology. Those requirements are new this year so you'll probably need to have your courses evaluated. Assuming you meet the requirements and don't bomb the interview you should be fine.

Melbourne got rid of their prerequisites this year which is good news, but I didn't apply there and I don't know how competitive they are otherwise. Generally speaking you should have a pretty good shot at any Australian school that evaluates both GPA and MCAT. If you reach out to OzTREKK, they have the stats for accepted students for all the Australian schools so they'll be able to help you apply to the schools you're most likely to be successful at.
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Hey thank you for such a detailed response. I do have the prerequisites for UQ thankfully 🙂
 
Wolvvs said:
Cool, so Sydney doesn't care about your GPA as long as you meet their requirements (which you will no matter how well you do this semester). For their international applicants who meet the GPA requirement, they basically sort them by MCAT and send out interviews in that order. For the class starting 2020, the lowest MCAT for Canadian students was 504. So for Sydney it really depends on how many people apply and what their MCAT scores look like.

For UQ, minimum MCAT this year is 504 so you're good on that requirement. Your relatively high GPA does balance out your MCAT so that's good. They tend to weigh the interview fairly highly so it is important to prepare for that. Also you'll have to make sure you meet their subject prerequisites of Integrative Cell & Tissue Biology and Systems Physiology. Those requirements are new this year so you'll probably need to have your courses evaluated. Assuming you meet the requirements and don't bomb the interview you should be fine.

Melbourne got rid of their prerequisites this year which is good news, but I didn't apply there and I don't know how competitive they are otherwise. Generally speaking you should have a pretty good shot at any Australian school that evaluates both GPA and MCAT. If you reach out to OzTREKK, they have the stats for accepted students for all the Australian schools so they'll be able to help you apply to the schools you're most likely to be successful at.
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Hey Wolvvs I was just wondering which Australian states have international students higher up on their priority list for internships. If I am remembering correctly in NSW internationals are 2nd? If not NSW then somewhere else has internationals in the second round of matching.
 
Bloom2000 said:
Hey Wolvvs I was just wondering which Australian states have international students higher up on their priority list for internships. If I am remembering correctly in NSW internationals are 2nd? If not NSW then somewhere else has internationals in the second round of matching.
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Check here:

advancemed.com.au

Medical Internship Australia 2020 - 2021 Comprehensive Guide

Our Guide to the Medical Intern Application Process In Australia Has Been Updated With All Key Information, Dates and Facts. Plus Any Changes Due to COVID-19.
advancemed.com.au advancemed.com.au

I think you're thinking of Victoria, but take a look!
 
Hey guys what do you know about Macquarie either from personal experience or hearsay? Also, how are they in comparison to Flinders?
 
Hi there, Canadian applicant here! What would my chances be as an applicant to UWA and UMelb with a 3.5-3.6 GPA and a 503 MCAT? I really apperciate it (I am applying through Oztrekk)
 
premedblues123 said:
Hi there, Canadian applicant here! What would my chances be as an applicant to UWA and UMelb with a 3.5-3.6 GPA and a 503 MCAT? I really apperciate it (I am applying through Oztrekk)
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Oztrekk collects stats on all of their applicants and in my experience they're happy to share, so they'd by far be in the best position to answer this question.
 
wtfisgoingonhere said:
Is Usyd taking internationals this year? Last year they did not
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So if you are not in Australia, and the borders do not open by Jan 2022 (which they won't apparently), USyd will not provide an online option for first-year med students :/ you can still apply, but there is no guarantee that they will take in offshore internationals
 
premedblues123 said:
So if you are not in Australia, and the borders do not open by Jan 2022 (which they won't apparently), USyd will not provide an online option for first-year med students :/ you can still apply, but there is no guarantee that they will take in offshore internationals
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So same as last year.

Could I ask where your basis for " the borders do not open by Jan 2022 (which they won't apparently)" is from. Fingers crossed the border can open before then as unlikely as it may seem.
 
wtfisgoingonhere said:
So same as last year.

Could I ask where your basis for " the borders do not open by Jan 2022 (which they won't apparently)" is from. Fingers crossed the border can open before then as unlikely as it may seem.
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"The Australian Federal Government announced last week they intend to keep the Australian border restricted until mid-year 2022." This was said to me at a virtual fair for Australian med schools
 
Bloom2000 said:
Hey just wanted to share that I have been shortlisted for an interview at Flinders! Does anyone know if their interviews are mmi or traditional?
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hey I was wondering if you already had your flinders interview or not? I got shortlisted and have mine mid June and was just curious to know if they give you an acceptance/rejection soon after the interview!
 
mr0215 said:
hey I was wondering if you already had your flinders interview or not? I got shortlisted and have mine mid June and was just curious to know if they give you an acceptance/rejection soon after the interview!
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I interviewed there last year and received an offer exactly one week after the interview.
 
Wolvvs said:
I interviewed there last year and received an offer exactly one week after the interview.
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thanks for the info! Did you end up choosing a different school or what?! I've got interviews to flinders and uwa coming up so I'm just trying to see which is better in case I get both
 
mr0215 said:
thanks for the info! Did you end up choosing a different school or what?! I've got interviews to flinders and uwa coming up so I'm just trying to see which is better in case I get both
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I ended up going with UQ-Ochsner.

Are you from the US/Canada/somewhere else? Do you want to practice in Australia or in your home country?
 
mr0215 said:
thanks for the info! Did you end up choosing a different school or what?! I've got interviews to flinders and uwa coming up so I'm just trying to see which is better in case I get both
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Congrats on the UWA interview? Can i ask what your stats are? (no worries if you arent comfortable)
 
mr0215 said:
hey I was wondering if you already had your flinders interview or not? I got shortlisted and have mine mid June and was just curious to know if they give you an acceptance/rejection soon after the interview!
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I got an interview for Flinders too but the link they sent doesn't show any available dates and times. did you have that issue at all?
 
Wolvvs said:
I ended up going with UQ-Ochsner.

Are you from the US/Canada/somewhere else? Do you want to practice in Australia or in your home country?
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I’m from canada and plan on coming back either to canada or the states. But also I don’t mind doing the internship in Australia in case I don’t match the first time
 
medgem said:
I got an interview for Flinders too but the link they sent doesn't show any available dates and times. did you have that issue at all?
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I got the email early in May but I had to scroll through the email to find an interview date and the earliest they had was mid june at that point. You can email them or email oztrekk to sort that out for yourself though!
 
mr0215 said:
hey I was wondering if you already had your flinders interview or not? I got shortlisted and have mine mid June and was just curious to know if they give you an acceptance/rejection soon after the interview!
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Hey friend sorry just saw this. I already had my Flinders interview and I received my acceptance about a week after I interviewed. Best of luck with your interview!
 
mr0215 said:
I’m from canada and plan on coming back either to canada or the states. But also I don’t mind doing the internship in Australia in case I don’t match the first time
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Okay. I don't know much about matching to Canada, but one thing you could do is email the two schools to ask about how their recent graduates have done with matching to the US or Canada. They usually don't publish that info but they do track it, so they should be able to help you out.

Other than that, the biggest thing to consider is probably location, if you prefer one area over another.
 
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