Canadian/Australian Dual Citizen, Considering Applying in Australia?

[Austranada]

TL;DR: I'm fortunate enough to have dual citizenship. I grew up in Canada but am looking at moving back to Australia. I'm not particularly interested in applying to medicine in Canada since I'm planning on moving for a variety of personal reasons anyways. I graduated with a BSc from UBC but would probably apply domestically since there's way more available spots for domestic students, better preferences when doing placements and there's no way I could afford the international fees anyways. I'm wondering if I'm competitive, a good fit, or anyone has gone through a similar process and if there's anything I should know before going ahead with this? I'm also just curious what peoples opinions are of any of the med schools in Aus.

I'm currently looking at writing the GAMSAT later on since from what I can tell, to apply domestically I can't substitute the MCAT, unless someone has had a different experience? I've also searched average GAMSAT scores, GPAs etc. to see if I'd be competitive. My GPA is a 3.95 on the 4.33 scale here in Canada. I've used the GEMSAS International GPA calculator and other resources to convert my GPA to the Australian 7.0 scale. GEMSAS and other med schools weigh different years differently so it converts to around a ~6.9-6.8 depending on the school and 6.6 for Usyd specifically. From what I'm aware the value of GPA differs widely between schools, from UQ and Usyd which require it as a hurdle to ANU, Notre Dame and Griffith which consider it equally with a GAMSAT score. Obviously I should try super hard on the GAMSAT regardless, though I'm curious if anyone has any insight when it comes to being academically competitive with a Canadian degree.

I don't have many strong extracurriculars. I've mostly been taking care of grandparents and working various jobs with some minor volunteer roles. I plan on improving this however at the moment it's definitely a weak point. I've got plenty of hobbies I love, but definitely not stuff that would be super strong on an portfolio focused application that needs references etc. Thankfully from what I've found most Aus schools aside from Notre Dame and Wollongong don't require a portfolio, unless I'm mistaken. From what I've heard anecdotally, Notre Dame also has a strong bias towards catholic applicants, which I am not, but I've got no idea how true that is.

I'm currently researching, organizing and ranking the various GEMSAS schools since as I understand it you're only offered one interview from your 6 ranked preferences. I should add that I have no plans on matching back to Canada, so that's not a huge consideration for me, but being able to do an elective rotation back in Canada would be a plus. I'm also researching non-GEMSAS schools like Usyd, Monash, Bond, etc. that are outside GEMSAS. Currently I'm primarily interested in ANU, Usyd, UQ, Deakin and UWA.

With all this in mind I'm wondering: if I'm missing or forgetting anything important, if my current GPA is competitive, if I should be more concerned about extracurriculars and if I'm limited to only writing the GAMSAT as a domestic applicant. I'm also curious what peoples opinions are of the various Aussie med schools since I've got to preference them. Thanks in advance!

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[Austranada]

Oh I should also add that I've got no issue taking bonded offers over CSP offers as well, I'm pretty used to rural settings since that's where my family is from.

 

[txm88]

as an australian citizen, you are lucky in the sense that you only need to pay CSP fees (10k a year) but also unlucky in the fact that its gonna be harder to get into med school compared to your nth american counterparts. to be honest, any will do as they are all accredited by the AMC and result in the same outcomes. if you have the scores, then you can afford to be picky in terms of name and location.

also bonded offers are also CSP offers, as you still are paying fees. this is for the lower 25 percentile of the successful applicants. you do not apply for these positions separately

extracurriculars dont matter that much in terms of med school application apart from select schools (uow mainly) and its mainly about your gamsat and gpa. as you need the scores to get an interview. the interviews now are more towards MMI format meaning there is less opportunity to show off your extracurriculars, research, etc. as everything is standardised into a scenario you have to solve. your gpa is pretty strong and your canadian degree would be recognised as equivalent to an australian one by gemsas, so you pretty much are in the same boat as a regular australian. you need at least a 70+ to be competitive . good luck

 

[Austranada]

as an australian citizen, you are lucky in the sense that you only need to pay CSP fees (10k a year) but also unlucky in the fact that its gonna be harder to get into med school compared to your nth american counterparts. to be honest, any will do as they are all accredited by the AMC and result in the same outcomes. if you have the scores, then you can afford to be picky in terms of name and location.

also bonded offers are also CSP offers, as you still are paying fees. this is for the lower 25 percentile of the successful applicants. you do not apply for these positions separately

extracurriculars dont matter that much in terms of med school application apart from select schools (uow mainly) and its mainly about your gamsat and gpa. as you need the scores to get an interview. the interviews now are more towards MMI format meaning there is less opportunity to show off your extracurriculars, research, etc. as everything is standardised into a scenario you have to solve. your gpa is pretty strong and your canadian degree would be recognised as equivalent to an australian one by gemsas, so you pretty much are in the same boat as a regular australian. you need at least a 70+ to be competitive . good luck

Appreciate the info, is it really harder to get into med school in Aus as an Aus citizen? From what I understand international students have to pay full fee, which the school likes since that just means more money, so the base entry requirements are lowered to attract more possible international applicants, however there are less seats which I'd imagine makes things much more competitive. Is it really that big of a difference?

 

[Austranada]

After doing a bit more research I also found average GPAs and GAMSAT scores for various schools. It seems like 70+ is competitive, except for UQ where they're especially GAMSAT focused. Deakin, Notre Dame and ANU have slightly lower averages where 68+ seems acceptable as well.

 

[txm88]

Yes it’s tough as there is a government mandated CSP quota. It’s similar competitiveness to a Canadian or American applying to their native country’s school.

Whereas it’s easier for internationals, that’s why North Americans come to Australia once they are unable to get into their own country.

GAMSAT is less science foundation and can be said to be easier than MCAT but if you look at the scores a 68 or 70 are both very high in terms of percentile (at least top 90-95th percentile) , so it’s challeinging.

 

[Austranada]

Appreciate the info, guess I'll start grinding out the GAMSAT.