Is oztrekk a scam?

[stdavisdr]

Hi everyone, I hope some of you guys can clear up something.

I was just speaking to an advisor at my school about my applications. First I told him I'm applying to international med schools. He was a bit discouraging, which I understand. However, when I told him I have applied to Australian schools via oztrekk, he was very worried. He informed me that I shouldn't be applying via third party agencies such as that because I'm basically giving theme all my information (like passport). He advised me that I should have just applied directly to each schools.

Now, I have looked at this intensely before and after applying to oztrekk. I have only seen positive things about the agency and I thought it was extremely convenient to use. However, his advice has freaked me out a little. He distinctly said when I mentioned how convenient it was to use that "too much of a good thing should raise your suspicions."

So does anyone have any experience with oztrekk? I've seen some forums asking similar questions. However, many of them aren't too detailed or they are answered by oztrekk themselves.

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[Zifish]

I don't have any experience personally, except that I'm planning to apply thru them as well. They're funded by the Australian medical schools, so I doubt they're a scam, i think it's more like an equivalent to amcas. Applying directly to the schools costs money, but thru an official rep like oztrekk it's free.

 

[Domperidone]

LOL. Debatable.

In all honesty however, it's not a scam.

It's a business.
The schools pay them as a third party to get students for them without them having to. They specifically recruit Canadians, so you'll find half the student populations at some medical schools made up of full fee paying Canadians.

What it is not - an advisor to trust regarding attending medical school. None of them are doctors. They claim to have insider info. Sounds great. Because they're a business and they're good at. I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking they feel seedy. They wouldn't be the first either.

The benefit for premeds is that it is free, you submit one "application" and direct them to "apply" on your behalf to as many schools connected to them as possible without paying application fees.

The only dubious thing about them is that they are kinda selling degrees, so just don't take anything they say beyond face value.
They'll say anything to get you to enrol to a medical school through them because that's how they make money.
All of what they say will sound great. And it will echo what the medical schools say themselves. "Everyone gets a job eventually", even though there's no guarantee, blah blah blah. 'We have great match rates.'

Then half the people you start school with get disillusioned, because it's much harder than thought and expensive to go home (all the extra money for exams and interviews etc.) and really it's a good "match rate" for family med in a rural or remote area. Or internal medicine or psychiatry. Forget specialties, one can dream but we're talking 1 in 100 maybe getting a specialty and definitely not a surgical specialty. Matching in Australia is actually not easy either, but most won't figure that part out either till after starting, because they'll get told, well most are getting jobs anyway (in rural and remote hospitals, and class sizes are getting bigger, not smaller). Australian degrees are still considered IMG degrees with stigma in North America (unless you're Australian). There's an oversupply of doctors particularly junior ones in Australia now. It's not exactly a party. "Half" (or ish) of the North American students who end up signing up are happy with their choice. Possibly because for the majority of North Americans, without places like Australia, they'd never become doctors at all, and that's fine. Just that some of those people won't be happy with their decision afterwards and get bitter, and you'll be stuck with them too (or become one of them). Creates a bit of a toxic environment.

Just don't fully buy in to the dreams they're selling. They try to hide the negatives as much as they can.

It's not a scam as in they'll steal your identity.
What they want is a piece of the $250-300AUD pie that the medical schools are selling.
If you are decided or have no option but to go to Australia for med school, by all means, use them to apply to save some money. Nothing wrong with application fees waived.