Should I go to Griffith or Macquarie Uni for med

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Remaddy

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Hey everyone! I'm a Canadian student and recently got an offer an interview offer from Griffith University and Macquarie University. If I am fortunate to get an acceptance offer from both, could anyone give me their opinion on which school I should accept? Can you please share your thoughts about these two schools in terms of whether they are good schools, reputation, opportunities for residency, and which school has a greater success for graduates to become doctors? I'm not too familiar with the schools around Australia so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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Hey everyone! I'm a Canadian student and recently got an offer an interview offer from Griffith University and Macquarie University. If I am fortunate to get an acceptance offer from both, could anyone give me their opinion on which school I should accept? Can you please share your thoughts about these two schools in terms of whether they are good schools, reputation, opportunities for residency, and which school has a greater success for graduates to become doctors? I'm not too familiar with the schools around Australia so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hi there. I don't have direct experience with either program, but I think Griffith is by far the more reputable school and is definitely more established. I've met some of the students from Griffith too and they're all lovely and were really happy studying there. Further, Griffith has two campuses: Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. The SC stream is smaller and I don't know if internationals can choose to go there, but if you can I'd recommend it. I used to live on the Gold Coast and enjoyed it, but the Sunshine Coast is 100x nicer. They're both about an hour from the capital, Brisbane (SC, north & GC, south).

Macquarie is newer and is one of the only med schools in Australia that charges full fee for locals. For that reason (cost), most Australians would pick it last but internationals might have different priorities since they have to pay full fee anyway. I haven't heard anything about the quality of the school.

Griffith is in the state of Queensland, and Macquarie is in New South Wales, so you have a better chance of getting an internship in the school's home state. In QLD internship allocations you would be priority 3 of 4 and in NSW you'd be 4 of 6, unless you somehow manage to get permanent residency/citizenship before graduation. Apart from that, it doesn't matter which school you go to in terms of post-grad job prospects, nobody cares.

Somebody more knowledgeable can probably chime in and help you out. All the best and good luck! Hope you ace both interviews and have the luxury of choice.
 
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Isn't Macquarie med the one that makes all their students do 28 weeks of rotations in India (presumably because there was no way they could secure enough placement spots in NSLHD while competing with the other existing med programs). Yes, you can argue it's to create "global MDs" but easing some of the pressure on having to secure more clinical placement spots in NSW probably didn't hurt...

EDIT: MQ only took in their first cohort last year so nobody there has been through the clinical years (3+4) yet so at this point, there's no way to give an opinion on how their graduates will fare.
 
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Hey everyone! I'm a Canadian student and recently got an offer an interview offer from Griffith University and Macquarie University. If I am fortunate to get an acceptance offer from both, could anyone give me their opinion on which school I should accept? Can you please share your thoughts about these two schools in terms of whether they are good schools, reputation, opportunities for residency, and which school has a greater success for graduates to become doctors? I'm not too familiar with the schools around Australia so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Hi, can I ask what your stats are like? I got interviews from all the other Australian schools i've applied for and got offers from some of them but I still haven't even gotten an interview from Griffith yet. Griffith would have been my top choice b/c of the relatively cheap tuition fee :(
 
Hey there, I agree with everything that has been said so far. In my opinion Griffith is a more solid program with a good reputation, and internship prospects in Queensland are much better than in NSW (Griffith told me that all their international graduates have been able to secure a spot). Unless you're really attracted to the international experience offered by Macquarie, it's a pretty new school (I think you'd only be the 3rd cohort) and life in Sydney can be quite expensive. Also if you're interested I recently found this Canadian youtuber who is currently a second year in Macquarie and has a channel about her med school life. I think you could learn quite a bit about Macquarie in her videos! The channel is "Emma B Med to Be". She apparently chose Macquarie because of the international rotations.
Also, good luck for your Griffith interview, I recently had mine and it wasn't so bad!
 
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Hi, can I ask what your stats are like? I got interviews from all the other Australian schools i've applied for and got offers from some of them but I still haven't even gotten an interview from Griffith yet. Griffith would have been my top choice b/c of the relatively cheap tuition fee :(

Hey, sorry for the late reply! I had a pretty low MCAT score at 501 with a GPA of 3.92, so I couldn't really apply to a lot of places in Australia. Hope you hear back from them soon!
 
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Hey there, I agree with everything that has been said so far. In my opinion Griffith is a more solid program with a good reputation, and internship prospects in Queensland are much better than in NSW (Griffith told me that all their international graduates have been able to secure a spot). Unless you're really attracted to the international experience offered by Macquarie, it's a pretty new school (I think you'd only be the 3rd cohort) and life in Sydney can be quite expensive. Also if you're interested I recently found this Canadian youtuber who is currently a second year in Macquarie and has a channel about her med school life. I think you could learn quite a bit about Macquarie in her videos! The channel is "Emma B Med to Be". She apparently chose Macquarie because of the international rotations.
Also, good luck for your Griffith interview, I recently had mine and it wasn't so bad!

Thanks! I got an offer from Griffith, so I'm pretty excited! It's a relief to hear that Griffith has spots for us international students cause that is one of the huge deciding factors for which school to get into. Thanks for introducing me to Emma's youtube channel, it was super helpful! I still haven't decided for sure, but I'm definitely leaning towards Griffith! If I accept, hope to see you in class in January!
 
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Thanks! I got an offer from Griffith, so I'm pretty excited! It's a relief to hear that Griffith has spots for us international students cause that is one of the huge deciding factors for which school to get into. Thanks for introducing me to Emma's youtube channel, it was super helpful! I still haven't decided for sure, but I'm definitely leaning towards Griffith! If I accept, hope to see you in class in January!

I'm glad I could help :) Congrats on your offer! Good luck on making your decision, and if you go to Griffith I hope to see you in January as well!
 
MQ is still a very young and untested medical school.

I'd go Griffith; established program and the Gold Coast is a lovely place to study medicine;
good hospital placements Gold Coast Uni Hospital & Robina Hospital and great relaxing lifestyle by the beachside.
 
Hey I’m a Canadian student that just finished my undergrad. Based off of the weighted GPA calculation for Macquarie University, my gpa sits around a 3.62 out of 4. I’m planning on writing the MCAT soon but I’m worried that my GPA is on the lower end to gain an offer of admission. Any insight would be appreciated.
 
Hey I’m a Canadian student that just finished my undergrad. Based off of the weighted GPA calculation for Macquarie University, my gpa sits around a 3.62 out of 4. I’m planning on writing the MCAT soon but I’m worried that my GPA is on the lower end to gain an offer of admission. Any insight would be appreciated.
your GPA will not bar you from admission, it is high enough

MCAT ~500, preferably above 497, will likely get you an interview

competition is not nearly as stiff for internationals as it is for domestic students.
 
your GPA will not bar you from admission, it is high enough

MCAT ~500, preferably above 497, will likely get you an interview

competition is not nearly as stiff for internationals as it is for domestic students.
Thank you so much for replying. I’m applying through Oztrekk and I was told that as long as you have proof that you’ll be sitting to write the MCAT that’s good enough to secure an interview. The interview selection would be based off GPA and personal statement (used as a hurdle) to get invited. After you interview, you can receive a conditional offer which may or may not be revoked depending on your MCAT score. They need a 500 apparently. Based on your knowledge, does this seem accurate to you?
 
Hey guys I received an offers from Flinders and Macquarie so far. I was just wondering if you guys had any insight? I am leaning towards Macquarie because I do like that they have a hospital attached to the school. I also like that they seem to be very flexible and receptive to feedback.
 
Hey guys I received an offers from Flinders and Macquarie so far. I was just wondering if you guys had any insight? I am leaning towards Macquarie because I do like that they have a hospital attached to the school. I also like that they seem to be very flexible and receptive to feedback.
both are excellent schools. i would say look at location, curriculum, student feedback from both schools, if difference in $ isn't a concern

Thank you so much for replying. I’m applying through Oztrekk and I was told that as long as you have proof that you’ll be sitting to write the MCAT that’s good enough to secure an interview. The interview selection would be based off GPA and personal statement (used as a hurdle) to get invited. After you interview, you can receive a conditional offer which may or may not be revoked depending on your MCAT score. They need a 500 apparently. Based on your knowledge, does this seem accurate to you?
yes. schools can issue conditional offers, i know UQ does if you're missing an MCAT score. 500 sounds like a benchmark many schools use
 
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both are excellent schools. i would say look at location, curriculum, student feedback from both schools, if difference in $ isn't a concern


yes. schools can issue conditional offers, i know UQ does if you're missing an MCAT score. 500 sounds like a benchmark many schools use
Dude, thanks so much. You're a legend.
 
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Anyone get an offer from Deakin yet?
 
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