Application for Flinders 2011 "Early Decision" entry are now open!

[Raigon]

the melbourne pre-reqs are to solidify the prestige of its new MD program since it's "different" and requires "upper level science pre-reqs". not trying to stir up conspiracy, but this whole MD program is just a marketing trick, similar to all these marketing campaigns made by usyd and uq med. the fact that flinders and anu didn't do much to market themselves in comparison makes them more reputable in my opinion. i mean, aussie is flooded with med graduates already with inadequate internship spots (especially NSW), so why further recruit more and more students?

i feel your pain rayjay. the only thing i like about ubc is its holistic approach when evaluating applicants. and, home sweet home. its exciting to study abroad for med but nothing beats home personally.

im also a master graduate! what's your master in?

Hi keepontrying:

Well, what can I say? Keep on trying! With your stats, I'm sure you can get into a good school.

Have you tried other schools with smaller class size like Deakins, Wollongong, or Monash? I agree that Melbourne is only doing the MD for marketing purposes, because I hear that their new curriculum is practically the same.

UQ has a large class size, too large in fact. Over 400 graduates (almost 500) last year. O.O And it's increasing, too! The number of students per unit ratio is scary.

And did you know that Sydney bought the curriculum from Flinders? ==" I didn't know that before.

And let alone the fact that both of them are hit pretty hard by the medical tsunami.

But Flinders has its own problems, too. For example, it's closed off and less socially active unlike the schools in the big cities like Usyd, Unimelb, and UQ. As strong as they are in the PBL and knowledge of health and disease, I'm already hearing some senior med students complaining of how the doctor-patient and doctor and society classes are taught horribly (they switched off some lecturers I think and the new teachers are still trying to get their **** together).

ANU is good, too! But it's still pretty new in medicine and still trying to make a name for itself.

So, every school seems to have its good and its own problems. Besides, the waiting list on Flinders moves down pretty fast. I'm already hearing people turning down Flinders for Usyd because Sydney is more reputable. They'd rather pay the extra 15k for sheer reputation because in reality, Usyd is definitely more reputable and may be an extra boost in your career as a doctor.

So don't lose hope! And just to let you know, I was rejected by US med schools because I was too stupid to read that they require 2~3 years undergrad and even with my own MCAT/GPA I could've only made it to a low-tier US school at best.

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[jaketheory]

Hi keepontrying:

I agree that Melbourne is only doing the MD for marketing purposes, because I hear that their new curriculum is practically the same.

the new course is completely different from the previous. the previous grad-entry undergrad course was 4.7 years whilst the new MD is 4 years. the old course had no prereqs and for that reason the curriculum did not assume a certain level of previous knowledge, unlike the new course. and the old course did not have a mandatory 6 month research component, which the new course has.

And did you know that Sydney bought the curriculum from Flinders? ==" I didn't know that before.

you have a source for this? sydney switched to grad entry the year after flinders did. i doubt they would be interested in buying a program that had yet to be proven. furthermore, the usyd website says many other uni's have bought it's curriculum. if think flinders would have major issues with sydney claiming other uni's bought their curriculum when their curriculum was bought from Flinders, meaning USyd's curriculum isn't even their own.

ANU is good, too! But it's still pretty new in medicine and still trying to make a name for itself.

do you have references? ANU is regularly ranked in the top uni's of australia and ranks highly internationally. no australian would question them is an elite institution. many aussies consider ANU the best aussie uni. and while the med school is one of the newer schools, it is the oldest of the new grad-entry schools (the only older new school is JCU, which is undergrad entry). further, Canberra had its own clinical school run by USyd, which ANU took over. thus, medical training in Canberra is not new.

So don't lose hope! And just to let you know, I was rejected by US med schools because I was too stupid to read that they require 2~3 years undergrad and even with my own MCAT/GPA I could've only made it to a low-tier US school at best.

i remember you talking about how you were from tawian or something, and i am pretty sure i mentioned in response to that you wouldnt be eligible unless you had completed some coursework in the US. you corrected me in saying you had identified some where that was not so. what gives?

 

[Raigon]

the new course is completely different from the previous. the previous grad-entry undergrad course was 4.7 years whilst the new MD is 4 years. the old course had no prereqs and for that reason the curriculum did not assume a certain level of previous knowledge, unlike the new course. and the old course did not have a mandatory 6 month research component, which the new course has.

I admit they did add some sweet features, but you can't argue the core of curriculum is the same.

you have a source for this? sydney switched to grad entry the year after flinders did. i doubt they would be interested in buying a program that had yet to be proven. furthermore, the usyd website says many other uni's have bought it's curriculum. if think flinders would have major issues with sydney claiming other uni's bought their curriculum when their curriculum was bought from Flinders, meaning USyd's curriculum isn't even their own.

You've heard of pagingdr's before, right? I saw you post there. I don't have a reference, but I do have a website where I saw someone saying that. If you want have issues with this, talk to him:

http://pagingdr.net/forum/index.php?topic=1146.120

12th post down. Argue away, like you always do.

do you have references? ANU is regularly ranked in the top uni's of australia and ranks highly internationally. no australian would question them is an elite institution. many aussies consider ANU the best aussie uni. and while the med school is one of the newer schools, it is the oldest of the new grad-entry schools (the only older new school is JCU, which is undergrad entry). further, Canberra had its own clinical school run by USyd, which ANU took over. thus, medical training in Canberra is not new.

No, this one doesn't have references, it's something that came up in a conversation when I was talking with some friends from Australia, how ANU is a newer school compared to many old schools.

i remember you talking about how you were from tawian or something, and i am pretty sure i mentioned in response to that you wouldnt be eligible unless you had completed some coursework in the US. you corrected me in saying you had identified some where that was not so. what gives?

No, I actually, I didn't find any schools. I was just sick of arguing with you. And also, in my post above I meant the schools I applied to had the 2~3 year pre-requisite. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Eh, I'm going to take my own advice. I don't want to get into another heated argument. Post what you want. I'm not responding to your next post.

 

[jaketheory]

I admit they did add some sweet features, but you can't argue the core of curriculum is the same.

i wouldn't argue they are the same because my point is that they are not.

You've heard of pagingdr's before, right? I saw you post there. I don't have a reference, but I do have a website where I saw someone saying that. If you want have issues with this, talk to him.

.

As I have always stated, people on these forums should confirm things for themselves. people should not believe something simply because someone wrote it in a forum. for the same reason, i urge people to even question my own remarks. people searching for info on these forums are potentially making life changing decisions based on the information provided. simply because someone wrote that statement, is not a good reason to believe it. search around and form your own opinions.

i feel a fair amount of information posted in these forums is pure speculation. as someone who lives in Australia and has been researching the issues for closing on 10 years, i feel a lot of the info provided is not entirely accurate and not realistic. this may be why i come across as argumentative. in deed i feel arguments are good for providing to prospective applicants various views on pros and cons.

 

[keepontrying]

Thanks Raigon for the encouragement. I suppose Syd/Melb/ANU all have better reputation internationally, but it seems that the learning environment is better in Flinders, and South Aus isn't affected by the tsunami yet!

And Jake, Flinders's grad entry program is the oldest in Aus actually. I'm not sure if Flinders sold its curriculum to Syd, but it has been sold to number of universities in North America (hence Flinders is not a foreign name to Canada and US, especially the east coast). I don't have reference for this, but Dr. Tony Edwards confirmed it during interview so I think it's legit.

I know ANU med is a relatively "new" program, but like Jake said, the faculty has alot of experience from its good old days with Syd med so I think it'll be alright. Hopefully I'll do well in the interview this Sunday. (I heard that the admission rate post interview is pretty high for ANU since it's only used as a hurdle to see if the applicant is on the extreme end of the spectrum in terms of communication skills, personality, etc. Can anyone confirm this?)

Btw Raigon, the Doctor Patient course is **** everywhere. Hardly anyone goes to the UBC one at all!