Australian Medical School 2022 Entry

[Average_Canoe]

How have Australia’s international travel rules changed in response to Omicron?

We explain what border restrictions have changed and what the new Covid variant means for visa holders planning to travel to Australia

www.theguardian.com

Unfortunately we're now going to have to delay until the 15th or later :/ Good luck everyone with rescheduling....

@Wolvvs you won't be affected by this, from your post history it looks like you are a 2nd year student now. Medical students in their last 3 years of study are exempt from any travel restrictions (Travel restrictions | COVID-19 and the border). Just apply asap for the exemption, they were pretty quick granting them before.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Wolvvs]

@Wolvvs you won't be affected by this, from your post history it looks like you are a 2nd year student now. Medical students in their last 3 years of study are exempt from any travel restrictions (Travel restrictions | COVID-19 and the border). Just apply asap for the exemption, they were pretty quick granting them before.

I forgot about that tbh, but also it's not that easy unfortunately. We aren't officially year 2 students until Dec 1, so got to wait until then, and also the dept of home affairs has requested that exemption requests be filed by the school directly and that they don't want to see a bunch of individual requests. So we're kind of dependent on the school, and also don't know if a bulk exemption will take longer to process/if there may be delays or a temporary hold on processing exemption requests at this point. We'll just have to wait and see!

 

[Average_Canoe]

I forgot about that tbh, but also it's not that easy unfortunately. We aren't officially year 2 students until Dec 1, so got to wait until then, and also the dept of home affairs has requested that exemption requests be filed by the school directly and that they don't want to see a bunch of individual requests. So we're kind of dependent on the school, and also don't know if a bulk exemption will take longer to process/if there may be delays or a temporary hold on processing exemption requests at this point. We'll just have to wait and see!

Just got word from our school that the department of home affairs is no longer doing bulk exemptions, only individual. But hopefully that won't even be needed after the 15th.

 

[elrm257]

What is the general 500 student visa process time right now? I know it says 52 days but does it usually take that long?

 

[BLTCOOL]

What is the general 500 student visa process time right now? I know it says 52 days but does it usually take that long?

Not long at all but it's all depends on if your application required a health exam. If it does then you have to visit a "Australia qualify" doc to get it done and once the exam come back clear, usually Visa will process within 24h after the health result.

 

[elrm257]

Not long at all but it's all depends on if your application required a health exam. If it does then you have to visit a "Australia qualify" doc to get it done and once the exam come back clear, usually Visa will process within 24h after the health result.

That's actually so helpful thank you! When do you find out if you need a health exam in the process? I submitted my application yesterday and trying to figure out travel plans

 

[Wolvvs]

How many people fail clinical sciences 1? Kinda worried ahaha

They gave us the mean and standard deviation for paper 1 of the final exam, worth 50% of the grade but probably a good proxy. The passing mark for the course was set at 52%, which was a 5th percentile score. The lowest score for a 3 was set at 43%, which was a .5th percentile score (with the implication being that those with a 3 are eligible for a supplementary assessment in order to achieve a 4, the lowest passing grade). Given a class size of 500, the number of students who did not pass for purely academic reasons was probably somewhere between 25 (5th percentile) and 3 (.5th percentile). I would guess that most students who didn't pass semester 1 did so for reasons other than academics (like conduct or attendance).

 

[abpos]

They gave us the mean and standard deviation for paper 1 of the final exam, worth 50% of the grade but probably a good proxy. The passing mark for the course was set at 52%, which was a 5th percentile score. The lowest score for a 3 was set at 43%, which was a .5th percentile score (with the implication being that those with a 3 are eligible for a supplementary assessment in order to achieve a 4, the lowest passing grade). Given a class size of 500, the number of students who did not pass for purely academic reasons was probably somewhere between 25 (5th percentile) and 3 (.5th percentile). I would guess that most students who didn't pass semester 1 did so for reasons other than academics (like conduct or attendance).

I know you’re in the Ochsner program but it really feels like you’re Canadian!
These stats are super helpful. Did they break it down by cohort? Did you feel as good about the course as the numbers show, or was this result surprising?

 

[Wolvvs]

I know you’re in the Ochsner program but it really feels like you’re Canadian!
These stats are super helpful. Did they break it down by cohort? Did you feel as good about the course as the numbers show, or was this result surprising?

Haha I'm glad I can be so helpful! <3

They don't break it down by cohort unfortunately, that's across the entire class. Due to the relatively more competitive nature of UQ for Australians vs internationals, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the course failures were in the international cohorts (but I have nothing to back this up). Clinical science is hard, and it is very hard to get a good grade. Passing can be tricky depending on your individual situation, but in most cases if you work hard and apply yourself then you should be able to pass. My results, and the results for the class overall, were not at all surprising.

 

[abpos]

Haha I'm glad I can be so helpful! <3

They don't break it down by cohort unfortunately, that's across the entire class. Due to the relatively more competitive nature of UQ for Australians vs internationals, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the course failures were in the international cohorts (but I have nothing to back this up). Clinical science is hard, and it is very hard to get a good grade. Passing can be tricky depending on your individual situation, but in most cases if you work hard and apply yourself then you should be able to pass. My results, and the results for the class overall, were not at all surprising.

You are a gem <3 and I can’t help but try to figure out who you are once school starts
Your thoughts match what I would expect too. All of us internationals are coming into a foreign school system as well.

 

[elrm257]

They won’t notify you. You have to login to the portal and click on health assessment, print the referral form and then book the appointment with the approved visa dr in your state/province.

you are a life saver for letting me know about all of this! This process is confusing. Do you also happen to know when we find out if we need to provide biometrics? I am trying to leave the US but scared that they will notify me to go to DC embassy as soon as I do

 

[yj396uquq]

hey guys, is there a facebook group or something like that for UniMelb international student class of 2025? Looking for a place to ask and share info for incoming offshore students

 

[hopefulUQ]

hey guys, is there a facebook group or something like that for UniMelb international student class of 2025? Looking for a place to ask and share info for incoming offshore students

I've been looking at well and can't find one!

 

[hopefulUQ]

What is the general 500 student visa process time right now? I know it says 52 days but does it usually take that long?

I just checked mine and it said 3-7 months processing time HAH

 

[Wolvvs]

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) requirements

medicine-program.uq.edu.au

You must get a background check. For me as a US citizen that involved submitting fingerprints to the FBI, not sure what is required for Canadian citizens. You can mail in fingerprints yourself but that didn't work for me, and I ended up going to a place that took them electronically. Not sure if that's what you meant by biometrics but wanted to put this here just in case.

 

[ayh89]

you are a life saver for letting me know about all of this! This process is confusing. Do you also happen to know when we find out if we need to provide biometrics? I am trying to leave the US but scared that they will notify me to go to DC embassy as soon as I do

if i'm not wrong, all student visa applicants need to submit biometrics at their nearest Australia Visa Biometrics Centre. If you are leaving US, you may want to check where is your nearest biometric centre in the new country you are travelling to. It was supposed to be done within 2 weeks of visa application but covid means you have some leeway. Health check is for Medicine students due to the need to enter healthcare facilities

 

[elrm257]

if i'm not wrong, all student visa applicants need to submit biometrics at their nearest Australia Visa Biometrics Centre. If you are leaving US, you may want to check where is your nearest biometric centre in the new country you are travelling to. It was supposed to be done within 2 weeks of visa application but covid means you have some leeway. Health check is for Medicine students due to the need to enter healthcare facilities

but there is no information on my immi account portal that I need to do that? there are no messages or notices ? I submitted last week

 

[ayh89]

but there is no information on my immi account portal that I need to do that? there are no messages or notices ? I submitted last week

You should receive an email requesting for biometrics. If not, login your ImmiAccount and look at "Messages" tab. Health check will be in another tab at the sidebar I think. Mine's granted and the health check tab is no longer there

 

[LIZA99]

Hi guys, has anyone heard back from Monash or Sydney Uni recently? has USYD released second or third round offers by any chance that you guys know of?

 

[doc202]

Hi all - last night I received an offer from UQ! Obviously I was very excited, but now also quite stressed since orientation starts Jan. 24th and I have nothing figured out (I am a Canadian applicant). Is anyone else on the same boat? I am not even sure what the current travel situation is for UQ first years. I have tried reading online but things seem to be changing rapidly. I am reaching out to Oztrekk to chat but wanted to see if anything here can offer any much needed advice.

 

[BLTCOOL]

Hi all - last night I received an offer from UQ! Obviously I was very excited, but now also quite stressed since orientation starts Jan. 24th and I have nothing figured out (I am a Canadian applicant). Is anyone else on the same boat? I am not even sure what the current travel situation is for UQ first years. I have tried reading online but things seem to be changing rapidly. I am reaching out to Oztrekk to chat but wanted to see if anything here can offer any much needed advice.

International students (Year 1 and 2 in 2022)

medicine-program.uq.edu.au

Check the page out. Current situation is get your Visa asap, immunization , buy your ticket to Sydney or Melbourne / or you can go straight to Brisbane but will be quarantine for 14 days. International borders is open in Australia. Also you need your CoE for the Visa application, and you may want to check if there are any approved Australian doc near you. Book that appointment and get the health check after finish your Visa application so the Visa can get process ASAP

 

[Wolvvs]

Contact us

Find the nearest service location to you in the list of our offices across the world

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

Go here, search Canada, open up the Panel physician menu and take a look. Depending on where you are, you might need to travel for a health check. You should get the information you need for the health check soon after submitting your visa application.

 

[elrm257]

I've been looking at well and can't find one!

maybe we should start one ourselves!

 

[Sarnius]

We do have Facebook groups for international students at each Australian medical school. These groups are specific to the 2022 entry and consist of mostly Canadian students who applied through Oztrekk and were accepted. If you would like to join the Unimelb Facebook group, feel free to contact me. We currently have a little over 30 students and are fairly active.

Another Facebook group is UMMSS International. This group is composed of all international MD students from all years at Unimelb. You can find this group by searching on Facebook or visiting their website.

 

[yucm2021]

International students (Year 1 and 2 in 2022)

medicine-program.uq.edu.au

Check the page out. Current situation is get your Visa asap, immunization , buy your ticket to Sydney or Melbourne / or you can go straight to Brisbane but will be quarantine for 14 days. International borders is open in Australia. Also you need your CoE for the Visa application, and you may want to check if there are any approved Australian doc near you. Book that appointment and get the health check after finish your Visa application so the Visa can get process ASAP

Thanks for the help! How long does it take to get the CoE? Seems like the batch of people who got off the waitlist this week are really in a crunch for time. I wonder what will happen if we don't get there by orientation week.

 

[BLTCOOL]

Uq seems to release CoE by patches , usually within 5 business days. Attendance to orientation is required but if you cutting close and can't make it . Contact the student medical support team and let them know, they will help you out Student support - Medicine Program - University of Queensland

 

[hopefulUQ]

maybe we should start one ourselves!

oh wait i just found it ? - it was created 5 weeks ago

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

 

[Rayz]

Hi all - last night I received an offer from UQ! Obviously I was very excited, but now also quite stressed since orientation starts Jan. 24th and I have nothing figured out (I am a Canadian applicant). Is anyone else on the same boat? I am not even sure what the current travel situation is for UQ first years. I have tried reading online but things seem to be changing rapidly. I am reaching out to Oztrekk to chat but wanted to see if

Uq seems to release CoE by patches , usually within 5 business days. Attendance to orientation is required but if you cutting close and can't make it . Contact the student medical support team and let them know, they will help you out Student support - Medicine Program - University of Queensland

For those who accepted their offers this week, has anyone received an invoice yet? Also I tried to contact the medical support team but they said they weren't in the best position to assist so they cc'ed me to the faculty of medicine enquiries team. Haven't gotten a reply yet though...

 

[yucm2021]

For those who accepted their offers this week, has anyone received an invoice yet? Also I tried to contact the medical support team but they said they weren't in the best position to assist so they cc'ed me to the faculty of medicine enquiries team. Haven't gotten a reply yet though...

I'm also still waiting. Do you know if our spot is "saved" while the invoice is active? Or do we have to pay ASAP to secure the spot?

 

[doc202]

For those who accepted their offers this week, has anyone received an invoice yet? Also I tried to contact the medical support team but they said they weren't in the best position to assist so they cc'ed me to the faculty of medicine enquiries team. Haven't gotten a reply yet though...

No invoice yet.. 2 business days should be up overnight so we will see. Yeah the medical support team did not give me a clear answer either

 

[Rayz]

I'm also still waiting. Do you know if our spot is "saved" while the invoice is active? Or do we have to pay ASAP to secure the spot?

No invoice yet.. 2 business days should be up overnight so we will see. Yeah the medical support team did not give me a clear answer either

Our spots are only saved after we receive the CoE... also how are you guys going about the immunization and serology checks?? Also I'd hate to defer another semester if we can't make it for orientation lol

 

[med4evah]

Our spots are only saved after we receive the CoE... also how are you guys going about the immunization and serology checks?? Also I'd hate to defer another semester if we can't make it for orientation lol

Will we be allowed to defer though? is that an option? Cuz as far as I am told, UQ is not as encouraging on deferrals (though who knows it might change that rule with all these changes)

 

[Rayz]

Will we be allowed to defer though? is that an option? Cuz as far as I am told, UQ is not as encouraging on deferrals (though who knows it might change that rule with all these changes

from the terms and condition document

 

[doc202]

Our spots are only saved after we receive the CoE... also how are you guys going about the immunization and serology checks?? Also I'd hate to defer another semester if we can't make it for orientation lol

I thought based on what Oztrekk said your spot is secure while the invoice is active? And I remember reading somewhere if a spot isn’t available, when you click ‘Continue’ to secure your spot it doesn’t allow (might be wrong here though)

Is deferral even possible? I thought it wasn’t. Super unclear about it :/

 

[BLTCOOL]

I thought based on what Oztrekk said your spot is secure while the invoice is active? And I remember reading somewhere if a spot isn’t available, when you click ‘Continue’ to secure your spot it doesn’t allow (might be wrong here though)

Is deferral even possible? I thought it wasn’t. Super unclear about it :/

Spot only secure when you actually get the CoE , you can still paid and if spot full they refund your money. Unfortunately, UQ doesn't do defer anymore , they only did that due to Covid, otherwise you will have to reapply

 

[med4evah]

from the terms and condition document

Thanks for letting me know where I can find it! It is in the general offer letter (I wonder if it will apply to the Quota programs-( where MD falls under) as that is a separate section?

 

[med4evah]

Spot only secure when you actually get the CoE , you can still paid and if spot full they refund your money. Unfortunately, UQ doesn't do defer anymore , they only did that due to Covid, otherwise you will have to reapply

oh ok!

 

[med4evah]

oh ok!

Found these... though I hope the 10 day has been reevaluated to make it faster to get the CoE

 

[yucm2021]

Found these... though I hope the 10 day has been reevaluated to make it faster to get the CoE

Is this for the traditional med route too? Where did you find this :O

 

[med4evah]

Is this for the traditional med route too? Where did you find this :O

Sorry should have provided the link along! : How to accept your MD offer FAQs

 

[Rayz]

Found these... though I hope the 10 day has been reevaluated to make it faster to get the CoE

oh wow, hopefully we receive an invoice soon...

 

[Wolvvs]

Last year, I submitted a payment Nov 6 and got the CoE on Nov 10. I don't think it usually takes the full 10 days to process payment, and I would hope they're prioritizing fast processing because of tight turnarounds. EDIT: taking into account weekends and the time difference, it took them about 2.5 business days to process.

 

[med4evah]

Just a quick q, are mostly all Aus med schools being strict with "physical presence" by commencement period now, or are there still some schools offering online/deferral for those getting late offers? Just wondered if online can be hoped by UQ if other schools are doing it in case we cannot make it on time. Kinda give us a few days/week flexibility...Cuz we won't be able to defer and then we might have to wait another year cycle just because we weren't able to reach on time :/

 

[doc202]

Just a quick q, are mostly all Aus med schools being strict with "physical presence" by commencement period now, or are there still some schools offering online/deferral for those getting late offers? Just wondered if online can be hoped by UQ if other schools are doing it in case we cannot make it on time. Kinda give us a few days/week flexibility...Cuz we won't be able to defer and then we might have to wait another year cycle just because we weren't able to reach on time :/

From my chat with Oztrekk it seems like UQ won’t be flexible. I’m hoping otherwise but at this point it’s up in the air

 

[BLTCOOL]

Just a quick q, are mostly all Aus med schools being strict with "physical presence" by commencement period now, or are there still some schools offering online/deferral for those getting late offers? Just wondered if online can be hoped by UQ if other schools are doing it in case we cannot make it on time. Kinda give us a few days/week flexibility...Cuz we won't be able to defer and then we might have to wait another year cycle just because we weren't able to reach on time :/

TBH with you, it seems like all of the Australia meds schools are done with the whole online thing. Based on last year, they literally wouldn't accept people unless you were actually onshore/ some the students that left Aus Last year and couldn't come back due to border closer ended up either defer or have to reapply (UQ did allow online but those 2nd year students now literally have to arrive in Brisbane earlier than Jan 24th start date). Now that the borders are open, I doubt that these Aus meds schools willing to be flexible and let people defer/be online. In the case of UQ, they required Physical attendance because we have a 5 hours "Case Base Learning" Classes requirement every week so no chance of doing UQ med school online.

 

[med4evah]

From my chat with Oztrekk it seems like UQ won’t be flexible. I’m hoping otherwise but at this point it’s up in the air

ah okey dokey :/ ... I am hoping otherwise too but let's see then

 

[med4evah]

TBH with you, it seems like all of the Australia meds schools are done with the whole online thing. Based on last year, they literally wouldn't accept people unless you were actually onshore/ some the students that left Aus Last year and couldn't come back due to border closer ended up either defer or have to reapply (UQ did allow online but those 2nd year students now literally have to arrive in Brisbane earlier than Jan 24th start date). Now that the borders are open, I doubt that these Aus meds schools willing to be flexible and let people defer/be online. In the case of UQ, they required Physical attendance because we have a 5 hours "Case Base Learning" Classes requirement every week so no chance of doing UQ med school online.

oh... okay thank you for this! It will help me keep a realistic expectation throughout this whole thing

 

[med4evah]

Hey guys! I had question.. with the rising cases in Canadian Ontario province, if we were to go into lockdown again, how badly would that impact our travel to Australia? Or would that mean just a few more extra protocol steps or something?

 

[med4evah]

Hi all, I am not able to access and join the daily webinars regarding Preparing to travel...Would anyone who attends these seminars, or any UQ seminars (like current students) be able to tell what UQ thinks if they would be able to reach 90% earlier than the mid-late Jan? I understand currently UQ is already at 84.2% of full vaccination rate D) which is from 80% on Dec 8th... Or what you guys feel about UQ's likelihood date to reach 90%? ty

 

[BLTCOOL]

2,297 Coronavirus Cases and 142 Active in Queensland - COVID Live I used to stalk that page for the vac rate but at a few seminar back, the uq staff said not to ride on the vac rate hitting 90% double dose . That is because the Queensland vac rate was stall for the longest time until recently when the government put in restrictions for the unvac. On that page you can also look at the estimated date range until when they hit 90% double and as you can see , its very close to orientation date. On top of that, with the omicron variant and Queensland gov reluctant to reduce quarantine days for the vaccinated from 14 to 7, there is no guarantee that once Queensland hit 90% that they would keep their words and remove quarantine restriction. (This is the reason why the UQ staff was very hesitant on recommending waiting on the vac rate to hit 90% to travel to Queensland).