Wow...it's been ages since I've been on this forum!
Hey!
To answer some of the questions that people have raised and to help the OP, here are a few things that I hope can help. I would have to say that as a Year 4 student at UQ, I would have to say that the quality of medical education that I have received has been quite good, then again, I wouldn't know how to objectively compare it to other Australian medical curricula.
To comment on some of the remarks made thus far. First off, international students may find that the amount of basic anatomy, pharmacology, biochemistry and physiology may not necessarily be the same as what you would need to do/go over for the USMLE Step 1, but why should anyone expect it to? You could say the exact same thing for all Australian medical schools, as they are not in the 'business' to create doctors for the American health care system and nor should they be expected to. The layout of the curriculum will definitely be different to that of how it may be done in North America. If you are going to write USMLE Step 1, then you should be expected to supplement your learning with what you will need to know for those exams. Also, for Years 1 and 2, UQ has a concentric style of teaching, so that you will come to each system twice as opposed to learning everything about one particular system in one go. And with the PBL model and tutorial groups of 10, you can be sure to have time in small learning groups. There are both good and bad elements to both teaching styles.
To make the claim that Queensland is redneck territory is a gross generalisation. As a person of Indo-Canadian decent, I've yet to feel uncomfortable or out of place in the past 4 years that I've been here. Then again, this is highly subjective and experiences differ for different people.
As for the rural placement that UQ requires all of its students to do, is actually a fantastic opportunity to hone in on your clinical and procedural skills. If you graduate and work in any Queensland Health hospital, then as a Junior House Officer, you are expected to to at least one rural term/rural relieving term. Some hospitals require interns to go rural (i.e. Mater, Royal Brisbane and Gold Coast). I am aware that this is the same for many of the other State's health systems.
The School of Medicine (in line with the rest of the university's goals of internationalisation) is trying to make UQ Australia's first 'global medical school'. Currently students in 1st and 4th year are able to do their elective overseas (or elsewhere within Australia). Also, UQ has a long-standing relationship with Brunei Department of Health such that UQ students have been able to do some of their Year 3 and 4 rotations there (which I did last year - and was an absolute fantastic experience!). There are also opportunities to do medical and surgical specialties rotation overseas, which the site(s) need to be approved by the School of Medicine (usually a formality).
More and more international students (mainly from Canada and the US), not only from UQ but all across the country, are expressing their concern about the perceived lack of future intern positions and as such are looking for ways of getting back to Canada and the US (just for interest sake: every single international student at UQ's 2008 graduating cohort was offered an internship position in Australia). The idea behind setting up the UQ-Ochsner link is to provide students with a more international focus on their degree and the opportunity for students to receive clinical experience in North America, which is a much needed boost in the application for North American residency programmes. The School of Medicine is looking at creating partnerships with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and University of British Columbia. I know that the option of doing some of your core rotations at Ochsner is available to both domestic and international students. Yes, I do think that UQ needs to be careful in terms of making sure that it does not overextend itself. However, at the same time, I commend UQ for making subtle changes over the past years to not only accommodate what international (and domestic) students would like but also the university-at-large.
I know that I originally chose UQ over USyd and Flinders because of the opportunities for international experiences, the concentric style of teaching, lower costs of living (compared to Sydney), exciting urban life (definitely not the same as Sydney but much more than Adelaide) and the fact that Brisbane is located within the sub-tropical band within Australia.
As for the decision between Monash and UQ, perhaps you need to look at what exactly you would like to get out of the programme, apart from being a competent doctor and all. I know of others that have generated a "Pros & Cons" list, which includes things about the medical programme, the university as a whole, the city (lifestyle, cost of living, travel, accessibility of services as a student, etc) and other parameters that you feel would be crucial in choosing a university. I'm sure that in the end, the decision between Monash and UQ will be the right one for you.
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