Folks applying to UQ Med for 2009 entry

Start your global medical education
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
i definitely would disagree with DO schools being more legit than an aussie MBBS. the DO degree is not even recognized by the australian medical council as well as many other countries, while the mbbs would be recognized most every where. aussie mbbs programs at least have respectable mcat requirements. the average mcat for successful DO applicants is like 25 or something. most aussie schools wont let you in with that unless your gpa is stellar.

no way any DO school is harder to get into than any US allopath school. where you getting that info? maybe harder to get into than caribean allopath schools, but they dont count as they cater to those that cant get into US allopath schools.

its not just sydney folks that think Queenslanders are a weird bunch. people talk like that all over the country. they speak anecdotally because they met people that said that and took it as truth.

and yes, that ordeal of placing 2008 applicants into 2009 wait lists seems absurd, but i'm sure they are only doing it for internationals, which is simply their way of raking in extra money.
Members don't see this ad.
 
jaketheory said:
i definitely would disagree with DO schools being more legit than an aussie MBBS. the DO degree is not even recognized by the australian medical council as well as many other countries, while the mbbs would be recognized most every where. aussie mbbs programs at least have respectable mcat requirements. the average mcat for successful DO applicants is like 25 or something. most aussie schools wont let you in with that unless your gpa is stellar.

no way any DO school is harder to get into than any US allopath school. where you getting that info? maybe harder to get into than caribean allopath schools, but they dont count as they cater to those that cant get into US allopath schools.

its not just sydney folks that think Queenslanders are a weird bunch. people talk like that all over the country. they speak anecdotally because they met people that said that and took it as truth.

and yes, that ordeal of placing 2008 applicants into 2009 wait lists seems absurd, but i'm sure they are only doing it for internationals, which is simply their way of raking in extra money.
Click to expand...

I agree. A DO may be more useful in the US for the purpose of getting a residency (since you went to med school here, you're more likely to have American rec letters), but in the modern globalizing economy, it's important to consider that the DO is worthless in most countries. Also, DO's aren't legally equivalent to MD's in some US states. The MBBS degree is considered equivalent to the MD degree everywhere in the world.

That said, there are a couple of DO schools that are harder to get into than some allopathic schools. The reason is because osteopathy isn't necessarily a backup to allopathy; some people actually choose osteopathy because it's a better program for what they want to do in life.

I don't think they actually put 2008 applicants on the 2009 admissions list. Somebody just misinterpreted them and posted it on this forum... then he posted a correction later, but nobody noticed it. That guy was actually told by UQ to re-apply for 2009.
 
i would really like to know which DO schools you are referring to that are harder to get into than allopath schools because I'm not believing it at all. please enlighten me.

that said, i will not deny that there are some people that choose to go to a DO school over an MD school because of personal preference. i am not a DO basher; my PCP is a DO and I think he is great. i just dont see it for me given my career goals.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
jaketheory: Look at the MCAT scores and GPA of recent matriculants at Mercer SOM, Meharry SOM, Howard SOM, Ponce School of Medicine, San Juan Bautista SOM, Universidad Central del Caribe SOM, University of Puerto Rico SOM.

Many, I repeat many, DO schools have higher median MCAT and GPA scores then the aforementioned MD schools (yes, everyone of those schools is a US MD school that is accredited by the LCME).
 
jaketheory said:
i would really like to know which DO schools you are referring to that are harder to get into than allopath schools because I'm not believing it at all. please enlighten me.

that said, i will not deny that there are some people that choose to go to a DO school over an MD school because of personal preference. i am not a DO basher; my PCP is a DO and I think he is great. i just dont see it for me given my career goals.
Click to expand...

Western University in California is actually harder to get into than some lower tier MD programs. I also know someone who got into U of Illinois and was rejected by the DO program at Midwestern U in Chicago. Most DO programs in general are not as hard to get into as Allopathic programs but my point is that for North Americans who did not make it to MD programs, they should try for DO schools too, still a lot of students aiming for Allopathic schools are very snobbish and some would rather go overseas, to the Caribbean, Ireland, Australia, Israel, etc. Considering the difficulties of living abroad in an unfamiliar place, the DO is a much better route to medicine than a foreign school.

I totally disagree, DOs are recognized in many countries around the world. And even if you have an MD, its not easy to move across borders. Different countries have varying postgrad education systems. DOs can practice in Canada, the UK, Australia(yes I actually met a US DO who is a director of an ER in Sydney),Germany(Home of the Mighty Euro), Canada, and a number of other places.
China is seeking help from the AOA to improve and modernize health services in that country. If the German dominated Europe and now China are recognizing the DO degree that is a very good sign, they are poised to be the next two economic Superpowers of this century. No offense but you are way way way off the mark for saying Australia is the next big thing. Australia is mostly desert and has a serious water shortage, its also militarily weak and depends on the US for security(Indonesia is to the North of Australia and is a serious security threat, the US for now keeps Indonesia at bay) How can a country of only 20 million compete with an EU of 500 million and China with 1.3 Billion? Both blocs stand to become the powers that will challenge US Supremacy in the 21st Century.

Its no secret that Australia is branch office economy controlled by large foreign powers, the European Union actually owns Brisbane airport and sizeable amount of Sydney, the US, Japan, and China also have massive investments in the country. German for your information is the most commonly heard European language in Australia outside of English.
 
4Health said:
jaketheory: Look at the MCAT scores and GPA of recent matriculants at Mercer SOM, Meharry SOM, Howard SOM, Ponce School of Medicine, San Juan Bautista SOM, Universidad Central del Caribe SOM, University of Puerto Rico SOM.

Many, I repeat many, DO schools have higher median MCAT and GPA scores then the aforementioned MD schools (yes, everyone of those schools is a US MD school that is accredited by the LCME).
Click to expand...

Don't disregard state residency in gauging a school's competitiveness.
 
regarding Mercer SOM, Meharry SOM, Howard SOM, Ponce School of Medicine, San Juan Bautista SOM, Universidad Central del Caribe SOM, University of Puerto Rico SOM:

You cannot consider these schools out of context. All of these schools except Mercer are committed to training underrepresented minorities (URM). Meharry and Howard are both historically black schools and Peurto Rico, well, its mostly hispanics. These are both URM. Mercer does not have that same commitment, however, despite being a private school it only accepts GA residents and has a commitment to producing doctors that will serve underserved/rural areas. All of these factors will drag the average/median scores down. You cannot compare them to DO schools which take students nationwide.

Now if you tell me you think you can apply to these schools and you are not a member of the corresponding URM, not from that state, etc... and think you have a better chance of getting an acceptance than at a DO school you are sadly mistaken.

I am not familiar with Western University in California; however after visiting its website I will say that it appears to be a very respectable school. i will further note that though the average gpa and mcat scores appear to be comparable to lower tier MD schools, such a comparison cannot be made outside the context of the MD school in question. MD schools that have average lower gpa and mcat scores tend to be public schools which have strong preference for in-state applicants. if their in-state applicants on average have lower scores, so will their class. it is not appropriate to compare such a school to a private school which takes students nation or even world wide. for example I am from SC and the 2 MD schools there have mcat scores not too different than Western CA; however, were you to apply there with the average scores as a non-resident you would have no chance of being accepted. The same is not true if the same person were applying to Western CA. It is simply not a fair comparison.
 
neulite said:
Don't disregard state residency in gauging a school's competitiveness.
Click to expand...

State residency doesn't matter. If you want to go to that school, move to that state for one year before applying. The fact is that a lot of DO schools have tougher admissions standards than those schools.
 
tomorrow's may 1 everyone! good luck to all who applied!
 
Good luck to you as well. Lets hope we hear from them soon.
 
So do they notify you of early acceptance if you applied before May 1?
 
liquid_krystale said:
So do they notify you of early acceptance if you applied before May 1?
Click to expand...

No idea. I don't think so but I'm hoping. I checked past threads and acceptances were posted around September at the earliest. However, this is the first year without interviews being calculated so maybe that will speed up the process.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
In the year I applied, I had to go through Acer, OzTrekk changed the process for North Americans, from what I heard, the earlier you get your materials to them the better. I think UQ processes applications in the order they are received.

The process last year was similar to this year, so I think the interview is still a factor in the admissions process.
 
JoeNamaMD said:
The process last year was similar to this year, so I think the interview is still a factor in the admissions process.
Click to expand...

What type of questions did they ask you? I see that OzTREKK says "no traditional interview questions will be asked". Just wondering what is discussed.
 
i just read this on another forum and thought i'd post to share this:
http://pagingdr.proboards61.com/index.cgi?board=interview&action=display&thread=311

read the first couple pages by the international applicant. seems like the non-traditional interview is more or less a way to seek out your english language abilities and to ensure you're not a weirdo or dexter morgan.

just to alleviate some of our pre-med neuroticism... i can't wait for a response!! (crossing my fingers to receive one!) good luck and hope this helps!:D
 
oh, and look for the posts by "ph13", that's the person who was interviewed by UQ
 
ewc said:
oh, and look for the posts by "ph13", that's the person who was interviewed by UQ
Click to expand...

Yeah, looks like it was a pretty loose format. That would be nice to be informed of acceptance on the phone like that person was. According to her, if you are granted an interview it means you meet their requirements and are basically accepted...according to her if you read some other posts.
 
Boy they really dumbed down the interview process, the phone interview is just a test of English proficiency. How silly, I think the vast majority of applicants, those who finished a Bachelor's degree or higher in North America have good command of English.
 
JoeNamaMD, where did you go to medical school? Or where are you applying?
 
JoeNamaMD said:
I think the vast majority of applicants, those who finished a Bachelor's degree or higher in North America have good command of English.
Click to expand...

I can think of many counterexamples.
 
I am at UQ, but am doing some electives in the US this month. I am wondering if attrition is now going to become an issue with UQ, now that they are increasing enrollment to a substantial amount.
 
JoeNamaMD said:
I am at UQ, but am doing some electives in the US this month. I am wondering if attrition is now going to become an issue with UQ, now that they are increasing enrollment to a substantial amount.
Click to expand...

I don't know why people make such a big deal out of attrition. If people flunk out, it's their own problem. I think it's better to have a bigger entering class and to weed them out if need be... that way, you're less likely to reject a great applicant, you get more tuition money, and you don't lose anything.
 
shan564 said:
I don't know why people make such a big deal out of attrition. If people flunk out, it's their own problem. I think it's better to have a bigger entering class and to weed them out if need be... that way, you're less likely to reject a great applicant, you get more tuition money, and you don't lose anything.
Click to expand...

This is a common misconception. While I agree for the most part for monetary reasons, letting someone in that is likely to flunk out would waste the professors time and would take up a spot that someone more deserving could have filled. This is especially true for programs that utilize a rolling admissions process (i.e. UQ).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
shan564 said:
I don't know why people make such a big deal out of attrition. If people flunk out, it's their own problem. I think it's better to have a bigger entering class and to weed them out if need be... that way, you're less likely to reject a great applicant, you get more tuition money, and you don't lose anything.
Click to expand...

Well under the old system attrition was unheard of, and attrition in Australian schools is still reasonably low. Few people fail out, though there are some who have to repeat some coursework. Caribbean schools have a reputation for very high attrition. I would be really irritated if Australian schools lowered themselves to the level of those diploma mills.

More than a few people have noticed that at UQ attrition is higher among Australian students than Internationals, usually Australians just leave because of choice, not because they were forced out. Internationals who have to pay full fees are less likely to leave. Most locals have access to HECS.

Most adcoms are good at telling who is going to succeed and who is going to fail out. Its also in the school's best interest to take people who they know will complete the curriculum. Considering the large financial commitment that international students are undertaking, its the most ethical thing for schools to do in the admissions process.

Attrition in the US and Canada is rare, never more than 1 percent of the class.
 
Joe, are you from the US originally? Or Aussie-born?
 
neulite said:
This is a common misconception. While I agree for the most part for monetary reasons, letting someone in that is likely to flunk out would waste the professors time and would take up a spot that someone more deserving could have filled. This is especially true for programs that utilize a rolling admissions process (i.e. UQ).
Click to expand...

Well, I don't expect them to let people in who are "likely" to flunk... just people who aren't totally guaranteed to succeed. For example, if somebody has a good MCAT score and a crappy GPA, I think you can assume that the person is reasonably bright and has a decent chance at succeeding.
 
I would not get paranoid about failing out of an Australian school, usually the ones who do flunk out, are the ones who do not do the work, usually go out partying too much, hanging out at the beach all the time, etc. I met a girl at USyd who failed her Barrier, which sort of like the USMLE, which you need to pass to enter clinical rotations, the first time. She passed it the second time around. I know at Sydney 10 percent of the Class fails that test on the first try but most succeed on the second attempt, maybe a few wind up repeating year 2. Its definitely not like the Caribbean schools that take your money, then kick you on your rear end. Usually on the island and the iron curtain(Poland etc) schools, most people get weeded out in the first semester.

MCAT is supposed to be more predictive of someone's performance in medical school than the GPA.
 
I'm definitely not paranoid... if anything, I'm overconfident. I just think it's interesting that people are always so worried about attrition, since your fate is really in your own hands.
 
anyone heard anything recently? i'm still waiting...
 
I just talked to Matt at OzTREKK... he said that they haven't started sending out offers yet, but they should be expecting them sometime next week (depending on when you sent in your application).

My OzTREKK profile says that my app was sent to UQ on March 4, and Matt said that I'll probably hear back by the end of next week... so I guess you can estimate based on that.
 
thanks for your input shan, seems like 1 more week of waiting it is!
 
for all those who applied to UQ thru Oztrekk, there might be an update for you on extranet (their application login page sent to applicants when we apply). as of 1300 hrs EST this afternoon, i got my unconditional offer and now i have to scrounge for the moolah! i'm not sure about any interviews, because i haven't gotten any yet... congrats to those who got it as well! those who haven't received word, hang tight and good luck!!!
 
Hey ewc,

3pm... haven't heard anything,
would you mind sharing with us when you sent out your application? Also, did you get an e-mail letting you know or just extranet notification? Congratulations!
 
I haven't seen anything either, but Matt told me on the phone that I'm scheduled to receive an unconditional offer sometime next week. He said that they'd send an email too.
 
i just checked extranet for the offer. i didn't get any email although extranet said they will send an email..... congrats shan!
 
Firstly...congrats to you guys! Secondly, how much is the deposit?
Thirdly, how much time do you have before you accept the offer?

Thanks a lot!
 
oops, sorry prepsych, forgot to mention, my application arrived for 3 mar 08.
the deposit is $8000 AUD (tuition amount) + $1406 AUD (for health insurance). the letter put 20 jun 08 as the deadline for submission. i suspect that they put the applications in order of receipt, as well as approving it in batches...
 
How long do you have to submit the deposit?
 
The health insurance fee isn't required until you go to Aus, right?
 
i believe i mentioned that the deadline for the deposit is 20 jun 08. got the offer letter from extranet on 08 may 08. i'm sure you can count... ;) the insurance is also part of the deposit
 
How did you login to the OzTREKK site? I don't think I was given a username or password plus I can't find a link to that page.
 
the site is www.oztrekk.com/extranet and alison rodd sent me the info as a confirmation with a username and password when she confirmed the receipt of my application.
 
ewc said:
oops, sorry prepsych, forgot to mention, my application arrived for 3 mar 08.
the deposit is $8000 AUD (tuition amount) + $1406 AUD (for health insurance). the letter put 20 jun 08 as the deadline for submission. i suspect that they put the applications in order of receipt, as well as approving it in batches...
Click to expand...

Hold on. So you have to pay around $10,000 for a deposit to hold your place in class or they drop you? And you have to do this by June 20th? That seems quite a steep price to pay to hold your place and you DEFINITELY won't be waiting to hear back from anyone else later in the year...unless this deposit is refundable. I just don't see why they wouldn't do a couple hundred bucks non-refundable to hold your place that way you can decide later if you want to go somewhere else.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I wish that were the case too, but they're working on their agenda, not ours.

I wish that the Australian universities would have a single date on which they released their acceptance, rejection, waitlist offers so students don't have to be wedged between a rock and a hard place.
 
liquid_krystale said:
I wish that were the case too, but they're working on their agenda, not ours.

I wish that the Australian universities would have a single date on which they released their acceptance, rejection, waitlist offers so students don't have to be wedged between a rock and a hard place.
Click to expand...

Understood but $10,000 AU? Quite steep and quite a commitment by June 20th if you ask me. Plus you gotta figure out where to get that dough. Do federal loan loan mechanisms for the US pay during the summer? How are all of yall getting the money? (don't mind the "yall"...Mississippi here "eh")
 
i guess you're right that 10000 AU is kinda steep... i applied to this program with the thought of actually going thru with it, so i don't have a problem thinking of paying it... but then again it is cheaper (the whole tuition) than the usyd and melbourne program (i think) and the program seems impressive. i'm not american or canadian, so i'm not qualified for the federal loans. from what i last heard, canadian banks have a limit of 150000 over 4 years, and canhelp went to ****, so it's going to be hard for all this year
 
i was just reviewing my offer, i'm not sure if the 8000 AU is non-refundable, i'll have to double check with oztrekk. i'm pretty sure that the 1406 AU for the health insurance is non-refundable....
 
Whoa, that is getting real sketchy, they want 10 Grand up front by June??? When I got accepted, they never even asked for a deposit, my tuition for the first semester was paid a month after the first semester started. That screams diploma mill if you ask me. Sydney, Flinders, and Melbourne, never ask for such high sums of money up front. UOW asks for like 1200 AUD for accepted students. That is just too much money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

M
UQ-Ochsner 2025
Replies
14
Views
3K
RadsNola
RadsNola
P
UQ-Ochsner 2024
2
Replies
77
Views
17K
pickledmango
P
M
UQ
Replies
1
Views
1K
BLTCOOL
B
D
UQ-Ochsner 2023
2 3
Replies
104
Views
22K
Smart-hair
S
W
UQ International MMI Invites
Replies
4
Views
1K
YoungAtom
Y
Top