The University of Newcastle (UoN) has taken a unique teamwork approach within their Bachelor of Medicine course, collaborating with the University of New England to create the Joint Medical Program. Although this joint effort represents a new modelling of the course, UoN has offered an undergraduate Medicine course for almost forty years, and has gained an unofficial reputation for creating doctors with superior clinical skills. Their use of ‘Problem-Based Learning’ to train students to think critically and integrate concepts has been extensively harnessed by other medical schools. In this article, 4th year medical student Emma gives us further insight into...

The Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) is the newest addition to NSW's undergraduate medical courses, opening its doors for the first time in 2007. UWS has a particular commitment towards providing health care and education for the Western Sydney region, including a focus on the area of Indigenous health. To find out more about the UWS medical course, I caught up with Jess, a third year medical student at Western Sydney.   Evie: So Jess, you're now more than half-way towards graduating from UWS! Could you share with us what the...

So you find yourself starting the first year of your degree. Your wounds from not getting accepted straight out of high school are still fresh but you know that medicine is the career for you. Graduation from your current degree is still years away so what can you do to try get in till then? Don’t worry, there’s still hope for you.   With most Bachelor’s degrees being three years, you will be sitting the UMAT in either your first or second year of university. Let’s be honest, you are not particularly wanted by medical schools. At this point you...

Many students who live in and around Sydney will have to make decision about whether to study medicine at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Newcastle or Western Sydney. Follow this link for a simple comparison of UNSW vs. Usyd medicine. A blog which may be of interest can be found  here . Apart from issues discussed in the above  blog , the following may be of use: Newcastle is likely to have a wider diversity of student intake (including more mature students), which may be an advantage You will probably get better grades for the same effort at...

Medicine at Monash or Melbourne? A dilemma facing high achievers wanting to pursue medicine is whether to choose Monash University (school leaver entry) or Melbourne University (graduate route). Our view is that Monash school leaver entry is superior for several reasons.  You can speak to one of our staff members during the UMAT workshop, during the Interview Training Sessions, call us or email us to get more details and discuss your specific situation. The reasons why Monash school leaver entry is far better for students are discussed in the  medical entrance interview training  session by MedEntry. These sessions are usually...