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JCU James Cook University 2017 Applicants

Mana

there are no stupid questions, only people
Administrator
Does this apply for speciality applications as well or can specialty be undertaken in a different state?

It can be. Bear in mind that generally the ability to do a specialty is contingent on you being able to get a job as an accredited trainee. To get a job as an accredited trainee at some hospitals, work and references within the same hospital or network etc would be looked upon favourably. Thus, coming from a different state to the position you are applying to could potentially disadvantage you for that position.
 
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Weimie

Member
In general the course in JCU is fairly straightforward - the first two years are focused largely on physiology and basic sciences with clinical reasoning and some clinical skills thrown in the mix, 3rd year brings in more of the clinically relevant advanced sciences (immunology/infectious diseases/pathology foundations/emergency medicine/skin and special senses etc). 4th year is the start of your clinical years based in the hospital but also incorporates pathology lectures, while 5th year has a series of rotations that are run with lectures/tutorials run by registrars and consultants from the hospital. 6th year is basically you learning what you think you should learn and is kind of a free-for-all intern preparation year.

For the first 3 years the entire cohort is based in Townsville and as such the lectures are conducted face-to-face with the entire cohort present (i.e. ~160-180). You have 4 subjects each semester and for each subject you have: 1 x intro lecture (1hr), 1 x tutorial (3hrs), 1 x synthesising lecture (1hr). The lectures are full class but the tutorials tend to be broken up as required by the subject, i.e. anatomy classes will have ~20-30 people at once in the lab for an hour and will run at varying times over the week whilst tutorials that don't require as much face-to-face 1-on-1 teaching or aren't limited by materials have larger groups. It's all very variable in the way its set out and is tailored for each tutorial.

From fourth year onwards the cohort splits up with ~60 students heading to Cairns and the remainder staying in Townsville. I have absolutely no perspective on how things are run in the Townsville cohort because I wasn't there. In Cairns you again are split into smaller rotation groups (~10) and it is in these groups that you have your weekly 3-4 hour long tutorials with usually a senior GP registrar or Consultant who runs it as per JCU's syllabus. The same groups are used to teach you clinical skills in more depth which run weekly for ~2-3 hours with simulated patients. There is also some bedside teaching that occurs with the sixth year students and this is generally in groups of 2-3 depending on how keen the 6th years are.

Hi, when the class splits between Townsville and cairns how is this decided? What are the advantages/disadvantages between the two locations?
Thanks :)
 

Benjamin

ICU Reg (JCU)
Emeritus Staff
Hi, when the class splits between Townsville and cairns how is this decided? What are the advantages/disadvantages between the two locations?
Thanks :)

The class splits into Cairns/Townsville for 4th year and then further splits the Townsville group for fifth year into either Townsville, Cairns, Darwin or Mackay. Cairns students can apply to go to Mackay or Darwin but are guarenteed a spot in Cairns if they want to keep it, while Townsville students have to go into the ballot. For a Townsville student to come to Cairns they have to actively find a student to swap with.

Allocations work the same way as any allocations throughout the medical school - there is a form online where you submit your preference and you are able to see the number of people who have submitted which preferences (i.e. 70 Cairns, 120 Townsville). If one of the sites is oversubscribed (i.e. too many applicants) then people are randomly selected from that site allocation and balloted to the undersubscribed sites.

Talking in a non-biased way about advantages/disadvantages specifically is hard as I have only ever studied in Cairns. For me when I made the decision it was because I much preferred to live in Cairns than Townsville and thought that the hospital experience wouldn't be significantly different. In retrospect I certainly preferred living in Cairns, the smaller cohort made a good group and the hospital side of things is difficult to accurately comment on - I don't think I was disadvantaged or advantaged in any way.

It's a decision that you really don't have to think about until the start of 3rd year and for most people is influenced strongly by where their friends are all going. A lot of people put Cairns simply because they don't want to have to deal with a ballot for Darwin/Mackay/Townsville again in 5th year.
 

alexwilko

Member
Hey Ben, I have just been accepted for an interview on the 5th of December. I was just wondering how much focus on rural medicine there is throughout the course and was wondering if you know how people cope having moved interstate to study at JCU. I am from NSW and would probably only be able to come home during holidays if that which is quite daunting for me.

Thanks
 

cocoblack

Lurker
Hi everyone! New here and this thread has been extremely helpful and thanks to everyone who has contributed. Currently graduated from year 12, accepted for an interview on 30th Nov. I'm a interstate, non-rural applicant situated in Brissie, however unfortunately my OP prediction got lowered to 4-7 (was a 3-5). :'( From previous answers, it seems that that JCU accepts no lower than an atar of 96 (OP 3ish) if you're from interstate. Does this mean I will have no chance of getting in? I have been working really hard in T4 but I feel like it's highly unlikely to be raised again. Have also been prepping up for the interview, and am also highly passionate about rural medicine.
 

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umat_star

Member
from those who have finished their jcu interviews...could you kindly tell how long did the interview last for....,do you address the the interviewees as sir/maam or Dr_/Prof_....
was the ambiance tense ??
(no intentions of probing into and of the questions/scenarios:D)
thank you
 

Myst

Member
Never understood the JCU interview selection process. Does the interview offers come out for QLD local/rural students then rural interstate/interstate only ?
Any ideas ?
 

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sals028

Member
Can I please ask if this is normal because this is literally doing my head in, I had my interview early December.
I was the second one to get asked to go through, when I went back to the waiting room I was the third one to walk into the room with anyone else who had finished. Everyone else followed through in due time with one of their respective interviewers giving them the ok to leave. I was literally the only one out of the 9 others that didn't have my interviewer walk back in and let me know If i could go. Until the 10th person walked in and we were told we could all go.

I guess my question is, has anyone come across a situation like this or experienced it themselves? I know I'm really looking into details but its nerve wracking thinking about it. Did they simply forget to come back and let me know i could go, or did i train wreck the interview so bad that they didn't even bother.

lol as you can tell my mind is going 100km/h rethinking about the whole thing over and over
 

B2

Regular Member
Can I please ask if this is normal because this is literally doing my head in, I had my interview early December.
I was the second one to get asked to go through, when I went back to the waiting room I was the third one to walk into the room with anyone else who had finished. Everyone else followed through in due time with one of their respective interviewers giving them the ok to leave. I was literally the only one out of the 9 others that didn't have my interviewer walk back in and let me know If i could go. Until the 10th person walked in and we were told we could all go.

I guess my question is, has anyone come across a situation like this or experienced it themselves? I know I'm really looking into details but its nerve wracking thinking about it. Did they simply forget to come back and let me know i could go, or did i train wreck the interview so bad that they didn't even bother.

lol as you can tell my mind is going 100km/h rethinking about the whole thing over and over

I can assure you 100% that they simply forgot to come back and tell you to leave. Ive heard the same experience happening to a student who was accepted and is currently studying medicine at JCU
 

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