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UQ UQ Medicine: Undergraduate Degree Options and Discussion

Hi Everyone!
Congratulations to all those who received offers (for Queensland and elsewhere) and good luck to those still waiting:)

For those who will be or are probably going to Queensland, what first degree is everyone thinking of choosing?
I'm definitely looking at something from Pathway A or B, but am undecided currently.

Personally, I'm leaning towards Bachelor of Biomedical Science, but is there any big advantage to doing something from Pathway A, like Bachelor of Nursing, etc?

Thanks!
 
I'm leaning towards doing something a bit unrelated but something I'm interested in - BSci in biophysics or maybe bioinformatics :)

I don't think there's probably a huge advantage other than that you could probably use it to get work whilst you're studying the MD.
 

Please&Thanks

UQ Doctor of Medicine (Provisional Entry)
After much contemplation and cross-checking, I chose to do the B Biomedical Science (major in Body Systems) as my pre-Medical Degree. This was mainly because I wanted to make sure I had a rock-solid foundation in the theoretical concepts that underpin clinical science and practice in the MD program.

From what I’ve gathered though, it doesn’t really matter what Pre-Medical degree you choose, keeping in mind you’re covering the 2nd-year Biochemistry, Physiology and Anatomy recommended by UQ.

As a guideline, however, ensure you check-out the Pre-Medical Study Planners UQ has for the various degrees - they’re a great help in making sure you pick a degree and major you will enjoy, while also satisfying the recommended biochem, physiology and anatomy courses.

The following links will take you to the UQ Pre-med study planners for B Science and B Biomedical Science (they were the easiest to find):

B Science -https://planner.science.uq.edu.au/filething/get/5319/PreMedStudyPlans_BSc_11Sept2017.pdf

B Biomedical Science - https://planner.science.uq.edu.au/filething/get/5326/PreMedStudyPlans_BBiomedSc_7Nov2017.pdf

Good luck.
 

Concon

Member
Was considering doing Pharmacy for a bit, but why delay medicine by another year? As people have already stated its not important really what your first degree is. I've chosen to do the B Biomedical Science focusing on Body Systems for a solid foundation for med and personal interest :).

Also, is anyone doing some interesting non-science electives for their first degree :)?
 

Please&Thanks

UQ Doctor of Medicine (Provisional Entry)
Was considering doing Pharmacy for a bit, but why delay medicine by another year? As people have already stated its not important really what your first degree is. I've chosen to do the B Biomedical Science focusing on Body Systems for a solid foundation for med and personal interest :).

Also, is anyone doing some interesting non-science electives for their first degree :)?

Yeah - I’m going to do PSYC1020 for Semester 1 (yet to decide on what elective for Semester 2).
I’m skipping the PHYS1171 course; as, after looking at the past final examinations, it just seems like a reiteration of high school level Physics - which I have already done. Actually, I was in an awkward situation regarding my course selections: I didn’t do high school Chemistry (prerequisite for Chem 1), so now I have to *technically* do Introductory CHEM1090 in semester 1 (it’s practically my elective), Chem 1 in semester 2, and skip Chemistry 2 as a whole...

Has anyone else encountered this kind of issue?
 

Isiyara

UQ MD II
Yeah - I’m going to do PSYC1020 for Semester 1 (yet to decide on what elective for Semester 2).
I’m skipping the PHYS1171 course; as, after looking at the past final examinations, it just seems like a reiteration of high school level Physics - which I have already done. Actually, I was in an awkward situation regarding my course selections: I didn’t do high school Chemistry (prerequisite for Chem 1), so now I have to *technically* do Introductory CHEM1090 in semester 1 (it’s practically my elective), Chem 1 in semester 2, and skip Chemistry 2 as a whole...

Has anyone else encountered this kind of issue?

Hi, that's totally fine, just remember that these are study plans only, so you don't have to follow the structure exactly. I mean I did chemistry in highschool and only did CHEM1100 because I'm not a huge fan of chemistry and CHEM1200 didn't really fit in my study plan.

It's more important to check that you are meeting the requirements for BBiomedSc (course list) and that you are meeting the "recommended prior areas of study for the UQ MD program, including 2nd level Anatomy, Biochemistry, and Physiology" (and their first level prerequisites) but I wouldn't worry too much about that since you're doing BBiomedSc.
 
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Nycryte

UTAS MBBS I
Hi, can someone please tell me if you have to do certain courses before the MD at uq? Could I do a bachelor of science majoring in maths and minoring in physics? Also, can you get HD's / high marks in any course at uni or do you need to be in an advanced class sort of thing?
Thanks for the help in advance, I'm totally lost.
 

A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
Hi, can someone please tell me if you have to do certain courses before the MD at uq? Could I do a bachelor of science majoring in maths and minoring in physics? Also, can you get HD's / high marks in any course at uni or do you need to be in an advanced class sort of thing?
Thanks for the help in advance, I'm totally lost.

I thought you had seen the UQ doc that lists accepted degrees/courses for provisional med? It was from that doc that I kept daring you guys to do Dent as undergrad for Med haha.

Don't worry so much about HD, it's not difficult to get 65% for CR/5 and any HD/D will give a buffer. I heard Sn1p, Artofmed, Yam... all got GPA 7 or close to, 5 is a piece of cake.
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
can you get HD's / high marks in any course at uni or do you need to be in an advanced class sort of thing?
I will second what A1 says above, don't put pressure on yourself to achieve grades that aren't necessary... when you have provisional entry you should more be aiming to learn the relevant content and actually enjoy yourself at uni. For the record, uni is very different to school; there are no "advanced classes" - everyone is in the same boat. It is largely up to the student to motivate themselves and keep up to date with the course material.
 

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DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Yeah - I’m going to do PSYC1020 for Semester 1 (yet to decide on what elective for Semester 2).
I’m skipping the PHYS1171 course; as, after looking at the past final examinations, it just seems like a reiteration of high school level Physics - which I have already done. Actually, I was in an awkward situation regarding my course selections: I didn’t do high school Chemistry (prerequisite for Chem 1), so now I have to *technically* do Introductory CHEM1090 in semester 1 (it’s practically my elective), Chem 1 in semester 2, and skip Chemistry 2 as a whole...

Has anyone else encountered this kind of issue?

Are you indicating that PSYC is a non-science elective? Or do you mean... actually, I’m not sure what else you could mean! Haha. If you mean something else, please let me know.
 

Isiyara

UQ MD II
Hi, can someone please tell me if you have to do certain courses before the MD at uq? Could I do a bachelor of science majoring in maths and minoring in physics? Also, can you get HD's / high marks in any course at uni or do you need to be in an advanced class sort of thing?
Thanks for the help in advance, I'm totally lost.

These are the degrees you can use as premedical degrees: Pathways to medicine.
You can technically do whatever you want (even engineering or music) but you would probably find medicine pretty intense without any biology/chemistry. According to UQ, the recommended areas of prior study for the MD are 2nd level Biochemistry, Anatomy and Physiology and their 1st level prerequisites. So as long as you can include these as electives somewhere in your degree, it should be alright. UQ also has some useful study plans that will meet these recommended areas of study: Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Biomedical Science .

You don't have to follow any of the plans and you can easily alter it. However, if you are wanting to do something a little different for your pre-medical degree, I would highly suggest planning out your 3 years and getting an academic advisor to check over it with you.

I'm doing a Bachelor of Science majoring in Biomedical Science and Mathematics and ended up being able to fit in all recommended subjects as well as meeting the prerequisites for each major (was approved by an academic advisor). I remember asking about minoring in physics last year (1st year) but I was told this wasn't possible anymore (not sure if this is just physics) so maybe check that. This is the main reason I did a double major.

I would definitely consider adding some sort of biology in there but it's definitely great to do subjects you enjoy and are good at.
Also, a GPA of 5 is pretty easy to maintain (especially since you can choose what degree to do).
Good luck!
 
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Isiyara

UQ MD II
Thanks for the replies A1 , Crow and Isiyara but I've decided to just be lazy af and go with one of the suggested study plans here lol https://planner.science.uq.edu.au/filething/get/5319/PreMedStudyPlans_BSc_11Sept2017.pdf (the science bachelor majoring in maths)

Sounds good, maths major is fun! Remember if you did chemistry in high school, then you don't need to do CHEM1090 in 1st year. Also, I *heard* that SCIE1000 is now compulsory for BSc (double check though). Even if it isn't, it's compulsory for BBiomedSc and is a very useful and interesting course to take.
 

Please&Thanks

UQ Doctor of Medicine (Provisional Entry)
Are you indicating that PSYC is a non-science elective? Or do you mean... actually, I’m not sure what else you could mean! Haha. If you mean something else, please let me know.

At UQ, the Psychology courses aren’t under the Faculty of Science - they’re in their own, seperate faculty. So, even if it be just for this conversations sake, I assumed that PSYC1020 is a ‘non-science’ course.
 

Please&Thanks

UQ Doctor of Medicine (Provisional Entry)
Hi, that's totally fine, just remember that these are study plans only, so you don't have to follow the structure exactly. I mean I did chemistry in highschool and only did CHEM1100 because I'm not a huge fan of chemistry and CHEM1200 didn't really fit in my study plan.

It's more important to check that you are meeting the requirements for BBiomedSc (course list) and that you are meeting the "recommended prior areas of study for the UQ MD program, including 2nd level Anatomy, Biochemistry, and Physiology" (and their first level prerequisites) but I wouldn't worry too much about that since you're doing BBiomedSc.

Phew, thanks for the info :). Yeah, I made sure I didn’t ‘require’ CHEM 1200 for the future Anatomy, Physiology and Biochem courses.
 

dreambig

Member
Also, is anyone doing some interesting non-science electives for their first degree :)?
Spanish FTW!!
Also does anyone know what they tell us at orientation, I’m chilling with the fam in Canada and if I can get an extra few days here with them then I’ll book the flight to miss orientation if it’s not important and come back a couple days before classes instead of flying a couple days before orientation but I don’t want to miss anything important or major.
 

A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
Getting into Med is tough, into Dent is almost as tough. Getting both is a rare opportunity. UQ gives this unique chance once you've received a Med provisional offer since it's the only uni in Australia offering undergrad Dent that fits in with the Med provisional scheme.

FYI I have been told by a reliable source you don't need to have obtained a Dent offer as well from your QTAC application. Inform UQ Med Admissions you wish to and they will try to organise it for you, no promise though.
 

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Leah

Lurker
Out of curiosity, does anyone know the benefits of doing a program from pathway B rather than A? Most people seem to be doing BSc or Biomed, is this just because of the extensive scientific background that covers all MD prereqs? Could these be met with nursing or another pathway with registration (not pharmacy) by doing specific electives?
 

226471

Lurker
Getting into Med is tough, into Dent is almost as tough. Getting both is a rare opportunity. UQ gives this unique chance once you've received a Med provisional offer since it's the only uni in Australia offering undergrad Dent that fits in with the Med provisional scheme.

FYI I have been told by a reliable source you don't need to have obtained a Dent offer as well from your QTAC application. Inform UQ Med Admissions you wish to and they will try to organise it for you, no promise though.

Hi A1

What are the pros of doing undergrad Dent before postgraduate provisional Med given that it's 5 years as opposed to 3, and is supposedly harder to maintain a higher GPA in?

Does one require both degrees for OMFs?

If I were to later sit the GAMSAT and apply for postgraduate Med, at say Usyd or Unimelb, would I have to wait 5 years or could I do it after 3?

Thanks
 

Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Does one require both degrees for OMFs?
Yes - this is the main pro. Another might be being able to work casual shifts as a dentist during medical school to fund yourself (I have no idea of how easy casual work is to find as a dentist, however). Unless you have a burning desire to do OMFS (which is not the case for most medicine applicants / students) I wouldn’t invest the extra time into doing dentistry myself.

You can sit GAMSAT in the penultimate year of your degree (scores are only valid for two years), or later. In the case above it would be during 4th or 5th year of your dentistry degree.
 

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