Hi BettyLuv, first of all - congratulations on achieving an ATAR high enough for ACU and USyd physiotherapy! I have just finished my second year of physio at ACU (at the north sydney campus) and have also just been accepted in WSU med so I believe I can provide some insight here
I can only speak for ACU but I think that it's a pretty good physiotherapy degree - in the first year you learn about the general biology and anatomy of the human body through human cadavers and you also learn about the basics of the physiotherapy practice and a lot about communication. You also get to go on hospital placement in first year and observe the different types of physiotherapy in each different ward. In the second year you move into body system specific disorders and how to treat them - and it's very practical based here (more assessments throughout the year are practical than theory). You get to go on placement to a sports team as a level 1 sports trainer in this year. The 3rd year is similar to the second year (I'm pretty sure), and fourth year is all placement. If your GPA is high enough in the second and first years then you have the chance to enter the honours program and complete some research in the 3rd and 4th years which is pretty cool.
I've heard that USyd doesn't put as much emphasis on the practical side of physiotherapy this early into the degree so I guess it's up to personal preference and if you think you'd enjoy the practical side more. In my opinion, practical assessments are a pretty good way to study for med interviews as you learn over time how to stay calm and think on your toes in the high stress environment of exams. I've also heard how various employers are seeking out ACU students because of their communication skills, but on hospital placement I've seen many USyd graduates so I believe that both universities should be fine for employment. (But take my word with a pinch of salt because it isn't statistical evidence
).
Physiotherapy at ACU isn't too difficult in the first year. If you stay on top of your anatomy, kinda stay on top of your biology and are willing to cram everything else before exams then it wouldn't be too hard to maintain a GPA>6.5. (although I do recommend that you try and stay on top of everything from week 1 ahaha). Second year is a fair bit harder and there's heaps of theory and practical content so I recommend aiming for a GPA of 7 in your first year so that even if your marks are lower from the second year onwards, then it won't have as much of an impact on your overall grade.
Being a physio student at ACU is like being in a large family - everyone's mates with each other and willing to help each other out. The lecturers and tutorial/practical teachers are all really nice and friendly as well (and they offer free physio
). The north sydney campus is pretty small but due to the small size of students that attend it, it is also really clean and calm. You are right near the city so it is very easy accessible (in terms of public transport) and there's always something to do in your spare time. I really loved my time at ACU and had a great experience there. The only thing that I didn't like too much at ACU was the variation in marks that were given by the examiners - i.e. sometimes i would get a mark that was a lot higher than my peers and sometimes it would be a lot lower even if we had submitted similar assignments or had similar performances in practical assessments. (However if you study enough your marks shouldn't be affected too much by any outliers).I believe that this is an issue with all uni's though so don't stress too much about it.
When I finished Year 12 I was deciding whether or not to take physio at WSU or ACU (I wasn't offered a spot at USyd due to my ATAR) and I decided on ACU purely because of transport. I reckon that any physiotherapy degree should be fine in terms of employment because physiotherapy is a vastly growing profession and there are many fields in it that require more employees. My knowledge on this is a it vague but if you want to do hospital rotations when you first graduate I think you need a high GPA and interview to be offered a place (hospital rotations are when you work in a different ward every few weeks and graduates do this to expose themselves to different fields to see where they would like to work in the future). What I'm trying to say is that these hospital rotations don't favour anyone from USyd over ACU (for example) as they only look at your marks and interview (someone please correct me if I'm wrong on the admissions criteria for hospital rotations
).
Don't be worried by the low ATAR cutoff for ACU- the median raw ATAR of my cohort was over 97 which is pretty high. I'd recommend it not to be a factor when deciding between ACU and USyd. Physiotherapy is a great pathway to try to get into med and is a great back-up at the same time, so I believe that choosing either ACU or USyd physio will be a great choice. A few of my physio friends have also had med/dent interviews this year and last year so it is definitely achievable to get into med when starting physio.
Best of luck with your decision, I hope this info helped out a bit - if you need any more advice just let me know