Allied Health Degree Alternatives

[watermelona]

Psychology

There appear to be three broad reasons why someone visiting MedStudentsOnline might want some information about an alternative undergraduate enrolment option to Medicine. The following is an attempt to address these with specific reference to Psychology. 1. Is Psychology a good option for...

medstudentsonline.com.au

Have a read of the above and then let me know if you have further questions.

I have no idea what the job prospects are like for Radiography, but they are effectively 100% for anyone with Psychology registration (especially general registration or clinical psychology) and a desire to work as you can set up a private practice. If you want to work in a hospital, then that has the potential to be more competitive (due to capped numbers), but the remuneration (while still excellent) can be considerably less than for those in private practice, so the competition generally isn’t there, tbh.

is psychology relatively difficult to achieve a high gpa in as i am going to try ucat again and apply to all interstate unis in the hope of transferring to medicine and if this does not work out then through gamsat.

LMG! thank you for attaching your thread on psych it has great info! also if there is anyone who knows about the two courses unsw psychology and usyd diagnostic radiography interms of comparing; degree difficulty, workload, usyd vs unsw and job prospects for both degrees, any information would be great ! also about psychology is there alot of essay writing and reports or is it more like learning content for exams?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

is psychology relatively difficult to achieve a high gpa in as i am going to try ucat again and apply to all interstate unis in the hope of transferring to medicine and if this does not work out then through gamsat.

LMG! thank you for attaching your thread on psych it has great info! also if there is anyone who knows about the two courses unsw psychology and usyd diagnostic radiography interms of comparing; degree difficulty, workload, usyd vs unsw and job prospects for both degrees, any information would be great ! also about psychology is there alot of essay writing and reports or is it more like learning content for exams?

I very much doubt there’s going to be anyone here (or perhaps even anywhere!) who has done both of those two very specific degrees and could therefore compare them accurately for difficulty or content.

There honestly comes a time where you need to accept the answers to your questions don’t exist and you need to make a decision regardless. Any answers that could possibly be provided are, anyway, going to be specific to that individual and may not be applicable to you, your interests, your strengths, your weaknesses.

 

[Deleted member 34687]

HELP! tldr - B.Pharm or B.Sci [major in Vision Science]?
​

I wanted to get into a Bachelors of Vision Science and maintain a high enough WAM for a Masters of Optometry. But with my atar and not being legible for bonus points. I'm unable to get in. So my questions regarding transferring from a Bachelor of Science with a major in Vision Science to a Bachelors of Vision Science include:

1. When can you transfer to a BVisSci? From prior answers/research it's only from term 1.
2. How many people do they take through undergrad IPT? According to the UNSW Admissions Transparency, 14 people.
3. How many people apply for it? Is there a way to see how many people go through IPT for a BVisSci?
4. Which units must I take? Would this require taking a certain number and type of courses to not be behind or be legible for transfer?
5. What are some recommended WAM boosting science electives, free electives and general education units?
6. What WAM must I maintain for this transfer? I'm assuming the equivalent of HDs (85-100) to Ds (75-84)? (Which is gonna be tough as.)
7. Is there anyway to view the % of people (from prior years) who receive HDs, Ds, CRs, etc in certain degrees/courses/units?
8. How much maths and physics is needed? I haven't done phys nor 3U/4U.
9. Finally, has anyone undertaken this route? And as subjective as this is how difficult was it? Or why was it difficult? What aspects?
10. I’ve done the following for HSC bio (b6), chem (b5), bus (b6), adv (b6), 2u (b5). Would I be better off in Pharmacy or Podiatry? Should I even bother to do a Bachelors of Science with major in Vision Science, obtain a high enough WAM and try to get into a Bachelors of Vision Science?

Disclaimer: Do correct me if I'm misinformed, I don't even know what to do. Got an offer for WSU Podiatry and have USYD Pharmacy. But I think I should focus on trying to get into Optometry. As for Jan offer rounds I'll have BSci or BPharm as a preference.

I would ultimately like to try for postgrad med with GAMSAT, a 5.0+ GPA (used as both a hurdle and decently competitive for non-hurdle unis) and all but if that doesn't happen, I would like to have a backup within an allied health field.

And I've heard maintaining a 5.0 GPA or higher is super difficult with Pharmacy @ USYD and it has very limited employment. But I assume BSci to BVisSci to MOptom would also be a trek and very risky if I don't get into Optometry and will be left with very limited prospects for occupation besides research or assistant level employment. And that too would be difficult to maintain a high GPA. I'm aware both are saturated and glorified retailers.

 

[Deleted member 34687]

Should one do Pharmacy @ USYD or Podiatry @ WSU for postgrad med?

 

[chinaski]

Should one do Pharmacy @ USYD or Podiatry @ WSU for postgrad med?

Depends on where one's interests lie WRT Plan B career pathways.

 

[Crow]

Should one do Pharmacy @ USYD or Podiatry @ WSU for postgrad med?

I know you’ve deleted a lot of your posts, but as per chinaski’s answer above, I think you’ve asked this question and had the same answer a couple of times now!

You can always switch over to a different course if you find you aren’t enjoying the one you start with as much as you’d hoped.

 

[Deleted member 34687]

my bad

 

[Bruce1973]

Hi, this is my first time posting questions on this forum on behalf of my son who has received a few offers and he has no idea which course he should choose. We are in Brisbane. On each of the courses, can anyone can help to assist to shed some light in terms of the course content differences, accreditation, area of strength of the university, pro and cons of each course and career prospects between Optometrist -Radiographer- Physiotherapy?

Q1. What is the course differences between Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy) at USYD and Bachelor of Physiotherapy at UQ ?
Q2. Similarly, what is the course differences between Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Optometry at UNSW versus QUT?
Q3. What is the course differences between Medical Imaging at Monash University vs QUT ?

Thanks.

 

[Mana]

What does your son want to do?

 

[Bruce1973]

He wants to do Medicine which is his first choice. However, I am persistently conveying a message to prepare a backup plan in case he does not land with the course.
One of the concern is his low UCAT score and low OP1.

 

[TKAO]

I don't see very much value in sending your son interstate to do a course that is already available in your home state.

 

[Bruce1973]

My impression is that each university has similar course but it differs to some degree in terms of the questions raised above. For example physiotherapy between UsYD (received early offer) and UQ. I tried to compare but it is beyond my capabilities to understand the scope.

 

[ponyswordz]

Best Physio, Occupational Therapy Universities

The top Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy unis in Australia for 2017 are University of Notre Dame AustraliaAustralian Catholic UniversityUniversity of Queensland Uni Reviews ranked Australian universities by a formula using: faculty size (student numbers)studnent and graduate...

universityreviews.com.au

^ See this for physiotherapy

 

[Bruce1973]

What does your son want to do?

Hi Mana,
I have read your post many times, that why i am insisting him to study courses that at very least to get a job while trying second-time UCAT.

 

[Crow]

Hi Mana,
I have read your post many times, that why i am insisting him to study courses that at very least to get a job while trying second-time UCAT.

It’s great that you’re looking out for your son.

Optometry, physiotherapy and radiography are all great alternative career pathways with good employment opportunities. The key thing is that your son chooses something that he’ll be happy and satisfied in long-term if he doesn’t make it into medicine. This is what Mana was getting at.

 

[acbard9]

Hey pals,


Long time, no see.

I am potentially reconsidering applying for Med again, but would love anyone's opinion on which allied health (or any) careers involve a lot of day-to-day moving around in the work place.

I have had quite a number of experiences now in internships, research studentships or other casual jobs where I am sitting or lab work most of the day, and I have come to really dislike it. I was considering going into research due to my absolute love for the the field but I cannot imagine sitting at a desk all day for work. I do also wonder if there are any research fields with a lot of moving around that I could potentially consider (any branches of Pharmacology?)

Thank you for your time.


Your old pal,

bard

 

[chinaski]

"Moving around" as in not being at a desk all day? Or "moving around" as in portability of a degree? And are you asking about the clinical aspect of these professions, or the research aspect of them (or both)? Because it's fairly obvious that any clinical role is going to be far more physically active than a desk-based job...?

 

[acbard9]

Apologies.

I did mean physically active, but I see your point.

I assume it must also be obvious that perhaps working at a hospital is more clinical/physically active, so as a follow up based on your experiences, how likely is an optometrist, audiologist or a pharmacist to work at a hospital? What allied health / health careers are much more likely to end up at a hospital than others?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Apologies.

I did mean physically active, but I see your point.

I assume it must also be obvious that perhaps working at a hospital is more clinical/physically active, so as a follow up based on your experiences, how likely is an optometrist, audiologist or a pharmacist to work at a hospital? What allied health / health careers are much more likely to end up at a hospital than others?

The hospital I work at has: physiotherapy, OT, speech, social work, psychology (clinical and neuro), pharmacy, radiography, and dietetics off the top of my head. I think audiology and optometry are in the community. Hospital positions in the vast majority of these are pretty highly sought after in my experience, and the majority of those qualified in these professions work in community, education, private, or NGO-type locations.

OH! ETA: and podiatry and orthotics/prosthetics are at the hospital!

 

[chinaski]

Hospital positions in the vast majority of these are pretty highly sought after in my experience, and the majority of those qualified in these professions work in community, education, private, or NGO-type locations.

This. Most allied health degrees have potential to be employed in a hospital, but that is contingent on availability of job vacancies, which you can't guarantee. As such, it's hard to talk about the exact "likelihood" of one securing employment in a hospital (assuming that is what you'd want - bearing in mind many people would avoid working in a hospital system and preferentially go towards private practice/business ventures). However, if you're talking about theoretical "potential" for allied health to lead to a hospital job, then you're looking at a near 100% estimation there.