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Best Major to take for Post-graduate entry to Medicine at Otago

Dsmity

Lurker
I was wondering which major is the easiest to get good grades in. I heard microbiology is a good one but the genetics paper is a killer! Does anyone have some advice about some majors? I've found a lot of information about Anatomy and Physiology but not much on the other majors. Thanks
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
Hi Dsmity,

Welcome to MSO.

This is a very common question that is asked far too often. I will not elaborate too much since there are many posts on choosing a major. My advice is to:
  • Forget about what you are trying to get into;
  • Find out about each and every programmes and majors available via the website and/or others (there are over ten Bachelor's degrees with over 100 majors);
  • Find the programme/major which suits you the best (many factors may contribute such as job prospects);
  • Structure the chosen programm to suit your abilities (this is the most time consuming part);
One's interest in the paper/subject/field plays a major roll in achieving a good grade (90%+). Some papers are "easier" than others but I would not compare between majors or degrees for that matter.
 

Verdigris

baby doctor
Silliest Member 2019
Honestly, do what you're interested in. If you just do a major because you've heard it's easy, if you hate it you'll end up hating everything you're studying for the next two years. It's not like HSFY when you had to slog through one paper like CHEM and not have to worry about it again. You'll be studying this stuff for two years, and you'll have to take at least 4 300 level papers in the subject. You have to find it interesting!
 

Blattman

Member
I did a Bachelor of biomedical sciences majoring in Infection and Immunity and loved all the microbiology papers I took. I also avoided genetics papers because of the flexibility of the biomedical science degree. I got some pretty good grades, but yes, this could be due to my interest, rather than the difficulties of the papers. My two cents though, MICR papers at the 200 level are quite manageable (especially MICR221 and MICR223) and are A plussable. MICR papers at the 300 level can be daunting like all 300 level papers, however I really enjoyed and did well in MICR332 and 337. I found that I could achieve high grades in these two 300 level papers, without straying too far from lecture content, which might not be the case for some 300 level PHSL or ANAT papers.
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
Hi,

I would like to just mention once again the importance of choosing the right major for your back-up career, rather than grades. Please have a very good think about the opportunities and career prospects before choosing a major. There are no inherently "easy" majors. Only the ones that are right for you.
 

Dsmity

Lurker
Hi,

I would like to just mention once again the importance of choosing the right major for your back-up career, rather than grades. Please have a very good think about the opportunities and career prospects before choosing a major. There are no inherently "easy" majors. Only the ones that are right for you.
Thanks for the advice! I've decided to do a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Public Health. PUBH192 as this was my best and favourite paper so hopefully it shines through to next year :) so if anyone has advice about PUBH202, PUBH204 or PUBH211 (previously HEAL papers I believe) would be much appreciated!
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
Thanks for the advice! I've decided to do a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Public Health. PUBH192 as this was my best and favourite paper so hopefully it shines through to next year :) so if anyone has advice about PUBH202, PUBH204 or PUBH211 (previously HEAL papers I believe) would be much appreciated!

Hi,

That sounds great. I have not heard of many people of taking this pathway. If you do end up studying it, I would like to hear about it in the future.

We don't really have information on PUBH papers. However, I do know of someone who took them. I will try to out-source some information for you.
 

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Dsmity

Lurker
Hi,

That sounds great. I have not heard of many people of taking this pathway. If you do end up studying it, I would like to hear about it in the future.

We don't really have information on PUBH papers. However, I do know of someone who took them. I will try to out-source some information for you.
I'll definitely let you know how the year goes! oh great thanks :)
 

xxxz98

Member
Hi everyone,

Not sure if it's the right place to ask. But I am a bit curious about why there are notmany people applying for graduate entry medicine or dentistry through professional programs like oral health or pharmacy etc? Is it mainly because of the workload, length of degree and rigidity of the degree structure? Because on one hand, doing such professional programs will give you career opportunities to fall back on right?

Are there more applicants getting accepted through bsc or bmedsc rather than pharmacy or oral health etc?

And also how do you guys choose your backup options in case you didn't get into medicine? My parents are still not supportive of my decision to try for graduate entry,as they are concerned about my career prospects with just a "theoretical" science degree. How can I convince them? Are there some bsc or bmedsc degree that have relatively good job prospects compared to others?

sorry for the extremely long and random message.Thank you for reading all the way to the end.
 

flooghost7255

BMedSci (Hons), Otago MBChB IV
Hi everyone,

Not sure if it's the right place to ask. But I am a bit curious about why there are notmany people applying for graduate entry medicine or dentistry through professional programs like oral health or pharmacy etc? Is it mainly because of the workload, length of degree and rigidity of the degree structure? Because on one hand, doing such professional programs will give you career opportunities to fall back on right?

Are there more applicants getting accepted through bsc or bmedsc rather than pharmacy or oral health etc?

And also how do you guys choose your backup options in case you didn't get into medicine? My parents are still not supportive of my decision to try for graduate entry,as they are concerned about my career prospects with just a "theoretical" science degree. How can I convince them? Are there some bsc or bmedsc degree that have relatively good job prospects compared to others?

sorry for the extremely long and random message.Thank you for reading all the way to the end.

From what I gather, the rigidity, length and workload are pretty big factors in not taking a professional program. While no option is "easy" per se when going for post-grad entry, taking a professional course makes it hard to alter your workload and papers in a way that makes it more manageable and more likely to score much needed high grades. At the same time though, it definitely does give you a back up option to fall back on. Anecdotally, lots of people going for post-grad dent via oral health actually realise oral health is more for them and take that over dentistry, so I guess you never know. You've pretty much highlighted the advantages of both pathways in that first paragraph haha

Never heard much about certain degrees having more applicants accepted really. I remember sitting in on a biomed course advice thing as a year 13 that claimed to have more biomed applicants getting into post-grad med, but tbh I wouldn't believe this claim really. Either you do the work to get in and get the grades or you don't, personally I don't think the degree you're taking matters compared to a good work ethic and using a study technique that works for you.

Lastly, the way I always looked at it was that going for grad entry gives you another chance at something you really wanna do, compared to just settling on something half-heartedly that you're not 100% on taking. Going through grad entry gives you another shot at the dream, and other back up options like pharmacy, optom, etc. will still be there when you try through grad entry and if you keep up the work, getting accepted into those options shouldn't be too much of a worry; if you can get in now you'll be able enough to get in later. Of course, that's easy for me to say as I got in via HSFY and didn't have to go through the 2 years of uncertainty that post-grad applicants have to go through and people I know going through it definitely say it's tough and many of my friends have just opted to go for a professional course instead and stick with that. But if you really wanna get in and can keep the drive and motivation for another two years, then it could be worth trying. At the end of the day though, it's your decision and whichever decision you make, I'm sure it'll be the right one, good luck! :)

TLDR; General degrees have more flexibility, professional degrees have more robust career paths, any degree can work for you if you have the work ethic and a technique that works for you and go for post grad if you don't wanna give up just yet :)
 

Clav

Otago MB ChB PGY2
Hi everyone,

Not sure if it's the right place to ask. But I am a bit curious about why there are notmany people applying for graduate entry medicine or dentistry through professional programs like oral health or pharmacy etc? Is it mainly because of the workload, length of degree and rigidity of the degree structure? Because on one hand, doing such professional programs will give you career opportunities to fall back on right?

Are there more applicants getting accepted through bsc or bmedsc rather than pharmacy or oral health etc?

And also how do you guys choose your backup options in case you didn't get into medicine? My parents are still not supportive of my decision to try for graduate entry,as they are concerned about my career prospects with just a "theoretical" science degree. How can I convince them? Are there some bsc or bmedsc degree that have relatively good job prospects compared to others?

sorry for the extremely long and random message.Thank you for reading all the way to the end.


I feel like this is a great opportunity to point out that people doing a BBioMed degree should have a look at the medical laboratory science degree. Both are 4 years and you can essentially learn the same things from med lab sci (and probably more clinical details) and you even do some research and a clinical placement for med lab sci. On top of that if you don't end up applying to medicine afterwards then you have a very practical degree & career to follow up with.
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
I feel like this is a great opportunity to point out that people doing a BBioMed degree should have a look at the medical laboratory science degree. Both are 4 years and you can essentially learn the same things from med lab sci (and probably more clinical details) and you even do some research and a clinical placement for med lab sci. On top of that if you don't end up applying to medicine afterwards then you have a very practical degree & career to follow up with.

Hi,

BBiomedSc is not four years long.
 

ZCYS

Member
Hi everyone,
I am having a hard time choosing what to do for post grad entry for med or dent. I don't know what the difference is between biomed and a bsci. I am worried that I am not going to be able to get A+ if I were to do Biomed majoring in Functional Human Biology. I didn't really enjoy learning about the epithelia and all that cellular molecular stuff, so I am not sure what other papers out there are more suitable. I am more interested in how the body works as a whole and how diseases and consumption of the wrong foods (lifestyle) impacts the body to change for the worse. I hope past students can provide me some input into how they found certain papers !

so far I am interested in; MICR221, HUNT221, HUNT223, MATH151,ANAT241!
 
Thanks for the advice! I've decided to do a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Public Health. PUBH192 as this was my best and favourite paper so hopefully it shines through to next year :) so if anyone has advice about PUBH202, PUBH204 or PUBH211 (previously HEAL papers I believe) would be much appreciated!

Hi, would you be able to update us on how your year went? I am also looking at doing a Bachelor of Health science as a pathway for graduate entry into medicine. Could you give a recap on how you found the public health papers? Or if anyone else taking a similar pathway had any advice on this degree/ the papers I would be super greatful! Thanks
 

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doggo

Member
Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone could tell me how HUNT221 is? I didnt get into medicine this year via the HSFY route so i am interested in selecting papers which are easy to score A+ in. Can anyone also tell me what the internals are like and also the exams? I have heard that there is something to do with writing for the internal( which I dont enjoy that much but am willing to do if it means i can do med)
Thanks.
 

gains

Member
Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone could tell me how HUNT221 is? I didnt get into medicine this year via the HSFY route so i am interested in selecting papers which are easy to score A+ in. Can anyone also tell me what the internals are like and also the exams? I have heard that there is something to do with writing for the internal( which I dont enjoy that much but am willing to do if it means i can do med)
Thanks.
I did hunt 221 and 232. 232 was much easier but both easy A+, I saved them for third year for that reason as 3rd year worth a heap more!
 
Hi everyone,
I am having a hard time choosing what to do for post grad entry for med or dent. I don't know what the difference is between biomed and a bsci. I am worried that I am not going to be able to get A+ if I were to do Biomed majoring in Functional Human Biology. I didn't really enjoy learning about the epithelia and all that cellular molecular stuff, so I am not sure what other papers out there are more suitable. I am more interested in how the body works as a whole and how diseases and consumption of the wrong foods (lifestyle) impacts the body to change for the worse. I hope past students can provide me some input into how they found certain papers !

so far I am interested in; MICR221, HUNT221, HUNT223, MATH151,ANAT241!

Hey bud, I did a FUHB Biomed major, so whatever I say next may not apply to the other biomed degrees, but I assume its pretty much all the same. Bsci degrees are fairly straightforward - take 4 300 level papers in your chosen major and fill everything else in with either science or arts papers (side note: I think the new graduate entry requirement means you need to take 5 300 level papers, but I'm sure you already knew that haha). Biomed is meant to have a bit more flexibility - you still need at least 4 300 level papers to earn the degree, but only 2 or 3 are specific to your field of interest. So, using physiology as an example, a Bsci would need to take 4/5 300 level physiology papers whereas a FUBH major would only need to take PHSL345 and 343 (no flexibility in that though, I'm afraid). Now, in my experience, I loved physiology but it definitely is challenging. Mostly because the 200-level papers only have MCQ/assertion question terms tests, while 300 level papers are abstract/report based internal assessments, which definitely get easier the more you do them. Wouldn't call physiology an easy A+ area, but definitely achievable if you put the work in. If you are more interested in disease and lifestyle impacts health, I would suggest maybe taking a serious look into HUNT or BIOC - but I can't comment on the degree of difficulty of those papers. Also take a gander at PATH201. Most people talk it down because of the sheer content, but it's an extremely interesting paper and if you stay interested, A+ is also definitely achievable.

Honestly though, do papers you're interested in - its far easier to get an A+ in a paper where you're fully engaged compared to one that's easy but dull. As an example, I got an A- in BIOA201, which is considered an "easy A+" paper, yet got an A+ in PATH201 - go figure. If you have a wide range of interests, I'd tend towards Biomed, but if you're dead set on a specific major, definitely do the Bsci. If you wanna know about specific papers and their structure I'd be more than happy to help (i took mostly PHSL with a few ANAT and MICR papers thrown in). And if it makes any difference to my credibility: I got an offer from Auckland and still sitting on the waitlist for Otago this year (couldn't get that 8.8 average smh)

Sorry for the novel, but hopefully I'm not too late and that it helps your decision making
 

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