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[Undergrad] Discussion: Pros and Cons of Taking a Gap Year

vexx

Regular Member
^Thanks for that detailed reply!
That's so good you have found this year useful, sounds like had some use out of it (y)

Wow on the massive improvement on your UMAT, well done! Even though it may not be that high, it's still a good achievement that you did SOOO much better.
So with your preparation, how many practice exams did you do/how often? (one/wk?) Where they all a specific prep course or did you find a variety of exams?
Is that really all the prep you did?

Also, what are your plans for next year?
 

ccw08

Member
Hey,
I took a gap year to repeat the UMAT last year and am currently studying medicine as a result of that decision.
You won't be behind in terms of age, because half the people in my year took gap years too (so they could get out in the world before committing to a 6 year degree).

Plus, those who did do gap years have tended to be in a better position to study since they were able to save up a bit of money while working, and now have enough employment experience to get the jobs which fit in around uni (which can be very tricky for med).

If you do take a gap year, you can afford to work 30+ hours a week and still have time to study and travel. So, I really do recommend it. It was also a great opportunity for me to rack up some volunteer work in the health arena so as to impress when interview time came around.

And, worst case scenario, if you don't get a better UMAT to get into med, you have taken a whole year to figure out what alternative route best suits you rather than just jumping into something else (which might not suit you) straight after school.
 

saraherin

Regular Member
the decision for everyone is different, but taking a gap year was the best thing i could have done. i did terribly in UMAT in yr12, but wanted to do optometry anyway and only just missed out so i was offerred pharmacy. i spent the first half of my year off working 2 jobs, 7 days a week most weeks trying to save lots of money. i then moved to england and worked in a bar and travelled all round europe and parts of africa for 7 months. i also earned more than $20000 in 18mths so i am classed as independent and so received youth allowance which is a MASSIVE help considering i had to move interstate for uni. having a year off really made me motivated to return to study, but if i had gone to uni straight after school i don't think i would have enjoyed it at all. taking a year off made me grow up a lot, and during the year i decided that i really wanted to do medicine. so i came to uni and have been working hard all year, and although i didn't do much umat prep i managed to improve my percentile by 50! so as i result i have been offerred 2 interviews so far :)

it is your decision, but if u are unsure my advice is have a year off, as there is no point enrolling in a degree you do not want to do, as you will have unneccessary debt and will probably not do very well in if you aren't interested!

all the best :)
 
So with your preparation, how many practice exams did you do/how often? (one/wk?) Where they all a specific prep course or did you find a variety of exams?
Is that really all the prep you did?

Also, what are your plans for next year?

Hahah well... practice exams maybe twice a week? but i did the drills and other logical reasoning / mensa books everyday. Um I got my materials from about 3-4 prep courses i think.

No plans yet. I'm still waiting on a few other unis such as jcu csu bond flinders griffith. But most likely i'm going to go back to biomed or do a double degree with biomed.

I dont think i can take another year off. What have other people done in my situation?
 

n33b

FIRST!!!
Hahah well... practice exams maybe twice a week? but i did the drills and other logical reasoning / mensa books everyday. Um I got my materials from about 3-4 prep courses i think.

No plans yet. I'm still waiting on a few other unis such as jcu csu bond flinders griffith. But most likely i'm going to go back to biomed or do a double degree with biomed.

I dont think i can take another year off. What have other people done in my situation?
Perhaps you should think about what your next best option is. If you couldn't be a doctor, what would you choose? Would you prefer a career in biomed over anything else other than medicine? I say this because a lot of people don't realise that there may not really be any major advantage to getting into med (either as non-standards or as graduates) from a science-related course, rather than from doing arts/law/engineering/whatever.
 

vexx

Regular Member
Thanks again for these replies, love hearing the little stories :)

Also, question, not sure if it should be posted here, but if i was to go post-grad and decided to do post-grad physio since i didn't get into medicine. How much more difficult would it be to get into medicine, due to now having far harder subjects (https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/view/2011/MC-DPHYSIO for the first year subjects) and so to get a high GPA would be a lot of work most likely, as well as having to study for the GAMSAT again (if not done well), would it be worth doing this, or is there better options?
 
Perhaps you should think about what your next best option is. If you couldn't be a doctor, what would you choose? Would you prefer a career in biomed over anything else other than medicine? I say this because a lot of people don't realise that there may not really be any major advantage to getting into med (either as non-standards or as graduates) from a science-related course, rather than from doing arts/law/engineering/whatever.

Oh i see. Well... to get into melbourne university medicine i would need the prereqs in biochem, anatomy and physiology which are in biomed. Also if i did arts/law/engineering it would be harder to learn the bio/chem/physics which i need for the gamsat.
 
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chinaski

Regular Member
do people get lazy during a gap year?

Yes, if they let themselves do so. On the other hand, people can get more productive during a gap year, too.

also would you forget most of your HSC knowledge?

Get rusty, yes. Forget, no. Not if you've learned it properly in the first place.

making first year harder?

Revision once you go back into study makes a lot of what you have "forgotten" come back again. Much of first year (regardless of degree) doesn't hinge on Yr 12 knowledge, anyway - it's more about building on what you already know.
 

Joker37

Member
If you think about it the amount of study you do in year 12/uni is considerably greater than primary/secondary school. In many ways we've probably all wasted much of our schooling life due to the state of Australia's education system, particularly during our youthful years. Would wasting one more year make that much of a difference? Life's not a race. Live life. Have no regrets. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. :D
 

vexx

Regular Member
Just to update, in case anyone cares - I'm no longer going to repeat, if I don't get a scholarship at Monash for medicine (pretty unlikely haha but i find out in less than a week), I'll just do biomedicine unless my ATAR is far below anything i'd imagined then i'm screwed.

Goodluck to anyone who decides to repeat though who may read this, it'd be pretty hard to decide to do, but it's a very good chance booster!
 
I'm sorry to bring this thread back from the grave, but was wondering if anyone knew if it's been confirmed whether you have to repeat entire year 12 to be considered a school leaver at UQ? Would it be possible to only do one subject through TAFE or something? I've heard lots of different things, but can't find a straight answer!!
 

Cide

Regular Member
I'm sorry to bring this thread back from the grave, but was wondering if anyone knew if it's been confirmed whether you have to repeat entire year 12 to be considered a school leaver at UQ? Would it be possible to only do one subject through TAFE or something? I've heard lots of different things, but can't find a straight answer!!

Definitely can't be out of year 12. They only accept year 12 leavers. I would ring the uni to double check they would even accept you as a repeating year 12 student. Always best to directly check with the univeristy with such matters. :).
 
Thanks! I've tried emailing the uni, but haven't gotten much of a response (just a generic automated reply), and won't be able to call again until Monday. I was just interested to know if anyone knew the rules in terms of repeating, as I've seen it mentioned quite a few times on this forum. I'm not holding my breath, though...
 

Cide

Regular Member
Thanks! I've tried emailing the uni, but haven't gotten much of a response (just a generic automated reply), and won't be able to call again until Monday. I was just interested to know if anyone knew the rules in terms of repeating, as I've seen it mentioned quite a few times on this forum. I'm not holding my breath, though...

No problems :). Yeah emailing sometimes they are hopeless. Especially the school of medicine -shakes head-. Ringing is definitely the way to go. But I am almost 100% sure that you can't move on from year 12, though repeating may still be an option. [MENTION=4821]godoftoast[/MENTION], know anything about this? [MENTION=2913]ctu_max[/MENTION].
 
Yeah, I know I have pretty much no chance if not coming from year 12, but am still clinging onto the hope that maybe doing year 12 subjects would be enough...! Anyone else have any idea?
 

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Cide

Regular Member
Yeah, I know I have pretty much no chance if not coming from year 12, but am still clinging onto the hope that maybe doing year 12 subjects would be enough...! Anyone else have any idea?

Have you explored other options. Like thinking about graduate entry? Or even just moving into a degree and trying for undergraduate universities like UWS or UNSW?
 
Yeah, I've looked into all those options as well, and they're definitely possibilities. This repeating idea is the only one i couldn't find much info about, so I wanted to check it out before I make a firm decision!
 

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