First Year OLY1 Advice Requests

[AcctgIsLame]

Hello everyone,

To preface my queries below, I have read through this forum quite a bit - especially the mature student posts as i believe i will fall into that category (i am 25).
I graduated in 2017 with a Bachelors of Commerce (Accounting & Comlaw) and Science (Computer Science & Statistics) from UoA, unfortunately my GPA is not competitive at 6.1/9 - the graduate option is out of my grasp.

I have no background in the physcial sciences. I have a chartered accounting qualification that I received this year, this is a diploma but has no advantage at this stage until I (hopefully) make it to the interview. I have been working at my current job at a big4 accounting firm for 3 years now.

Here is my current plan in getting accepted into the BHSc first year programme, could I please have your input and experiences to know if i am even likely in getting a place to try for a place in medicine:

1. Addressing the science gap -

I have enrolled in a Biology and Chemistry foundation paper at Massey University starting in Nov 2020 to Feb 2021. I know these will be helpful for me, I have contacted the course co ordinators and they have specified this will get me to a level 3 understanding of Bio and Chem. This to me still seems like I will be on the backfoot but less so and i may have a fighting chance.

I appreciate the BHSc is first year chem and bio, however i will be competeing with people that have had years to master this, whereas i will have six weeks (self inflicted though). Could anyone who has gone through this let me know how useful it was, or if there are other materials i can pick up to ensure i'm not looking at completely foreign content when (if) i get in. I would also like to know, how much of a disadvantage am i going up against here.

I think this is all i can do for the science gap, and it will simply have to be made up for during study.

2. BHSc entry into FY -

I have read a couple of threads and it seem entry into the BHSc in and of itself is competitive as all hell. What are my chances of being accepted into the first year programme with a 6.1 conjoint? Will they even allow me to try to get in without a foundation course at the uni?

I have read through the university's entry requirements and its asking for a base 4.0. For what its worth, my GPA started at 4.25 and pulled it up to 6.1 in my final years, i have averaged nothing higher than a 7.75 GPA in any single term.

3. BHSc entry -

Assuming I make it this far, i would like to structure my course load out to ensure i do Chem 110 in Sem 2. I read in a thread the Chem 150 paper is actually not that useful and you simply blow past that stuff in the first few lectures. Will this be the same experience for the normal candidate?

Based on the course calendars i cannot identify which first year papers are offered in both terms so i can try and plan this out to give myself the best possible chance. Could someone please let me know which papers are being offered in both Semesters so i could try optimise my path.

4. Journey ahead -

I already know how competitive this programme is, i believe i am able to meet the 8.0 minimum GPA requirement (famous last words).
I'm very keen to hear any comments, opinions or to answer any questions on people wanting to do business (haha).

Thanks

 

[Vanillalatte]

First of all, i think you will have no problem in getting into BHSc with your current GPA. So i dont think that you should worry about it.

Secondly, the difficulty of the courses is set to a certain standard and if you reach that standard then you wont have any disadvantage. A person with more experience may run faster than you in a race but both of you will get A+ for running under the required time limit. The courses are not so difficult if you put the work in and you have a year to prepare. I think you are able to at least master a certain subject. I recommend going over videos within khanacademy website - this website really helped.

Thirdly, i believe that you have to take three core papers in sem 1 - poplhlth 111, chem 110, and biosci 107. You wont be able to take chem 110 in sem 2 because they will have premade timetable that you have to follow if you are going for premed.

Lastly, you should aim to get at least 3A+ it is safer.

Hope this helped.

 

[AcctgIsLame]

Thank you Vanillalatte, I appreicate the feedback.

I wasn't aware of the timetable but that makes a lot of sense based on my limited communication with the University.
I have submitted a couple more questions and hopefully they get back to me, I'll update the thread if anything useful pops ups.

 

[kwchung00]

Hello everyone,

I am eager to do MBchB but I understand I must do First year BHSc or BSc listed below. May I seek your advice which courses would have higher chance for me to get in MBChB or which is easier to get higher grades? Appreciate your advice and I will submit my applications soon. Thanks.


First Year BHSc courses:

CHEM 110: Chemistry of the Living World

BIOSCI 107: Biology for Biomedical Science - Cellular Processes and Development

MEDSCI 142: Biology for Biomedical Science - Organ Systems

POPLHLTH 111: Population Health

POPLHLTH 101: Health Systems I

POPLHLTH 102: Health and Society

HLTHPSYC 122: Behaviour, Health and Development

General Education*

First Year BSc (Biomedical Science) courses:

CHEM 110: Chemistry of the Living World

BIOSCI 107: Biology for Biomedical Science - Cellular Processes and Development

MEDSCI 142: Biology for Biomedical Science - Organ Systems

POPLHLTH 111: Population Health

BIOSCI 101: Essential Biology: From Genomes to Organisms

PHYSICS 160: Physics for the Life Sciences

BIOSCI 106: Foundations of Biochemistry

General Education*

 

[Fili]

Hello everyone,

I am eager to do MBchB but I understand I must do First year BHSc or BSc listed below. May I seek your advice which courses would have higher chance for me to get in MBChB or which is easier to get higher grades? Appreciate your advice and I will submit my applications soon. Thanks.


First Year BHSc courses:

CHEM 110: Chemistry of the Living World

BIOSCI 107: Biology for Biomedical Science - Cellular Processes and Development

MEDSCI 142: Biology for Biomedical Science - Organ Systems

POPLHLTH 111: Population Health

POPLHLTH 101: Health Systems I

POPLHLTH 102: Health and Society

HLTHPSYC 122: Behaviour, Health and Development

General Education*

First Year BSc (Biomedical Science) courses:

CHEM 110: Chemistry of the Living World

BIOSCI 107: Biology for Biomedical Science - Cellular Processes and Development

MEDSCI 142: Biology for Biomedical Science - Organ Systems

POPLHLTH 111: Population Health

BIOSCI 101: Essential Biology: From Genomes to Organisms

PHYSICS 160: Physics for the Life Sciences

BIOSCI 106: Foundations of Biochemistry

General Education*

Difficulty of papers is highly dependent on the person and if they consider themselves quite inclined in physics etc. If you think you excel in physics then it's probably best to choose the course with physics in it. If you're not good at physics then choose the course without physics in it.

 

[ProfessorPond]

If you enjoy writing essays then go for Healthsci. However, I really wouldn't recommend it as population health is a pain in the neck to study because all the content is really abstract. Seriously, after Sem 1 and POPLHLTH 111 you'll understand.

I did biomed and I'd say that it's probably the safer pick. The physics paper is honestly not as bad as people think it is, and the lectures are all really chill with Conway doing funny Conway things. However, 106 does require a good amount of effort to not flunk, and 101 ironically as well. 101 is really annoying in that it has the weirdest course progression, and a module can go from basic high school biology to complex biochemical pathways in 3 lectures. Learnt that the hard way when I wagged every lecture and had a bit of a shock when I was cramming the weekend before the exam. I still kind of enjoyed 106 though, because it was pretty heavy on biochemistry, which I found very fascinating but I understand that a lot of people thought it was painful.

Point is, Biomed noncore papers are (imo) a lot more crammable- I studied for 106 topic tests the night before and still managed 90s. That's the best quality of a noncore for first year because you want to give minimal F's about them during the semester while you try to keep on top of the core papers. The less time you dedicate to your noncores, the more time you have to memorise the whole of 107, and that's the advantage.

 

[kwchung00]

Thank you Fili and ProfessorPond.

Your opinion is appreciated! I am sure there is no easy steps. I would love to hear more feedbacks and make a wise decision soon. Thanks once again, really love this forum!