Guide: Choosing Between Multiple Offers for Medicine/Dentistry

[DrDrLMG!]

Hi everyone,

Please ask your question here (Choosing Between Universities and Offers) using the template to make it more efficient.

Home state:
Offer 1: (CSP/BMP)
Offer 2: (CSP/BMP)
Any scholarships offered:
Any accommodation secured:
Internship location preference:
Other important information:

 

[caljebi]

Home state: Canada (international student)
Offer 1: WSU medicine
Offer 2: UTAS medicine
Interested in emergency medicine and surgery
Prefers a school with better procedural skill preperation.
Do not have any preference for location. Hobart and Sydney both are appealing.

I would like any advice comparing the two programs. Thanks!

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Home state: Canada (international student)
Offer 1: WSU medicine
Offer 2: UTAS medicine
Interested in emergency medicine and surgery
Prefers a school with better procedural skill preperation.
Do not have any preference for location. Hobart and Sydney both are appealing.

I would like any advice comparing the two programs. Thanks!

No one will be able to meaningfully compare as no one will have attended both. I can tell you about UTAS (because I went there) but nothing about WSU (because I didn’t).

Are you eligible for support at either? Do you have family close by to either? Any other benefits to one over the other unrelated to the actual programs?

UTAS has one of the few remaining full cadaver dissection programs in Aus medical degrees but I’m not sure if WSU also does so that might not be a selling point. It was amazing, such a privileged learning opportunity.

 

[caljebi]

No one will be able to meaningfully compare as no one will have attended both. I can tell you about UTAS (because I went there) but nothing about WSU (because I didn’t).

Are you eligible for support at either? Do you have family close by to either? Any other benefits to one over the other unrelated to the actual programs?

UTAS has one of the few remaining full cadaver dissection programs in Aus medical degrees but I’m not sure if WSU also does so that might not be a selling point. It was amazing, such a privileged learning opportunity.

Thank you so much for your response!
I do not have any other factors to influence my decision other than the education I would be getting.
Considering my interest in doing clinical placements in busy EDs and surgical theatres (large scale surgeries), would UTAS be a superior option as it has a more larger scale hospital compared to WSU, which focuses on rural medicine?
Thank you for your assistance!

 

[movpin]

Thank you so much for your response!
I do not have any other factors to influence my decision other than the education I would be getting.
Considering my interest in doing clinical placements in busy EDs and surgical theatres (large scale surgeries), would UTAS be a superior option as it has a more larger scale hospital compared to WSU, which focuses on rural medicine?
Thank you for your assistance!

I'm not really sure if WSU focuses on rural medicine anymore than UTAS, as Tasmania is in its entirety rural. But yes, given its size RHH would likely see more complex cases than the WSU hospitals. The UTAS cohort also seems to be very tight-knit.

I would consider there's much more going on in Sydney; more conferences, more doctors, more connections etc. There is collaboration with UNSW and USyd so research would likely be stronger at WSU. The social life would also be better there, as well as being much more connected to the rest of Australia and the world (about to have a second international airport).

I'd weigh up the importance of clinical placements in a larger hospital (smaller hospitals can actually be better since you have more hands-on experience and closer supervision) vs the benefits that come with a larger city.

 

[caljebi]

Thank you so much for your insight!

 

[Some guy]

I'm not really sure if WSU focuses on rural medicine anymore than UTAS, as Tasmania is in its entirety rural. But yes, given its size RHH would likely see more complex cases than the WSU hospitals. The UTAS cohort also seems to be very tight-knit.

I would consider there's much more going on in Sydney; more conferences, more doctors, more connections etc. There is collaboration with UNSW and USyd so research would likely be stronger at WSU. The social life would also be better there, as well as being much more connected to the rest of Australia and the world (about to have a second international airport).

I'd weigh up the importance of clinical placements in a larger hospital (smaller hospitals can actually be better since you have more hands-on experience and closer supervision) vs the benefits that come with a larger city.

Bed numbers aren't ideal for assessing the number of complex patients, but fwiw RHH seems to be about the same size as Blacktown-Mount Druitt which is a std hospital for WSU students. Either way I wouldn't base your decision on this. As a student you'll learn more from seeing and performing procedures on low-medium complexity patients first, before looking after the really complex ones.