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UQ UQ Medicine: Undergraduate Degree Options and Discussion

NZcool said:
Yes, the same one. But as per the instructions of the UQ, he is currently doing the subjects which he failed. But not sure whether he will get his place next year. As per some source, some students were given a second chance in the past.
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I have a friend who was in danger of losing her place during UQ undergrad last year (as she failed several subjects that semester), but because she let FoM know ASAP, she was able to progress to med. I believe she passed some supplementary exams and technically completed all requirements but didn't have her BSc graduation last year (I believe it will be this year?). I think the main thing is that they can do more to help if you ask as soon as you realise you could possibly lose your place.
 
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ok, thanks. That is good news. But my friend failed some core subject which only in the current semester. So need to skip a year to try for eligibility. if he gets next year that will be great. UQ can not confirm now.
 
NZcool said:
ok, thanks. That is good news. But my friend failed some core subject which only in the current semester. So need to skip a year to try for eligibility. if he gets next year that will be great. UQ can not confirm now.
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Ah okay that is a bit different then since we didn't have any required subjects in third year. I would still say he has a chance and to keep trying as although I don't know anyone in his position in undergrad, I do know someone who has been given a chance to repeat a year in med due to failing a core subject. All the best to him!
 
Hello,

I'm looking for some advice regarding a good undergraduate degree as a pathway to medicine. For UQ there are four possible undergrad degrees I'm interested in:
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Advanced Science (with Honours)
• Bachelor of Pharmacy (with Honours)
I have had several recommendations that Pharmacy would be beneficial before a medical degree but it does take a year longer so may not be the best option? And what about the others? I need to choose 2 for my 5th and 6th preferences. What's the difference between Advanced science and Science? Is advanced just a bit harder or goes into more depth? Would this be beneficial before a medical degree as well?
Thank you!
 
Rose99 said:
Hello,

I'm looking for some advice regarding a good undergraduate degree as a pathway to medicine. For UQ there are four possible undergrad degrees I'm interested in:
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Advanced Science (with Honours)
• Bachelor of Pharmacy (with Honours)
I have had several recommendations that Pharmacy would be beneficial before a medical degree but it does take a year longer so may not be the best option? And what about the others? I need to choose 2 for my 5th and 6th preferences. What's the difference between Advanced science and Science? Is advanced just a bit harder or goes into more depth? Would this be beneficial before a medical degree as well?
Thank you!
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I am assuming you aren’t a provisional entry student, and are trying to get in via graduate entry? This post is definitely worth reading: Common pitfalls to avoid for year 12 school leavers and other medicine applicants

For me pharmacy seems the obvious choice from the options you’ve given.
 
Between BBiomedSc, BSci, and BAdvSci, I would chose BSci. I chose BBiomedSci initially, but swapped over to BSci after Semester 1 for the extra flexibility. In the BSci you can major in any combination whatever you want given you can satisfy the course requirements, and do an extended biomed major which is the same as BBiomedSci, making the degree a bit redundant.

From what I've seen. Advanced Science take harder capstones which are more researched focused then the rest of the cohort, for e.g. the rest of Science does SCIE1000 - Theory of Science, whilst Advanced does SCIE1100/SCIE1200 - Advanced Theory of Science and Introduction to Scientific Research. But in terms of actual courses, I'm pretty sure we all do the same - making the 'advanced' tag a bit gimmicky. There are some cases where two courses will run parallel which the advanced students are the only one that can enroll in the 'higher one' but most of the time its not the case (especially given how cash strapped the university is going to be in the near future, so they will probably start removing courses/amalgamate the old ones)

Another thing I've heard is that the Advanced Science program is really restrictive. You have to pick a single major, get fewer electives, get asked to leave if your GPA falls too low (5.5 or 6 iirc), etc. Not worth it imo.

Pharmacy is pretty alright. If you have an interest in Chemistry then you will enjoy it, it has good employment outcomes, and UQ has pretty good rep for their Pharmacy School. I chose not to do it because its 4 years, and it wasn't something that particularly thrilled me. I can't really comment on whether Pharmacy would be particularly helpful in the MD, but in the talks we've been given by the Med department they've said BIOC2000 a biochem course, will be more than enough of a headstart before the MD.

Also you dont need to have the MD First Degree in the QTAC preferences. A few days after you accept your offer you log into UQ's website and swap your degree from there.

EDIT: This is assuming your talking about provisional. If not, you would have to add these programs to your QTAC, and I would definitely concentrate on employment outcomes a bit more due to the competitiveness of MD entry
 
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Thank you! That helps me a lot.
There is also the Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Science. Again this is 4 years but would this be beneficial as well? I would like to try and order the following degrees from most to least useful/enjoyable/worthwhile to do before graduate entry medicine at UQ?
Bachelor of Biomedical Science
Bachelor of Pharmacy (with Honours)
Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Advanced Science (with Honours)

Thanks again!
 
Rose99 said:
Thank you! That helps me a lot.
There is also the Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Science. Again this is 4 years but would this be beneficial as well? I would like to try and order the following degrees from most to least useful/enjoyable/worthwhile to do before graduate entry medicine at UQ?
Bachelor of Biomedical Science
Bachelor of Pharmacy (with Honours)
Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Advanced Science (with Honours)

Thanks again!
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The answer really depends on whether you have provisional entry or not. I'd say there's less value in doing a non-vocational degree for four years if you have provisional entry already. I can’t see the value in doing a double in Science/Biomedical Science if you had provisional entry, personally. If not, I think choosing a degree that will provide you with back-up career options is more important. Also, nobody will be able to tell you which one you’ll enjoy the most - that comes down to your own interests.
 
Depends what you mean by beneficial? Beneficial in the sense that you can explore your interests? Beneficial that you can get a job? Beneficial to study/get into medicine?

If you're talking about exploring interests, I dont really see the value in doing double BBiomedSc/BSc. Theres plenty of single majors at UQ (including Biomed) which you can pair up with another single major. Personally I'm doing a double major in Computer Science and Biomed (two very different majors with little overlap) through a singular Bachelor of Science and my program plan was still able to fit in 3 electives and graduate on time. Personally I try to steer people away from BBiomedSc because the degree is redundant as it can be achieved through the BSc, and generally used to mislead people who want to get into med but arent wiser to the admission processes.

Your undergraduate degree before medicine should be something you enjoy, feel confident in, in an location you want to study (no university is better for getting into medicine wholistically - some may prioritise your own students but thats a different story), and something with good job prospects (especially if youre not provisional). The Graduate Admissions Process is competitive and requires genuine commitment, something that is more likely to come to fruition if your studying something you enjoy and are good at, not whats 'most beneficial'

We cant really answer these questions on what you would find most enjoyable
 
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Rose99 said:
Hello,

I'm looking for some advice regarding a good undergraduate degree as a pathway to medicine. For UQ there are four possible undergrad degrees I'm interested in:
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Advanced Science (with Honours)
• Bachelor of Pharmacy (with Honours)
I have had several recommendations that Pharmacy would be beneficial before a medical degree but it does take a year longer so may not be the best option? And what about the others? I need to choose 2 for my 5th and 6th preferences. What's the difference between Advanced science and Science? Is advanced just a bit harder or goes into more depth? Would this be beneficial before a medical degree as well?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
A good undergraduate degree for the purpose of getting into med/dent is a degree that allows you to get a high GPA. An arts student with a 7 GPA has far higher chance of getting into med than a biomed student with a 6 GPA. If you're not doing a health/science/biomed course, you may need to spend a bit more time to study for section 3 of the GAMSAT.
 
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Has anyone ever done a BA as their undergrad? I've always been keen to study arts, and I know the course is flexible enough to account for doing to medicine prerequisite subjects. Was just wondering if anyone knows anecdotally of someone having done BA/MD as I haven't heard much...
 
eponine said:
Has anyone ever done a BA as their undergrad? I've always been keen to study arts, and I know the course is flexible enough to account for doing to medicine prerequisite subjects. Was just wondering if anyone knows anecdotally of someone having done BA/MD as I haven't heard much...
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Plenty of people do so. Two currently on the forum are chinaski and Verdigris. Helmut is also currently studying Arts with provisional entry into USYD MD.
 
Unluckydude said:
A good undergraduate degree for the purpose of getting into med/dent is a degree that allows you to get a high GPA. An arts student with a 7 GPA has far higher chance of getting into med than a biomed student with a 6 GPA. If you're not doing a health/science/biomed course, you may need to spend a bit more time to study for section 3 of the GAMSAT.
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Conversely, if you are not doing a arts/humanities course, you may need to spend a bit more time to prepare for section 1 and 2 of the GAMSAT.
 
eponine said:
Oh wow that's awesome thankyou so much! Is there a way I can message them privately? I'm still kinda new to this forum :)
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You could, but I know chinaski doesn't accept PMs and unless your enquiries are of a personal nature, we'd prefer if you asked publicly so that everyone can benefit from the response.
 
Hi, I was wondering whether anyone is aware of how hard it is to maintain a good GPA for physio (honours) at UQ and also whether it would be considered a good undergrad course for med or dent? I am currently trying to decide between nursing and physio predominately, OT is also on the back of my mind. Thanks in advance!!
 
roserose said:
Hi, I was wondering whether anyone is aware of how hard it is to maintain a good GPA for physio (honours) at UQ and also whether it would be considered a good undergrad course for med or dent? I am currently trying to decide between nursing and physio predominately, OT is also on the back of my mind. Thanks in advance!!
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Like any course, maintaining a "good" GPA (which would differ from person to person) will require commitment to studies and will be much easier if you're genuinely interested in the course content. Physio lays a good foundation for medicine but I personally wouldn't do a 4 year degree prior to a 4 year MD when you could do a 3 year undergrad. It just depends on what you want to get out of it I guess.

Aside from that, I wouldn't be overly concerned about maintaining a good GPA beyond meeting the hurdle requirement to get through to the MD. There's not much to gain from doing so and you should focus on just enjoying yourself as much as you can before you start medicine.
 
Hey roserose just checking: do you mean would physio/nursing/OT be a good course generally prior to Med or Dent, or are you expecting a UQ provisional offer and asking in that context? Your “Med or Dent” comment makes me think you might have strayed into the wrong thread, but just double checking.
 
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