Medicine in Australia

What you can expect from undergraduate study in Medicine

What you're in for:
Do you pale at the sight of blood? Like being around people who are sick and injured? Care a lot about health and well-being? We ask you these questions because too many young people choose medicine without realising that they are also choosing to be doctors (almost all medicine graduates go on to work as doctors). And if they do think about their future occupation, they tend to concentrate on social status and money, not on the long hours and huge workload doctors undertake. Many seem to choose medicine because it has a high entry score and so do they. This is a silly reason. If you’re thinking about medicine, the first piece of advice is: find out about the working lives of doctors. The best way to do that is to go and talk to some. Ask them about the future of the profession as well as their daily work. It’s not always an adrenalin-fuelled life-saving exercise in the emergency room as some TV series would have you believe. Many GPs are battling away in the suburbs like any other small business person in a competitive industry. If you want to be a specialist, the financial rewards are greater, but you have to study for years, often until well into your 30s. Plus, with a growing culture of litigation making medical indemnity a hot issue in some specialisations, many have wondered if it’s worth it.
The second piece of advice: find out what medicine courses are like. While in past years, medical graduates have been generally cold about their experience, (and still report fairly low levels of satisfaction with the teaching quality), the overall satisfaction rating of graduates increased to average (see below). And with several new medical schools opening in the last few years, new students can probably expect to find out that a little healthy competition does nothing to harm course and teaching quality. The addition of new schools has indeed diversified course offerings in this field. Some of the new courses are focused on rural or community-based practice. An increasing number are designed for graduates. This brings us to the third piece of advice: consider doing a first degree in something else and then going on to one of the four-year graduate courses. Flinders took its first crop of graduate entrants at the beginning of 1996, with UQ and Sydney following in 1997. All three now have compulsory graduate entry. Several new courses are sticking with the graduate-entry formula including ANU, Griffith, and Notre Dame. The first degree can usually be in any field but is often in a branch of science or health science. Entry requirements are broader and include performance on GAMSAT, a special test, an interview and the results of the undergraduate degree. Doing another degree may broaden your outlook and give you a chance to make a mature decision about getting into a tough field, but on the other hand, it may take you even longer if you do end up a doctor (remember, ten years or more of study will not suit everyone!). But if course length is not a problem, you might look into doing a combined degree (medicine/law, for example).
As you will know by now, it is very tough to get into this field. Entry to most undergraduate courses requires you to complete the UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test) and many also require an interview. (Note: an increase in federal government funding for studies in medicine was announced in the May 2007 budget. At the time of publication, it is not known whether this will result in any change in CSP rates for relevant courses.)
If you are interested in medicine, you should also consider other health-related courses. Look into dentistry, nursing, vet science, and perhaps psychology. You may also like to consider the rapidly increasing number of courses in ‘alternative’ approaches to medicine including Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, or naturopathy. Consult the profile of the health services and support field of study for more information about related options.
To find out more about training as a medical practitioner, check out the Australian Medical Council website www.amc.org.au .
What’s happening?
The excellent employment rate among graduates indicates that we are far from producing an oversupply of doctors. Indeed, the growing trend in all health education — particularly in medicine — towards rurally-focused programs reflects the chronic undersupply of doctors and other health professionals in these areas. Shortages are not confined to rural communities, however. In the last two years, new medical schools and additional medical places have been added around the country in an effort to forestall future shortages. However, there is still some concern among leaders in the profession about the capacity of hospitals and clinics to cater to the clinical training needs of additional students/graduates.
Although medical degrees have existed for graduates for some years, a degree structure following the US-style model (students enter a general pre-medical degree in science, health or applied science and then transfer to a postgraduate qualification in medicine) is likely to become more common for undergraduates.
On average, how tough is it to get into Medicine courses?
Very Tough
Who does undergraduate courses in Medicine?
Number of students: 10,208
Percent of students over 25 years: 19%
Percent of students from non-English speaking backgrounds: 28%
Number of international students: 1,908
Percent studying part time: 1%
Percent studying externally: 0%
Percent women: 55%
Tuition costs:
Average tuition fees for international students $186,307 per annumAverage tuition fees for domestic fee-paying students $167,977 per annum
Graduates views of the course experience
Teaching quality: 1 star
Development of generic skills: 3 stars
Overall satisfaction: 3 stars
Your prospects
The national Course Experience Questionnaire survey indicates that medical graduates give their overall experience as students average ratings, but are even less enamoured with the standards of teaching they encounter. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the new graduate courses are educationally the more successful. Although medical graduates have very high starting salaries and virtually zero unemployment, this is not the life for everyone. Interns work such long hours that their $51 850 can average out to a meagre sum. Having studied for six years or so they’re also older than other graduates and have been on student money for a longer period of time.
What salary can I expect?
Graduate starting salary: $51,850
Will I get a job?
Percentage of graduates looking for job who did not find full time work four months after graduation: 1%
Where graduates go when they do get jobs?
Public sector: 96%
Private sector: 2%
Private practice: 0%
Overseas: 1%
Will I need to go on to further study?
How many graduates immediately go on to further study? 12%
How does Medicine compare with other fields of study?
Click here to compare Medicine with the other 29 fields of study.
How difficult is it to get into undergraduate courses in Medicine?
Click here for entry toughness to non-combined courses.
Do institutions differ in how they teach Medicine?
Yes. The following 20 campuses all provide Medicine courses. Click on the campus name to find out more about the individual campuses. Click on the University name to see how their Medicine courses rate and compare.
Australian National University: Main
Bond University: Gold Coast
Deakin University: Geelong
Flinders University: Bedford Park
Griffith University: Gold Coast
James Cook University: Townsville
Monash University: Clayton, Malaysia
University of Adelaide: North Terrace
University of Melbourne: Parkville
University of New South Wales: Kensington
University of Newcastle: Callaghan
University of Notre Dame, Australia: Fremantle, Sydney
University of Queensland: St Lucia
University of Sydney: Camperdown/Darlington
University of Tasmania: Hobart
University of Western Australia: Crawley
University of Western Sydney: Campbelltown
University of Wollongong: Wollongong