So the UMAT didn’t go too well for you? Beginning to question your suitability for medicine? Never fear! If there’s will, there’s a way.
Although it is imperative to be able to solve problems under time constraints as a doctor, strength of character is as equally important. In this blog post I’ll guide you through the alternative pathways to medicine available to you, if entry straight out of year 12 didn’t go your way:
- Existential crisis
This is typically the first pathway taken by those of us who don’t qualify for an interview... And there is, without question, significant merit to going through this thought process. At this point in time we need to knuckle down and ask the important questions: Do I really want to be a doctor? Is my personality suited to the sort of lifestyle medicine demands? Is it worth my time? Are there other careers out there that are more interesting to me and that would be more fulfilling to pursue?
- Taking a gap year
Be warned. This option carries an enormous amount of risk, and in the best case scenario, you graduate from medicine 7 years out of high school (6 if you gain entry to medicine at WSU). There are a number of misconceptions here to be dispelled. Firstly, starting university will inevitably drop the ATAR you’re currently sitting on. This isn’t always the case. There are definitely courses out there in which it easy to maintain a 7.0 GPA (99.95 equivalent), and these are usually science/biomedicine degrees. Another misconception is that your UMAT will improve. This is generally true, given you study harder than you did last UMAT, but there is always the risk that ACER may switch up the style of questions you experienced last UMAT and the style that you have been practicing. Furthermore, you are still competing against the next years’ cohort and so even if your UMAT does improve, if the cohort is of a higher standard you still may not make the cut.
- Going interstate
This option is definitely viable, as some interstate med programs (namely the Griffith University pathway) does not consider the UMAT in their selection criteria, with the only requirement being an ATAR of 99.5+ (2017). Griffith is unique in that it is split into an undergraduate B Medical Science program which is 2 years and a postgraduate Doctor of Medicine program which is 4 years, bypassing the need to sit the GAMSAT. This option is valuable as it does give you the opportunity to sit the GAMSAT and apply for postgraduate entry into other universities such as UQ, USYD, Melbourne and Notre Dame among others, at the end of your two-year degree. This is the fastest track towards post-graduate medicine, as most other undergraduate degrees are 3 years.
- Doing another degree
Pursuing a three-year B Science (with a Biomedicine major) or B Medical Science degree offers you the opportunity to re-sit the UMAT in your first year, and to sit the GAMSAT in your second and third years (since your GAMSAT score is useable for 2 years), whilst also preparing you in advance for the content to come in medicine. The GAMSAT is an exam taken by people finishing their undergraduate degrees, for entry into a 4-year post-graduate medicine program offered at 12 universities around Australia. GAMSAT is often overhyped as an insanely challenging and gruelling 6-hour exam. This is not the case. It can be prepared for, and all comes down to exam technique and doing practice exams. There are plenty of resources for the GAMSAT all over the internet, but the best place to start would be pagingdr.net, a forum dedicated to all things medicine. If you achieved a Band 6 in Extension 2 Maths, Physics, Chemistry, English or Economics, definitely consider this option, as your writing, reasoning and problem-solving skills should be sufficient in attaining a good score in the GAMSAT.
Good luck!
