Strange situation in need of some advice

[icefire86]

Hi all!

I've been reading this forum over the past couple of weeks to feed my dream of getting into an Australian med school. A dream my current coursemates would find utterly ridiculous.

I'm graduating from my second love, a Bachelor in Fine Arts in April 2009, and hope to enter my first passion, medicine, under the GEMP. I know this is a very strange undergraduate degree to progress to medicine from (this development resulting from an insane turn of events) so I do have some questions about progressing from here and if I have a shot at getting into a med school in australia.

I'm currently graduating with an expected minimum of 4.37 out of 5.00 (which is the GPA in Singapore universities), which translates (proportionately) to a 6.1 out of 7.00 in the australian system.

I'm still rather undecided if I should take the MCAT or GAMSAT. Which would you guys recommend? I did science in high school, but admittedly, it has been a long time since I took a course in science (if you disregard the forensic science class I took in university).

I'm also thinking about trying for the following universities:
University of Queensland
Flinders
University of Sydney
Monash University

Given my current undergraduate degree of fine arts, would it pose a problem getting into medical school? My apologies for the extremely long post, and many thanks in advance for any help. =)

[kevmeji]

Congrats on following with you passions. I applied to 5 schools in Australia and got accepted into 2 schools for 2009.

From what I understand, medical schools do look for a wide array for talents/interests in their candidates so having a BA in Fine arts may actually help you in that sense. Also medical school students come from different degrees and so what some excel at others will find challenging and vice versa.

On the other hand the issue with the lack of science classes may mean that you will have to work a little harder in the intro lessons once in med (makes sense but that again is not an issue I'm sure you're not the first to be in that situation).

The only thing I would be worried about is the MCAT or GAMSAT. I am an international student and don;t know much about the GAMSAT but did write the MCAT twice. The first time I did not have any background in Organic Chem or Physics and really got butchered. If you have not seen physical sciences and biological sciences in a while then I would recommend you take courses before you write the exam or atleast give yourself time to study both the material and be able to practice a bunch of passages for the MCAT.

First time I wrote the MCAT I studied about 2-3 hours/day for about 4 days a week for 1.5-2 months. The second time I studied about 8-10hrs/day for 5-7days/week for 3 months.

Having said that I have friends that scored higher than me and studied for only 2 weeks. Long story short, get a couple of practice tests (from the AAMC website) and try your luck with them to see how you score (remember to stay within the time constrains of the actual exam) that should give you a good indication of where you are needing some help if any.

Good luck

[icefire86]

Thanks for the advice! I've persuaded some of my friends to coach me in the sciences section, and got hold of a bunch of GAMSAT and MCAT material to study from.

Another question I have is about ACER. I believe they restrict the number of choices for international students to 2 per application. Would it be better to apply directly to the schools themselves to cast a broader net?

[kevmeji]

glad to hear your friends are helping you out with the material. I would recommend to apply to the schools directly atleast I did except for U of Sydney cuz they don;t give you a choice.

From what I understand if you apply to more than one school via ACER and you don;t get an interview for your 1st choice, the second choice doesn't even interview you, they just use the score from your 1st choice interview (highly unfair if this is true) either way I would apply directly. Also note that if you are interested in Queensland that you apply as soon as the application comes out (May I think). They have a rolling admissions and so the earlier you apply the better your chances.

Good luck and keep me posted.

PS
if you decide to write the MCAT begin reading the magazine the Economist (for sure) my Verbal score went from a 5 to an 11 because of it!!!