Australian Medical Schools

[Guest CazzaOz]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about Australian Medical Schools, other than that available from official sources?

[Guest melissa]

hi there,

all i know is that a friend of mine went to one this year and loves it. apparently, there's no problem coming back and they love canadians. i don't know if this is true but this is what i've heard from her.

[Guest Ian Wong]

I would really check on that if I were you. I know for a fact that one of my buddies in first year med here at UBC actually finished first year med in an Australian med school the year before. Essentially, he's re-doing his first year of med school here at UBC.

 

It's been a long time since I've talked to him, but I got the sense that he went down there because he'd applied to UBC the year before, and gotten rejected.

 

He decided to re-apply to UBC while down in Australia because:

 

1) Tuition down there was extremely expensive.

2) There was a lot of uncertainty about his future practising medicine in Canada.

 

Take note of that 2) statement. If you visit the CaRMS website, it states that only graduates of Canadian med schools are eligible to match into residencies in the first round/first iteration.

 

www.carms.ca/policies/policy_index.htm#Eligibility

 

What this means is that you will be unable to match in most of the specialties available to you (they will have already been taken up by Canadian med school grads). When you are eligible to match in the second round/iteration, most of the desirable specialties in desirable locations will already be taken.

 

Of course, you could do your specialty training in Australia, and then try to return to Canada as a practising physician. I don't know how easy that is to do, nor where to look for information for that.

 

Ian

UBC, MS2

[Guest Ian Wong]

Here's a couple other links regarding Australian Med Schools that co-exist on EZboard.

 

pub48.ezboard.com/fmedical9860frm1.showMessage?topicID=16.topic

 

pub58.ezboard.com/bmeddent

 

The second link is to a messageboard set up by med/dent students at the University of Western Australia.

 

Ian

UBC, MS2

[Guest redshifteffect]

Hey,

 

I'm attending an Australian medical school and I have a number of points that I think should make clear

 

1) Tutition is pretty expensive but you are eligible for loans from the CSL program and your provincial government may help

 

You should keep in mind though that medical school in Canada is pretty expensive as well, and you will probably come out with a debt no matter where you go

 

2) Doing speciality training in Australia is possible but you will need likely need a PR (permanent residency) and you will have to do an Intern year after you graduate (which you will be paid for) after which you are eligible to apply for a speciality training program. However be aware that this is a long process and in Australia even doing family medicine takes about 4 years!

 

3) After you do a specialist training program why would you want to come back to Canada?? I mean first of all you are a allowed to start a private practice, you will likely have a PR, the Australia dollar is almost the same as the Canadian dollar and there is no cap on your salary!!! Finally did I mention the weather??

 

4) If you dont' want to come back to Ontario, other provinces such as Newfoundland and Nova Scotia do have a preference for Australian grads, and you can apply for a two year program there to get your license. (Or so I have read)

 

5) Finally you can always go to the US to do your residency. Now if you think that you will have trouble getting a Green card, then you can always live in Canada but work in the US (once your residency training is complete)

 

6) I advise everyone who is thinking of becoming a doctor to do some research and seriously consider Australian medical schools.

 

If you need to email me: zeshan1@hotmail.com