Choosing a Medical School: Does Prestige Matter?

1. Choosing a Medical School: Does Prestige Matter?

2. What do University Rankings mean? • Every year, you may hear about the release of ‘World University Rankings’ where every university is given a number and can even be ranked by faculty or subject. But how are these rankings even calculated? • Most of the university rankings we hear about are actually based on the research output of a university, that is: the status of the journals in which academics from that university publish in; how often those articles are cited by others; and how many PhDs are obtained per university. • Therefore, the older a university is (for example USyd versus UNSW), the easier it is for that university to maintain a high ranking even if their medical degree changes it’s structure or their entrance scores consistently decrease. Universities like USyd have strong connections with professors and academics who attended university back in the day when those such as UNSW didn’t yet exist. • Furthermore, the factors that do matter to prospective medical students, such as student experience or medical graduate success in the workforce, do not usually contribute to these rankings. So even if one university in Australia produced significantly more ‘successful’ doctors, this wouldn’t directly affect their rank.

3. But will I get a job as a Medical Graduate? • This brings us to another common concern that future employers will prefer to hire medical graduates from these more ‘prestigious’ universities. However, unlike in other fields, the shortage of qualified individuals means that careers in medicine are pretty much guaranteed. Let’s face it, the demand for medical professionals will always be there (robots can’t be that good already!). • Moreover, medical practice involves the application of objective, evidence-based knowledge to a clinical scenario, and is therefore similar no matter where you studied in Australia. • Therefore, waiting extra years to get into a more prestigious course could be worse off for your career than if you accepted a position straight away and got out into the workforce sooner to become a more experienced medical professional.

4. Then how would I know which medical course is the best? • Unfortunately, this is a tricky question to answer, especially considering the subjectivity of the matter. However, some factors to consider when trying to judge the quality of a medical course include: • The retention rate for the course - Good medical schools shouldn’t have an attrition rate greater than about 10% • The required entrance score - Is it increasing? If yes, then this indicates the university is probably becoming more popular. If no, then perhaps the university has increased the number of places available in their medical course, or their medical course is becoming less popular. • The number of students who go on to practice medicine - this can be difficult to ascertain, but can be found on some university and other independent websites.

5. What are some other factors that I should considerwhen choosing a medical school? • Location - Choosing a university that is easily accessible by public transport may be really important for someone, moreover, some people are more willing to move interstate for a medical course if need be and others prefer to stay close to family. • Cost of living - different cities are more expensive to live in than others, and different areas of each city come with different costs. If you’re moving out of home to study, this is especially important to take into account before deciding where to go. • Student life - A large part of university, especially your medical degree, is being engaged in social clubs and activities, extra-curricular opportunities, or sporting teams. • Course structure - lastly, even though the content of medical knowledge that is taught is essentially the same across the universities, the structures between courses can vary quite a lot. Some universities get you into the hospitals earlier, and some devote more time than others to placements in rural areas. If there is an aspect of medicine that you’re already passionate about, or a structure of learning that you’re particularly drawn to, this could be something you consider early on.

6. Further Materials • Australian Graduate Medical Schools Admission Requirements • GAMSAT Results Guide • GAMSAT Biology: How to prepare • GAMSAT Chemistry: How to Prepare • GAMSAT Physics: How to Prepare • Don’t forget to sign up for our GAMSAT Free Trial, which includes 50 MCQs from our Intelligent MCQ Bank, access to our week-by-week study guide for each section, and a wealth of our GAMSAT resources: https://gradready.com.au/gamsat-preparation-courses/free-gamsat-trial