Doctors are one of the most important professions in our society. They carry immense responsibility with them each and every day of their career and influence the lives and journeys of each of their patients. It is commendable how much risk they take every time they prescribe medicine or pick up a scalpel.
But being able to do all this isn’t easy and the pathway to medical school is correspondingly challenging in and of itself. It’s a long process of learning, developing and evolving. And if you thought getting into a Medical School was tough, you are in for a surprise because pursuing it is even harder. It takes one a few years to finally be able to practice as a medical professional. And it is a lot of hard work. But, not to worry, we have made a guide for you that provides an overview of what steps to take if you want to study Medicine in Australia.
1. GAMSAT
To start at the very beginning, one needs to sit the GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test) with at least 50 marks in each of the three sections – In reality, you’ll need to do a lot better than 50 in each section to be competitive. You can take this exam if you want to pursue your career in medical, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, and veterinary science in Australia and a few other countries.
Your GAMSAT result is a key part of the entry criteria for medical schools in Australia. As mentioned above, most universities in Australia accept a minimum of 50 marks in three sections, but you’ll need to score higher to be competitive. In addition to the GAMSAT score, almost all universities will use your GPA score from a bachelor’s degree as well as an interview.
One can apply for GAMSAT during their bachelor’s degree – It’s recommended you sit the exam in your penultimate or final year of study. You can sit the exam as many times as you’d like.
2. Doctor of Medicine
This next step starts with getting admission to a medical school. For graduate-entry pathways, the degree will generally take four years with a mixture of university and clinical-based learning. You’ll cover both the theory required to be a doctor as well as the practical skills during your clinical placements. Many universities also use the last year to train you for your upcoming internships.
3. Internship
After you complete your medical course, a very vital next step is to intern at a hospital for a year (47 weeks).
You can apply anywhere in the country but make sure to do so by June of the year before you start your internship. Every state in the country has different needs and expectations from internships to make sure you go through them before applying. You are generally guaranteed an internship in the state where you completed your medical degree.
Lastly, six months before you complete your degree, you need to apply to the Australian Medical Board for provisional registration. This marks your completion of one year of practice.
4. General Medical Registration
Once you have completed your internship, the Australian Medical Board will give you a general medical registration. If you did your internship at a hospital outside the country, you need to do an internship in an Australian hospital for a year. This is also a supervised internship of one year. Only after this can you gain your general medical registration. Also, it is necessary to stay registered for as long as you wish to practice so you’ll need to maintain your registration with regular training.
5. Prevocational Training
Depending on your specialty, you will have to complete one or more years in prevocational training before you can start proper practice as a doctor.
6. Specialty Medical Training
Once you have completed your internship and prevocational training, you must apply for special medical training. There are special colleges for this training, and it usually lasts from three to seven years.
They usually more or less consist of theory papers and clinical topics. It further tests your ability to become a well-trusted doctor. Even after your intern years, you still have to do more practical assignments to get better.
After this specialty training is completed, you can finally practice as an independent doctor, physician, or surgeon, whatever you may choose.
Final Thoughts
We hope that through this blog, we have been able to guide you regarding how to pursue your medical studies in Australia. It takes a lot of time and hard work to become a doctor. But it is your dream; we wish you the best for the journey. Do let us know in the comments what you thought of this blog.
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