The undergraduate Medicine course at Monash is one of the most sought after tertiary options in the state, but what does it actually involve? Read on to hear about a third year Med student discuss the ups and downs of his experiences.
I didn’t think I’d get into Med. It was certainly a pipe dream for a few years, and a vague goal throughout most of Year 12, but I was still considering other options right up until the late rounds of VTAC offers when I was suddenly given the opportunity to study Medicine at Monash. So, of course, I went for it, and I’ve never looked back.
There are so many utterly fascinating parts of this course; from the sheer breadth of content you’re was exposed to, to the whole spectrum of emotions you feel when giving an injection to a patient for a first time. It’s a very full-on experience (particularly if you have to travel three hours a day by public transport just to get there… though the allure of Medicine outweighed the slight inconvenience of getting to Clayton from the west side) and the fact that I wasn’t expecting the offer meant that every new surprise was just that much more exciting.
But the one factor that threatened to sway my decision-making was the knowledge that this would surely be a difficult quest to embark upon straight out of high school. It’s no secret that the demands in Medicine and similar courses are quite high, and whilst they invariably appeal to highly intelligent (and slightly neurotic) people, there’s still a huge step-up in the difficulty that I wasn’t sure I was completely prepared for.
Some of those difficulty factors were to be expected. I knew the workload was going to be pretty intense. I knew that I’d have to devote a lot of hours to cope with the high standards and high pressure environment. And it was difficult to make the transition from a comparatively relaxed high school system to the challenging reality of Medicine, but the fact that the course is so damn interesting helped keep me going through the more arduous tasks.
The structure of the course was also very appealing. I had very little choice when it came to elective subjects or alternate timetables because there are set pathways in place for our cohort. Some people might like the relative freedom in other, more general Bachelor degrees, but for me, the fact that I didn’t have to stress about pre-requisites or making decisions for the next five years ahead of time was a great relief. Plus, the ‘sample platter’ style of content delivery meant that we were exposed to a pretty decent selection of different fields and occupations within that umbrella of Medicine. I did briefly consider other pathways that offer Medicine at a post-graduate level after doing a general Science or Biomedicine degree, but Monash’s MBBS was a bit more direct, and meant I could save time and money by picking the undergraduate option.
But with that comes the competition. The sprint for entry into Medicine is hellish since you’re up against incredibly intelligent and driven people, so it’s easy to feel daunted by that. I was worried the same attitudes would persist once we started our first year, but luckily things became a lot more supportive and collaborative. Sure there are the few odd hyper-competitive students who’ll take all the help they can get but give nothing in return, but the vast majority of the cohort were more pragmatic. In fact, over the past few years we’ve become a surprisingly insular group (even cliquey at times) compared to other undergraduate courses, but I’m told that’s typical for Medicine students who spend so much time amongst one another. We’d all gotten here, and most of us would be here for the next few years. And even the lowest ranking person was still going to be a doctor by the end, so I suppose we all collectively decided it was in our best interests to help each other out.
And it’s a good thing we did, because the assessment is a pretty scary prospect on first glance. We have quarter-yearly three hour exams covering the content from that part of the year, coupled with two 2000 word essays per semester on various topics. There’s also a more practical component known as OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Exams) where you’re expected to demonstrate clinical ability in a mock patient-doctor environment. There’s a big emphasis on people skills and how effectively you can communicate complex concepts, and if you’re naturally shy or naturally blunt, it can be a bit of a struggle. That said, the fast-paced nature of the course actually makes it difficult to slack of and neglect your studies, so although the marking can be fairly brutal (especially if you’re used to being a straight 100% student throughout high school), it’s fun to rise to that challenge.
There are still a lot of misconceptions I encounter both from current Medicine students and aspiring ones, though. The notion of it being unbearably, impossibly difficult is untrue – it’s certainly a challenge, but the course is by no means unmanageable provided you’ve got some good, efficient study skills in place. And yet there was also an odd preconception within the cohort at the start of first year that things would get easier and that the hardest part of their journey was getting to that point. Au contraire. The difficulty does ramp up, and it’s natural to occasionally feel a bit overwhelmed, but I think the workload is dependent on the individual and what they prioritise.
My advice to any aspiring Medicine students out there: know why you want to do this. You may not know exactly which discipline you want to end up in, and you may not be inclined to plan your life out too far in advance, but you have to know what’s motivating you to pursue this area of study. Doing it for the money is a bit foolhardy seeing as you could be earning just as much in a high-paying Commerce industry without quite so much stress, and doing it to ‘help people’ is admirable, but often imprecise. There are plenty of jobs that involve helping people, and without a decent reason to propel yourself, it’s easy to lose motivation and feel totally out of your depth.
Make sure you absolutely want to do it. Make sure this isn’t a decision that your parents are making on your behalf, or that you’re basing your choice on misguided perceptions of wealth and fame. Try to spend some time talking to student currently studying Medicine if you can find one. Feel free to comment below, or check out this awesome FAQ thread: So You Want To Be A Doctor?
And don’t be too concerned if things don’t work out – it’s the most difficult course to get into straight after VCE, so give it your best shot, but know that there are plenty of other pathways available. So prepare yourself for more hard work and a fair bit of stress. But also look forward to an engaging course and, hopefully, a rewarding career.
