Hi there,

Happy to answer your questions.

By way of introduction, I am a recently graduated doctor from UoA about to start work at Middlemore hospital.

1. Life is pretty sweet once you get into Medicine (seriously). You first have your 2 preclinical years in year 2 and 3. You have plenty of free time and it’s probably the most easy-going period of medical school. You make heaps of new friends, and focus on learning basic human anatomy and principles of medicine. Think your usual lectures and tutorials. Lots of social events organised by the various groups in medicine. And when I day you have free time, I mean it, many of my colleagues (myself included) comfortably held down part-time jobs whilst in pre-clinical years. There is also not too much stress and as you will probably realise once you get into medicine and unlike pre-medicine, the is no requirement (nor is it advisable) to try maintain perfect scores because what’s more important is that you actually enjoy the learning. Clinical medicine starts in 4th year and it is where the serious medicine begins. You transition full time to the hospital environment working with real patients. A steep learning curve but very exciting nonetheless. There is no longer a big exam at the end of year 5. Instead, you are tested through medical school with various components as well as the Progress Test 3 times a year (a test which is the same from every year group and set at the level of a graduate doctor).

2. For students still interested in pursuing medicine and have failed to get in via direct-entry. THe recommendation is to complete you bachelors degree then apply for postgraduate entry. Please get in touch with us if that is something you are interested in and we can run you through your options and requirements.

3. Success rates vary from year to year. In general, attrition rates for postgraduate applicants are generally a bit lower (meaning better chance of getting in) than undergraduate at Auckland. This is because postgraduates tend to perform better in the interview. Again, please get in touch with us if post-graduate entry is something you are interested in as your options are much more open in term of where you could apply for (eg. studying in Australia).

Thanks @bryan.chong for the insight in the life of a med student.
How does those year 2- year 3 pre-clinical year compares to the hectic life of a student in the year 1 of Bio-medical science ( University of Auckland), who is fresh out of high school.
What would you recommend or advice yourself when you were pursuing the same course ? ( year 1 of Biomedical science).
Thanks in advance

Hi Bryan, thank you so much for sharing your insights. I’d like to ask how difficult you though Med school at UoA to be, i.e. did you have a social life? You said that you and some others were able to hold down a part-time job, could you give more details? Also, after graduating is it mandatory to do 2 years as a house officer? Thanks in advance