USYD Medicine? The right subjects?

[sjhingran]

Hi! I'm hoping to do Medicine in the University of Sydney. I wanted to know if I had chosen the right subjects for IB for getting into this course. I'm skeptic about having 4 major HL's as it will be an overbearing amount of work. From what I know IB subjects aren't scaled. So if I wanted to get a 45 in IB, the difficulty of my subjects wouldn't matter, correct?

HL Chemistry

HL Biology

HL English

HL Psychology

SL Maths

SL Latin

My weakest subject is Math, and my strongest is Chemistry. Would dropping Psychology to SL be worthwhile?

 

Thanks!

[ibprincess]

there is literally no recognisable benefit to having 4 hls rather than 3 especially if you're trying to get a 45

 

if your weakest is maths then i would recommend doing math studies because usyd doesn't care about math level for medicine i think (i have friends wanting to do medicine there and they're doing studies) and then getting a 7 will be easier that way

 

theres no scaling but different subjects have different mark boundaries meaning you need a higher score to get a 7 in that subject

- bio has a pretty high mark boundary so unless you're certain you can get 80%+ (not sure what the actual mark is) it will be hard to get a 7 there

- think the psychology mark boundary is generally high 60's low 70's and as long as you know every outcome and nail the ia its doable

[ultimateone]

There aren't any prerequisite subjects in USYD, they just want a 45! haha (and a good UMAT score), very competitive indeed.
But do the subjects that you really can get a 7 in, that's all that matters.
You can do SL Chem, because HL Chem is hard, known to be one of the hardest HLs around.
Biology being hard is a common misconception, it's not hard, it's just that there's a lot of content to cover, but the content and concepts themselves are easy. It's mainly just memory based, so I'd recommend Bio HL.

If you find Mathematics difficult, then I'd suggest you do Maths Studies, like ibprincess said above, they don't really have a specific Maths level as a prerequisite. I'd say you're pretty similar to me in terms of personality, we both aspire for Medicine in Sydney. We also both struggle in Maths the most, I'm doing SL and I'm struggling, but I can't move down to Studies due to stupid strict rules from my school's IB coordinator.

Your other subjects seem okay  good luck! 

[sjhingran]

there is literally no recognisable benefit to having 4 hls rather than 3 especially if you're trying to get a 45

 

if your weakest is maths then i would recommend doing math studies because usyd doesn't care about math level for medicine i think (i have friends wanting to do medicine there and they're doing studies) and then getting a 7 will be easier that way

 

theres no scaling but different subjects have different mark boundaries meaning you need a higher score to get a 7 in that subject

- bio has a pretty high mark boundary so unless you're certain you can get 80%+ (not sure what the actual mark is) it will be hard to get a 7 there

- think the psychology mark boundary is generally high 60's low 70's and as long as you know every outcome and nail the ia its doable

 

 

There aren't any prerequisite subjects in USYD, they just want a 45! haha (and a good UMAT score), very competitive indeed.

But do the subjects that you really can get a 7 in, that's all that matters.

You can do SL Chem, because HL Chem is hard, known to be one of the hardest HLs around.

Biology being hard is a common misconception, it's not hard, it's just that there's a lot of content to cover, but the content and concepts themselves are easy. It's mainly just memory based, so I'd recommend Bio HL.

If you find Mathematics difficult, then I'd suggest you do Maths Studies, like ibprincess said above, they don't really have a specific Maths level as a prerequisite. I'd say you're pretty similar to me in terms of personality, we both aspire for Medicine in Sydney. We also both struggle in Maths the most, I'm doing SL and I'm struggling, but I can't move down to Studies due to stupid strict rules from my school's IB coordinator.

Your other subjects seem okay  good luck! 

Thank you both for your responses. I have decided to stick with the subjects I'm currently doing, and in Year 12 I will most likely drop to SL Chem. I had a look at the syllabus and some past papers for SL Math, and it seems to be fairly doable. Thank you for everything! I'm new to IB, so if you have an tips or anything at all that I should know, please message me!

[ib1123]

There aren't any prerequisite subjects in USYD, they just want a 45! haha (and a good UMAT score), very competitive indeed.

 

 

Hey, I just wanted to clarify that USYD doesn't require UMAT. They require 45 in the IB to qualify for an interview, after which offers are made.

 

Regarding subjects, there are no pre-requisites, but many med courses (not USYD) recommend that applicants have studied Chemistry. This is different to a prerequisite though - you won't be disadvantaged in your application process from not having done Chem (but this obviously won't be an issue based on your subjects sjhingran).

Also, if you're aiming for 45, it's not advisable to do four HL subjects. The subject you drop from HL to SL should be the one you find least enjoyable or are worst at.

[ultimateone]

 

There aren't any prerequisite subjects in USYD, they just want a 45! haha (and a good UMAT score), very competitive indeed.

 

 

Hey, I just wanted to clarify that USYD doesn't require UMAT. They require 45 in the IB to qualify for an interview, after which offers are made.

 

Regarding subjects, there are no pre-requisites, but many med courses (not USYD) recommend that applicants have studied Chemistry. This is different to a prerequisite though - you won't be disadvantaged in your application process from not having done Chem (but this obviously won't be an issue based on your subjects sjhingran).

Also, if you're aiming for 45, it's not advisable to do four HL subjects. The subject you drop from HL to SL should be the one you find least enjoyable or are worst at.

 

 

Oh alright, thanks for the clarification! I knew that at some point, but kind of forgot as I was writing that post.