Studying Psychology/Optometry

[IBfreakingout!]

Hey guys,

 

I have not long before I need to finalise what courses I study and where I want to apply for.

 

So, I have done UMAT, havent yet gotten results, and am applying for Medicine. However, chances are that I won't get in and I have been looking at other sort of medicine related courses.

 

I don't really think that podiatry or physiotherapy, OT etc suit me. I'd been thinking about Psychology. To either become a psychologist or psychiatrist potentially.

 

What scope is there in Australia for becoming a psychologist or psychiatrist? And what universities and courses do you suggest to aim for?

 

I'm also thinking of Optometry which sounds really interesting, so if you know how far that might take me/if it is worth it in terms of job prospectus, please share what you know.

 

I have only recently decided that I even wanted to do something health related, so I don't have a clear passion for anything and know next to nothing about all this. My long term goal is to try and get into research, but that might be much further down the track.

 

Thanks in advance!

IBfreakingout!

[flinquinnster]

Hey! I am far from an expert on applying for medicine/medicine-related courses, but being from Australia and having quite a few friends going into that area I thought I would give replying a go. I also did UMAT, though I must admit I did not do very well on it.

 

Whilst it's great that you are considering back-up options if you don't get a fantastic UMAT score, don't despair! The best way to ensure that you get into medicine is to apply to as many universities as possible, even if the effort is massive and some of the universities (especially location-wise) are not exactly appealing. Also, there are some universities which will overlook a poor UMAT score, when confronted with a final IB score of 45, and a pretty half-hearted interview. Finally, post-graduate medicine after doing GAMSAT is also an option.

 

As to Psychology, my impression is that it is quite a popular subject to study. It definitely does offer the opportunity to be a practising psychologist (I'm sorry if I'm missing the distinction between different types of practising psychologists), though I believe you have to do additional training on top of your degree for a separate qualification. As to university suggestions, I honestly don't know that much about the reputation of psychology programs/degrees but general rankings/reputations are a decent guide to what universities you would consider. Also, visiting universities in your area of interest - e.g. Sydney Metropolitan - would help you decide. Being from NSW I might be able to offer advice there (and for the Eastern Coast in general), but not that much further afield! 

 

Psychiatry I believe is only accessible through medicine as a specialisation - you are essentially a doctor, but focussing on a narrow aspect of the human body/mind. 

 

I'm afraid that I also know very little about optometry either. However, it is a specialised course and very few universities offer it. Also (thinking of UNSW specifically) many also require UMAT, though the UMAT score requirement is much lower than for medicine. Apparently optometry degrees have good career prospects - you can be an optometrist - though the people I've heard this from may be a bit biased. 

 

Honestly, if your interests are still a bit unclear and only defined in terms of being 'health related' then I would be wary to suggest you enter into such a massively intensive course like medicine, especially at the undergraduate level. Studying psychology - or indeed a health/medical sciences degree or even a general sciences degree - may align more with your long-term goal of research. If you study that at undergraduate level that also gives you the flexibility to decide if you want to do medicine post-graduate. However, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't still try for medicine if you are keen on it, and it may all work out! Far be it from me to crush the hopes of aspiring medical students. Good luck with your applications! 

[susanne]

Good luck with UMAT! (I'm expecting my umat to come back, but I am 99.9999999999999999% sure that I wont get into undergraduate medicine anyway, so I'm kind of in the same boat)

 

From what I've read so far, if you cant get into medicine now, it's ok. Do something that you really want to do first and then do medicine, seeing that most medicine degree is postgraduate (MD) anyway, so might as well make the most out of your undergrad prerequisite. Do something worthwhile and make you stand out? (not sure if the best advice) And then decide if you really want to get into medicine or not.

 

I think psychiatrist is always needed, wherever you are, but it is really intensive (and pretty much a life-long learning thing) because you need to get an MD, and then specialize, which will take a really really long time. But I think there's always room for it. Psychology might come in useful if you ever decide to go into the legal sector.

 

Also, if you are really confused, do a Bachelor of Science degree and see where you can go from there. (Bachelor of Advanced science is really good for research, so it might give you a heads up about what doing research will be like?)

 

good luck yo, I hope I am giving ok advices seeing that I am equally confused myself

[Sandwich]

Psychiatry is something you can only do once you have a medical degree and have gone down that route of specialisation, as mentioned above (just to confirm that). Psychology is a separate field. Basically one of them is about using drugs to help manage 'official' medical psychiatric problems e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, substance abuse (as well as the other medical problems these individuals have, monitoring side effects etc!) vs. Psychology which is more things like studying human behaviour/tendencies and the talking therapies. So it is possible to 'treat' people as Psychologists, but it's more that freudian jazz, psychotherapy etc.

 

Optometry is a decent degree for sure, but I would do some work experience first at an opticians. Could you do that all day every day for the rest of your life? I guess that's the question for all careers! It's a quite well paid 9-5 job, but I suspect a little repetitive.

 

If you want to do research and are thinking about medical research, what about things like Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Physiology, Anatomy, Biology? Pharmacology is probably the obvious one or Pharmacology & Physiology if it's offered, you can think about going into the drug industry. You can also think about becoming an actual Pharmacist, or maybe even thinking about Dentistry. There are lots of careers in that direction. Another thing is Nursing - if you've got a big thing for psych, you can actually specialise as a psychiatric nurse and get into that part of healthcare just via a Nursing route.

 

Basically I think you need to do a bit more thinking about where you want to end up. It's unsurprising that your plans aren't that developed if you've only recently decided this is the right direction (and who knows, this UMAT exam may work out well for you still!) but familiarising yourself with the jobs and what they entail and especially doing some work experience so you know what you're getting into - if you've got the time to do it, I'd suggest doing that sort of thing

 

Good luck!