Australia elective

[lingz87]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if any of you have been to Australia on elective, and how you found it? Also which hospitals are good for what specialties. I'd prefer to be in Sydney, central if possible. I've been reading some forums and they say that The UNSW application fee is muuuch less than the central school. But which UNSW hospital is the closest to the centre?

I also want to do some travelling afterwards, so any advice on that would be fab also!

Thanks,

Ling x

[heed]

first off - try getting somewhere that doesnt charge an elective fee at all. and for all that Sydney is great - its much more expensive to live there, and you may find yourself competing with many other elective students for places (whereas if you go somewhere a bit quieter you may have a whole dept "to yourself")

im heading to Adelaide in June - try the University of Adelaide or Flinders University (both take elective students and both have really good teaching hospitals)

[M Clayton]

I did my elective at a hospital on the border of New South Wales and Queensland back in 2006.

I'd be happy to chat about it if you want more detail!

[lingz87]

Thanks a lot for your replies!

I do realise Sydney would be so much more expensive to live in :S, but I think I'm in one of those states of mind where I think I'll probably never venture out that far again, so I want to be somewhere where I can get to the sights and beaches and all that jazz. Can I ask how you both organised your electives? Did you apply through the medical schools like for the central ones?

Also Mark, How long did it take you to travel from where you were staying to say the beach? Oh and did you go travelling afterwards? And if so how did you do it? One of my friends is going this summer, just for a holiday, and she's doing the whole tour bus thing.

Thanks xx

[Pammy]

There are places with better beachers in Australia than Sydney...

[Pammy]

P.S. About the travelling - there is no particular way to best travel Australia. I mean it's just a Western country, everything is easy, there are buses, trains, budget airlines, the lot. There are some backpacker tour buses usually full of drunk English gap year students :-) They cruise round the country, picking up and dropping off at the main sightseeing points. As with anywhere, the further you venture from the main tourist trail, the more rewarding it gets (I find, but I guess it depends on what you like!)...

The beach - depends where you do your elective. In Melbourne (where I am), it's a 40 min tram ride from the main hospital to the beach. In Perth it's closer. Sydney, not sure where the hospital is! Bear in mind that the nicest beaches are not the town ones...

Australia has become a lot more expensive in recent years and the exchange rate is currently not in your favour, but it's still a lot chaper than most of the UK. In Melbourne most medics on elective seem to live in one of the university's colleges (usually Graduate House), where you get a single room inclusive of two meals a day for around 280-300 dollars a week...I don't think that Sydney is noticeably more expensive. Perth used to be the cheapest, but that has changed now too!

[heed]

I arranged my elective by emailing the head of the department i was interested in who then shorted it all out with the uni at his end - you can do it the other way though (which is usually how it works) and approach a medical school who will then try and allocate you somewhere.

if you are going to try and see australia - then best to see a bit of it well than "all" of it really quickly. we are spending a month going up the east coast after our junior elective this summer.

[hilal]

hi heed ...i m 4th yr stdnt wana do elective in any hosptal of adelaide at austrlia?
plz tell me how u hav arrnged urslf 4 dat...i'll do elective from
may'2009 onwards...also tell which one z best hosptl 4 electives...thanxxx bye bye

[Hughman]

Definitely going to go to Oz for an elective if I get into med school - I can apply for a passport if I want as my dad was a citizen of Oz once upon a time.
Don't know if I want to live there though - higher taxes, an equally retarded socialist government and their way of life is increasingly similar to that of the US and UK. And don't forget all those lovely dangerous bugs, reptiles and aquatic animals.

[M Clayton]

Originally Posted by lingz87

Thanks a lot for your replies!

I do realise Sydney would be so much more expensive to live in :S, but I think I'm in one of those states of mind where I think I'll probably never venture out that far again, so I want to be somewhere where I can get to the sights and beaches and all that jazz. Can I ask how you both organised your electives? Did you apply through the medical schools like for the central ones?

Also Mark, How long did it take you to travel from where you were staying to say the beach? Oh and did you go travelling afterwards? And if so how did you do it? One of my friends is going this summer, just for a holiday, and she's doing the whole tour bus thing.

Thanks xx

I'd forgotten all about this thread so sorry for the delayed response!

I applied for my elective through the Northern Clinical School - they've got an excellent electives section on their website and the process isn't too painful. Unfortunately, the hospital I was placed at doesn't offer overseas electives through the NCS any more although you may be able to organise something independently if keen.

The town I stayed in was tiny so the beach was all of a 5 minute walk - I didn't realise it at the time but apparently the beaches around my hospital are among the best for surfing on the East Coast.

My travelling was limited to the big tourist places really - I got very engrossed in the medicine but I do know that some of the other guys doing electives at that time went off and did amazing things rather than medicine.

I liked Oz so much that I've since got a resident's visa and could well move out there if the NHS melts down as expected...