UND (Sydney)

I went to the information session held tonight at UND Sydney. It was very informative, and am now more than ever very keen to go there! The Dean of Medicine herself gave the talk, and she came across as a smart yet very down-to-earth person, which I really admired.

I love the fact that it's a small uni (I'm assuming the Darlinghurst campus will be similar in size to the Broadway one where the session was held tonight), and that the staff and teachers can pay individual attention to its students. Plus, because the cohort will be smaller in number, no doubt the camaradie will be much stronger at this uni, which I believe will be very important for a demanding course such as medicine.

They place a lot of emphasis on practical experience, and during the clinical years each student is essentially taken under the wing of Dr X, and you follow them around for the duration of your placement. So you end up seeing Dr X's patients right through from beginning to end - you see first-hand this "continuity of care".

One downside to this uni though (for me) is the fact that there is the chance that you will be placed outside of metropolitan Sydney for Years 3 and 4. The Dean mentioned that half the students will be placed in Sydney, but that still means the other half will be placed outside of Sydney. I don't want to be away from B (and my own home) for such a long period of time. It would be a little different if I was still in my early 20s, still living at home or renting. But I'm not, and I'm pretty much established in my personal life. I wonder how flexible the uni would be with personal attachments like this....

But overall, it was a very promising talk and I'm very glad I went! :)