Flinders University School of Medicine

Location: Adelaide, Australia
Annual fees 2016: $61,400
Annual fees 2017: $63,500
Year founded: 1975
Time required for MD: 4 years
Student Loans: Stafford and Private Loans

About Flinders University School of Medicine

The School of Medicine is located within Flinders Medical Centre, an academic medical centre combining a general teaching hospital and medical school with an international reputation for integration and innovation in patient care, education, and research. The Flinders University medical program is a four year, graduate entry course leading to the degree Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (BMBS). For those with prior research experience, it is also possible to complete a combined BMBS/PhD degree.

The course aims to produce doctors who:

• Practice competently, with empathy for patients and recognition of their own limitations, integrating health promotion and disease prevention with the management of illness and injury
• Understand that modern medical practice is based on an integrated body of knowledge drawn from the physical, biological, behavioural, and social sciences
• Practise with due regard to available resources and cost-effective measures, in a manner that encourages patients to take increasing responsibility for their own health and to participate in decisions about their care
• Are able to identify and solve problems related to health issues, in the context of both individual patient care and broader community concerns
• Are able to undertake further training in any branch of medicine, including medical research, and maintain a lifelong commitment to continuing medical education

Flinders Medical School Admissions

Flinders University School of Medicine has an Australasian quota of 80 places and an international quota of 30 to 32 places. Admissions requirements for both Australasian and international students are designed to attract applicants with diverse backgrounds and experience. The Admissions Committee looks for students who have:

• The intellectual ability necessary to complete the course, as shown by successful prior tertiary study
• The prerequisite knowledge and skills necessary to begin the course, assessed through an admissions test
• The personal characteristics considered necessary for success in both medical school and later practice, evaluated through a structured interview

There are three elements in the medical school admissions process:

To apply, all candidates must have completed, or be in the final year of, an undergraduate degree, at least an Australian 3 year Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.

Applications require results from an admissions test. For Australasian applicants, this must be the Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Test (GAMSAT). For international applicants, the test may be GAMSAT or the related North American test, MCAT.

The final element in the admissions process is a structured interview. Candidates are shortlisted for interview mainly on the basis of overall GAMSAT score, or in the case of international applicants, GAMSAT or MCAT scores together with consideration of their undergraduate record.

After the interview, scores from all three components of the admissions process contribute to an Entry Score, which forms the basis for selection and offers of admission.

Flinders Medical School Curriculum

The Graduate Entry Medical Program (GEMP) runs over 4 years, built around three major themes integrated across all four years:

Doctor and Patient
The practical communication, examination, and procedural clinical skills essential to effective interactions between doctors and patients, and to constructive interaction with other health professionals.

Knowledge of Health and Illness
Knowledge of the structure, function, and development of the normal human body at every level of organisation, from molecular and cellular to the whole individual, along with knowledge of the causes and consequences of disease, injury, and abnormal development, and of evidence-based strategies for treatment and prevention of disease.

Doctor, Profession and Society
Consideration of health and illness within the wider contexts of family, cultural group, community, and political and economic influences in society, with a focus on the ethical and legal frameworks for medicine and on the personal and interpersonal skills needed for a lifetime of medical practice.

Want to Know More?

Curious what the GEMP experience is really like for graduate-entry students at Flinders? Visit our forum to hear directly from current and former students about admissions, clinical placements, and life in Adelaide.