FAQs

Due to the number of questions I get asked about OUM, I thought I'd create a FAQ page! I hope this helps you. I do not get any sort of commission or kick-back from OUM for promoting their school. I am just a fellow student and I remember what it was like when I wanted to get into medical school and how many questions I had about OUM.

I believe by answering questions I am helping to make my medical school a better place.

Feel free to email me if you have any more questions: untitledandaboutstuff@gmail.com

*Disclaimer: I am not the expert in all things OUM and IMG, and things are constantly changing. I may not have the correct information. This is purely my opinion. Please contact the proper authorising institutions for accuracy.*

1. Is it worth it?

This depends how you value "worth".

What are your reasons for wanting to become a doctor?

Financially, here are some quick maths:

• Cost of tuition: $150,000
• Cost of tuition at traditional med school: $80,000-$350,000 depending which med school
• Loss of time off work: nil
• Time taken to complete OUM vs traditional med school: extra 3 years
• Extra time needed to get internship in Australia: potentially 1-2 years
• AMC exam costs: ~$2500
• Loss of income from work because declining promotion: potentially $20,000 kpa x 6 years
• Stress about OUM and future employability: started large, now small
• Stress about not having enough money to pay for tuition: started large, now small
• Financial stress over the past 6 years vs traditional med school (not working full-time for 4 years): comparable

2. How much is it?

http://www.oceaniamed.org/WorldMD/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=44

I think about $120,000 AUD but potentially more if you need to undertake extra modules (e-Foundation Sciences) plus hospital fees on rotation. It has changed a lot since I began.

3. How hard is it to get into residency?

In Australia, the hardest part is getting into internship. We do one year of a general internship as our first year as a doctor (Post Graduate Year 1 = PGY+1). These are funded by the government and are limited and match the number of Australian medical school student graduating, therefore there aren't really any spare internship places at the moment. If the Australian government funded more places, then it would be easier to get a place.

Sometimes regional and remote hospitals that has trouble finding junior doctors can fund their own positions, but I'm not really sure how that works. I have heard it is easier to get an internship in a rural location due to decreased competition. I will comment again when I go through the process.

OUM grads are guaranteed internship in Samoa (and I believe India). It is easier to find a PGY+2 position back in Australia once this has been completed (but still not easy).

I have no idea about the situation in the US.

4. Where have you done your placements?

In Victorian tertiary and major regional hospitals (Australia).

I will list exactly where and what I did at the hospitals once I've competed all my rotations. I am keeping a closed hand on this one at the moment because finding them is a competitive process. Sorry, and thank you for understanding. I hope to be able to help change this once I graduate. 

5. How hard was it to find your placements?

Not as hard as moving to Samoa for 2 years, put it that way.

How hard was it? A bit of pain in the butt. There was some phoning around, and dropping off letters. Asking people I knew for help, and that sort of thing. Lots of uncertainty and that can be very stressful. 

Things that would've helped:

• Planning and applying much more in advance
• The willingness to travel away from home
• The courage to make face-to-face appointments with the elective coordinators at the hospitals

6. How much did your placements cost?

One hospital was $1100 for 8 weeks, another was $100 per week, and the others haven't charged me so far.

7. What made you choose OUM?

My work as a paramedic, I am working at a quiet location. I get about 6-8 hours of "downtime" per day, plus I need to stay in town on call for 7 nights per fortnight. I quickly got bored and decided I wanted to study.

Simultaneously, I also heard of graduate-entry medicine. I performed poorly in high school (42.2 percentile rank) but did well in my Special Tertiary Admissions Test (99.8 percentile rank) and really enjoyed learning medical stuff in my paramedic degree. I thought maybe grate-entry was an option for me.

Also, I had just traveled and volunteered in a clinic in Cambodia and was very driven to up-skill and return to help patients in this area.

I had also just bought a house. I felt I really needed to get my foot in the property market at that time. 

To cut a long story short, putting all these elements together, OUM became the best fit for my situation.

8. Would you do it all over again?

Yes and no.

Ok, so right now I am very happy with my life and my work as a paramedic. I think I can do everything I need to do to be happy with my life in my current job. I am very content, whereas when I began the course I was not and wanted, desperately, to do something more.

Sometimes, the stress (study and financial) is such a burden that I regret studying medicine. I could've paid my house off by now and invested my time and money into other things. I'd probably have another baby and be able to support my partner more.

Overall, though, I am looking forward to have that "Dr" prefix and seeing where my medical career takes me. I am very grateful for the privilege to study medicine and learn about the human body in greater depth. I feel it has improved my brain and confidence. 

I am satisfied with the medical degree at OUM.

Sometimes I think about whether I should have saved money and taken an offer at a traditional Australian medical school, but then I think about everything I have experienced in the past 6 years that I potentially would not have been able to if I was a full-time student (i.e. not earning a full-time income).

So, would I do it all over again? Yes, I would do it at OUM again but I would do a few things differently. I would be better with my finances to reduce tuition-fee stress. I would plan my rotations better and further in advance.  I would really think about what having a baby during medical school means regarding being away from home on placement. I would save more before I began so I could take time off work. Overall, I probably would do it all the same! 

9. Are you planning on taking the USMLE and internship in the US?

I was initially preparing for the USMLE to give myself the potential to see what my options where in the US, but the stress of preparing for the Step 1 and the fact that OUM wouldn't let me sit the Step 1 without at least 75% in each pre-clinical block plus a pass on their own in-house exam was too much therefore I decided to just focus on the Australian medical licensing exams. 

10. Does IUHS do distance learning as well?

Last time I looked, their course was very similar to OUM's.

11. Would you recommend OUM? And if so, the reasons why?

I would recommend OUM for people who the course suits them. It is not for everybody.

Some people really struggle with distance learning and self-directed learning. Some people really struggle with not knowing if they will definitely get a job in their home city. Some people really struggle with the stigma of being a student at an "online medical school". 

A few students complain that they feel they pay so much in tuition fees and get little in return. Sometimes I feel like that too, but there is probably not a more affordable option elsewhere.

OUM is a legitimate medical school, but it is not a traditional medical school.

Depends on what you are after.