My Journey to Medical School: What I Wish I'd Known
So you want to study medicine. Maybe you're still in high school, mapping out what the pathway to becoming a doctor in Australia actually looks like. Or maybe you're a seasoned applicant, waiting anxiously to hear back about interview offers. When I was going through the process myself, hearing how other people navigated their own path made a real difference. So here's mine, along with the lessons I picked up along the way.
Fresh Out of High School, I Had No Idea What to Study
Like a lot of people, I finished secondary school without a clear plan. I had a vague interest in medicine, sparked less by anything medical and more by a novel, Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. I'd also genuinely enjoyed my health and science subjects in Year 12.
Even so, I didn't sit the UCAT that year. The UCAT is the exam used to assess candidates for entry into Australian undergraduate medical programs, scored as a percentile alongside your ATAR. Score highly enough on both, and you might land an undergraduate interview offer. A lot of my friends sat it, and some scored well enough to get straight into undergraduate medicine. I just didn't feel ready to commit. I wanted to explore my options first.
My Introduction to the GAMSAT
I was in my first year of a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne when I first came across the GAMSAT, the exam almost every postgraduate medical applicant in Australia has to sit and pass, aside from a small number of pathway programs that bypass it entirely.
Like a lot of first-time GAMSAT sitters, I went in without any structured preparation. I worked through the official ACER practice materials and borrowed some resources from friends, but I didn't have a tutor. I walked out feeling reasonably okay about how it went.
GAMSAT, Attempt Two
A year later, I tried again, this time enrolling in a Fraser's GAMSAT course. That gave me access to practice questions, mock exams and private Section 2 tuition. I went into my second attempt feeling far more prepared, having worked through significantly more practice material.
My score improved slightly. I submitted a GEMSAS application later that year, but didn't receive a single interview offer. It was a genuinely disappointing result, especially when I felt like my effort, and what I believed was real potential to be a good doctor, just wasn't translating into anything. I knew I owed myself at least one more attempt, so I signed up to sit again the following year.
Third Time the Charm?
Having had a good experience with Fraser's the year before, both the quality of the practice materials and the structure my tutors gave me, I enrolled again. Walking into my third attempt, I genuinely felt like I had the background knowledge covered, Section 3 physics included. I was still incredibly nervous.
Would the third time finally be the charm?
I opened the results page, repeating in my head, "please be near 70, please be near 70." The number staring back at me was low 60s. Again. Frustrated barely covers it, I was furious. I remember telling my parents, "if they don't want me in medicine, fine, I'll go do something else." They agreed. I'd spent three consecutive summer holidays pouring every spare hour into preparing for this exam, plus thousands of dollars on prep programs.
I felt defeated, and genuinely ready to walk away. For the first time, I started seriously entertaining the idea that medicine might not be for me.
An Unexpected Detour: Honours
During my science degree, I discovered an unexpected passion for research, which led me into a lab-based Honours year in microbiology and immunology. At that point, the GAMSAT had soured my view of medicine enough that a research career genuinely looked like a legitimate alternative.
I loved the independence and the growing skill set the lab gave me, and the chance to combine science with writing. Research is demanding, but the collaborative side of it, working alongside people who cared about the same things I did, was genuinely energising. My supervisors were encouraging me to start a PhD the following year. A research career would have meant flexibility to chase the questions that actually interested me, and, appealingly, a lot less difficult people to deal with (just difficult mice, maybe).
Realising Medicine Really Was for Me
I loved both of my research projects, but the red flags were hard to ignore: short-term contracts, and the constant pressure to prove yourself through grant applications and publications. In a different world, that might have been enough to keep me in research. But I watched brilliant scientists get made redundant, and spend years on a single paper, and I knew, as much as I loved it, that wasn't the life I actually wanted.
So if not research, why medicine specifically? I live with two chronic, invisible illnesses, which has meant a lot of interactions with healthcare professionals over the years, some genuinely excellent, others not. During my Honours year, one of my conditions flared badly enough that I nearly had to withdraw. Those experiences are what pushed me toward wanting to become the kind of doctor who actually helped me, and toward making sure other people fighting for recognition with invisible illnesses feel heard, not dismissed.
That reflection is what finally settled it for me. If getting there meant sitting the GAMSAT one more time, so be it.
GAMSAT, Attempt Four
Burnt out after Honours, I took a gap year to focus on my health, the GAMSAT, and actually having a life for a while. That year also happened to coincide with a global pandemic, which complicated things considerably. About a week before I was due to sit the exam, after roughly three months of intensive preparation with Fraser's, it was postponed indefinitely. It felt like all that work might have been for nothing.
After a tense wait, we learned the exam would go ahead, just in a completely different format: online, proctored, and significantly shorter than before. Despite the unfamiliar setup, I actually felt better about it. My tutor and I reworked my strategy and mindset heading in.
On the day, I moved through the paper faster, let go of the fear of getting individual questions wrong, and stuck to my strategy even when things got hard. I hit a technical glitch during Section 2 and managed to stay calm through it anyway.
It paid off. I jumped from around the 75th percentile to the 90th.
My Medical School Interview
Even with a much stronger GAMSAT score, I still wasn't confident an interview offer would come. Four years into the process, it was hard not to doubt it would ever happen for me. Interviews had also just moved online for the first time, and none of us were quite sure what platform to expect. Knowing my scores were finally competitive, I enrolled in a Fraser's interview course, determined to make the most of it if the chance actually came.
When the ANU offer came through, I was elated. With only eight days until my first interview, I leaned hard on the Fraser's Online Atlas to work through difficult practice questions, and completed three mock interviews that turned out to be genuinely invaluable. By the time I sat down for the real thing, I felt confident in both my tone and my approach.
Moving Interstate for Medical School
I still remember the moment I found out I'd been offered a place, an odd kind of half-sob, completely surreal. My dream of being admitted into a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery program was finally real. Alongside the excitement, though, was real apprehension about moving interstate to Canberra.
Canberra can feel quiet compared to a city like Melbourne, and leaving your support network and the familiarity of home is genuinely hard, wherever you're moving from or to. That was made harder still by pandemic-era border closures, which made getting home for a visit far more complicated than it should have been.
Even so, the move has been completely worth it. It pushed me to build new friendships and explore somewhere new. Canberra has become my "study place," and coming home to Melbourne gives me a genuine chance to switch off from medicine entirely for a while.
Looking Back
As difficult as this journey was, to the point of nearly giving up altogether, I wouldn't change any of it looking back. Struggling with the GAMSAT the way I did made me appreciate the opportunity to study medicine far more than I think I would have otherwise. If it had come easily, I don't think I'd have ever properly questioned whether medicine was really what I wanted. The path here was hard, and the path ahead will be too, but that's exactly what makes this career feel worth it.
Where to From Here?
The road to becoming a doctor is not easy. It takes real courage and persistence to work through the obstacles along the way, and the GAMSAT and medical interviews are often just the first of many. The goal isn't just to get through them, it's to understand what they're actually testing for, and build the kind of confidence that carries through into medical school and practice beyond it.
If there's one thing worth taking from this, it's simple: don't give up on what you actually want, even when the process makes that hard.
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- GAMSAT Study: How to Prepare for the GAMSAT — A deeper look at building an effective study plan across all three sections.
- How to Ace an MMI Interview — What to expect once you've made it to the interview stage.
- Medical School Applications Process: A Comprehensive Guide — A full overview of the GEMSAS system and application timeline.
