The University of Queensland

Doctor of Medicine

Graduate

Details

University Location Brisbane, Queensland
City Population 2.5 million
Student Population 55,044
Int'l Student Population 21,000
Main Campus St Lucia
Program Campus St Lucia / Herston
Program Duration 4 years
Estimated Annual Tuition $91,819 AUD (2024 fees; subject to increase)
Semester Intake January
Next Available Intake 2025
Application Deadline Varying rounds*
International Places up to 90 (total places 400)

Overview

The University of Queensland turns high-achieving students into world-class health professionals and researchers who are passionate about creating change. As a UQ Medicine graduate, you’ll be equipped with the skills to launch a career in health and participate in research which could affect millions of lives. According to the 2021 QS World University Rankings by Subject (Medicine), UQ is ranked in the top 4 universities in Australia.

The Doctor of Medicine (MD) program at The University of Queensland has a rich and proud history, and has graduated more than 13,000 doctors. The curriculum has been developed to capture the enthusiasm and maturity of UQ’s graduate entrants and is underpinned by UQ’s world-class teachers and experts in their chosen field of research, ensuring the training program is learner-centred, research-driven and evidence-based.

Meet Dan, a former OzTREKK student who’s now a UQ Medical School graduate!

University of Queensland Medical Society
The University of Queensland Medical Society (UQMS) is a student union representing more than 1,800 medical students. Incredibly organized, the UQMS is one of the most successful student organizations in Australia. Their aim is to enrich the lives of the university’s medical students through leadership, advocacy and community. There are many Canadians actively involved!

Program

The program is structured in two phases: Clinical Preparation and Clinical Practice. Across the program, you’ll transition from studying specific cases in classes with a tutor to undertaking clinical placements in hospitals.

Phase 1 – Clinical Preparation (foundation knowledge and skills)
Years 1 and 2 are based on the delivery of large group lectures and a range of smaller practicals. They combine the study of basic and clinical sciences with training in research, ethics, public health and clinical skills. You’ll also complete an apprentice-style observership to gain insight into life as a doctor. An integral component of this phase is the delivery of case-based learning (CBL) tutorials. Groups consist of approximately 10 students who work cooperatively with an academic or physician acting as a facilitator. Each group examines a carefully planned series of patient-centred problems, each designed to highlight principles and issues in health and disease.

Phase 2 – Clinical Practice (clinical placements)
Years 3 and 4 comprise the clinical training phase of the MD program. You will be expected to develop higher-level clinical skills that move from a focus on data-gathering and conducting an accurate history and examination to developing skills in synthesizing and integrating information to formulate a provisional diagnosis and initial management plan.

Clinicals
You will undertake 10 core clinical placements in varied disciplines while also learning to work in and collaborate with clinical teams.

Opportunities are embedded in the program for you to undertake international placements or elsewhere in Australia. These include the Observership at the end of Year 1, the Elective during Year 4, and for international students, the Rural and Remote Medicine placement that can be undertaken at a rural location in Canada. OzTREKK students have participated in clinical placements in Canada, USA, India, Papua New Guinea, and nearly everywhere in between!

UQ has teaching sites throughout Brisbane, southeastern and rural Queensland, and at several overseas locations. Within each clinical division of the UQ Faculty of Medicine, there exists a number of clinical disciplines:

Anesthesiology and critical care, general practice, medical education, medical imaging, medicine, molecular and cellular pathology, obstetrics and genecology, paediatrics and child health psychiatry, rural medical.

Have a look at some of the placement locations!

Wondering if you can study in Australia then practice in Canada? Yeah, you can! Here, former OzTREKK students Liora and Andrei chat about matching at Queen’s University and about completing their residency in psychiatry and emergency medicine.

Admission Requirements

1. Completed bachelor’s degree

Completed degree with cumulative GPA of roughly 2.7 / 4.0. GPA (approximately 70%) based on your most recently completed degree. The Faculty of Medicine recommends that students prepare themselves for the MD by undertaking undergraduate, second-year university-level courses in anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. All Doctor of Medicine applicants need to have successfully completed two subject prerequisites or equivalent courses:

  • Integrative Cell and Tissue Biology*
  • Systems Physiology*

*Or equivalent courses or coursework in your major. To see if your courses qualify, please visit UQ Doctor of Medicine Prerequisites.

2. Admissions test
Must have achieved a minimum MCAT score of 504. Must be completed within 4 years of the program’s commencement.

3. Interview
Performance in a multiple-mini-interview (MMI) via video conference. MMIs are a values-based recruitment method whereby applicants move through a circuit of stations, with different interviewers asking questions and scoring the applicant’s performance. The MMI aims to assess the applicant’s non-academic qualities, such as empathy, integrity, adaptability, and verbal communication skills.

Admission Timeline

*2025 Intake Application Timeline

Round 1

App deadline: June 12, 2024
Last day to sit MCAT: May 16, 2024 (requires MCAT registration to apply)
Interviews: Beginning week of July 15, 2024

Round 2

App deadline: August 6, 2024
Last day to sit MCAT: July 13, 2024 (requires MCAT registration to apply)
Interviews: Beginning week of September 9, 2024

1/16

“…professors are extremely approachable”

Likes - fairly close to city center (15 min bus), large beautiful campus like back in Canada, the weather, supplemental exams are given so you can have a second chance before officially failing a course, if you fail a course you can still repeat and continue in medicine (lots of worst-case backup plans if things don't go as planned), professors are extremely approachable and helpful, libraries open 24/7.

Ty S
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2023

“Instructors and staff are fantastic and open.”

Facilities on campus have been great. Educational materials are also great. (Personally) dislike how small the campus is compared to Canadian universities. Instructors and staff are fantastic and open. I wish class sizes would be smaller.

William C
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2022

“Big North American cohort.”

Big North American cohort. I truly like Brisbane as a city and think it is a great city to do a med degree. Almost all classes and lectures can be done async. The admin is pretty terrible.  The course material is fine. No school truly has great lectures or resources. Most depend on online material. I think it is flexible enough that lets you get what you need out of it. I think exams are pretty fair, there are no tricks.

Christy C
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2022

“Its very comprehensive and attentive to the students”

It has a beautiful campus but its far from the ocean compared to others. Its very comprehensive and attentive to the students, but I feel like some of the exam questions they use are very specific to the program and not useful anywhere else

Brett B
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2022

“…there’s so many resources given to the students”

The UQ campus and Brisbane are beautiful and I love studying and living here. UQ has so many supports in place for students like myself with accessibility needs, even more so than Canadian unis I think. There's less Canadian-specific support or clubs than I expected, at least in the med program, but that doesn't mean guidance and information don't exist. A lot of the lectures and activities are online coming out of COVID, which can't really be helped, but on the plus side it's ... Read More

Alec C
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2022

“Tutors for Case Based learning and Clinical practice are amazing and so knowledgeable.”

Instructors do care. They put in effort in improving their delivery based on our feedback - very receptive to our feedback. Teaching methods are ok - a little inconsistent sometimes with what is "expected" to cover in a sub-module vs what a specific clinician teaches. Tutors for Case Based learning and Clinical practice are amazing and so knowledgeable.

Pukhraj
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2022

“…lots of other international students”

Great community, lots of events, lots of other international students; class sizes are a bit big.

Maya B
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2022

“…there’ an Anki deck in the Drive which is amazing”

The program is standard, and I think it teaches you everything you need to know. You will have to self-study anatomy (there' an Anki deck in the Drive which is amazing) and keep up with it so you can find the Gross Anatomy Facility useful. The professors are clinicians and academics, so sometimes they can be a hit or miss with regards to their teaching style. The professor (Suja) who teaches Pathology, which is a huge part of the curriculum, is one of the best teachers I have e... Read More

Garry K
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2022

“Very supportive program”

Great program! Very supportive program with professors always keen to help. So much cool stuff to learn!

Brett L
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2019

“Love the content we are learning”

Love it. Weather is great, the cohort is friendly and the campus is really nice. Cons: I recommend self learning (recommended readings on your own and using additional resource like boards and beyond/pathoma even if you are not going to do USMLE). Also, the campus needs more study space. Love the content we are learning and I have a greater appreciation for the medical profession. You will see that some kids in the program are absolutely brilliant and are willing to help you out if you ask.

Ranko S
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2019

“…lots of good instructors and lecturers”

Yes UQ and the people there are great. There's some stuff that the students complain about, but I've never been to another med school, and I imagine each has their flaws. I realize the rankings are relatively irrelevant, and what you put in is what you're going to get out anyway.... Certainly some room for improvement, but overall, lots of good instructors and lecturers, and very comprehensive information is supplied.

Karson S
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2019

“There’s certainly a lot of support though with fellow class mates and the small group tutors if you need it.”

I love the university and program. The university has a lot of events and things on campus to help you destress during exam time. It's also very beautiful with lots of cute coffee shops to do homework at. The one awful thing about UQ is how unbelievably crowded it is. Finding a place on campus to study can be impossible and the place for medical students on the main st. Lucia campus is too small and almost always full to capacity. This is my own big problem with the university.... Read More

Katherine H.
Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2018

“I have found the peer tutorials at UQ valuable part of my learning.”

The program always teaches me something new everyday. I enjoy hearing from doctors in various disciplines. I have found it valuable to learn about epidemiology and Australian healthcare system. I have found the peer tutorials at UQ valuable part of my learning. I wish there was more teaching done in anatomy practicals rather than self-learning. Also more time in anatomy facility would be awesome.

Harsh D.
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2018

“I’m surprised at the resources UQ pours into its students.”

Everything is actually really really good. I'm surprised at the resources UQ pours into its students. Like, my old university was technically higher ranked on a lot of global indexes, but they didn't really care as much about students as they do here.

Paul C.
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2018

“The clinical coaches and tutors are all great.”

I like the way the program is set up, and the administration seems very open to feedback and suggestions. The clinical coaches and tutors are all great.

Justin Andrew T.
The University of Queensland, 2018

“The program takes student feedback regularly and seriously and is constantly making changes to accommodate our needs.”

Living in Australia is incredible and I’m so happy with my decision to move here. The warm weather, and great people, close friendships have all been worth it. The university of Queensland is a beautiful large campus. Very clean, lots of activity, and feels very vibrant. There’s lots to do on campus to get involved with events, food, etc. It’s a little quiet on late evenings/weekends. The program is great! It’s certainly challenging but very well organized. The program takes st... Read More

Mauricio M.
Doctor of Medicine
The University of Queensland, 2018