5 reasons to study medicine at the University of Sydney

If you want to embark on a dynamic career and make a life-changing impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities, here’s five reasons why our top ranked medicine program is the best place to start.

1. Early patient care

You’ll begin your medical studies with hands-on experience in a structured, supervised way over years one and two, which means you’ll be well prepared for when you transfer to clinical schools in Stage 3 (years three and four).

“A great strength of the course is that you get to enter the clinical world right from your first week of your first year,” explained Co-Director of the Sydney Medical Program Professor Inam Haq.

“You get to meet and talk to patients, and learn how to examine and take a history, which sets you up for when you enter the hospital environment in more detail further on in the course.”

2. Teaching hospitals

We offer clinical training at an extensive network of top-tier hospitals across New South Wales that offer the most advanced healthcare in the country, including Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Westmead Hospital and the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, to name just a few.

“The clinical training component of your medical degree will take place at one of our many fantastic clinical schools across Sydney. Whichever one you’re placed at you will have a fantastic experience with dedicated teachers and support staff to help you in your studies,” said Professor Haq.

3. Research training

If you study medicine at Sydney, you will have access to world-leading researchers, research institutes and networks. You will gain formal training in research methods in your first year, encompassing the basic principles of health and medical research, research governance and ethics, and the basics of research methods in biomedical, clinical and public health.

Following this, you will undertake a substantial research project as part of the course, providing experience in project organisation and management, literature searching and reference management, data analysis, oral presentation skills and scientific writing.

“Our lecturers are world leaders in their fields, and the University of Sydney has deeply entrenched roots in research. They’ve been able to show us that research and clinical exposure go hand in hand, and so I have peers who are working intensely on research projects who will be the next face of medicine,” Sean Hassan, a Stage 4 medical student said.

4. Rural experience

With campuses in Dubbo and Orange, as well as departments in Broken Hill and Lismore, our School of Rural Health provides clinical placements throughout central, northern and western NSW. We also work in partnership with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.

“Medicine students at the University of Sydney have the option to go rural for a whole year. Everyone has something amazing to say about it, and lots of students tend to go back. That definitely made me want to come here,” said Lakshmi Sunderasan, a Stage 2 medical student.

5. Overseas opportunities

With extensive international connections, both across Asia-Pacific and in major research centres in North America and Europe, we encourage our medical students to participate in an international elective.

You can take undertake a four to eight week clinical or research placement during your elective term. Many of our students also undertake optional overseas placements during the year-end break to places like Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sweden and Vietnam.

“The two months that I spent at the Children’s Surgical Centre in Phnom Penh changed my perspective of medicine and taught me more than I ever thought possible in such a short time. I saw pathology that I would never have had the chance to see at home.”

“I developed skills in effective leadership, decision-making, and working with limited resources, and the politics of international aid. I also gained an appreciation for the culture of medicine in Australia. I would highly recommend an overseas placement to anyone interested in surgery and international medical aid,” said Lauren Smith, who undertook a paediatrics elective in Cambodia in 2014 and graduated in 2015.

Find out more about studying medicine at Sydney.