Why Choose Biomedicine

The first round of VTAC offers have been released today. Are you considering the Bachelor of Biomedicine?

The Bachelor of Biomedicine was designed primarily for students who are interested in Biomedical Sciences leading to a career in the Professional Healthcare industry. There have been 9 graduating classes and 2019 will mark the 12th student intake for the degree.

The Bachelor of Biomedicine is doing much more than just providing the ideal pathway to graduate professional health courses.

One third of our graduates enter the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program at the University – representing over half of the domestic intake for the MD, even more choose another graduate course at Melbourne. Amongst these courses, Honours programs leading into PhD pathways are particularly popular, no doubt reflecting the significant impact of a student learning environment that is embedded within a world class Biomedical Science research precinct. We continually update and publish the data for graduate destinations for the degree.

The Bachelor of Biomedicine degree includes a large number of core subjects that provide you with the foundations for a broad range of professional health pathways.

The prerequisite content (Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology) for an aspiring MD, DDS, DPT student is built into 2 unique second year subjects, and taught alongside that from a wide range of other biomedical science disciplines. This integration emphasises the relationships between different biomedical disciplines and enhances your understanding of the human body in its full complexity.

Core third year subjects, available only to you as a Biomedicine student, take on a more clinical (BIOM30002 Molecules to Malady) or Population (BIOM30001 Frontiers in Biomedicine) focus, tying together all of the elements of your Biomedicine journey. Hear from our graduates who commonly reflect that the broad-ranging, integrated curriculum has served them well as the ideal foundation for their postgraduate study.

The opportunity to study up to a quarter of your degree in areas other than the sciences through 'breadth' exposes you to different ways of thinking, and the different perspectives of students from other degrees. These experiences are proving invaluable in shaping your interests and influencing your potential career paths through choosing subjects in law, management and commerce and the creative arts amongst others. You may decide to start or continue an existing interest in languages or music, study options that are not even possible in degree structures elsewhere. You can choose a mixed collection of these interests or follow a track of related subjects in a particular area. For example, the video below is about the interdisciplinary breadth subject UNIB10017 Our Planet, Our Health. This subject introduces you to the core concepts of One Health in its broadest sense, as a concept that describes the interconnectedness of the health of humans, animals and the environment. You may also like to develop an interest in music, mathematics, informatics or languages even further with some additional study leading to a Concurrent Diploma alongside your Biomedicine degree.

As a Biomedicine student, you will be encouraged to complete some of your study abroad through the Exchange or Study Abroad programs. You could spend a full semester at a partner university, or choose to do a single subject as a summer or winter intensive. The opportunities for academic, cultural and personal growth are invaluable and serve to increase your understanding of the global nature of healthcare and biomedical research.

Additionally, as a Biomedicine student you will have access to the wealth of cultural collections that exist in our three Museums and which will directly input into your teaching in Anatomy and Pathology as well as supplement your learning experience in relation to Dentistry and Medical History. Our three Museums are the Medical History Museum, the Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology and the Henry Forman Atkinson Dental Museum.

As a Chancellor's Scholar, you will also have access to a range of enrichment programs and leadership activities that aim to further your growth both academically and personally. A rural volunteering placement will open your eyes to both the challenges and the opportunities that lie in the provision of comprehensive healthcare outside of the metropolitan centres. The core values of community and volunteering resonate with all participants. A Biomedicine graduate will serve as a mentor throughout your undergraduate journey acting as a sounding board and 'coach'. These mentors have travelled your path before you and are tacking the challenges of a graduate path you are likely treading in the future.

Leaving the best until last – undoubtedly a major 'selling' point of the Bachelor of Biomedicine is the students themselves. This is typified by the Biomedicine Student's Society (BSS), which is amongst the most active and inclusive of university student groups. The strong cohort framework of the degree (remember, you do half of your subjects together) allows the BSS to provide academic and social programs that are tailored to the journey you will share with your peers. Embedded between a residential 'welcome camp' and an Annual Biomedicine Ball (which raised $22,000 for Muscular Dystrophy Australia last year) are a series of programs from peer-group tutorials, and coal-face advice about subjects and majors from senior students. As you will want to do well with GAMSAT and graduate course interviews, study groups and practice sessions are available. Why don't you 'like' Biomed Bear on Facebook to check out more information about the activities of BSS?

If you are considering the Bachelor of Biomedicine degree the congratulations – you have done well in your high school studies and have many exciting tertiary options available to you now. We wish you well in your choices and every success in your future studies.

David Williams
Biomedicine Program Director