Its the end of July and through into August it's all happening.

UMAT

The UMAT - undergraduate medicine and health sciences admission test, is taking place in all Australian States on 25 July. As the UMAT website indicates, this is a high stakes test given it's a requirement for entry into undergraduate medicine at Curtin, Flinders/Charles Darwin, Monash, University of Adelaide, University of Newcastle/University of New England, UNSW, UQ, UTAS, UWA and Western Sydney.

For a simple checklist of things you need to gather and take with you, read through the UMAT On The Day Guide.

GAMSAT

By now you should have completed your GAMSAT registration (close on 23 July, with late registrations closing on 1 August) in time to sit the GAMSAT - the graduate medical school admission test. Like UMAT, this is a critical test required for admission into postgraduate medicine at ANU, Bond, Deakin, Flinders/Charles Darwin, Griffith, Macquarie, University of Melbourne, Notre Dame, UQ, USYD, UWA and University of Wollongong.

Open Days

Kicking off with Bond University on 28 July, Open Days really hit their stride during August,

with Monash and UQ early in the month on 5 August,
Griffith in mid August on the 12th,

followed by an absolute flood of Open Days during the last two weekends of August.

There are no less than six Open Days on the 18th/19th August weekend -

commencing with Macquarie on the 18th
and five further universities on Sunday 19th - Deakin Waurun Ponds, University of Notre Dame Perth, University of Melbourne, James Cook Townsville and Western Sydney.

The following weekend has a further five Open Days -

commencing on the 25th with ANU, University of Notre Dame Sydney, University of Sydney,
followed by a two further Open Days on Sunday 26th August at James Cook Cairns and Deakin Burwood.

What should you do on Open Day? Remember 2 key things:

Plan your day. Universities often schedule information lectures for specific degrees and courses at certain times through the day. You don't want to make the effort of going all the way to Open Day only to find you either didn't know there was a lecture on a degree you're interested in, or worst still, find out you just missed it.
Go to the information hall. Most universities, particularly the larger ones, have a central place where there are stands with representatives from all the major faculties who you can talk to about the degrees you're interested in. Use this as an opportunity to test your understanding about what's involved in studying the degree and how you can get in - and don't just think about medicine. Open Days are a great way to think through what else you might do - at the very least to work out what your Plan B might be if you don't get into medicine.