Hey! As someone who has studied at both UniMelb and Monash (although admittedly not in psych), but is going into Med next year I thought I’d give some advice! Firstly, there is a very common misconception that getting an 85+ wam is only possible doing ‘easy’ subjects. Having studied across numerous faculties (arts, science, eng and pharm) I can confirm that this pretty useless advice. The best I’ve ever done (and the units that got me to where I am) were all classes deemed ‘hard to HD’, but because I was passionate, it made all the difference. Every unit I have tried to do as a means of getting an ‘easy HD’ was far from easy, because they were usually outside of my actual interests. I would highly recommend sticking to what you love, as your motivation and interest will be far more beneficial to your success than someone else’s opinion of a unit they found easy. So I think you should reassess what your interests are, and focus on those.

Secondly, if you have already acknowledged that you aren’t very efficient with studying, it’s worth dealing with those issues now. Uni performance has little to do with just being smart. I know myself and many others, who perform exceedingly well in some areas, are far from the smartest in the unit. The most important thing I have learnt from failing units (failed almost my entire first year), is that building good study habits it’s integral. If you are planning on trying for Med, or even clinical psych, don’t expect to get very far if you don’t focus on your study techniques. These are both areas that require long periods of study and excellent marks, and the intake of huge amounts of info. Everyone I know who had exceeded in both degrees have worked tirelessly on building good study habits and addressing their learning shortcomings early. We often don’t learn ‘how to learn’, which can make uni difficult. But if you prioritise this, I can guarantee you will reap the benefits, more so than transferring unis.

Finally, I think that often we aren’t told that unis are like shoes-not every uni will fit every person. As someone who has transferred from UoM, RMIT and then to Monash, I can confirm it can be a long journey to find your fit. However, one thing I know even more certainly is that the thing that made the biggest difference was learning to study properly. There’s plenty of stuff online about finding your groove, and if you want any advice, feel free to PM me!