2007 Annual report (PDF 8.1 Mb) - University of Melbourne

Ryen Diggle
Ryen Diggle is studying his first year in the Bachelor of Medicine/
Bachelor of Surgery/ Bachelor of Medical Science (MBBS) course.
Ryen’s path to the University of Melbourne began when he decided
that he wanted to pursue medicine as a career. There were no
medical schools in Darwin. The University of Melbourne stood out
in comparison with universities across Australia and the prospect of
study at an internationally renowned university was ‘very exciting
and daunting’, said Ryen.
After learning about Melbourne’s Access Scholarships Ryen
approached his school careers advisor and met with a member
of the University’s staff who helped him through the application
process. Ryen received a conditional offer of scholarship, provided
he was accepted into his course and continued to pass at a
satisfactory level. He completed Year 12, sat the UMAT test and
received an offer for a place in the medical course in January 2007.
‘Without my scholarship, the opportunity to accept my offer into
medicine at the University of Melbourne would probably have been
missed, as I probably would not have been able to cope financially,’
said Ryen. ‘If I had managed to work enough to cope financially,
it would have meant missing out on societies and clubs as well as
many social aspects of University life, which would have diminished
my University experience.’