– Students of lower SES and of FIF status attending schools situated in poorer geographic locations had limited access to suitable work experience and, despite their participation in gifted and talented classes, were considered to be at greater risk of not achieving the high level of academic achievement required for admission to medical school.
– The participants thought they were clever enough to go to university and become a doctor, and did not express the opinion that medicine was the domain of ‘posh’ people.
– Unlike in other research, there was no sense that pursuing a medical career would threaten working-class identity or that schools were actively discouraging of students. The participants of lower SES and of FIF status had positive aspirations towards university study.
– Career advisors in this study, especially those in schools with those located in poorer areas, indicated they had restricted capacity to always assist all students. These careers advisors are under pressure to intervene in complex and often desperate cases. Students with less immediate needs may incidentally receive less attention.
– Insufficient attainment is one of the primary impediments in the pathway to medicine for students from backgrounds of lower SES and those of FIF status, especially those attending schools located in poorer areas. Even if all these factors coalesce- intellectual and emotional confidence, considered subject selection, commitment to study, early engagement in GAT classes and success in negotiating the multi-pronged and multi-phased university admission processes- students from disadvantaged backgrounds are far less likely than their socio-economically higher and continuing-generation peers to achieve the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) required for admission to undergraduate medicine.