Employer-led, no College scoring, no national round: you are hired into a registrar post in an RCPA-accredited laboratory, then register with the College.
Typical start years; people vary by a year or two. Diamonds are exams. Stage list and sources in the pathway tab.
State-dependent. QLD metro AP and VIC are now genuinely contested; NSW has the most jobs but they carry heavy cut-up service; regional NSW, WA, TAS, NT and the non-AP disciplines are attainable. Ratings are the encoder's 1–5 call from college numbers and r/ausjdocs; applicant-to-place ratios double-count people who apply in several states. Evidence rows are in getting selected.
Two years of postgraduate experience by the commencement date is the only hard gate — no BPT, no divisional exams. Five years single-discipline (anatomical, haematology, microbiology, chemical, immuno, genetic, forensic) with seven exams. The old 'backup specialty' reputation is dead in QLD and metro NSW/VIC — QLD applicants went from 53 to 117 for 23 stagnant spots — while regional labs and the non-AP disciplines remain attainable. NSW runs a 12-week Pathology RMO taster, the best low-commitment move in the country.
I'm a new AP trainee—just 4 months in—and honestly, I'm feeling completely lost. I won’t name the lab for anonymity, but it’s a large lab with mostly pathologists and only a handful of senior registrars.
Anatomical Pathology has been a hidden secret for years. As an AP, I work flexible hours. As long as I get the work done, nobody really cares when I do it. I work from home when I want to. And make a pretty good amount of money. I think being able to work from home really increases quality of life.
Yea Ive been applying for 2 years for AP without luck with a nearly maxed out CV. Frustrating when people say its not competitive as that is clearly very outdated information. Wont be surprised if unaccredited positions become a thing soon
Did you apply for when there are postings outside of the normal cycle? That can sometimes be your best bet! Otherwise going into Chem path or genetics or forensics for a year and then moving across to AP might be an option. Good luck! 🤞🤞
All 100 curated quotes by topic, trajectories and threads.
rcpa.edu.au for the facts and summary, read 12 Sept 2026 · rating and pathway encoded by hand from the same sources · quotes are verbatim r/ausjdocs comments, community view not policy
Number = distinct authors who said it; dashed chips are single reports (under three authors). Hover or long-press a chip for the why.
Stages: rcpa.edu.au, reddit.com, data.gov.au · terms: r/ausjdocs term-strategy collection, counted by distinct author, community view not policy
"Mandatory" is the college's word. Amber "community" rows are what the sub says panels actually want.
Structure official (RCPA); pass-rate and exam-count claims are community lore.
Canberra Health Services advertises 'Anatomical Pathology Junior Registrar / Registrar 1-4' for the February clinical year (registrar ads 29 Jun - 2 Aug 2026).
Statewide centralised process via NSW Health Pathology: ~90 AP posts, 10-30 new vacancies a year, ads open July-August on the NSW Health JMO jobs page and the RCPA jobs page (main round 14 Jul - 4 Aug). Microbiology also centralised statewide. NSW Health Pathology employs ~120 junior doctors/yr across 20+ labs and runs 12-week Pathology RMO posts. Community: heavy cut-up service load; 'relatively easier to get on c.f. other states'.
Part of the Queensland Health RMO & Registrar campaign; 'recruitment is centralised by discipline/sub-specialty, not by facility'. 23 spots; applicants 53 (2024) → 117 (2026). Rural rotations (Townsville, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast) may be compulsory. 'If you have completed a year of training elsewhere, it is much easier to secure a job in QLD.'
'Interviews mid-August, offers late August' — exact day not published; date shown is a mid-month placeholder.
SA Pathology positions advertised on SA Health Careers.
Central Appointments Process (CAP), run with PMCV for some disciplines. Haematology (joint RCPA/RACP) 2027 round: applications 8-27 July 2026, interviews 11 August 2026. Monash Health AP registrar closes 30 Sep. Community: VIC 'VERY competitive… for the past 2 years'; interviews reportedly worth 80%.
CAP dates recovered via search snippets (rcpa.edu.au is Cloudflare-gated); re-verify against the live page.
PathWest via MedCareersWA; 'applications usually open in June and close in July in accordance with all WA Health JMO job applications'. Smaller applicant pool; PathWest gives a 6-week cut-up orientation.
Dates drift a week or two each year; the calendar has confirmed vs expected windows.
Employer-led, no College scoring, no national round. 'Applicants for pathology training must be employed in an accredited laboratory before seeking registration with the College… The College plays no part in placing applicants in employment.' 'All Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or Maori applicants are able to proceed directly to interview'; first-attempt BPS exam fee waived.
Requirements and rubric: rcpa.edu.au, reddit.com · state mechanics: canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au, pathology.health.nsw.gov.au, careers.health.qld.gov.au +2 · community rows from r/ausjdocs
Hollow dots are hearsay — the poster was not citing a figure. A bar spans the components or years quoted; hover for the exact words.
"Cost to get on" is a name-based pick of the one-off fees paid before or at selection. The college schedule is a lifetime-of-training list at each item's own year, not one bill; community amounts overlap it and are never summed. Courses, travel and repeat sittings are the part the sub complains about.
Not shown: 1 suspected astroturf; 3 paid products under three independent authors; 1 paid with no free alternative.
Exams and fees: rcpa.edu.au, medicalboard.gov.au · claims, prep and costs quoted: r/ausjdocs exams-and-costs collection, community view not policy · paid prep products need three independent non-suspect authors and a free alternative to appear
Scored by the Pathology rules — whether or not the title names the specialty — highest first, closing soonest next.
"Has anyone heard back?" reports on r/ausjdocs, 2024–2026 folded onto one calendar year; dashed line is the official date for the 2027 intake where published.
13 dated reports, weekly bins
Jobs: last night's scrape, scored by hand-written rules (no AI) · units and offer reports: r/ausjdocs, counted by distinct author · campaign windows: canberrahealthservices.act.gov.au, health.nsw.gov.au, healthjobs.nt.gov.au +4
Verbatim, one caution beside one encouragement per topic where both exist, the rest folded. Every quote links to the comment.
It’s not just path, the golden age is over for pretty much every specialty. The only difference is whether your specialties bottleneck is at entry to training or at the consultant job level. Aside from ED and ICU, the barrier to entry for almost everything else has seen a massive jump. As we continue to increase the…
It's undersubscribed here! Which state are you? If around Sydney or Newcastle I can dm you a link to a shadowing opportunity
People massively overestimate how much central planning is actually involved in the medical training pipeline. Universities have a large financial incentive to increase enrollment. The number of local graduates is mainly determined by the universities themselves. While the federal government caps Commonwealth…
The number of pathology applicants in QLD has more than doubled since 2024, yet the number of training spots has remained stagnant at 23 spots (jumping from 53 applicants in 2024 to 117 in 2026). It’s slowly approachinig rads/anaesthetics in terms of competitiveness.…
That's because as specialties become more competitive they eventually reach and equilibrium where the competition ratios put off prospective applicants. Anaesthetics is probably close to it's equilibrium with an application to selection ratio of about 8:1 as per the most recent QLD statistics. I suspect AP will…
It has become more competitive in the recent years, with limited number of spots available. My advice to keen applicant would be, if feasible, to apply widely. The number of spots in every state varies depending on the number of candidates who pass the final exam. AI is no where near replacing pathologists. AI will…
QLD is very competitive, other states; not so much. It really depends on the state training programs - almost all training positions in NSW require you to do huge amounts of service work (cut up), and are less desirable/competitive; you end up having to teach yourself AP while working as a glorified cut-up…
Micro, immunology, haem etc are 'oversubscribed' in the sense that it's an option to dual qualify as part of physicians training. It's not necessarily harder. Genetics, honestly I have no idea, they are few and far in between. Forensics is hard, as you kind of need to do AP first. And AP is no longer under subscribed.…
I'd be wary about conflating the number of applicants with the actual competition numbers. There are no prerequisites for applying, so every year they get people who have CVs that are clearly aiming for another specialty. Most if not all states have a mandatory requirement of 'demonstrating interest in pathology' and…
For better or for worse, it seems pathology is becoming more and more popular, noticeably so in the last 2-3 years. I've heard of more than a few people who have done all the right things (BPS, observerships, poster presentations, publications, teaching) and didn't even get an interview last year. It was a shocker of a…
Path reg here. Can confirm there were about 12 positions this year. QLD tends to be more difficult to secure a position compared to NSW for instance. I would recommend applying interstate as well by contacting labs directly. If you have completed a year of training elsewhere, it is much easier to secure a job in QLD.
Vic is VERY competitive. It’s been ridiculous for the past 2 years, so anything older than this is out of date. (Might explain some of the contradictory info, not sure how old these posts are). Lots of people with very nice surg CVs are not even getting short listed. Requests for CV-boosting lab visits may not get…
A significant number of applicants to pathology come from registrars in other specialties. Pathology is often “discovered” later than other specialties. People eventually realise that making mid-high 6 figures as a specialist while working from home many days a week and being able to arrange your day around other life…
In short, unlikely. Anatomical pathology training is becoming quite competitive in Australia and although you are eligible to start training after completing PGY2, it is becoming increasingly rare to get on the program so quickly. Many applicants already have several years of registrar experience in surgery,…
Qld had a particularly bad couple years recently when candidates failed exams en mass so there weren't positions opening up as planned as they had to repeat training years. That seems to have settled now. Thats for AP. Other disciplines have very small numbers of trainees so yes it's a lot more competitive. Especially…
It’s funny because pathology was traditionally one of those specialties people stumbled into rather than actively chased. Now the secret seems to be out. I suspect a lot of it is being driven by people looking for more predictable hours, less shift work, fewer overnight emergencies and a career that still offers…
Ok some truths in here, but not entirely. The number of spots increased in qld by 6 over the new year and there was a massive scramble to find suitable applicants. There has been a slow and steady increase in training spots but part of the issue is finding suitable labs to place them in. Some public sites regs are…
It's true that scientific staff are taking over a lot of the cut up load from registrars. You can train them up well and they stay in your lab - no more teaching a new intake of newbie registrars annually. Plus it spares registrars from some of the grunt work. However it makes it increasingly difficult to make the…
From memory, it was ~90 applicants in 2023 per medinav. So I'm not sure the hypothesis that competitiveness is growing exponentially is quite right. Definitely more popular, but the numbers youve got are a bit misleading in isolation.
AP was tough in Victoria this year as well, 50 something apps for maybe 12 spots. Definitely popular as you said
I asked for feed back and said they had like 4-5 spots with 60 applicants and was just bad year, and to try again next year.
Which state are you applying in? Path is unfortunately becoming quite competitive. Some of the applicants have pretty insane cvs and still get bounced back.
Yea Ive been applying for 2 years for AP without luck with a nearly maxed out CV. Frustrating when people say its not competitive as that is clearly very outdated information. Wont be surprised if unaccredited positions become a thing soon
The dropout rate is surprisingly high for pathology especially for people who just enter training. If someone does drop out then they will contact you to fill the vacancy.
Just wanted to say had a similar CV to you, minimal path specific stuff but passed BPS, observership + conferences, had pathology mentors/referees and didn’t even get an interview in QLD Health! Personally I feel as though it was quite a competitive year this year. My mentor has advised to apply wide I.e. interstate…
organise a lab visit. AP prides itself on teaching you everything from scratch. They want to see that you are interested, not that youve done a whole bunch of resume building a la many other specialties. Try to arrange time to sit in for a cut-up, to go to a registrar teaching session, see if you can go to an autopsy…
I was rejected four times across two years. Very little feedback available, only from one head of panel. And was basically just told that they don't like surgical registrars because they have left training in the past. They recommended applying for the less popular or out of application rounds positions. I have a PhD…
Hey, as someone who got in after two interview sessions...I was somewhat lost as well. Pathology is becoming competitive, and unfortunately, it is so hard to give you a clear pathway for success. But let me tell you what I did to get in, 1. I went on lab tours and started to hang out with lab scientists. I also went…
Hey! 1st year AP trainee here. It was kinda competitive last year, so I’d recommend applying everywhere if you’re serious about it. NSW especially hires the most first years out of any state. In terms of BPS, it’s not required to get on, and you don’t need to do it until Path year 1. But people these days seem to…
A break in clinical medicine this soon after graduating is a really bad sign. As others have suggested can you go part time? You do not need to take dedicated time off for bps. It's designed to cover medical school level so as long as you did okay in the pathology aspect of school it'll just need a brush up. Unless…
Tips from my wife the Amat Path consultant: Say that you’re willing to go to the country and that you’re willing to go anywhere in general. Have your basic sciences exam out of the way. Show enthusiasm.
I’ll be brutally honest with you — whoever said pathology is easy to get into has probably never applied before. Competitive states like QLD, WA, and VIC will definitely question your reason for switching specialties, especially since you’re doing it later in your career. Pathology is another five years of training,…
Take a very part time job in ED so it still looks like you’ve done clinical work for the year. Sit BPS and your masters (not sure why you’d do this as they’re useless degrees that are no longer recognised by a lot of colleges). In that year find whoever is head of AP training at your hospital and go and talk to them.…
Heya. Got into both Vic and Qld for 2025 (won’t mention here which state I chose to avoid identification). Can tell you both the states were very competitive, I had finished required exams, published first author papers, presented in conferences, have multiple years (5+) as a doctor in both surgical and non-surgical…
Not path inclined but I heard that reaching out to the department and doing a tour or something is something that interested juniors do to get acquainted
Another major misconception is that pathology = anatomical pathology. They are the most numerous but there are 9 subspecialties recognised by the RCPA.
If you'd been rejected by NSW twice, I'd be thinking you might be out of luck. However, NSW has way more first year AP positions than any other state, and even if you don't get an outright offer, a percentage of people always quit a few months in. Easier to be top five on their waitlist than number one in a different…
Application is via the annual RMO campaign. Once it opens, you can look through the RMO campaign website and there will be a 'Applying for Anatomical Pathology' information sheet which tells you which dropdown box options to pick + the contact information for the Pathology Queensland Medical Services team - who, if you…
Big disagree. A lot of trainees have done significant stints of surg training or BPT before starting path. How you answer the inevitable "why path after surg" may be an issue though.
In Victoria, the interviews were worth 80%, so if the other states are similar, it's probably your interview you're falling short.
Make sure you visit a local lab and spend at least half a day there to look down the microscope to see if you like it, watch a bit of specimen cut up, attend one or two MDTs. Passing either the BPS or GSSE will be icing on the cake. Download the AP training handbook and be familiar with the exam requirement
It depends on which state you’re applying to. NSW sent out interview offers to almost all applicants, so very likely they don't really care if you have a gap year or you are an unaccredited burnt out surg reg. Other states tend to review applications more thoroughly because of the limited number of positions. I…
With a problematic CV that screams “AP is my second choice” (which is a pragmatic and good decision for many, I agree), you need someone to go into bat for your application on the selection panel. Unless someone can tell you who they think is on the panel (ie gossip from current Vic registrars), the best way to do…
I'm a new AP trainee—just 4 months in—and honestly, I'm feeling completely lost. I won’t name the lab for anonymity, but it’s a large lab with mostly pathologists and only a handful of senior registrars.
Anatomical pathologist here. In my opinion, AI is unlikely to completely replace human pathologists in our working lifetimes. There is plenty of interest in using it in a preliminary screening capacity, and helping with menial tasks such as counting Ki-67 indices, but I would be very surprised if it soon becomes…
In theory it's great. In practice there are almost no training positions and no current plans to expand general pathology training positions.
I’m a pathologist and I was actively looking for a new job about a year ago. I only wanted private jobs. All the places (? about 5 or 6) I applied to across three states gave me offers within about a week of applying. That included two places that weren’t even advertising. So, in my experience, it was very easy.
Seems getting a position is getting more and more competitive. Most consultant jobs do often seem to favour ID dual trained microbiologist from what I have seen in many centers (especially public hospitals where the departments and thus on call are essentially joined). But I have certainly seen jobs advertised…
The labs have all given up advertising. These days you just call the head of department. It's not a good look to have permanent openings but that's the reality right now for histo, general and genetics anyway.
Histopathology will not be difficult to get consultant jobs as I see plenty of jobs advertised all the time. Others like microbiology and haematology will be almost impossible as they are all predominantly dual micro/ID and lab/ clinical haematology.
For what it's worth, Victoria does do AP training in regional labs (Ballarat, Bendigo, Albury/Wodonga).
NPAAC requires an onsite full pathologist at a large (Gx) lab with adequate scope of practice. Unfortunately, we are very short on chemical pathologists and immunologists, so what better way to save money than train a general pathologist to mainly report anat path samples / blood films that can supervise biochem and…
What will save pathologist jobs is the reluctance of anyone in public or private to make the very large investment needed. Australian AP could be fully digital and networked by now and in a country like Australia, that would make a lot of sense. But the take up of digital is token. Diagnostic related AI is all…
They already have unofficial unaccredited positions in some private labs.
I'm no chem path but to my knowledge: Full time private lab job would be something like start at $300k and max out about $500k. Full time public would be in the $300s. As for job numbers, there wouldn't be many but I don't know how competitive they'd be. Labs need lots of anatomical pathologists. They need lots of…
Pretty sure all the accredited labs for training in WA are in metro tertiary hospitals. So you might have to look into that. NSW health and maybe QLD health do have regional labs as far as I know but the other states seem like they’re all metro based path positions . So not sure how this will tie into BMP scheme. 3.…
As pathology becomes more and more popular I think it would be interesting to shed light on what some of the misconceptions around it are. Many, many people have started applying for pathology and we regularly see residents in the lab who have variable understanding of what AP is like and what the training is like so I…
Anatomical Pathology has been a hidden secret for years. As an AP, I work flexible hours. As long as I get the work done, nobody really cares when I do it. I work from home when I want to. And make a pretty good amount of money. I think being able to work from home really increases quality of life.
Cut up: Almost half your week for your entire training (state/site specific) is spent cutting up. This can really throw some people off as it can be laborious. Most people 'tolerate' it and some sites have more interesting specimens than others making it actually sorta enjoyable. If you're cutting placentas for 8hrs…
Misconception that it’s a 9-5 job. My experience: it’s actually a whatever-whatever job. Hours are extremely flexible. Apart from MDTs and frozens, it literally does not matter when you do the work. Depending on subspecialty, it’s very possible to negotiate your way out of doing MDTs and frozens.
Around 40-50 cases (big and small) a day in private. Most people do a fair bit of overtime to get through the cases. You can work from home but the RCPA has guidelines regarding the types of specimens you can report from home (at least if you’re in the public system). This is considered a higher risk specialty as…
Fifth-year AP reg here who's also very social. I actually feel less lonely working in AP now compared to my time in clinical years. Probably because we have many regs where I work and we constantly show each other cases and have lunch together. I think AP is a very collegial specialty.
Every lab/hospital is different but majority of the registrar work is cutting up specimens about twice a week (or more in busier or rural places), triaging fresh specimens and doing frozen sections. We don’t do autopsies anymore (no longer required for our training) however some labs are still doing the non-coronial…
Work life balance is definitely better than medical/surgical specialties. Weekdays - normal working hours with no weekends. They do still require to be on call - for urgent frozens. There is plenty of work to go around for sure.
I’m so sorry to hear this. At pathwest in perth you are given a 6 week orientation to cut up. When I was in first year we had a consultant sit with us and teach us Cut up. And even that 6 weeks still didn’t really prepare you for everything that could come on the cut up bench . But it’s normal to feel like this .there…
I want juniors to know that it is a fascinating speciality of endless learning and a broad range of subspeciality options. It’s also very portable, has the option for remote or partial remote work, and because of the batch nature of the workflow is very amenable to a good work life balance. It isn’t for everyone…
RHH currently has a 4 Week Roster, in which 3 Weeks are Cut-up/draft histo reporting (averaging 3 or 4 Days of Cut-up / Week). The rostered cut-up Day is either “big Cut-up” or “small Cut-up”. The 4th Week is Cytology Week with no Cut-up
Wife is anatomical pathologist…finished training 2010 so experienced now. Had our first child during training, two since. Has worked three day weeks entire consultant life. In public, you’re generally at one hospital…depends a little on whether you specialise. In private you may have to go to different sites. You get…
What's the bet that some phlebotomists have put themselves as pathologists. A median income of 60k makes me think that there's a data error. I would suspect that even at one day a week a pathologist would make more than this.
High 6 figures for roughly 40 hrs a week. Could earn more or less if I wanted to, would just need change how much work I do.
First year AP reg in WA. I earn the award salary for first year regs (I think $120,000ish?). We work occasional Saturday half days doing cut up, for which we are paid, but apart from that no opportunity to supplement income. Once you get past the first 12-18 months you will be firmly in exam mode anyway and will have…
Currently there is a shortage of AP’s in Australia. New grad salary around $330k.
Registrars are paid according to the EBA, so are public consultants. Private - varies but a first year consultant usually starts at the 350k mark. And then it depends on experience from there on. Best part of the job - it is very intellectually stimulating and challenging every now and then. The learning never…
Which branch of pathology? Especially in private, the workflow for anatomical pathology is very different to the other branches. My opinion as an AP 1. Yes. 2. Lots of jobs. 3. Yes - quite hard to do, but potentially extremely high reward if you can sell your practice to corporate down the line - think 7…
I don’t know. I have colleagues making over a mill, but I think they must be doing more than 50 hours of work a week (although I’m not sure, maybe they have negotiated a better deal). I think having the “correct” specimen mix is crucial. If your goal is money, you can’t afford to be stuck with time consuming + low…
It’s about $220,000 ($200,000–250,000) p.a.
In Victoria registrars are paid according to the EBA. Private labs technically pay less because you don't get access to salary packaging or things like paid parental leave. There is a rural stipend in Victoria to cover moving costs and training-related expenses like conferences, books, courses, etc. Plenty of weekend…
This is very normal in pathology. There is no formal training for cut up, and pretty much no one has done it before starting as a path reg. My only advice is focus on your cut up and keep asking for help form your consultants and senior regs. Once you get the cut up down pat, it'll make learning the histo side of…
This is a part of AP which really needs to change. Consultant mostly just want to get through their reporting and the senior registrars want to report and study for their exams leaving the junior registrars floundering. At the beginning you won’t be doing much reporting because you need to become independent with cut…
Private labs see a different range of stuff than public. There’s lots of overlap but if you want to see weird surgical specimens and rare stuff, and the MDTs that go with that, that’ll turn up in tertiary and specialist hospitals. Sometimes a private company has the path contract for a public hospital so you still see…
To add to this, some labs are quite cut-up heavy and you end up cutting all day and staying back late to finish (and not to mention it’s physically exhausting to cut specimens all day and going as fast as you can). Year 3-5 involves exams every year too. So many people quit path early on (I’m sure for a lot of…
Yes to being haunted by your old cases. AP is one of the few disciplines (along with perhaps radiology) where your work can be scrutinised and tested years later by someone with exactly the same slides and information as a direct comparison to your performance. There's no "on the day the patient seemed/told…
Your +++ years in surgery may have been a red flag to some program directors. Since you spent so much time pursuing surgery and then suddenly switched to pathology (AP), it might not have seemed completely genuine to them. As someone already in pathology, I can say that you really need to love the field to get through…
God I’m really noticing a pattern these days of AP training burnout weirdly. Have met a decent handful of burnt out AP trainees who switch careers personally and have also seen a couple posts here like yours, defintely more AP dropputs then any other specialty. Have met a couple who switch to BPT, a couple who switched…
From what I have seen (as an AP reg), the high dropout is #1 as you said, lack of exposure to AP means people don't know what they are getting into. #2 is people often go into AP as a 2nd/3rd/4th option because they couldn't get into what they wanted, and actually have no interest in AP but want something "easy" and…
The varying paths to FP are all outlined. Part of your decision making should also be around risk - the earlier the entry, the more all your eggs are in one basket, committed to training for a high stress job that you really can't know what is really like til you try it. And if you find out it's not for you, the skills…
I received an email around 2:30 pm today that I was not successful in gaining a position, but have been placed on an eligibility list. I suspect offers went out on Monday around 2 pm as u/Hellvento mentioned (congrats) and then those candidates had 48 hrs to accept, by which time they notify the rest of us if we have…
I received an offer at 14:00 today! John Hunter (Term 1 and 2) and Tamworth (Term 3 and 4).
They’re still working out positions for people with continuing contracts and wanting to do rotations so until that is done new contracts won’t be released.
I have just received at offer for NSW at 5pm today.
Last year, the offers were released on September 8th; anyone heard anything yet?
I got an offer at 15:00 today - I wonder if I was offered it after someone else declined, given it was 49 hours after Hellvento’s offer. Will keep it slightly vague for anonymity but it was a regional offer.
Senior regs were told they would get allocations by end of this week (most likely), and I think that needs to be done first to decide how many/where first year jobs might be
Pathology is much less competitive because it’s not as financially desirable - you really have to work for your $$. There is currently limited WFH capacity in AP and it’s generally in low risk areas that aren’t seriously time sensitive if you are using slides, and the vast amount of data capacity required for virtual…
The exams will be much harder if you do that. Part 2 is brutal and has a high failure rate (\~50%). I'd strongly recommend you do forensics from the beginning if you're sure you want to do it. I'd rate the three pathways as follows: 1. Direct forensics training (5 years) 2. Do anatomical, pass part 1 exams (2…
I’ve heard this parroted from the college but don’t believe it. Most I know have finished in 5, usually with one exam fail. Most exams you can fail and resit the following year (or resit the same year in one circumstance) without extending training time.
They have the most exams out of any training program (7), and don't have repeat exams in the same year for most of them. The exception is if you "borderline" one exam in the final year, they might let you repeat it (with a bribe.... i mean fee... of $4k)
The average time is a bit over 7 years. I got this straight from the college.
Did you apply for when there are postings outside of the normal cycle? That can sometimes be your best bet! Otherwise going into Chem path or genetics or forensics for a year and then moving across to AP might be an option. Good luck! 🤞🤞
I know of someone who applied and got on in their third attempt. Had to move from Perth to NSW, so maybe something to consider as others mentioned.
1 people, counts not rates.
I am a U.K. FY2. I have an interview coming up in Bundaberg, QLD for an ED job. Plan to come after finishing FY2. No ED experience but very keen to learn. So as you can imagine, I don’t have any expe…comment ↗
I am PGY3 too. From what you have said in the comments, I think you’re doing just fine. If evals are ok, don’t worry. But yeah I know the feeling too.comment ↗
UK IMG I am starting a RMO role next week. Just arrived in Aus on Saturday so hardly has been a week. Have got my provisional AHPRA reg. Applied for provider and prescriber numbers during orientatio…comment ↗
PGY3 here. I find changeovers incredibly stressful more so than most other doctors and it takes me the whole of the term just to settle in. Different specialties have a different style of working. Mo…comment ↗
I have decided on Anatomic Pathology but Diagnostic Radiology is a close secondcomment ↗
Reconstructed from what people said about themselves on a public forum. Self-report only; no verification against any register. Survivorship and self-selection are severe (people post when things go wrong and when they get on, rarely in between). Handles are public usernames; nothing here is combined with any off-platform data.
r/ausjdocs comments and posts, hand-curated from the pathology, trajectories, missed-cycle-and-mobility, state-campaigns, term-strategy collections; scores as at the dump · community view, not policy
Knowledge rows last loaded 13 Sept 2026, encoded by hand from the sources linked on each panel; no AI wrote any of it. Compare specialties · calendar · all guides.