Biomedical, Health and Life Sciences?

Freakin4Leavin

Hey filling in my CAO recently, and was thinking of putting down biomedical health and life sciences.
Any info on what its like, i saw that its only 35 people in the course, are u mixed in with the science omnibus people and if not does the course feel a bit too secluded?? Is it just as good an option as science omnibus?
Any info would be great , there isnt much about it on the prospectus!!
Thanks

Edit: Moderator note - All posts from Hotaru were deleted, as the user is no longer in the course, and kept getting messages asking him about it. As his user name is no longer Hotaru, the quotes were left, so the thread isn't completely disrupted. Apologies.

RandolphEsq

The poor man's medicine :P

RandolphEsq

Hotaru wrote: »

In what way may I ask?

Pretty similar modules, but lower points?

seraphimvc

not necessary agree to RandolphEsq neither Hotaru -

Biomed from what i know is pretty 'science' orientated degree,unlike the practical training as meds students need to do. Biomed also take some pharmacology/neuro/biochem subjects - they have (some) meds students' theorical subjects but obviously they are not taking those clinical training related subjects.is just two different courses with different prospect. i will defo say science students know more scientific stuffs (latest research discovery,lab training etc) and medicine students more their practical stuffs (diagnose and patients interaction etc).

in the end of the day people may think similar like RandolphEsq but the fact is all comes down to personal preference - your LC result or whatever doesnt always link to what you do in collage. heck, newly graduated doctors know nothing about science:D

seraphimvc

Hotaru wrote: »

You would not believe the amount of questioning looks I've gotten over why I'm not doing medicine, it just gets old really fast :mad:.

But yus, at the end of the day it's all down to personal preference. If you're interested in the theory of medicine but not necessarily the practice, then this is a course you should definitely consider.

ye i will say so:)

a quick question tho - any chance you are 1 of the 5 biomed students in final year?:p

TJJP

RandolphEsq wrote: »

The poor man's medicine :P

For sure, why, we should all be blood letting and using leeches. Biomedical health and life sciences hocus pocus.... Little to contribute to the doc charging €90 a session.

OP - go for it, we need all the well trained scientists we can get.

RandolphEsq

I was only joking . . .

RandolphEsq

Hotaru wrote: »

Ugh I know, it just happens me alot. T'would nearly force ya into medicine

So what do you do after you finish?

RandolphEsq

Hotaru wrote: »

You can do loads of stuff, health science is a fairly broad area. Research (in an array of disciplines), lecturing, health promotion, teaching etc. Research is probably the biggy though.

Not medicine?

Freakin4Leavin

Well it is my option after medicine on the cao at the moment... but its 540...thats very high too! And i could get the points but not the hpat results.
I like the biology-related aspects of science, and not so much the other aspects, so Bio and health sciences could be a good way to do science without having to put up with the parts of science i dislike that are in the science omnibus

Susie-O-

Biomeds actually share a good few lectures with 1st med students, and have some classes on their own! i've a few mates who did it, they all seemed to enjoy it, and got on really well as a class as well as befriending medheads!

MadRush

Hotaru wrote: »

If you want. You can transfer over without finishing Biomed aswell I believe.

anyone sure about this?

Sid_Justice

Do the course if you're interested in what it offers - Health Science with out the clinical or training aspects of the professional qualification in medicine.

I can quite imagine those aiming for medicine not getting the points/score and taking this as one of their second bests on the CAO. If you're interested in studying medicine i'd strongly recommend you resit the leaving cert as opposed to doing this course (if your goal is to be a doctor).

I'd personally wonder where the graduates of this course actually go. Courses such as this are more popular in America as all students take a pre med undergraduate degree (AFAIK). But as a means to an end, I'm not sure if this offers anything different to what the different science degrees offer.

It's distinct to Med Lab too.

hup123

that is my problem with this course. the fact that their are no graduates yet to see where they end up and what jobs they get. ucd prospectus does not help either!

ayumi

whats the difference between this course and the biomedical sciences in dit?
its late but just asking

Vito Corleone

Would appreciate any information anyone has on this course.

jan shyr

that is my problem with this course. the fact that their are no graduates yet to see where they end up and what jobs they get. ucd prospectus does not help either!

I see no reason why any graduates of this course or any other have to disclose any information on what they are doing once they finish the course.

Some people go to do medicine (and it is quite silly to spend four years when you can resit LC). Other continue with research or something to do with biotechnology.

But bear in mind that course underwent some major changes over last three or so years in terms of what is being taught. Essentially it got much easier that it was. Whether it is a good thing or not, is a different story.

Jaafa

There's a lot of speculation and hearsay talk going on here. I'm a second year in BHLS so let me try give you an overview of what the course is.

The course is geared primary towards Medical research. In first year 80% of your modules are with 1st year meds. You take modules in genetics, chemistry,physics,statistics, physiology and more. Starting from second year you can begin to chose modules based on what your research interests are in. So you'll have an option between, Gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, etc etc. In 3rd year you apply to do a research project, usually as part of a research team in UCD or one of the nearby hospitals, in 4th year you then go on to carry out this project.

In regards to graduates, I can't remember the exact figures but it was roughly, 60% go on to do a postgraduate studies (eg: masters), 30% to medicine, and 10% straight into work. In almost any science based course, a masters at least is practically obligatory these days. Certainly in terms of future career promotions and options.

For those saying it would be easier to just resit the LC rather than do this and then medicine, well it depends. A lot of people resit the LC and Hpat 2 or 3 times before getting med,if at all. If you do biomed then grad med, well you'll have 2 degrees for only 2 years extra work had you done just med. Plus you can get exemptions from modules in grad med since you'll have done a lot of them in biomed, making the course a little easier. Of course the major issue with grad med is the financial costs, but if that isn't a issue...

So basically if medical research is what you want to do, then this is the course for you. Any more question feel free to ask here or PM me.

Vito Corleone

Thanks Jaafa. What is the main difference between this and the Science degree (DN200)? I'm just wondering which one would have the better job opportunities, and which one would be seen as the better course by employers.

Jaafa

Vito Corleone wrote: »

Thanks Jaafa. What is the main difference between this and the Science degree (DN200)? I'm just wondering which one would have the better job opportunities, and which one would be seen as the better course by employers.

Well as you may know in DN200 you start off in first year doing all science modules such as physics chemistry and biology. There are no medicine specific modules unlike biomed. Then in later years you branch out into chem physic or biology or a combination of the above. From my understanding your research options with DN200 will be largely focused on basic research ( ie lab work based on learning about new processes in your field of science) whereas in biomed we place an emphasis on translational research, which is taking recent discoveries and applying them to create a practical useable treatment in a clinical situation. (ie bench to bedside) In terms of which of them is more employable, well it depends. Depends on which streams you go for in DN200, depends on which modules you pick in biomed, depends on what project you do, on whether you do a masters out phd etc etc. Overall however I'd say they are fairly equal but again there's a lot to consider. all that said I'd seriously advise picking whichever one you think you'll have the most interest in, otherwise you'll never get to the point where you'll be employable.

TheCount1

I'm graduating from this course man, currently doing a masters in UCD in biotechnology, but got offered post-graduate medicine too, Generally science is good but if you are more interested in health science its a better course .
30% of the class are doing science masters, 30% are doing medicine, the rest are either travelling or working in jobs, some not even science related some are just random bar work etc but there is as much potential as doing any other science course
,

beardedmaster

The only disadvantage with the Biomedical, Health & Life Sciences degree as opposed to the Science degree is that in Science you can specialise into related areas like Biochemistry, Genetics, Physiology, Pharmacology, etc. Whereas in BHLS you kind of mix-and-match science modules from the aforementioned areas.
It's good if you want a broader area to work from, but if you want to learn (for example) the Physiology of every system, or similarly the Pharmacology, go with Science rather that Biomed, as you won't be able to do as much of either actual subject individually if you do Biomed.