RCSI Mature Student Medicine Offers

ady

anastacia86 wrote: »

Haha we'll all be in the same boat! Haven't heard that the college organise anything but no reason we couldn't maybe organise something among ourselves?

That would be nice actually.. The college might even email the other mature students for us.. I went in to meet Dr. Winser again recently and he said if there was anything they could do to help just to let them know..

Joeyjoejoe83

I'd say the college will leave that all to freshers week, but there is a group on FB for our class with a good few international students on it. I seem to be the only local so far so feel free to join me! I'm sure both 5/6 year is welcome. They are already talking about meeting up when everyone moves over in September.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/rcsi5year2016?ap=1

Also it seems that alot of the international students have a degree behind them aswell already, so expect them not to all be 18 yo's but a diverse mix.

footie10

Joeyjoejoe83 wrote: »

I'd say the college will leave that all to freshers week, but there is a group on FB for our class with a good few international students on it. I seem to be the only local so far so feel free to join me! I'm sure both 5/6 year is welcome. They are already talking about meeting up when everyone moves over in September.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/rcsi5year2016?ap=1

Also it seems that alot of the international students have a degree behind them aswell already, so expect them not to all be 18 yo's but a diverse mix.

Can add another paddy/local to that list...joined.

Altho feel not all on this thread are locals as you put it..?

Joeyjoejoe83

footie10 wrote: »

Can add another paddy/local to that list...joined.

Altho feel not all on this thread are locals as you put it..?

Yeah, bit sparse alright, but I suppose theres only fifteen of us so far so probably a few more by the end of August.

ady

Joeyjoejoe83 wrote: »

I'd say the college will leave that all to freshers week, but there is a group on FB for our class with a good few international students on it. I seem to be the only local so far so feel free to join me! I'm sure both 5/6 year is welcome. They are already talking about meeting up when everyone moves over in September.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/rcsi5year2016?ap=1

Also it seems that alot of the international students have a degree behind them aswell already, so expect them not to all be 18 yo's but a diverse mix.

I signed up too! Also joined the 2017 one.. although there doesn't seem to be as much action on that one..

Allie79

Thanks for all the help and support guys, best of luck with your course - I got Trinity this morning so won't be joining you but a very happy bunny!

Jessibelle

Allie79 wrote: »

Thanks for all the help and support guys, best of luck with your course - I got Trinity this morning so won't be joining you but a very happy bunny!

Congrats!!! You'll be in my class so Sure Trinners is for winners *ducks for cover*

Larianne

Jessibelle wrote: »

Sure Trinners is for winners *ducks for cover*

True dat. True dat. :cool:

just kidding.

Well done everybody. Great to see!!!

anastacia86

Jessibelle wrote: »

Congrats!!! You'll be in my class so Sure Trinners is for winners *ducks for cover*

Absolutely delighted for you Allie, congrats! And you too Jesibelle. My first degree was in Trinners so I'll let you away with that one!

Joeyjoejoe83

Allie79 wrote: »

Thanks for all the help and support guys, best of luck with your course - I got Trinity this morning so won't be joining you but a very happy bunny!

You wont be joining us now Allie but I look forward to complaining with you about the state of the health care system whilst on call some night in the future!
Congratulations and best of luck in the course, delighted for you......

....however, this is RCSI only, so mods, do your thing

hollingr

congrats allie, was a no brainer that you'd get whichever college u wanted! best of luck, your troubles start now..

how is everyone getting on with financing? have the loans come in hassle free in the end?

SeeTea

Hi all! Sorry, I know this hasn't been active in a year or so, but I was wondering, for those of you that got called for an interview, what was your HPAT score? I got a score of 163 last year, but I didnt get offered any places, so I re-sat the HPAT this year and am just waiting on results.

Hope you are all enjoying the course so far!

hollingr

i got interview but didn't actually get in. I think that was mostly due to the fact that I am from an engineering background whereas everyone else was science or medical background in some shape or form.

I got 174 last year. I know they shorlist people based on the hpat in RCSI, whereas with other colleges they shorlist based on the written part of the application.

You're not far off! Are you doing anything else to beef up your app this year?

Hopefully I can pull a majestic 200+ hpat out of the bag this year along with doing biology and science as an external student will be enough to get in

SeeTea

Thanks for the speedy reply!! Wow, you got a great HPAT score!! Hopefully I'll have improved a little from last year.

I'm actually sitting Chemistry and Biology in the leaving cert this year. I did General Science as an undergrad in which I did Chemistry for a year, but they still seem to want it at leaving Cert level :mad: , and then I went on to do a masters in Medical Physics which I did anatomy and physiology, but again, they seem to want Biology at leaving cert level :mad:. I went on to do an Emergency Medical Technician course there this year, so hopefully that might beef up the application a little bit too. I'm doing lots of volunteer work with John's Ambulance and the Coast Guard etc. I would give ANYTHING to get it this year!!!!!! I really would, but reading some of these posts makes me realise that so so many people want it too!

How bout you? How did you find the interview? Did they give you feedback? Are you using the same HPAT score this year or did you re-sit it?

hollingr

Although they didn't explicitly say this to me, I got the impression that they only let mature students through that are eligible to skip pre-med, so they can keep all the mature students together in one group. This would explain why they want you to have leaving cert honours grades even though you probably have a hell of a lot more practical science knowledge than the average leaving cert student.

I am quite weak in the area of sciences and volunteer work unfortunately, that certainly left me outside the top 15 candidates (I think they short listed about 30 for interview last year)

I have done bits and pieces here and there to try and beef up practical experience but there is no way I am going to be able to compete with people who have years of experience as a nurse/nurses assistant or years of volunteer work under the belt. Everything I do in this area seems so contrived, but I have to try at least.

I did resit the HPAT this year, I put tons of work into it whereas last year I just winged it and did one practise test before hand. I thought it went very well this time round, but still I have no clue how I did.. The mysterious weighing system does not make it easy to predict your score. I am hoping for at least an improvement on last year considering the amount of work I put in.. Hopefully it was not in vain.

I thought the interview went really well, was very confident afterwards. According to feedback I got (which was very, very wishy washy) I got high marks in the medical interview, and very low marks in the administration folk interview, basically one of them vetoed me and I didn't get in as a result. They said usually the scores match up in both interviews and it is very rare that they would be so different as it was in my case. If they don't match they have to compromise on the score which usually means an average of the two marks, which is always going to bring you down outside the top 15.

It's very frustrating to only have 15 minutes to talk, I'm the kind of person that takes time to warm up to people in conversation, so this format really doesn't suit me, I'm no salesman. How much can you really know about someone in 15 minutes??? It seems crazy.

hollingr

letter in the post today from RCSI, documents to be submitted before 30th april.

dtfo

hollingr wrote: »

letter in the post today from RCSI, documents to be submitted before 30th april.

Hey congrats. Go the same letter myself.

Im a bit confused about fees though, in the letter it says fees for mature students are 15k. As a first time college student am I not eligible for free fees or is RCSI different?

hollingr

you should probably double check that.. As far as I know if it is your first attempt you should be covered for fees but the RCSI charge more than other colleges thats for sure (you would still be eligible for reg fee anyways)

Allie79

Good luck guys, hope you get interviews!

notsofar

Hey guys! any tips fr the personal statement??
Thanks

hollingr

I think rcsi quite like the personal statement to be a bit 'verbose', as in at least a hint of emotion in your text rather than bullet points of facts.

At the end of the day it's really down to you providing proof that you have done loads to show medicine is right for you and what relevant experience you have.. If you haven't got anything relevant to say.. well you can't get blood from a turnip! :P

dtfo

hollingr wrote: »

I think rcsi quite like the personal statement to be a bit 'verbose', as in at least a hint of emotion in your text rather than bullet points of facts.

At the end of the day it's really down to you providing proof that you have done loads to show medicine is right for you and what relevant experience you have.. If you haven't got anything relevant to say.. well you can't get blood from a turnip! :P

Hey thats great , what makes you think that they want the statement this way?

Also I emailed them and rang them about fees but still no word

hollingr

well, I got to interview stage last year and that's how I wrote mine, but as the head of admissions said to me when I talked to him about why I didn't get in last year.. "take advice at your peril!"

You can follow other people's advice and still not get in and what works for one might not work for another.. just do whatever makes sense to you and no harm in writing at leas some bits from the heart in my opinion.

dtfo

Ye id agree, my other statements have been like that but they are in bullet points too, just figure its easier to read

hollingr

I don't think bullet points on their own are a bad thing, I was more trying to convey that having the statement overly rigid and purely factual/unemotional is not a good thing, especially when you are describing why you wish to study med


also a question.. what are people putting in the "relevant supporting documentation"? I don't think I had anything in there last year, not sure what kind of things people would put in this section?

Mr Beaker

Hi Chaps,

Found a letter from RCSI under a load of junk mail, asking me to submit docs for mature entry application by the 30th. Not very confident on getting a place considering the competition that's out there (I'm from an engineering background).

Just wondering, does everyone that applies for the course via CAO get asked to submit these docs, or has there already been some filtering at this stage by HPAT result?

hollingr

I'm an engineer too mr beaker, i got to interview stage last year but didn't get in, so there is hope!

I think they send the letter to anyone that is eligible as a mature student, filtering is for interview stage where they pick approx 30~ people for interviews with 15 places on offer.

Have you done anything to show that you know a bit about med and what you're getting yourself in for?

speeding

I've been working as a radiographer for the last 2 years. Just hope i get the chance at an interview :-). But i don't think my hpat went very well :-(

hollingr

the cut off for interview isn't 'that' high - it is around 160 as far as I have heard but can't say that as 100% sure fact.

They take into account other things far more in mature entry, your life experience and relevant work experience is far more important.. keep the chin up! Best of luck with hpat results not long now..

speeding

I really hope you're right. I'd be gutted if i didn't at least get a shot at an interview. hope everything goes well for you too :-)