A Level students applying for medicine in Ireland through CAO

sandino

Apparently there is a separate allocation for Northern Irish applicants for each of the med schools in Ireland. Does anyone know anything about this and what the allocation for each college is and what it is based on?

QueenOfLeon

Best place to ask would be this forum.

On www.qualifax.ie, you'll get all the course requirements for every course in every college. Fairly sure theres an A level option there too, see if this includes the amount of places.

Otherwise, email the admissions office of the college you're interested in

Leah6

'Apparently there is a separate allocation for Northern Irish applicants for each of the med schools in Ireland'

Why? Is there a separate allocation of places in the UK med schools for Irish students...no there is isn't!!

Wonder how many places are actually available in the Irish med schools for us run- of-the-mill leaving cert students who have worked our butts off? Increasingly this summer I'm hearing of places pre-allocated for this that and the other circumstance. What % of the total places are pre-allocated based on political correctness of one form or another?

Knowing the actual figure would have helped me decide in 5th year if I wanted to commit to the long,hard slog of aiming for a place in medicine when realistically I don't stand a chance because of the small (?) number of places actually available for us run-of-the-mill Irish student (average household income and set-up, no learning disabilities etc.).

jody07

There is indeed a seperate allocation for Alevel applicants, in Trinity anyway. If say 20% of all medicine applicants apply with Alevels then 20% of the people admitted will have Alevels. It is a system that actually favours leaving cert applicants as more people achieve 560+ points with Alevels as opposed to Leaving cert. It does mean that Alevel applicants will probably have to have more points than the leaving cert ones to get in.

QueenOfLeon

Leah6 wrote: »

Knowing the actual figure would have helped me decide in 5th year if I wanted to commit to the long,hard slog of aiming for a place in medicine when realistically I don't stand a chance because of the small (?) number of places actually available for us run-of-the-mill Irish student (average household income and set-up, no learning disabilities etc.).

If you really want to do it you'll apply for it regardless of whos in it and who you're competing against.

HQvhs

Leah6 wrote: »

'Apparently there is a separate allocation for Northern Irish applicants for each of the med schools in Ireland'

Why? Is there a separate allocation of places in the UK med schools for Irish students...no there is isn't!!

Wonder how many places are actually available in the Irish med schools for us run- of-the-mill leaving cert students who have worked our butts off? Increasingly this summer I'm hearing of places pre-allocated for this that and the other circumstance. What % of the total places are pre-allocated based on political correctness of one form or another?

Knowing the actual figure would have helped me decide in 5th year if I wanted to commit to the long,hard slog of aiming for a place in medicine when realistically I don't stand a chance because of the small (?) number of places actually available for us run-of-the-mill Irish student (average household income and set-up, no learning disabilities etc.).

In most med schools afaik roughly 50% of places are for leaving cert, and 50% for non-leaving cert. I'm not sure of the exact breakdown because there are lots of sub groups like mature, HEAR, A levels, EU, non-EU etc but I think that's the rough figure anyway. In RCSI, obviously, the figure is more like 80:20. Anyway, these students, particularly non-EU students, pay high fees and subsidise your education, and they've worked just as hard as LC students to get there. If you want to do medicine, it doesn't matter who it's with.

QueenOfLeon

HQvhs wrote: »

In most med schools afaik roughly 50% of places are for leaving cert, and 50% for non-leaving cert. I'm not sure of the exact breakdown because there are lots of sub groups like mature, HEAR, A levels, EU, non-EU etc but I think that's the rough figure anyway.

I don't think its 50:50. Mature students are the same as LC students...they have to use their leaving cert to get in. HEAR are also LC students. From the group that entered medicine in my uni this year, it was probably 80% people who got in with LC results.

HQvhs wrote:

Anyway, these students, particularly non-EU students, pay high fees and subsidise your education, and they've worked just as hard as LC students to get there. If you want to do medicine, it doesn't matter who it's with.

Exactly. Loads of people go to the UK to study, no need to make it exclusively just Irish people you study with. They've got the high results they needed so they have every right to attend an Irish university.

Leah6

'Loads of people go to the UK to study, no need to make it exclusively just Irish people you study with. They've got the high results they needed so they have every right to attend an Irish university.'

You are missing the point which is that in the UK, there is no allocation of med school places specifically for Irish students. This is what the original post was about - allocation of places in Irish med schools specifically for Northern Irish (UK) students.

'They've got the high results they needed so they have every right to attend an Irish university.' Yes indeed they do but if there are places allocated to them because they come from Northern Ireland then are competing only with other students from Northern Ireland and their chances of getting a place are better than say someone from some other country not specifically mentioned or indeed than an Irish student competing with a far greater number of applicants.'

QueenOfLeon

Leah6 wrote: »

Yes indeed they do but if there are places allocated to them because they come from Northern Ireland then are competing only with other students from Northern Ireland and their chances of getting a place are better than say someone from some other country not specifically mentioned or indeed than an Irish student competing with a far greater number of applicants.'

They're not. They're competing against the rest of the Irish applicants as their A level grades correspond to a certain amount of points. They also sit the HPAT afaik. They're on the exact same system as you.

As far as other countries go, I know Canada has a link up with Irish med schools. There are only 3-4 places for these, which go to the highest grades in the country, and theres a lot of applicants so its much tougher for them than it is for Irish people who have 4-500ish places.

jody07

Leah6 wrote: »

You are missing the point which is that in the UK, there is no allocation of med school places specifically for Irish students. This is what the original post was about - allocation of places in Irish med schools specifically for Northern Irish (UK) students. '

If there wasnt a specific allocation for northern students then nearly all the places would be taken up by them as there are far more students with 600 points due to Alevels than the leaving cert. The specific allocation for Alevel applicants is actually favouring you, ensuring the majority of places are given to applicants presenting with the leaving cert!

HQvhs

QueenOfLeon wrote: »

They're not. They're competing against the rest of the Irish applicants as their A level grades correspond to a certain amount of points. They also sit the HPAT afaik. They're on the exact same system as you.

As far as other countries go, I know Canada has a link up with Irish med schools. There are only 3-4 places for these, which go to the highest grades in the country, and theres a lot of applicants so its much tougher for them than it is for Irish people who have 4-500ish places.

There are a lot more than 3-4 places for Canadians in Irish med schools. I'm not sure about NUIG, but in RCSI, TCD and UCD there are quite a lot of places for them. I'm not sure whether these are reserved specifically for Canadians, but for instance in RCSI they make up about a third of the year.

QueenOfLeon

HQvhs wrote: »

There are a lot more than 3-4 places for Canadians in Irish med schools. I'm not sure about NUIG, but in RCSI, TCD and UCD there are quite a lot of places for them. I'm not sure whether these are reserved specifically for Canadians, but for instance in RCSI they make up about a third of the year.

Oh ok, sorry. Theres 1 specific programme that only has that amount of places that is a link between Canada and NUIG/RCSI only. Obviously there are other ways to apply