Anyone regret making the decision to study grad med?

universeo

Just wondering if anyone doing grad med regrets their decision? I realise that those on the graduate course would tend to have spent alot of time considering all the implications that the course (and career) would have on their lives but you can't really know what it will be like until you've been through the mill. So...anyone? also if you could give a few reasons, it would be great! Thanks.

imported_guy

universeo wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone doing grad med regrets their decision? I realise that those on the graduate course would tend to have spent alot of time considering all the implications that the course (and career) would have on their lives but you can't really know what it will be like until you've been through the mill. So...anyone? also if you could give a few reasons, it would be great! Thanks.

well everyone has different circumstances, the future for doctors looks very bleak, instead of making conditions for irish doctors better HSE are trying to appeal to the overseas doctors yet again instead of local graduates by fiddling with the visa and registration requirements as a quick fix for the current vacant NCHD positions which no irish doctor wants to fill because of the lack of training and horrible working conditions

Pro Tip: if you go into grad med and dont have rich parents/source of cash flow dont do it. you'll come out with a 100,000 loan which you need to pay back with interest, this is enough to put most people off even if they think they'll manage the horrible working conditions etc. (its going to be more than a 100k for some people if you account for the increase of fees, until now its been about 13,000 a year, bit more actually, and rest goes into living costs etc, and dublin isnt a cheap city, pretty much the same with cork, limerick might be a bit cheaper, but not by any exponential factor) + add on to that a bit of inflation and interest, i dont know how much it comes down to since i dont need a loan, but its too effing much.

spagboll

I wouldn't worry about the money, will probably have a morgage taken out before I have the loan repaid

Try being one of the international stundents paying around 40,000 a year, 13,000 is good value for a medical degree from Ireland, or try doing med in Eastern Europe and having to go through all the hardship of getting back into Ireland, GEM in Ireland is a sweet deal

imported_guy

spagboll wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about the money, will probably have a morgage taken out before I have the loan repaid

Try being one of the international stundents paying around 40,000 a year, 13,000 is good value for a medical degree from Ireland, or try doing med in Eastern Europe and having to go through all the hardship of getting back into Ireland, GEM in Ireland is a sweet deal

strong unaware, most international students like the malaysians/some africans (like from bostwana) here are on scholarships, their government pays all the fees and the others are rich arabs and 40,000 for them is pocket change, and the rest are americans/canadians who couldnt get into medschools in america/canada and have rich parents, rarely any of them take out loans. eastern europe is much much much cheaper to study, you pay like 3-4 grand/year in poland/hungary etc to study (check the eastern europe thread stickied)

universeo

What about the UK? I've heard that even as an Irish student, the fees for years 2, 3 and 4 are paid by the NHS (though that may very well be untrue). If it is true it might still be worthwhile despite paying for accommodation and general living? Plus, the NHS has to be in better shape than the Irish service to work in. 'Personal statements', references and interviews to apply there is a bit of a pain though

Larianne

universeo wrote: »

What about the UK? I've heard that even as an Irish student, the fees for years 2, 3 and 4 are paid by the NHS (though that may very well be untrue). If it is true it might still be worthwhile despite paying for accommodation and general living? Plus, the NHS has to be in better shape than the Irish service to work in. 'Personal statements', references and interviews to apply there is a bit of a pain though

Well then maybe medical school is not for you.

imported_guy

universeo wrote: »

What about the UK? I've heard that even as an Irish student, the fees for years 2, 3 and 4 are paid by the NHS (though that may very well be untrue). If it is true it might still be worthwhile despite paying for accommodation and general living? Plus, the NHS has to be in better shape than the Irish service to work in. 'Personal statements', references and interviews to apply there is a bit of a pain though

that USED to be the case as far as i am aware, but im pretty sure everyone has to pay the 9000£ fees that the government recently bought in,

Larianne wrote: »

Well then maybe medical school is not for you.

+1, but if your serious about it or not is not up to us to judge besides thats not all you need a decent ammount of work experience, extra activities too, and if you're serious i'd suggest looking into eastern europe, or caribbean, or india for your medical education, eastern euro would still be the cheapest, amongst those caribbean would be the most expensive but would give the best medical education (clincal rotations are all done in america), so look into SGU, ross, and saba and in europe, hungary is supposed to be pretty good, dont know much about india, but indian doctors (apu jokes aside) here are more competent than the the average eastern euro doctor since they actually know how to speak english (given its in a funny accent)

universeo

Larianne wrote: »

Well then maybe medical school is not for you.

I was waiting for that...a smiley would have made all the difference :rolleyes:.

Wisco

imported_guy wrote: »

the rest are americans/canadians who couldnt get into medschools in america/canada and have rich parents, rarely any of them take out loans.

I don't think that's really that true. Most of these people (americans anyway) already have 50k (minimum) in loans from undergrad and would pay a lot in the US for med school too. The US government gives financial aid packages, even to students that go abroad (loans that have to be repaid) or they get ordinary loans.

imported_guy

Wisco wrote: »

I don't think that's really that true. Most of these people (americans anyway) already have 50k (minimum) in loans from undergrad and would pay a lot in the US for med school too. The US government gives financial aid packages, even to students that go abroad (loans that have to be repaid) or they get ordinary loans.

most of the federal aid/loan students go to carribbean where it costs 1/2 to study (saba is 22k dollars a year, one of the big 4 schools compared to RCSI which is 45k EURO/ year, and also they do all their clinicals in america, instead of ireland, and so there inherently a better chance at getting a residency), most who come here are like those 3rd gen irish kids who want to experience ireland, or party, since in american/carribbean medschools even students have to do over night on-call (not saying american students that come here are LAZY, but yeah...), under grad loans in america are popular, but not amongst people who go to graduate school (MBA/law/pharm/vet/med) because people who do these courses are from affluent socio-economic backgrounds.

Sid_Justice

I would be vary of talking anythig the imported guy says, everything he knows is best on what he's read on message forums so it doesn't count for a lot.

From my own limited experience the people that have failed/dropped out of grad med are probably the only ones that really regret giving it a shot and they are very few are far between, like one or two per class. it would be unlikely you'll get one of them to read and reply to this post.

lonestargirl

The OP's question was..

universeo wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone doing grad med regrets their decision?

I can turn that around a little, I did Gamsat and got a CAO offer for my 1st choice - which I then turned down. I tried to expalin why in a previous post.

lonestargirl wrote: »

I did the Gamsat and got a place in RCSI for 2008 and turned it down. There were a variety of things that influenced my decisions and I'll try to explain them.

I did a Experimental Physics degree and a Medical Physics MSc. I started working as a research physicist (clinical jobs are hard to get with no experience). I enjoyed the work but I couldn't see myself staying there forever. Meanwhile my boyfriend (now husband) had gone to do medicine after a physiology BSc+MSc and was loving it. I applied for a place on the trainee physicist scheme, interviwed in Jan 08 but didn't get it. I was pi**ed and in a fit of pique sent in a CAO application and signed up for Gamsat (the day before the closing date).

I sent off for the Acer test papers and didn't really do much study until they arrived. In the meantime I interviewed for, and got, a clinical job as a dosimetrist (planning radiation treatments). One month into the job and I realised that a) I loved it and b) I was very good at it. I figured I should still give Gamsat my best shot as I signed up and paid for it. I had studied physics and chemistry during undergrad and anatomy and physiology during my postgrad so none of the subjects were completely 'new' to me. I studied for 3-4 weekends in the run up to the exam and gave it my best shot. When the results came in my strong scientific background showed as I scored an overall 63: 68(S1); 50(S2); 67(S3). When they rang me from RCSI and told me I was being offered a place in round 0 the women wouldn't accept my refusal, she said I should sleep on it for a day or two before calling her back!

Do I regret not doing medicine? No, but I'm glad I went through with the Gamsat as I don't have those 'what if' thoughts.My life is very different now from what it would have been if I had chosen medicine. My husband graduated from medicine and we decided that, for us, the USA was our best option. He is in a surgery residency program here in Houston and I left my (permanent ) job with the HSE to move here in September. I see him working 80 hrs week in week out for about $10 an hour and I don't think I could ever be that committed to any profession.

While I love dosimetry I realise that in order to progress I probably ultimately need to be a physicist with responsibility for dosimetry as there is no grade above senior dosimetrist in Ireland. At the moment I have been shortlisted for application to a 5-year funded PhD program at a hospital that is a world leader in cancer care. While I expect to work hard in the future I'm glad I've picked a career that allows me time for the other things I love as well as having a contribution in patient care.

I'm now in that dream PhD program and will have a career that contributes to the medical profession. I'm also typing this one-handed while feeding my week-old son, I would not have been in a position to have children now if I had done Grad Med.

That said, it's a very individual decision, my husband did medicine as a mature student and for him it was the right choice. I do think you have not just look at the end-point of being a consultant but whether the sacrifices that will have to be made along the way are worth it to you.

lonestargirl

imported_guy wrote: »

most of the federal aid/loan students go to carribbean where it costs 1/2 to study (saba is 22k dollars a year, one of the big 4 schools compared to RCSI which is 45k EURO/ year, and also they do all their clinicals in america, instead of ireland, and so there inherently a better chance at getting a residency), most who come here are like those 3rd gen irish kids who want to experience ireland, or party, since in american/carribbean medschools even students have to do over night on-call (not saying american students that come here are LAZY, but yeah...), under grad loans in america are popular, but not amongst people who go to graduate school (MBA/law/pharm/vet/med) because people who do these courses are from affluent socio-economic backgrounds.

Med school tuition in the US is not always as high as you think, both my local schools (Baylor and University of Texas) are less the $10k a year for in-state tuition. In fact I have a couple of friends in the UT MD/PhD program and they get the standard graduate deal: tuition paid, healthcare paid and $26k annual stipend (this is what I get as a PhD student too).

Nonoperational

Best decision I ever made going back doing grad med. It's fanastic.

rbrbrb

I'm doing it in UCD at the moment and I've no regrets whatsoever. It's brilliant

Chunky Monkey

universeo wrote: »

What about the UK? I've heard that even as an Irish student, the fees for years 2, 3 and 4 are paid by the NHS (though that may very well be untrue). If it is true it might still be worthwhile despite paying for accommodation and general living? Plus, the NHS has to be in better shape than the Irish service to work in. 'Personal statements', references and interviews to apply there is a bit of a pain though

This is true and it's staying for the moment but, at the rate that the government is destroying anything that's good about this place, I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't last for much longer.

Any additional years above year 4 on undergraduate courses are also paid for by the NHS (at the moment).