*Everything HPAT and Medicine 2013*

Hermione Granger

Anyone know exactly what the story is for pre med in NUIG ?

Do they only offer 5 year course to specific people or do you have to apply to do pre-med or what's the story ?

What if they offer you the five year and you want to do pre-med ?

comeclosa

95Alexandra wrote: »

I was just wondering if anyone could give me an idea of how much books are for 1st year med? Thanks:)

High five, 746 buddy :P

fiddfoot

Hermione Granger wrote: »

Anyone know exactly what the story is for pre med in NUIG ?

Do they only offer 5 year course to specific people or do you have to apply to do pre-med or what's the story ?

What if they offer you the five year and you want to do pre-med ?

Also, would people recommend pre-med or is it a waste of time?

Chem94

fiddfoot wrote: »

Also, would people recommend pre-med or is it a waste of time?

I prefer the 5 years. However, it is probably useful for someone who didn't do chemistry, as it is pretty essential, I think

95Alexandra

comeclosa wrote: »

High five, 746 buddy :P

I'd say we'll be grand

Just Like Heaven

Hermione Granger wrote: »

Anyone know exactly what the story is for pre med in NUIG ?

Do they only offer 5 year course to specific people or do you have to apply to do pre-med or what's the story ?

What if they offer you the five year and you want to do pre-med ?

In NUIG the choice is yours, 70 out of 120ish did it this year, and there was a little problem at the start of the year cause that was more than normal apparently.

I don't when you're given the option though, I guess when you regiater with the college online after you accept the offer, but I don't know for sure.

mocker2012

Any one planning on going to RCSI? I reckon it's either that or NUIG for me.

pourquoi

Pre-med seems to be a bit of a waste of a year if you've done the three sciences and are good at them (Biology, Chemistry and Physics). I was offered the 5-year programme in NUIG and am glad--from what friends have told me, pre-med is a random selection of science modules, many of which don't make sense. If you haven't done biology for the LC (which, surprisingly, one of my friends didn't, and yet still applied for medicine), your should definitely do pre-med.

There is also a danger of doing absolutely nothing while in pre-med and subsequently failing the year. There are a few in my class who did that. Who'd want that hanging over them? :P

Don't be afraid to challenge yourself, kids! Medicine is tough, but we still manage to have a bit of fun.

pourquoi

comeclosa wrote: »

High five, 746 buddy :P

I spent about €400 on books in First year alone. Libraries often have the books, but coming up to exam time, they fly off the shelves.

You're talking a minimum spend of €200.

partyatmygaff

pourquoi wrote: »

I spent about €400 on books in First year alone. Libraries often have the books, but coming up to exam time, they fly off the shelves.

You're talking a minimum spend of €200.

Over the past two years, I haven't bought a single book (Except one physiology book because we were forced) and after the first week didn't bother myself with the library. Way too much hassle carrying massive books to and from the place and dealing with deadlines and fines and whatever else.

The internet is all you need. Whether that's using Wikipedia or PubMed to find useful journal articles or using whatever sources you're familiar with to get PDFs, you can very easily do without buying a single book in college.

Glee_GG

pourquoi wrote: »

Pre-med seems to be a bit of a waste of a year if you've done the three sciences and are good at them (Biology, Chemistry and Physics). I was offered the 5-year programme in NUIG and am glad--from what friends have told me, pre-med is a random selection of science modules, many of which don't make sense. If you haven't done biology for the LC (which, surprisingly, one of my friends didn't, and yet still applied for medicine), your should definitely do pre-med.

There is also a danger of doing absolutely nothing while in pre-med and subsequently failing the year. There are a few in my class who did that. Who'd want that hanging over them? :P

Don't be afraid to challenge yourself, kids! Medicine is tough, but we still manage to have a bit of fun.

When you skipped pre-med was it hard getting to know people since a lot of them had already spent a year together?! Its the only thing that is kind of worrying me about galway but I think I'm just overthinking it?

pourquoi

partyatmygaff wrote: »

The internet is all you need. Whether that's using Wikipedia or PubMed to find useful journal articles or using whatever sources you're familiar with to get PDFs, you can very easily do without buying a single book in college.

I'd have to agree; I've found loads of books online for free. Medscape is an amazing resource too. I'd be lost without it!

Having said that, I prefer printed books, even if they are heavy. Two books I would definitely recommend buying for med are Gray's Anatomy for Students and Netter's Atlas.

Glee_GG wrote: »

When you skipped pre-med was it hard getting to know people since a lot of them had already spent a year together?! Its the only thing that is kind of worrying me about galway but I think I'm just overthinking it?

I didn't skip pre-med, Glee, I was offered the 5-year course in NUIG because I had done the three sciences for the LC. If you're offered the 5-year course from the beginning, I think you can try to convince them to let you do pre-med.

Ironically, all my core group of friends did pre-med; they welcomed me with open arms! Galway is a really friendly place. I knew nobody going there, and now I'm known in loads of circles. University is totally different to school--it's way easier to make friends. My key advice is: on the first day, don't be afraid of walking up to a group of people and introducing yourself. Yes, it's terrifying, but once people know your name they feel that they can talk to you!

little missunshine

Love how confident everyone is on this thread ha!:P

SupDoc

minimum points for TCD? any estimates???

SharpshooterTom

Although I'm not completely relevant to this thread. I am applying for dentistry (in 2014) and I'm curious how the points will fare this year.

The HPAT has a direct knock on effect to dentistry because a lot of people who apply for medicine have dentistry as their 2nd choice. The higher the HPAT average the higher the percentage of quality candidates who are getting rejected from medicine as their first choice will be.

Points for Dental Science at trinity and ucc were 590* and 585 respectively. I'm fearing a rise once again this year as a student from the north, 595 = 2A*'s 2A's, anything higher than that and I will have to get another A* from somewhere. Will dentistry go above 600??

nibsquiggs

95Alexandra wrote: »

I was just wondering if anyone could give me an idea of how much books are for 1st year med? Thanks:)

I had the same query last year, and was given the excellent advice of waiting around for a good med book sale (which takes place around October/November in TCD) OR to go directly to second and third years and see if they want to offload some books - they're usually more than happy to part with some that they don't use anymore for quick cash! As a quick example, I managed to get hold of three of the most essential books - Gray's for Students, Netter's Anatomy Atlas and Sherwood's Physiology - in perfect condition, for just €75! Hopefully you'll have the same luck!

SupDoc

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Although I'm not completely relevant to this thread. I am applying for dentistry (in 2014) and I'm curious how the points will fare this year.

The HPAT has a direct knock on effect to dentistry because a lot of people who apply for medicine have dentistry as their 2nd choice. The higher the HPAT average the higher the percentage of quality candidates who are getting rejected from medicine as their first choice will be.

Points for Dental Science at trinity and ucc were 590* and 585 respectively. I'm fearing a rise once again this year as a student from the north, 595 = 2A*'s 2A's, anything higher than that and I will have to get another A* from somewhere. Will dentistry go above 600??

Nope, I think it won't go above 600 because then HL Math would be mandatory, I just can't see that happening. Maybe everyone on or over 600 on random selection??? That would allow everyone to get in. Also because of the "curve" which the LC is corrected on, it usually means any increase in hpat points won't be followed by an increase in LC points I think Dentistry will be 590 again but remain at 590 with possible random selection :P

hal2013

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Although I'm not completely relevant to this thread. I am applying for dentistry (in 2014) and I'm curious how the points will fare this year.

The HPAT has a direct knock on effect to dentistry because a lot of people who apply for medicine have dentistry as their 2nd choice. The higher the HPAT average the higher the percentage of quality candidates who are getting rejected from medicine as their first choice will be.

Points for Dental Science at trinity and ucc were 590* and 585 respectively. I'm fearing a rise once again this year as a student from the north, 595 = 2A*'s 2A's, anything higher than that and I will have to get another A* from somewhere. Will dentistry go above 600??

The higher hpat average is because the hpat wasn't as testing this year as last year (or so i think). I remember coming out of it last year in tears because it was so difficult. Dentistry shouldn't go up, after all isn't everyone talking about the fact that it isn't as lucrative a career as before. And as someone already said, honours maths isn't a requirement anyway.

pourquoi

You poor little Leaving Certs. I would hate to be in your situation right now. The year I did the LC, points sky-rocketed (I always remember UCD went up by 13 points), despite there being a decrease in CAO applications for med.

Good luck!!

pourquoi

Also, the points race has nothing to do with subject requirements, per se.

It's all about supply and demand.

The points race is reaching breaking point--it can't keep going on like this! To think people with 600 (or 625, now, sorry, I'm old) points don't have the pick of the courses they want is totally ridiculous.

han94

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Although I'm not completely relevant to this thread. I am applying for dentistry (in 2014) and I'm curious how the points will fare this year.

The HPAT has a direct knock on effect to dentistry because a lot of people who apply for medicine have dentistry as their 2nd choice. The higher the HPAT average the higher the percentage of quality candidates who are getting rejected from medicine as their first choice will be.

Points for Dental Science at trinity and ucc were 590* and 585 respectively. I'm fearing a rise once again this year as a student from the north, 595 = 2A*'s 2A's, anything higher than that and I will have to get another A* from somewhere. Will dentistry go above 600??

Points for UCC this year were infact 575* in the end. What happens is people start shuffling around with the late round medicine offers and so more and more spaces in dent become available. I really doubt it would go above 600

Hermione Granger

pourquoi wrote: »

You poor little Leaving Certs. I would hate to be in your situation right now. The year I did the LC, points sky-rocketed (I always remember UCD went up by 13 points), despite there being a decrease in CAO applications for med.

Good luck!!

What year was this ?

hangover14

For those that have lost hope after doing the LC and the HPAT: don't sweat it. Over in North America, we have to write a HPAT-similar exam called the MCAT. You write this exam sometime during your tenure as an undergraduate student prior to applying to medical school. Keep in mind that medical school in NA begins after undergrad and is 4 years in length.

I have met many people that have bombed the MCAT the first time, been declined from medical school, and return to undergrad studies/start a new program (AFTER 4 grueling years and a BSc). Getting rejected in NA is VERY common, and people often try up to 3 times- the average person applies 2.3 times before being accepted somewhere. All in all, don't give up hope if the first time doesn't go as planned! Don't let one test determine what you want to do in life. It is only one test.

Most of my buddies that did not get in after finishing undergrad decided to take a year off and restudy for their exams. I would recommend, following high school, take the year off from school and nail the HPAT and/or the LC. DON'T go to University and take Sciences or another program if you do not want to. You will become burned out from disinterest and will lose valuable time/energy when it comes to studying for the LC/HPAT which, effectively, is your most important task.

Just my two cents!

I'll be going to Trinity this year for med. Hopefully I will see some of you there! I read somewhere that some of you are concerned about being older or "mature" if you have to begin medical school one year after high school. Well, in Trinity, there will be about 40sh students alone from North America, ALL of which will be minimum 22 years old (like myself). Cheers!

EaSwe

So I kinda stumbled upon this earlier. Maybe it's just nothing but I thought I should put out there.

Anyways I came across this tweet https://twitter.com/careers_news/status/350253567942201345 which refers to changes in the HPAT. The link brings up a 404 error.

So I searched for HPAT Changes on google and specified the last 24 hours and there was a link to a similar sounding page on the RCSI website. It returned a 404 too. https://www.google.ie/search?q=Hpat+changes&client=safari&hl=en&tbs=qdr%3Ad&nota=1&biw=1024&bih=672&oq=Hpat+changes&gs_l=heirloom-serp.3..35i39.453392.460941.1.461110.36.12.11.13.0.0.257.1035.7j2j2.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.15.heirloom-serp.ElxO2-0OzhM

I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything but that all seems a bit odd.

EaSwe

Mods I realise this probably should be in the Everything HPAT Thread so move as necessary

Hermione Granger

New weightings

Sec 1 40%
Sec 2 40%
Sec 3 20%

Conballz

Also our results are only valid for this year... Let's not mess up this leaving cert

Hermione Granger

Conballz wrote: »

Also our results are only valid for this year... Let's not mess up this leaving cert

Yeah but would you still be able to do your Leaving say in 2013 and use your results to combine with a 2014 HPAT score ?

EaSwe

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/hpat-changes-to-reduce-advantage-to-repeat-applicants-1.1446146

Nothing too drastic being changed thankfully.

Eurovisionmad

Quick question though if you do a good Leaving this year and repeat the HPAT next year do you have to redo your Leaving cert also?