Medicine

roberth

Hello! I'm going to be doing my leaving cert in a few short weeks. I have put down Biomedical Science in NUIG as my first choice and I'm very happy with that. The only thing is, now that the end is in sight I'm wondering should I have put down Medicine. Medicine has always been in the back of my mind but earlier this year I had made my decision not to do it so I didn't do the HPAT. Now I'm having second thoughts.

With my course I could go and do graduate entry medicine afterwards, provided I do well, which I think is my best option because right now I don't really have the time or patience to think about it. Besides, I'm still really not sure what I want to do. Medicine would be a huge commitment if it's something I'm not totally set on just yet. I was just wondering is there anyone out there who was in my position, who thought maybe medicine was for them but they left it too late during their leaving cert? Did you decide to take a year out and do the HPAT or even repeat? Or if you did your undergrad degree and then went on to do graduate entry, how did you find it? Did you regret spending the 8 years to get your medicine degree instead of 5 or 6?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Ellymay3

Hey roberth,

I know exactly where you are coming from. I had always known I was interested in medicine, but when it came time to apply for colleges it seemed like a heck of a lot more work than I was ready to put in. And that was for the application alone.
Little bit about my background: I am from county Armagh, which means I did A Levels and GCSE's instead of junior and leaving cert, and applied to college through UCAS (the british CAO). I loved science and 3 of my 4 A levels were in science, so I applied to Queen's University Belfast for Biomedical Science. Bachelors degrees are only 3 years at home. I graduated with a 2:1 last July. The previous November (2011) I signed up for the GAMSAT (which you may or may not know is the exam you have to take to apply for graduate medicine), and the CAO. In April past (2012) I sat the GAMSAT. After my graduation I sent in my transcripts from my degree and on the 2nd of August 2012 I got my offer to study medicine.

I understand it seems like I went the long way about doing it all, but in retrospect I'm glad I did. When I first went to live away from home for my undergrad, I got so carried away with being able to do what I wanted, to go to class or not, go out drinking etc. I basically spent a year arsing around. This kind of continued into my second year, but I wised up when I realised I needed to focus on my grades. My undergrad time was amazing. It was chilled and relaxed (apart from final year- dissertations, essays, exams etc) and I learned so much, met amazing people I'll be friends with for a very long time, and I grew up a fair deal too.

I think my undergrad prepared me for the amount of work a medicine course brings with it. From high school to college, there is a huge step-up in the workload and content, and the same was true for the transition between college and medschool!

I know it will take me overall 7 years to complete what I could have in 5, but personally, I was not ready to become a doctor aged 23, nor did I want any of the responsibilities!

My only advice to you is to really think about how you want to spend the next few years. If you KNOW no matter what you are going to be a doctor, then certainly re-apply, do your HPAT, and take on the undergraduate medicine programme. If you want a bit of a rounded approach to it, do the Biomed degree, take your time, travel, make friends, grow up a bit, get used to uni life, and when you're in your final year, consider writing the GAMSAT and applying to a 4-year med programme. You never know, you might absolutely love Biomed and research and end up taking a different route. The only thing stopping you from that is the cost of a post-graduate medical programme.

Not sure if this helped or hindered. Feel free to ask questions, I'll answer as best I can!

roberth

Thanks so much for the info! I wasn't expecting such a good answer, it really helped! I just have a couple more questions, did you find some aspects of the first year easy because of the Biomedical Science, was it an advantage for you? Did you find studying for the GAMSAT tough? Is it a lot of work to prepare for it? Thank you so much for everything, really helped!

Ellymay3

I'm approaching my first year exams now. I passed at Christmas, which was great news! haha My Biomed course focused a lot on molecular aspects, as well as genetics and biochemistry. This course isn't quite so heavy on that though. I don't think there is any undergrad out that that would definitely set you up for this one. The nurses now on this course are great at the clinical stuff, the physios are amazing at the musculoskeletal stuff, the anatomists at anatomy etc. However there are people topping the class with undergrads in chemistry, fashion design, law, etc as well. Do an undergrad in something you are interested in, and something that you are going to work really hard at and definitely achieve your 2.1. Afterall, if you don't get a 2.1 there's no way you're getting in to grad med in Ireland. Honestly, the only thing my undergrad has helped me with is my ability to understand some of the terminology, the words and phrases, and the biostatistics which we must learn in order to understand research.

Personally I took the GAMSAT on a bit of a whim. I booked it several months in advance and promised myself I'd study for it. But here I was in my final year of my degree and I was up to my eyes in research for my thesis and essays coming out of my @ss, I was no more bothered to study for it. I had paid for it so I sat it anyway and I got a good enough score to get into the school I wanted to: UL. So I was over the moon in that regard.
Having said that, some of my very close friends here have sat the GAMSAT 4 and 5 times, in Dublin and in London, just constantly trying to get a score high enough to get in. it's one of those things like, you might be good at a GAMSAT but have zero social skills, or potentially make the best doctor in the world, but flunk the GAMSAT. There are a lot of materials out there to help pass the GAMSAT, they cost money too, as do the prep courses that are run by a company called GradMed or something like that, but again, they don't come cheap!

I'm more than happy to answer your questions. Keep them coming! If you need answers I'll try my best to help. I wish I could have gotten answers back when I was going through it all!

roberth

Thanks again, it really does help so much to have someone answer my questions, its impossible to find out all the info you want just based on the university's websites! What are the fees like? They seem insane! Was it around 15,000 just for the first year or is that for the full four years, im guessing not? :P

Ellymay3

I paid 14,915 Euro in fees this year. I'm assuming that will be the same for next year too. And the two years after that. The bank loans pay the fees directly to the university, so it's not as if my bank balance goes from 15k to zero! haha

partyatmygaff

The cheapest way I can think of doing grad med is to do a degree in Trinity and pass the scholarship exams. Much easier said than done though.

For example, someone I know did Human Health and Disease and was elected to scholarship in her third year (this is no longer possible) so as to get an almost completely free grad med degree (€80 per year). Briefly, Trinity Scholars get free commons (evening meal in college), an annual salary, free on-campus accommodation (save for your first year which is in Trinity Halls), the title "Sch.", a few other unofficial perks and most relevant of all exemption from paying course fees. Considering the entitlements last for 5 years and it's now been restricted to 2nd years only, you can get 3/4 years of grad med for free (along with all the other perks).

Or if you're sensible, you can do a degree you're actually interested in and use the opportunity to do a postgrad (M.Sc. or P.hD in some cases).

Saying all this makes it sound easy but in truth it's far from easy. Getting the points for a course in Trinity is nothing at all compared to the difficulty of passing those scholarship exams. That said, it's an option you might want to consider.

roberth

Hey guys, sorry I havent been on in a while, very busy studying for the Leaving Cert! Thank you both so much for all your help, I appreciate it greatly!

Lollipops13

I am in the same boat! Currently in 6th year and wanted med since 1st year but when hpat registration began I lost confidence and panicked. Is there any way at all of getting in without hpat does anyone know? Thanks in advance (: and best of luck to all LCs in June

joydivided23

You can't do undergrad medicine in Ireland without a HPAT score (~190 with a perfect leaving cert to get in). Gamsat offers the only alternative which requires you to sit the exam as well as have a 2.1. in a level 8 degree.