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Mature Entry Medicine 2015
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Glad there's some variance in the universities approach to offers, (re:hpat at least), just means you have some other options based on your overall application's strengths & weaknesses. Don't know how relevant this is for here, but in the UK I heard they literally score your personal statement. It sounds like it's a red flag you can't really work around. Or can you?
All medical school applicants in the UK have to prepare a personal statement; including those directly from school. As such they probably have a standard kind of scoring mechanism; so it's probably relatively straightforward to put together a "good" personal statement in that respect. You also have significantly more medical schools to apply to.
The Irish Medical school's personal statement on the contrary is a complete and utter mystery. There's no consistency (from the outside looking in at any rate), each school has different requirements and instructions; although the instructions themselves give very little idea what they're actually looking for. Indeed some schools may not even look at your personal statement unless you're called for an interview; and even then it might be more to give them a starting point for discussion rather than having any genuine bearing on their decision.
I'm starting to sound bitter now; but it is a very frustrating process
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All medical school applicants in the UK have to prepare a personal statement; including those directly from school. As such they probably have a standard kind of scoring mechanism; so it's probably relatively straightforward to put together a "good" personal statement in that respect. You also have significantly more medical schools to apply to.
The Irish Medical school's personal statement on the contrary is a complete and utter mystery. There's no consistency (from the outside looking in at any rate), each school has different requirements and instructions; although the instructions themselves give very little idea what they're actually looking for. Indeed some schools may not even look at your personal statement unless you're called for an interview; and even then it might be more to give them a starting point for discussion rather than having any genuine bearing on their decision.
I'm starting to sound bitter now; but it is a very frustrating process
I’d have thought that the more competition for places, the more reliance there would be on scoring tools because otherwise they have to base it off subjectivity, which requires going through everything individually, I'd have thought subjectivity would only come into play once the pool's been narrowed down. NUIG base their decisions solely off the CAO apparently - CAO is kind of a portmanteau for everything you’ve done though isn’t it? I can imagine that having a rating system of some kind. I guess PS would come after those things, like you said it might only be used for interview, or glanced at once you’ve passed the hpat threshold for that year. In the UK, you have a broader range of choice, but you can only apply to 4 or 5 universities, maybe their requirements are more standardised than the 5 universities here though.
because there are so few places, it’s a bottleneck, it’d be weird if we weren’t frustrated by the process!0 -
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I’d have thought that the more competition for places, the more reliance there would be on scoring tools because otherwise they have to base it off subjectivity, which requires going through everything individually, I'd have thought subjectivity would only come into play once the pool's been narrowed down. NUIG base their decisions solely off the CAO apparently - CAO is kind of a portmanteau for everything you’ve done though isn’t it? I can imagine that having a rating system of some kind. I guess PS would come after those things, like you said it might only be used for interview, or glanced at once you’ve passed the hpat threshold for that year. In the UK, you have a broader range of choice, but you can only apply to 4 or 5 universities, maybe their requirements are more standardised than the 5 universities here though.
because there are so few places, it’s a bottleneck, it’d be weird if we weren’t frustrated by the process!
Yeah; I mean I guess in the minds of the Universities the objective means of entry are via the Leaving Certificate + HPAT; or via the GAMSAT. In both cases the decision on who gets places is entirely down to the candidate and the Department of Education/ACER.
Unfortunately in my case for example I barely finished my Junior Certificate and had to leave school for health reasons. That basically means at least a 2 year full-time course for me to even attempt entry by that route; and having already looked at my standard of Irish it would probably take a substantial extra effort to make sure and meet the Irish matriculation requirements.
I have an ordinary degree so I can't even attempt GAMSAT entry; even though the only thing I'm "missing" from an Honours degree is the project, and I've completed enough professional projects and research to make up about 10 final year projects. So I would have to find a top-up degree somewhere or try to get Advanced Entry and finish my honours degree to even sit the GAMSAT... and that's ignoring the fact my primary degree has zero Biology or Chemistry.
So realistically without mature entry I would need at least 2 years of full-time work to even attempt entry by other means. Add that to the 5-6 years of medical school and that's a grand total of 7-8 years of no income and full-time study just to be able to apply for my Medicine intern year. At which point I'll be 40 and with significant debt... it becomes very difficult to justify going down that route.
Did you apply to UCD too; Katdrama? I didn't get a rejection letter either; I'm not sure what the significance of that is though
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Yeah; I mean I guess in the minds of the Universities the objective means of entry are via the Leaving Certificate + HPAT; or via the GAMSAT. In both cases the decision on who gets places is entirely down to the candidate and the Department of Education/ACER.
Unfortunately in my case for example I barely finished my Junior Certificate and had to leave school for health reasons. That basically means at least a 2 year full-time course for me to even attempt entry by that route; and having already looked at my standard of Irish it would probably take a substantial extra effort to make sure and meet the Irish matriculation requirements.
I have an ordinary degree so I can't even attempt GAMSAT entry; even though the only thing I'm "missing" from an Honours degree is the project, and I've completed enough professional projects and research to make up about 10 final year projects. So I would have to find a top-up degree somewhere or try to get Advanced Entry and finish my honours degree to even sit the GAMSAT... and that's ignoring the fact my primary degree has zero Biology or Chemistry.
So realistically without mature entry I would need at least 2 years of full-time work to even attempt entry by other means. Add that to the 5-6 years of medical school and that's a grand total of 7-8 years of no income and full-time study just to be able to apply for my Medicine intern year. At which point I'll be 40 and with significant debt... it becomes very difficult to justify going down that route.
Did you apply to UCD too; Katdrama? I didn't get a rejection letter either; I'm not sure what the significance of that is though
It’s all so risky! Even if you go back and do the LC, the hpat is a spanner in the works too, (not saying you couldn’t pull off another great hpat), I think you could pass ordinary level Irish if you start teaching yourself now My Irish was pretty abysmal! I did the LC in 2013, so if you are able to commit to it in the future, I’d recommend it as a good route. Hopefully you won’t have to though.
That sucks about the project/honours degree, but re:mature entry, you have loads of projects and research to draw from in your favour! I don’t have a degree so I’m not eligible for GAMSAT either. Even if I wasn’t totally fixated on medicine, I’d still need an undergrad plus postgrad, and thats 5-6-8 years or more, no income...So if I’m going to be studying that long, with no income, I’d rather be studying something I want to study more than anything else, even if it’s some years longer. A lot of the GEMs are in heaps of debt, & they still did it. Also you’re gonna be 40 anyway, so you might as well be 40 doing something you want than not? That’s how I justify it anyway, please forgive me if I’m being a total idealist!
No letter from UCD. I’m figuring it’s a bank holiday, so maybe Tuesday? – .0 -
NUIG sending me a brochure on their healthcare courses after dismissing my application out of hand.
Going a little insane waiting for communication from UCD at this point. Why would they send rejection letters to some and not let the others know what's happening? 0 -
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They didn't say which, I saw on here that rejection is by post & invite is via email. They said it was supposed to be this week but it will be Monday at the least...So next week.
Another weekend of nerves
Leaving Certificate Biology is Tuesday too; a rejection on Monday wouldn't be good for morale.0 -
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If he gets a great LC & gets in RCSI the undergrad way I might get his place in NUIG, I'm first on the waiting list. Won't know until August though...agh more tenterhooks!
Oh I didn't realise you were first on the waiting list! Hopefully he'll do the business then; although there's still the possibility they'll offer him it on mature grounds even if his LC isn't that great.
I'll cross my fingers for a UCD interview for you too; as long as you don't take my place 0 -
I did kinda answer it before by suggesting you contact the CAO.
My understanding is you can tell RCSI you're planning on accepting; but that doesn't count as an official acceptance as far as the CAO are concerned.
Since the first round of official Mature offers is July; you should hear from TCD long before then.
I would check with the CAO though.
Thanks ronievek.
unfortunately a lot of those offered wont reply until cao july offers as well which means unless i wait to the last day of cao offer acceptance in july and ask tcd to see if any one has not accepted their offer and if not then accept rcsi one!(( 0 -
Oh I didn't realise you were first on the waiting list! Hopefully he'll do the business then; although there's still the possibility they'll offer him it on mature grounds even if his LC isn't that great.
I'll cross my fingers for a UCD interview for you too; as long as you don't take my place
They told me early this week, I was a bit like Will Smith in the last scene of the Pursuit of Happiness, then had to reign it in with a reality check -No guarantees! Caolan gets RCSI, you get UCD & I get NUIG, Jody gets TCD, and we're on our way0 -
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Just out of LC Biology; still no news... I have an awful feeling there's a rejection letter waiting when I get home.
I hope anyone else doing the Leaving Cert is getting on okay!
am sitting the LC too
today's biology was delightful! really restored moral after Maths P2 ! so far so good how are you getting on? 0 -
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