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HELP NEEDED ASAP ( HPAT , leaving cert , college MESS)
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18-08-2018 8:58pm#1
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First of all, congratulations on your results, you should be very proud
I just finished first year vet med and I'd highly recommend going for it if you think it's something you're interested in. May I ask what about vet/medicine interests you? Which would you prefer? They're quite different, so you might want to do some experience in both areas before the CAO comes around to see what they're like (it's a requirement for vet med to have 2 weeks of experience with animals in different settings, and I'd highly recommend going lambing at Easter time, if you haven't done it before, it's very good experience).
It doesn't seem like it's asking too much - if you're capable of doing 7 subjects and getting A's in basically all them, you're well able to do the chemistry course in a year (I borrowed a chemistry book in TY and got through most of the course myself, so it's definitely doable). Chemistry isn't too bad - learn your definitions, practice some calculations and know your soap experiment and you're fine, really. May I ask why you dropped it in the first place? Did you not have an interest in the subject? I can't speak for medicine, but there's a fair bit of chemistry involved in vet med - biochemistry mainly, but it's definitely handy to have a knowledge of chemistry and to actually enjoy it 'cause the metabolism module in the second semester would be a nightmare otherwise :P
I didn't do the HPAT myself, so I've no advice there, but if people can do it as well as study for the Leaving, it seems feasible that you'd be able to prepare for it. Are there any classes you can go to where they help you prepare for it?
About college - are you applying for a grant? Do you qualify for the Free Fees scheme? If so, be aware that - if you attend college this year then change courses - you won't qualify for either for the first year of your new course, so it could be very expensive (vet/medicine are some of the most expensive courses there are). However, I think you have until some date in September before you have to pay the fees - so you could accept an offer, try the course for a few weeks and if by the time the deadline comes around, you know this course isn't for you; you can drop out then and not have the grant affected (I'm not 100% sure this is the case, but definitely look into it and see).
Don't be worried about not going to college this year - to be honest, I sort of wish I had taken a year off. I know it can seem scary that all your friends are moving on while you're not sure what's next, but an extra year to help you decide can really make a difference. Get a job (college is frickin' expensive), take some time to think things over, look into the two courses and sit in on lectures (I think that's a thing if you email the school - also, I remember getting an email last year asking vet students to let a second-level student attend lectures and whatnot with them for a day or two, so that might be helpful). Whatever the case, take some time to think things over and get all the insight you can into the two courses - if you have any questions about vet med, I'd be more than happy to help
Good luck!0 -
Hi Smircle thank you so much for all the advice i really need that kind of advice to encourage me to do this , I originally wanted to do vet for most of my secondary school life , i did TY work experience with a local vet and then i also spent a week in a hospital after that and both were extremely appealing to me . I have always loved science and the biological sides of science be it both humans and animals . I assume that the week I did in TY is probably invalid now but it won't be a problem getting work experience for those 60 hours and going lambing really seems like a great way to incorporate good experience so thank you !First of all, congratulations on your results, you should be very proud
I just finished first year vet med and I'd highly recommend going for it if you think it's something you're interested in. May I ask what about vet/medicine interests you? Which would you prefer? They're quite different, so you might want to do some experience in both areas before the CAO comes around to see what they're like (it's a requirement for vet med to have 2 weeks of experience with animals in different settings, and I'd highly recommend going lambing at Easter time, if you haven't done it before, it's very good experience).
It doesn't seem like it's asking too much - if you're capable of doing 7 subjects and getting A's in basically all them, you're well able to do the chemistry course in a year (I borrowed a chemistry book in TY and got through most of the course myself, so it's definitely doable). Chemistry isn't too bad - learn your definitions, practice some calculations and know your soap experiment and you're fine, really. May I ask why you dropped it in the first place? Did you not have an interest in the subject? I can't speak for medicine, but there's a fair bit of chemistry involved in vet med - biochemistry mainly, but it's definitely handy to have a knowledge of chemistry and to actually enjoy it 'cause the metabolism module in the second semester would be a nightmare otherwise :P
I didn't do the HPAT myself, so I've no advice there, but if people can do it as well as study for the Leaving, it seems feasible that you'd be able to prepare for it. Are there any classes you can go to where they help you prepare for it?
About college - are you applying for a grant? Do you qualify for the Free Fees scheme? If so, be aware that - if you attend college this year then change courses - you won't qualify for either for the first year of your new course, so it could be very expensive (vet/medicine are some of the most expensive courses there are). However, I think you have until some date in September before you have to pay the fees - so you could accept an offer, try the course for a few weeks and if by the time the deadline comes around, you know this course isn't for you; you can drop out then and not have the grant affected (I'm not 100% sure this is the case, but definitely look into it and see).
Don't be worried about not going to college this year - to be honest, I sort of wish I had taken a year off. I know it can seem scary that all your friends are moving on while you're not sure what's next, but an extra year to help you decide can really make a difference. Get a job (college is frickin' expensive), take some time to think things over, look into the two courses and sit in on lectures (I think that's a thing if you email the school - also, I remember getting an email last year asking vet students to let a second-level student attend lectures and whatnot with them for a day or two, so that might be helpful). Whatever the case, take some time to think things over and get all the insight you can into the two courses - if you have any questions about vet med, I'd be more than happy to help
Good luck!
As for the whole chemistry part i actually did enjoy chemistry but being in the very beginning of fifth year i found that i was completely overwhelmed by the volume of material in all my subjects combined and by the jump of standard with my languages such as french and irish from junior cert level . I was going to either drop to ordinary irish to take some of the load off or switch from chemistry to a different subject because my teacher kind of convinced us at the beginning of the year that if we were aiming for high points there was easier ways to do it then pursuing chemistry ( followed by the usual scare stories about previous leaving cert years ) . At the time i should have thought about it more and about my future more but i was so obsessed with getting it right first time and getting high points that it just completely went over my head . Im very into science and i know that if i took up chemistry i would definitely give it my best and would most likely be able to achieve higher than the necessary H5 .
I could do a med entry course in around November to do the HPAT and many people i have talked to were very well prepared with these courses so I'm pretty sure this is extremely doable as most people in sixth year only begin preparing for the hpat around that time whilst having so much else on their plate ! In regard to the college fees , i haven't discussed this issue with my parents yet but my eldest sister graduated from post graduate medicine about 3 years ago which is around 70,000 euro in total so i definitely think they would be okay with paying the first year of fees for me if i don't decide to drop out in time .
I hadn't thought at all about taking a gap year before now because i thought that i would lose motivation with it and would lose my way but with the position I'm in now having worked my butt off last year to get these points , I'm more motivated then ever to completely focus my energy into pursuing this . Im extremely lucky in the fact that my parents are willing to finance anything in the vet / medical regions because they know that its something that will pay off in the end i suppose . I'm very drawn to the idea of taking a year off as i do really want to sit in on lectures etc and get as much experience as i can . I felt one of my downfalls throughout school was not having enough time to get experience which is invaluable in big decision making like this .
Thankyou so so much for your help , i found myself in quite a panic and this advice has really helped ! At times i think i would prefer vet due to the love i have always had for animals and i think i would probably put medicine next on the cao as a backup incase the whole chemistry part doesn't work out as i can get into med with only my leaving cert biology and then do pre med . I guess i just want to keep all of my options open after completely closing them off 0 -
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Honestly, I think Biology should be required more so than chemistry - well, both of them should be, but those who hadn't done bio were quite at loss for the first few weeks. I completely understand - 5th year is really overwhelming; I have an older brother who told me horror stories about some of the subjects, so I went in expecting the worst :P I made the mistake of starting with HL Irish; I hate the language and while I was never going to fail it, I was just sick of wasting time on it, but I wasn't allowed to drop because OL classes were too full, so I ended up dropping on the day - best decision ever! The Chemistry exam has a very similar layout each year, so you can leave quite big chunks of the course out and still do very well, but you'll be more than capable of getting it all done. We got a little revision book for 'Chemistry Live' which was very helpful - a well laid-out and colourful book can go a long way if you're that way inclined regarding studying, so be sure to look around for one that suits you best
Experience from TY was applicable for last year's requirement, but it may have changed since - either way, if you're serious about vet med, I'd definitely recommend doing more recent experience. I did a few weeks in a clinic and didn't particularly enjoy it, much to my dismay; then I helped out on a farm during the Xmas break and really loved it, so definitely try to experience as many species and settings as possible to really get a feel for it :P Are you from a farming/animal background? Most of the students are from dairy farms/have horse experience and I had none of that, so I'm definitely feeling a bit behind in that regard, so try to get as much as possible whenever the chance arises.
If you think you'd benefit from doing a year on a course, go for it. If I hadn't done TY, I'd definitely have taken a year off before college: the LC (particularly History and English, but that's a rant for another day xD) completely destroyed my motivation to actually want to continue with my education - even for the first semester, I wasn't really into the course and I was contemplating dropping out, but then we were told we have to do work experience during the breaks; that practical aspect got me going again :P Ask yourself if you think you'll benefit more from a year in a college degree you don't necessarily plan to continue, or a year off to better prepare for something you really have an interest in. Getting experience for the courses you can see yourself doing is a lot more useful than doing one-quarter of a degree you're never going to use. As another posted said, the course you're thinking of going for might be someone else's dream but they mightn't get in if they got lower points (which is more than likely going to be the case given your results)- just keep that in mind (and sorry if that came across the wrong way, I'm not implying you would purposely do that, I'm just really bad at phrasing things :P). Talk to your parents, your school guidance counselor (mine didn't even know we had to do work experience for the course and tried to persuade me to forget vet med), people who have taken a year off - whether for a gap year or repeating some subjects; it'd be great if you could find someone who repeated the LC while studying in college to get an idea of any challenges they faced. Perhaps your principal/teachers may know of some students who did this?
It's unfortunate that you did so well but are stuck in a dilemma like this; the CAO just works that way and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
Nonetheless, good luck with whatever decision you come to 0 -
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