UCD Medicine Open Day

somebodylikeme

I just registered for this the other day with the view of getting a better view into the world of GEM and to say I am excited is a massive understatement!

I am bringing my partner so that we can explore this potential massive upheaval to our lives together.

Anyone else going? Anyone else beside themselves with excitement?

coopersock

My two cents... I went last year to both UCD and RCSI open day. I wouldn’t get too excited for the UCD open day to be honest. It’s a very boring evening lecture given by staff of an institution who believe its reputation speaks for itself and therefore no reason to make even the slightest effort to impress.

RCSI on the other hand is a full day which gives a full experience of student life. After the intro to the course and how it is structured, because RCSI has a focus on early clinical exposure, there is an interactive session with a real patient where students are encouraged to try and ask questions to diagnose him. You then get broken into small groups and get a tour of their facilities, get an interactive session in their simulation suite (complete with fake trauma situation where attendees are given tasks to stabilise the ‘patient’), get a full lunch provided, plus get left alone with 2 cohorts of current GEM students - 1st/2nd years and 3rd/4th years so you can grill them about their experience so far. Lastly you hear from a recent graduate who is currently an intern who goes through their experience and the internship process.

I was absolutely buzzing about the idea of GEM after the RCSI day, but the UCD day put me off a bit actually! Even the staff in RCSI seem much more warm and friendly - not to mention the facilities speak for themselves. I still can’t understand why anyone in Dublin would choose UCD over RCSI (besides location and the extra 2k per year of course).

Recap

coopersock wrote: »

My two cents... I went last year to both UCD and RCSI open day. I wouldn’t get too excited for the UCD open day to be honest. It’s a very boring evening lecture given by staff of an institution who believe its reputation speaks for itself and therefore no reason to make even the slightest effort to impress.

RCSI on the other hand is a full day which gives a full experience of student life. After the intro to the course and how it is structured, because RCSI has a focus on early clinical exposure, there is an interactive session with a real patient where students are encouraged to try and ask questions to diagnose him. You then get broken into small groups and get a tour of their facilities, get an interactive session in their simulation suite (complete with fake trauma situation where attendees are given tasks to stabilise the ‘patient’), get a full lunch provided, plus get left alone with 2 cohorts of current GEM students - 1st/2nd years and 3rd/4th years so you can grill them about their experience so far. Lastly you hear from a recent graduate who is currently an intern who goes through their experience and the internship process.

I was absolutely buzzing about the idea of GEM after the RCSI day, but the UCD day put me off a bit actually! Even the staff in RCSI seem much more warm and friendly - not to mention the facilities speak for themselves. I still can’t understand why anyone in Dublin would choose UCD over RCSI (besides location and the extra 2k per year of course).

Thank you for posting this.

Would you mind sharing your what your biggest takeaways were from the day? I'm guessing the current students had a lot to say about the course and the institution. Do you mind sharing what revelations you may have had that the website or brochure doesn't mention, please?