Gamsat 2013

WoolahUrma · 16-04-2013 9:35am

letsdothis wrote: »

Thanks to both of you for the very useful advice. I had just come across Khan Academy and it's very useful. Something about the visual/audio reinforcement that works quite well for me! Any recommendations for a Biology text? It does seem like the most general knowledge of the sections but I definitely need some grounding in it!

I bought the gold standard. its expensive, its not 100% comprehensive and it doesnt read particularly well. That said, if your under pressure for time, you have no real grounding in the subject and you have a few squid in the back pocket I would at least look into it. I needed alot more on top of it but it did orientate my study.

If I end up doing it again in september ill be buying uni books which im sure ill be on here looking for advice on but when I was studing for the last one I had 2 and a bit months and in that time you cant be messing around

You do have more time than i did but like I said if your from a non science background than the workload can be daunting, I found that gold standard helped to focus things for me

Noddy89 · 16-04-2013 5:39pm

Hi guys,

Can anyone shed any light on the transcripts issues? I sent my full transcripts in before March 15th and I still received an email saying that I was ineligible!!
Did people send in proof of EU status aswell? I was born in Canada so Im thinking maybe that is why my application is not working. If so, does anybody know what counts as proof of your EU status?? If the same has happened to anyone before can they PM me also!!
Cheers

Hypnos · 16-04-2013 7:27pm

Noddy89 wrote: »

Hi guys,

Can anyone shed any light on the transcripts issues? I sent my full transcripts in before March 15th and I still received an email saying that I was ineligible!!
Did people send in proof of EU status aswell? I was born in Canada so Im thinking maybe that is why my application is not working. If so, does anybody know what counts as proof of your EU status?? If the same has happened to anyone before can they PM me also!!
Cheers

Did you get a 2.1 degree? So did you get an honors degree class 2? That's the minimum cut off. Well E.U passport would count as evidence that you're an E.U student. But you're best of getting advice from people who already finished their degree.

pc11 · 16-04-2013 10:21pm

Noddy89 wrote: »

Hi guys,

Can anyone shed any light on the transcripts issues? I sent my full transcripts in before March 15th and I still received an email saying that I was ineligible!!
Did people send in proof of EU status aswell? I was born in Canada so Im thinking maybe that is why my application is not working. If so, does anybody know what counts as proof of your EU status?? If the same has happened to anyone before can they PM me also!!
Cheers

Contact the college right away.

Noddy89 · 17-04-2013 3:25am

I got a 2.1 so I am ok results wise.
When you say contact the college immediately, do you mean each of the colleges I have applied to, or contact CAO with regards to the problem? Sorry if I am complicating things!!

WoolahUrma · 17-04-2013 9:23am

Noddy89 wrote: »

I got a 2.1 so I am ok results wise.
When you say contact the college immediately, do you mean each of the colleges I have applied to, or contact CAO with regards to the problem? Sorry if I am complicating things!!

first stop is cao,

be very clear about your situation. it seems to me that it depends on who you get on the other line. i spoke to a few people at the cao about the basic details that are up on the website and answering my questions flustered them, so in your situation it might require a bit of work on their part to find out exactly what you need to do. do not put the phone down until you have a definitive answer. ring back a few times if you have too

pc11 · 17-04-2013 9:37am

Guys, if you got the same email from CAO as everyone else it says:

"Please do NOT contact as we cannot comment on your eligibility or EU status."

Contact the college, I presume start with the GEM admissions office.

Flange/Flanders · 17-04-2013 11:22am

Would fricking late May come on already?!!!

Hypnos · 17-04-2013 2:01pm

Flange/Flanders wrote: »

Would fricking late May come on already?!!!

I'm so sick of the wait too!!

Hypnos · 17-04-2013 2:04pm

Noddy89 wrote: »

I got a 2.1 so I am ok results wise.
When you say contact the college immediately, do you mean each of the colleges I have applied to, or contact CAO with regards to the problem? Sorry if I am complicating things!!

Don't worry about it. I'm sure anyone here would help you in anyway they can but I really don't know where the problem is in your case. Did you send your results on Original Stamped university paper. You can't have copies of your transcripts. You need the originals?

WoolahUrma wrote: »

first stop is cao,

be very clear about your situation. it seems to me that it depends on who you get on the other line. i spoke to a few people at the cao about the basic details that are up on the website and answering my questions flustered them, so in your situation it might require a bit of work on their part to find out exactly what you need to do. do not put the phone down until you have a definitive answer. ring back a few times if you have too

pc11 wrote: »

Guys, if you got the same email from CAO as everyone else it says:

"Please do NOT contact as we cannot comment on your eligibility or EU status."

Contact the college, I presume start with the GEM admissions office.

I don't know if they could do anything. After all, the CAO awards the places.

pc11 · 17-04-2013 3:14pm

Hypnos wrote: »

I don't know if they could do anything. After all, the CAO awards the places.

Actually, the colleges award the places, the CAO just administers it.

In any case, this is NOT about awarding places, this is about eligibility to be considered for those places. This is done by the colleges, NOT the CAO.

From the CAO email last week:

Contact any of the Admissions Offices of the institutions concerned if you have any questions in regard to your eligibility or to check your status. Please do NOT contact CAO as we cannot comment on your eligibility or EU status.

Look, the instructions are pretty simple and clear, the colleges determine eligibility, not the CAO. If there is a question about your eligibility, contact the colleges. That's what the instructions say so why do something else?!

People are getting themselves in a tizzy unnecessarily, frankly, and we're not helping if we provide suggestions which aren't factual.

Stephan Grundy · 17-04-2013 4:31pm

Already PM'd...but there might be other people in the same boat, so I'll answer here as well.

I got the exact same letter, called RCSI on Monday. If the issue's EU status, what they want is your PPSN, proving that you are an Irish taxpayer and in the system, and therefore entitled to the benefits of an EU taxpayer.

I actually had sent my PPSN with my application, but someone at CAO obviously misplaced it, as that letter had not made it into the file that the universities got.

But it would probably be a good idea to ring at least one of the universities and check just to make sure everything else is in order.

pc11 · 17-04-2013 5:10pm

Flange/Flanders wrote: »

Would fricking late May come on already?!!!

I'm even more glad now I did UK GAMSAT last year!

I urge everyone to plan to do UK GAMSAT in September as well as Dublin as a practice at the very least. GAMSAT is a strange exam and doing a dry run is really worthwhile. Hundreds of Irish students go over for this. And you may even do well in the UK and not need to do Dublin (as I was most surprised to find) and you can plan for GEM more long-term.

Hopefully you won't need to do it, but if you do need, you'd be crazy not to if you're serious about GEM.

It also meant you have a test and a validation that you have it what it takes to get into GEM, or else you have a reality check of where you stand, without waiting a whole 12 months. I was able to save myself months of study and waiting, and saved a fortune in not having to buy the expensive study material.

okdune · 18-04-2013 11:15am

welwyn wrote: »

30 is not old!! go for it!!! I have 3 years on you and am seriously thinking about going back to do Med...
I have a slight problem though... I only have a 2:2 degree so does this automatically exclude me from the GAMSAT route and if so is the other option cao & HPAT as mature student???

Did you ever go back??

31 year old accountant here - getting started on prep for the UK Gamsat in Sept 2013.

Flange/Flanders · 18-04-2013 11:33am

okdune wrote: »

Did you ever go back??

31 year old accountant here - getting started on prep for the UK Gamsat in Sept 2013.

Thank God, I thought I was the only accountant leaving the world of finance behind me

okdune · 18-04-2013 11:36am

Flange/Flanders wrote: »

Thank God, I thought I was the only accountant leaving the world of finance behind me

Nope, me too and I expect there are loads more lurking in stationary cupboards around the world! I have been thinking about this for years and now finally my thinking is if I don't do it this year I never will. Couldn't care less about age funnily enough the older I get (I will be at least 33 starting) - I just see that I have > 30 years of work in me still!

GOODBYE finance is all I can say, and take your excel with you!

okdune · 18-04-2013 11:43am

Flange/Flanders wrote: »

Thank God, I thought I was the only accountant leaving the world of finance behind me

I recognise your name - did you just do your FAEs??

pc11 · 18-04-2013 11:52am

Stephan Grundy wrote: »

I got the exact same letter, called RCSI on Monday. If the issue's EU status, what they want is your PPSN, proving that you are an Irish taxpayer and in the system, and therefore entitled to the benefits of an EU taxpayer.

I actually had sent my PPSN with my application, but someone at CAO obviously misplaced it, as that letter had not made it into the file that the universities got.

Did you just write down your PPSN or is there some official document stating your PPSN that you sent a copy of? I don't have any kind of PPSN card or anything.

letsdothis · 18-04-2013 12:14pm

okdune wrote: »

Nope, me too and I expect there are loads more lurking in stationary cupboards around the world! I have been thinking about this for years and now finally my thinking is if I don't do it this year I never will. Couldn't care less about age funnily enough the older I get (I will be at least 33 starting) - I just see that I have > 30 years of work in me still!

GOODBYE finance is all I can say, and take your excel with you!

Same here (age not accountant!), 31 now, would be 33 starting....I picture myself at 80 looking back saying I'm too old at 33, 28 would have been better and think how ridiculous that would look! Plenty years work left in us, especially the way state retirement ages are going!

WoolahUrma · 18-04-2013 12:26pm

letsdothis wrote: »

Same here (age not accountant!), 31 now, would be 33 starting....I picture myself at 80 looking back saying I'm too old at 33, 28 would have been better and think how ridiculous that would look! Plenty years work left in us, especially the way state retirement ages are going!

I have a post about this a few pages back.

Couldnt agree more, unintuitively enough, i think the older you get, the less age seems to be an issue.

Greg norman didnt start playing golf until he was 15!!

Flange/Flanders · 18-04-2013 12:38pm

okdune wrote: »

I recognise your name - did you just do your FAEs??

Rumbled, yeah I did them last September, I was very chilled about them cos I knew that this was the route I was taking and thankfully they went well for me. You did the FAE's too I guess, how'd they go?

I was about half way through my training contract when I realised that sitting looking at a computer for 7.5 hours a day wasnt for me!

okdune · 18-04-2013 12:41pm

Flange/Flanders wrote: »

Rumbled, yeah I did them last September, I was very chilled about them cos I knew that this was the route I was taking and thankfully they went well for me. You did the FAE's too I guess, how'd they go?

I was about half way through my training contract when I realised that sitting looking at a computer for 7.5 hours a day wasnt for me!

Yes - I just finished them in September, went fine, a late starter training contract wise. Exactly the same sentiments though - 7.5 +++++ sitting in front of a computer, not moving, using no physical energy - all for a wage. Nah.

Have done the sensible thing so far and stuck to the rules - now to throw a bit of caution to the wind.

Agnieszka_88 · 18-04-2013 1:33pm

So many accountants! I work in audit, so it's close enough.

Will be 30 when I'll start GEM, too.
We should establish a student society or something... "Goodbye IFRS, welcome anatomy" could be our motto.
(God, I hate my job).

pc11 · 18-04-2013 1:43pm

You're all only kids. Psssh, 33 is just a whippersnapper. Get off my lawn.

Seriously, the age thing can be worrying alright, but I can't do much about it. If we want it, we need to ignore the age thing. The thing that worries me is that I simply will not have the energy and stamina to be an intern at my 'advanced' age. But, even then I can't think of anything else I'm as interested in.

letsdothis · 18-04-2013 9:55pm

pc11 wrote: »

You're all only kids. Psssh, 33 is just a whippersnapper. Get off my lawn.

Seriously, the age thing can be worrying alright, but I can't do much about it. If we want it, we need to ignore the age thing. The thing that worries me is that I simply will not have the energy and stamina to be an intern at my advanced age. But, even then I can't think of anything else I'm as interested in.

Slightly worried about that too and the SHO years but think I'll make it and the pay off will be worth it. Sure that's years away anyway

Now, if I can only get in...

pc11 · 18-04-2013 10:07pm

letsdothis wrote: »

Now, if I can only get in...

I've always regarded that as the easy part!

chips365 · 21-04-2013 6:12pm

As far as i know the colleges award the places through CAO. they they get the gamsat score from CAO and cross reference that with the undergrad degree awarded. Those that have the 2.1 and the required gamsat score get the place with no questions asked, while those with a score below the requirement are considered based on the undergrad degree and class awarded up until the course has filled.

My reason for coming to this conclusion is that i spoke with a girl who got in to gradmed last year on a 51 when the cut off was 54* (not all applicants with this score gained entry according to CAO). She had a 1st class honors degree in some sort of science and has no idea how she managed to get a place on that score but she took it. She reckons its all down to money and so many having to turn down the offer because of the banks not lending money. So i am of the opinion that the college calls the shots, not the CAO.

VickBack · 21-04-2013 6:47pm

The colleges do decide and not CAO...

I've already been rejected because I didn't send any documentation as the colleges have already met to view everyones applications.

The only reason I didn't send in any documents is because CAO told me that I wouldnt have to until I completed my degree but obviously that's not the case. If I want to get reassessed I have to ring each of the institutions and find out why they rejected me... not CAO... Even though it was them who messed up.

Hypnos · 21-04-2013 11:01pm

Well 30 days to go till results

WoolahUrma · 22-04-2013 11:32am

Hypnos wrote: »

Well 30 days to go till results

do we get anymore correspondance between now and then or is the first email that we get from them the results?

Gamsat 2013

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