[seriouslysweet]

As for not being long earning it back, the rates at which new docs are paid are awful, both my parents urging me not to do it. I'd say repeating would work out a whole lot cheaper!

[Pugzilla]

Originally Posted by ballsymchugh

in my day.. ahem... matriculation was based in nui colleges only, so is the above still the case for tcd and college of surgeons?

Yeah , it applies to all the undergraduate medical courses.

[MedMan101]

you defenatly dont need to do english, irish, maths again if you'v passed them already! I asked my teacher a few weeks ago about this and she said that once you pass a subject, you can keep it for next years requirements (including medicine)! I know a fella doing medicine anyway who repeated about 3 years ago and he didnt do english or irsh.

[Pugzilla]

Originally Posted by MedMan101

you defenatly dont need to do english, irish, maths again if you'v passed them already! I asked my teacher a few weeks ago about this and she said that once you pass a subject, you can keep it for next years requirements (including medicine)! I know a fella doing medicine anyway who repeated about 3 years ago and he didnt do english or irsh.

Your teacher is wrong. Also your friend did the leaving cert in 2008, before the HPAT was introduced. For medicine you must count subjects for both points and entry requirements from the one sitting.

http://www.hpat-ireland.acer.edu.au/...20medicine.pdf

"480 points from the same sitting of the Leaving Certificate examination (or equivalent*). This means that students must achieve both the required subjects and the points in the same sitting."

[Bbbbolger]

Exactly. I was enquiring about repeating (God forbid I don't get Medicine) and I was told by a lot of people, including a current repeat student and my school guidance counsellor, that for Medicine you must do all subjects you intend on counting in the one sitting. You cant combine results from different years.

[ballsymchugh]

Originally Posted by Bbbbolger

Exactly. I was enquiring about repeating (God forbid I don't get Medicine) and I was told by a lot of people, including a current repeat student and my school guidance counsellor, that for Medicine you must do all subjects you intend on counting in the one sitting. You cant combine results from different years.

you haven't been able to combine the best from 2 years for a long time though. once you pass english the first go, then it's counted as done and you don't need to do a whole new course the next year, so you may not have to count it in the first place. it may be different with the HPAT though.

[cocopopsxx]

OP, I'm aiming for Medicine too and was wondering about the same thing. I really hope I get it this year but God forbid, If I don't get it, then I'll definitely repeat. Don't rule out repeating as an option beacause tbh, repeating a year is a lot better than doing a course that you don't probably want to do for 3-4 years. So, don't rule out repeating as an option. My friend did the same but hated the course she was doing and at last she dropped out of college in November and is now repeating. So, yeah, repeating is the best option, IMO.

And as for repeating for medicine, you have to repeat English,Maths and Irish. As someone above said,it's not like other courses where you just need to meet the matriculation requirements once. My friend is repeating for medicine and she's repeating three of these along with her other subjects.

Anywho, I really hope you get it this time rather than repeating or doing some other course for 3-4 years. Good Luck!

[MedMan101]

oh yea, i'd definately repeat if I didnt get atleast 550! I'd much rather give it another chance than jump into a course id have little interest in! but what if you get enough lc points but not HPAT points? will you take a year out and repeat the HPAT or go into college doing a similar course and then repeat the HPAT? decisions,decisions....

[cocopopsxx]

^ I know someone who missed out on medicine in NUI by 3 points, he took the year off and just repeated the HPAT. I would do the same to be honest. I wouldn't bother doing some course in college and repeat the HPAT. Too much work for nothing, IMO.
But on the other hand, just repeating HPAT and doing nothing else for a year might not be a good idea. I dunno...I just confused myself more! I am just gonna study hard and hope I get it this year.

[Darius.Tr]

Looks like ther are lots of people who are planning to do medicine this year, would there be enough places for everyone ? (just wondering)

[TigerIsa]

No way there are nowhere near enough places, that's why the points are so high!

OP take the year out to repeat HPAT, after 550 each 5 LC points is only worth 1 so repeating LC would be pointless if you already got high points.
Also if you were to do another similar degree (science is a good basis one) you would have to pay around 15,000 to do medicine as a postgrad course! And this also equals 8 years in college... AFAIK if you drop out of a course after a year you have to pay fees for your new course so I wouldn't recommend starting anything in college!

I know someone who got 585, didn't get medicine, took a year out practising HPATs and going to courses on them, brought his HPAT up from 150 to 200 and could still avail of the free fees system. You can definitely teach yourself to do better.

Good luck on getting it first time though, I myself missed out by 9 points but couldn't be happier with my second choice course, college is sooo different to LC and I could never have hacked the workload of medicine so it worked out well for me!

[theowen]

First of all repeat the HPAT. Lots of people in my current med class repeated it and went up 50 or so points.

Otherwise you've two options. 1. do a course you're interested in(you just have to get a 2:1 to be eligible for the post grad route). Probs' the best because then you'll have a chance to enjoy the "normal" college experience which you won't get in Med. 2. Do a health science related course-something involving anatomy, biochem or physiology will help for first year. Lots of post grads and international post grads have biochem degrees and simply show up for the exam and pass. A science type degree will also help with the GAMSAT.

Ye can always go off to Budapest too!

[AndrewJD]

You want GAMSAT to be your last resort though. If you can possibly get in as an undergraduate, it's what you should aim for. Graduate entry is more competitive than undergraduate.

[QueenOfLeon]

If you don't want to take a full year out just to repeat the hpat, I'd advise you to start a science/health related course and apply to resit the hpat at the same time. If you don't get the points for medicine again, at least you're in a course that will lead you towards graduate med.

And yes, for medicine, you have to have all points and matriculation requirements in the same year. In my experience, "career guidance" teachers have no idea about the special requirements for medicine...if I had listened to my one I'd still be waiting on the CAO to magically apply to the HPAT for me The little handbook about medicine that is on the CAO website has all the information you need.

[MichaelFC]

Originally Posted by seriouslysweet

As for not being long earning it back, the rates at which new docs are paid are awful, both my parents urging me not to do it. I'd say repeating would work out a whole lot cheaper!

Ha Ha! Well said.

I was waiting for someone to tell the truth on non-consultant hospital doctor pay.

I was going to post wage earnings since I graduated pre-recession but there's enough of a shortage of junior docs as is...