A-Levels for Medicine, AAAA no good?

Gregor43

Hi

Does anyone know what A-Levels are required for people from the North to get into Medicine in UCD/G/Trinity?

My friend got 4 As, which is the max I think, and didn't get any first round offers I think he was in the random selection and got unlucky.

But it doesn't take 600 leaving cert points to get into medicine, so wondering what the A-Level criteria are?

nedward

3 As is the most they ask for, maybe it was random selection. C*nts.

PeakOutput

even with straight a's the leaving cert is considered harder/better than the a-levels so i assume they get first preference??? could be wrong obviously but that could be it

Gregor43

3 As is the most they ask for, maybe it was random selection. C*nts.

I'd have to agree with your sentiments here!

The 4 A's were in the key subjects (Maths, Biology, Physics, Chem). So we're to believe he was so unlucky that he missed out on the random selection in all of Trinity, UCD and UCG? B*lox. And even if there is some random selection system in place that's still a b*olox approach for someone getting perfect marks and it's completely untransparent.

Surely results from the North specifically should be converted into an equivalent for CAO points and put into the same pool as ourselves. We're great at thinking all-island stuff would be great but never consider actually putting anything in place to facilitate common treatment. Complete @rse!

Sorry, end of rant!

colm-ccfc84

Why does the person want to to got university here? Why not N Ireland? Surely the aformentioned person would gain entry to a university there.

ApeXaviour

nedward wrote:

3 As is the most they ask for, maybe it was random selection. C*nts.

Since UCAS benchmarked the average leaving cert subject as 2/3rds of an A-level, trinity generally requires 4 A-levels for entry. With the basic guideline that an A is worth 150 points, thus AAAA should allow the maximum of 600. However, they also attempted to compensate for the fact that the LC has more broken down grades, A1, B3 etc. Why should they you ask? Well it would give many UK students an unfair advantage considering <1% of Irish school leavers achieve 600. It is simply easier to get AAAA. So they implemented this horribly vague system of "point ranges" (see quote below) to equalise the playing field, this should explain why this person the OP is referring to may not have been offered a place. This is the case for tcd at least, I'm unsure about other Irish universities.

The following is taken from the university council minutes March 2006:

This equalisation would be achieved by means of aligning A-level grades with Higher Leaving Certificate grades and applying a range of points for groups of A-level grades. In this way, for example, 4 A-level grades would be assigned within a 510-600 points range, representing the points range for groups of comparable Higher Leaving Certificate grades.

Gregor43

Why does the person want to to got university here? Why not N Ireland? Surely the aformentioned person would gain entry to a university there.

Apparently Queens University is ferociously expensive.

ApeXaviour:

It is simply easier to get AAAA. So they implemented this horribly vague system of "point ranges"

4 A-level grades would be assigned within a 510-600 points range

Thanks for the info ApeX. Given that information I'd have to say the fault is with the lack of variation within the A-Level grades. I.E. If they had finer measurements then they could be assigned narrower ranges, such as 510-570 and 570-600 or whatever. Then anyone in the higher range (>570) could be immediately accepted to the UCD course. Failing that they have to be treated separately for random selection into a quota of places.

I didn't realise AAAA could be considered as "low" as 510 points.

ApeXaviour

Actually here is a document explaining the equalisation process. I

http://www.tcd.ie/Admissions/downloads/A-level%20&%20LC%20Equalisation%20Final.pdf

I've heard through the grapevine that UCD have done something similar due to the amount of UK entrants for medicine with "600 points".

dan719

As far as I am aware the course places are divided into two groups, one for leaving cert students and one for those presenting a-levels. The groups are in proportion to the numbers presenting each qualification. Therefore your friend would not be competing against leaving cert students at all. Note- this is the TCD system as outlined in the prospectus.

goneforapuff

ApeXaviour wrote:

Actually here is a document explaining the equalisation process. I

http://www.tcd.ie/Admissions/downloads/A-level%20&%20LC%20Equalisation%20Final.pdf

I've heard through the grapevine that UCD have done something similar due to the amount of UK entrants for medicine with "600 points".

Thanks ApeXaviour, I can add the following news link about NI A level results. http://www.rewardinglearning.org.uk/newsroom/press/2007/press_160807.asp its not a great document but will give people an idea about standards.

Southern statistics for 2006 are at
http://www2.cao.ie/app_scoring/points_stats/LC06PTS.pdf

This will change in the future when new A* results are introduced I suppose.

In the UK there are different exam boards, so not everyone does the same exam. Every year the NI boards results are way better than the national average. I suppose this is because they are just better, have better teachers, have kept the grammer schools or somtin'! I don't think the mainlanders have noticed - yet.

Queens used to require (maybe still do) Phisics, Chem and Bio from southern students, as good an exclusion policy as I have seen as most schools in the south only let students do 2.

Info for NI people: the avg. southern student HAS to take Maths, Irish, English and another EU language + at least 2 other subjects.

We came very close to Trinity med being 600* last year, something had to be done.

Regarding the quota system, some NI schools ask students to apply even if they don't want med. to raise the quota don't ya know!

carlowboy

Doesn't it depend on what courses he did?

Carsinian Thau

PeakOutput wrote:

even with straight a's the leaving cert is considered harder/better than the a-levels

Are you sure about this? I always thought that the A-levels were supposed to be far superior to the Leaving Cert.

carlowboy

Carsinian Thau wrote:

Are you sure about this? I always thought that the A-levels were supposed to be far superior to the Leaving Cert.

Well the LC would be harder as the UK's education system is a mess.

An Citeog

Carsinian Thau wrote:

Are you sure about this? I always thought that the A-levels were supposed to be far superior to the Leaving Cert.

The individual exams are considered more difficult but on the whole, the leaving cert is seen as a more well-rounded process. The UK system encourages specialisation, whereas the Irish educational system is considered to be more balanced.