Questions about becoming a doctor

LCstudent123

hello i would be really thankful if any 1 could answer a questions i have. i'm in 6th yr in secondary school and i want to put medicine down on my cao. i'm hoping to get into ucd as my first choice but there are just a few questions i would like answered if possible please

1.in general what time does college start and end for medical students?
2.is the work very intensive, do you have much free time after college or is it all taken up with studying?
3.i am very sporty and i'm afraid that i wont be fit to continue my sports if i get into a medicine course. would i have the time and energy to be travelling home during the week for trainings?
4.finally once you qualify to be a doctor is the majority of your time devoted to your work or would i still be fit to play sports aswell.

Thank you for reading this. if you could answer any of these questions i would be very grateful.:):):):):)

NickCarraway

LCstudent123 wrote: »

hello i would be really thankful if any 1 could answer a questions i have. i'm in 6th yr in secondary school and i want to put medicine down on my cao. i'm hoping to get into ucd as my first choice but there are just a few questions i would like answered if possible please

1.in general what time does college start and end for medical students?
2.is the work very intensive, do you have much free time after college or is it all taken up with studying?
3.i am very sporty and i'm afraid that i wont be fit to continue my sports if i get into a medicine course. would i have the time and energy to be travelling home during the week for trainings?
4.finally once you qualify to be a doctor is the majority of your time devoted to your work or would i still be fit to play sports aswell.

Thank you for reading this. if you could answer any of these questions i would be very grateful.:):):):):)

1. Lectures generally start at 9am. Some tutorials may start earlier ~8am. In the preclinical years the time of your first and last lecture usually varies from day to day, so you may have a late start/early finish and some time off in the middle of the day too.
In the clinical years it tends to be full days. When on clinical attachments you may have to start at 7am. Remember that regardless of where you study you will be farmed out to regional hospitals in the country for weeks at a time. Even in clinical years there is a fair amount of free time later in the day which you are expected to spend in self-directed learning (either on the wards, in labs or hitting the books).

2. Work is intensive, but there is plenty of free time to be had. It all depends on your motivation and time management skills.

3. See answer to 2 above. Medicine is demanding on time but you can keep your sports up if you are organised. Exercise will probably help your brain too. As for going home to train with the local team, this is an issue for many young people going away to college. My personal opinion (and many may tell be to go f*** myself) is this - you are in university now, forget about your home team. Concentrate on your new life. If you try to have it both ways, both areas of your life will suffer. Join the university team. This advice really is for those who have quite a distance from home to college. If its down the road then it should be fine.

4. At the moment the hours are long. But things are changing (allegedly!) with the EWTD. If its not in place by the time you're qualified then this country is a bigger joke than I thought. If it is, max working week will be 48 hours, so no excuses for not keeping up the sport.

LCstudent123

aw thanks dats great....just a few more questions...i'm hopin 2 study at ucd..is it a good college? also i live about an hour from dublin...is dat too far to keep travelling up and down....any other advice about studying medicine in college would be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time.:)

LC_ugh

LCstudent123 wrote: »

aw thanks dats great....just a few more questions...i'm hopin 2 study at ucd..is it a good college? also i live about an hour from dublin...is dat too far to keep travelling up and down....any other advice about studying medicine in college would be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time.:)

i study at ucd and i really enjoy it. there is always fun to be had wherever you go and the majority of the students and staff are lovely! It takes me just over an hour to get into college every morning and evening going home, it is a lot, but i usually listen to music on the bus or read a book to make use of my time. or sleep if im extremely tired! id defo recommend ucd for you to study medicine, heard its meant to be really great.

LCstudent123

LC_ugh wrote: »

i study at ucd and i really enjoy it. there is always fun to be had wherever you go and the majority of the students and staff are lovely! It takes me just over an hour to get into college every morning and evening going home, it is a lot, but i usually listen to music on the bus or read a book to make use of my time. or sleep if im extremely tired! id defo recommend ucd for you to study medicine, heard its meant to be really great.

Thanks for dat i really want to go to ucd all i need to do now is get in

NickCarraway

LCstudent123 wrote: »

aw thanks dats great....just a few more questions...i'm hopin 2 study at ucd..is it a good college? also i live about an hour from dublin...is dat too far to keep travelling up and down....any other advice about studying medicine in college would be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time.:)

Embrace the university experience. Move to Dublin, if feasible. There's more to college than just lectures and study. It may be ok for the first few years, but you will have to make the move eventually.

Vorsprung

LCstudent123 wrote: »

Thanks for dat i really want to go to ucd all i need to do now is get in

You did the HPAT last week, right?

LCstudent123

bigjimthefirst wrote: »

You did the HPAT last week, right?

yep i did the HPAT. found it a bit harder than the examples. but wasn't too bad.
i am hopin to move to dublin to stay but it would just be going home once or twice a week for football. sorry for confusion. thanks:):):)

me2gud4u

and if ya get it, make sure you do pre-med.....

there is a good bit of work though from there on.

Good luck!

oogyoop

I'm in 3rd Med in Trinity College. You might consider going to Trinity instead of UCD given that Trinity did away with pre-med a couple of years ago and while you can opt to skip pre-med in UCD, you would probably miss out on getting to know people as they start off together.

This is the first of the clinical years and is really great! Trinity students are based in St James' Hospital in Kilmainham and Tallaght Hospital, as well as certain OBGYN hospitals, Naas Hospital (free accommodation provided and very few students are there at any one time) and the Royal Victoria Eye & Ear Hospital (for Ophthalmology and Ear, Nose and Throat specialities).

Generally, compared to friends of mine in UCD, we have to fend for ourselves a lot more - that means begging to track down notes, no help whatsoever for North Americans and those considering sitting the USMLE and the School of Medicine can sometimes seem poorly organized (though they do have lots to do and seem to be understaffed with half the department on maternity leave at any one time). This has made us pretty resourceful though.

Generally, the students in Trinity are more diverse too. Very few people in my class come from Dublin - proportionally less by far than UCD and I consider this a selling-point. There are pros and cons for both Medical Schools though. The new faculty building in UCD is lovely, though Trinity have plans to have a similar building completed or underway by 2011, when I'm due to graduate.

Hours this year are long. Prior to this, 9 o'clock starts and 5 o'clock finishes were the norm, but this year (as we complete 24 weeks of placement), starts are generally between 7-8am and when you leave is up to you... but if you want to give it your all and get most out of it it tends to be 5-7pm.

QueenOfLeon

Thanks for all the help on this post!! Is anyone here doing medicine in NUIG? Any thoughts? :P

LCstudent123

with relation to medecine how many years do you study in college in gerneral? does this include a year's work experience? what about if you do a pre med course? Thanks

Svalbard

Anne-Marie!! wrote: »

Thanks for all the help on this post!! Is anyone here doing medicine in NUIG? Any thoughts? :P

I did.

Galway is a great place to study medicine. If you know Galway at all you'll know its a pretty cool place to live especially as a student.

The university is big and well equipped, but the campus is not the 'prettiest' in the country. There has been a lot of building in recent years but not a lot of joined up thinking with regards aesthetics and landscaping.
Its very close to the city center and the main teaching hospital (UCHG) is literally across the road - that might not seem like a big deal but in Dublin, Cork and Limerick the teaching hospitals are a bit of a commute away.
After the preclinical years most of your time will be spent in the teaching hospitals and the Clinical Science Institute (adjacent to UCHG) - the 'medical school' essentially, with faculty offices, medical library, labs and tutorial rooms. The CSI is way too small and nowhere near as nice as Brookfield in Cork, say.

UCHG is chocca with fantastic academic oriented staff most of whom are well published. There is ample opportunity to get involved in research and its great to have a paper or two under your belt before you even sit your finals.
UCH has all the major specialites except neurosurgery. The other teaching hospital in the city is Merlin Park. Its at the other side of the city and is a favourite among students as it provides a more intimate learning environment.

During your 5/6 years you will get turfed out to one or more peripheral hospitals for a few weeks at a time - Ballinasloe, Roscommon, Castlebar, Sligo, Letterkenny, Derry and Limerick. This time is great for learning as there are only a few of you there at any one time and the docs are very eager to teach you.

All in all, at NUIG you'll get a quality, well rounded education and will be encouraged to practice your clinical skills at every opportunity and get involved in research. There is also quite a nice atmosphere between students and academic staff, who are often on a first name basis (note: consultants may call you by your first name, but it does't work the other way around!).
Apologies if that was a bit of a non-specific ramble. Feel free to ask any more specific questions.

QueenOfLeon

Svalbard thanks so much!! Did you do pre-med? I have chemistry and biology for leaving cert but i wouldnt mind doing the pre-med to kinda get into the whole college thing...:)

Svalbard

Anne-Marie!! wrote: »

Svalbard thanks so much!! Did you do pre-med? I have chemistry and biology for leaving cert but i wouldnt mind doing the pre-med to kinda get into the whole college thing...:)

I did there was no choice 'back in my day'!!
Can't see the harm in taking the extra year, unless you're in a rush. There are financial considerations of course.
Either way I'm sure you'll do fine.

QueenOfLeon

Svalbard wrote: »

I did there was no choice 'back in my day'!!
Can't see the harm in taking the extra year, unless you're in a rush. There are financial considerations of course.
Either way I'm sure you'll do fine.

Thanks ya there will be more money needed for an extra year, but then again if i went for the 5 year course i could be totally lost and overwhelmed and all that and could end up dropping out which would make it even more expensive to go back to college in later years!!

God i sound like ive already got the course...gotta go get all these points first!! Thanks for all the help!! :D