Hpat did not go well...suggestions from Healthcare Professionals

poppy08

I wanted to get opinions from healthcare professionals who would be more experienced than us mere students:rolleyes:

I've already repeated, think i did really well in leaving cert but let myself down with hpat. (so i don't think points will be a problem for me)

so in your opinion a healthy alternative....biomedical science? Dentistry? radio therapy?...

i know how difficult post grads can be , i might reapply to the uk, or repeat hpat but until then i'd like to do a stepping stone course but one which has its own career prospects and well interesting...does any such course exist:o

( i know its mostly personal choice but i'm so deflated my the hpat, i need other opinions)

tallaght01

poppy08 wrote: »

I wanted to get opinions from healthcare professionals who would be more experienced than us mere students:rolleyes:

I've already repeated, think i did really well in leaving cert but let myself down with hpat. (so i don't think points will be a problem for me)

so in your opinion a healthy alternative....biomedical science? Dentistry? radio therapy?...

i know how difficult post grads can be , i might reapply to the uk, or repeat hpat but until then i'd like to do a stepping stone course but one which has its own career prospects and well interesting...does any such course exist:o

( i know its mostly personal choice but i'm so deflated my the hpat, i need other opinions)

Sorry things didn't go well for you.

As for an alternative, pick something you're interested in. You'll enjoy it more, and you'll be better at it. for example, if you're good with your hands, and want patient contact, dentistry would be good. If you're very sciencey, biomed would be good.

Pretend that you're not going into medicine afterwards, and go for the course you would have picked in that case, would be my advice.

Good luck

Traumadoc

I would do dentistry, you might like it, you can do medicine afterwards ( many have done) and I think unemployment is less likely to be a problem with dentists as compared to doctors.

Dr Galen

Nursing

You wanted to be a doctor, so I'm assuming you wanted hands on contact with patients, with everything that goes with it. Then what better way than nursing, which is a lot closer in reali everyday terms to what you wanted to anything else. You'll get a feel for hospital type work, get an insight into the many many differing specialities, icluding those that aren't hospital or directly patient focussed (e.g public health, pathology etc), plus at the end of it, you'll have a degree that you pretty much take with you anywhere, and a massive leg up on a lot of the 1st year meds.

AFAIK, if you do well enough in your nursing degree you can skip a bit if you go on to medicine.

I actually went into nursing with the thought to go on then a do medicine. Got in, loved it and decided I had found my niche.

mrmeindl

poppy08 wrote: »

I wanted to get opinions from healthcare professionals who would be more experienced than us mere students:rolleyes:

I've already repeated, think i did really well in leaving cert but let myself down with hpat. (so i don't think points will be a problem for me)

so in your opinion a healthy alternative....biomedical science? Dentistry? radio therapy?...

i know how difficult post grads can be , i might reapply to the uk, or repeat hpat but until then i'd like to do a stepping stone course but one which has its own career prospects and well interesting...does any such course exist:o

( i know its mostly personal choice but i'm so deflated my the hpat, i need other opinions)

There's a lot of other universitys outside ireland offering medicine. The czech republic has several medical facultys run through english. I believe there's a lot of Irish studying in Budapest and some in Poland of all places. For Prague there's still a couple of entrance exam dates left dunno about the rest.

Larianne

poppy08 wrote: »

I wanted to get opinions from healthcare professionals who would be more experienced than us mere students:rolleyes:

I've already repeated, think i did really well in leaving cert but let myself down with hpat. (so i don't think points will be a problem for me)

so in your opinion a healthy alternative....biomedical science? Dentistry? radio therapy?...

i know how difficult post grads can be , i might reapply to the uk, or repeat hpat but until then i'd like to do a stepping stone course but one which has its own career prospects and well interesting...does any such course exist:o

( i know its mostly personal choice but i'm so deflated my the hpat, i need other opinions)

I wouldn't give up hope just yet, you never know! But you should definitely apply to the UK if you are unsuccessful. If you have to wait a year to reapply see about getting a job as a carer in a hospital or private nursing home. You'll get to work directly (very hands on!) with patients and you'll get a feel if medicine or any of the healthcare professions is for you. As well as that, UK colleges require you to have some form of work experience in the field you want to study.

I used to want to be a nurse but after spending time in hospitals when younger, I was swiftly turned off that. I've no interest in studying medicine either but Physiotherapy is something that I feel I'll be very good at, have a lot of interest in and can't wait to start in September! If you want it badly enough you can get it!

poppy08

Thanks for all the help, i've mulled it over and i'm quite happy to do dentistry, if i get a place in medicine i will be overjoyed but i've looked at the course details and it sounds appealling... begin the waiting game;)

Eva09

Don't give up hope on med yet! I know you are disappointed but def keep it at the top of your cao. I can totally understand your feeling of "my medicine dream is dashed." I missed out on medicine by 5 points.

So, I settled for dentistry. I thought it would be like med, with patient contact and human biology etc. How wrong I was!
Dentistry is nothing like medicine.

Ever heard that dentists have the highest suicide rate out of all professions? (not messing!) Although dentists are paid well, the work is incredibly mundane.

The course is five years long, as i'm sure you know, but it's incredibly intense. I had friends in med who have a much better social life than me. Hours are very long and you will be in college from 9 to 5 with hours spent in the library after that.

But the exams are notoriously difficult. I'm in third year now, but last year 11 out of the 30 had to repeat the summer exams.

Forget about long summer hols. They are gone forever! Dent students stay on in college when everyone else has gone, up to early July and then back in the middle of Aug.

I bet nobody has told you that you will have to fork out 3 grand for dental equipment in second year? Unless you have rich parents, you are going to have to take out a loan.

I noticed in your post that you said that you would be "quite happy" to do dentistry. Imo, you really need to want to do it. Otherwise, I'm not sure if you will be able to get through the five intense years.

Sorry, if this is a bit of a rant but I wished someone had told me that dentistry is not at all like medicine when I was in sixth year. Why don't you repeat the hpat?

If you have need any info on course, just ask.

poppy08

Eva09 wrote: »

I noticed in your post that you said that you would be "quite happy" to do dentistry. Imo, you really need to want to do it. Otherwise, I'm not sure if you will be able to get through the five intense years.

Sorry, if this is a bit of a rant but I wished someone had told me that dentistry is not at all like medicine when I was in sixth year. Why don't you repeat the hpat?

If you have need any info on course, just ask.

eva, i really appreciate your post!, you are me in a few years:o,

i haven't given up hope yet, i still have all med schols at the very top. but realistically i need to decide what to do

would you change your CAO? do a general science course ?... a few years ago i wanted to do architecture but went on work experience and hated the office i went to, now i feel it's too much of a jump from med to architecture...apart from that i literally don't care what i do if i don't get med.:(

i've heard its can be easier to do a post grad if you do dentistry 1st?

could repeat hpat but can you really improve your aptitude?

Eva09

Well, if i were to turn back time I would repeat my leaving, just for that last 5 points. But you feel that you would have got the points in the old system so you are in a whole new ball game!

I get your point, repeating hpat may not result in a drastically improved mark... i really feel for you! This whole hpat thing is causing mighty hassle for you guys this year.

Science, pharmacy, radiotherapy, dentistry, veterinary med etc are all viable alternatives. At the end of the day, you can do a postgrad in med with them all.
As for architecture, well if you think you would really like it, just go for it.


BUT, for goodness sake choose one you would genuinely like. That will help the next 4/5 years fly before the postgrad.

I really hope you get your place in med. You def deserve it!

Everything happens for a reason though!;)

poppy08

thanks eva, for some reason i think your advice is really solid

i've put radio therapy down as an alternative, i've looked at the course details and it sounds interesting. hopefully it won't come to that though ( i'll keep hope alive for the time being!:D)

Eva09

Best of luck poppy. Everything will work out in the end!:)

Zenith23

I hear you poppy,
I worked so hard for the LC and fished out a mere 126 in the HPAT.

I too, have a question.

If I do Human Health and Disease next year, just to keep me occupied while I redo the HPAT, what are the ramifications?

I know there must be some. Expenses maybe?

Right now it's between Human Health and Disease or Science.
Are there any other courses that resemble medicine as well?

drrkpd

Yes ramifications are economic. If you start a 3rd level course then do hpat next year and then you change to medicine UNDER CURRENT GUIDELINES you have to pay fees for the first year of new course but only for that first year. After that you pay annual "registration fee" like everyone else.
Stress current guidelines-could easily change if fees are intoduced. 2009/2010 Fees not yet announced but probably 7,000-9,000 depending on college.

Kwekubo

Zenith23 wrote: »

Right now it's between Human Health and Disease or Science.
Are there any other courses that resemble medicine as well?

Look into the biomedical science courses at UCC/CIT or biomedical, health and life sciences at UCD.

sillymoo

poppy08 wrote: »

thanks eva, for some reason i think your advice is really solid

i've put radio therapy down as an alternative, i've looked at the course details and it sounds interesting. hopefully it won't come to that though ( i'll keep hope alive for the time being!:D)

Hi Poppy. I had Radiation Therapy down as my back up in case I did not get medicine a few years ago and I ended up doing it for a year. I loved it personally and if I had not gotten med I would have kept going with the course. You get a huge amount of patient contact and job satisfaction. I would recommend going to visit a RT department before starting the course if you end up getting it. Good luck and let us know how you get on