Medicine in Galway

Sallywest

Hey,
applying for medicine next year and thinking of putting galway no. 1 on my cao, just looking for some opinions on the course / the college in general?!

New.White.Socks

I haven't studied medicine, so no first hand knowledge, but I have friends in final year and another who is now an SHO who all studied in galway.

Generally have heard only good things. But most Irish courses in medicine are regarded as very good internationally. The only course I have heard anything negative about is the one in the royal college so stick to any of the main unis and you'll have a very highly respected qualification.

Galway is a great town to go to uni in, which is also a consideration worth taking into account. Nice size, young vibrant atmosphere, lots of student activities, things like that.

cantona56

Medicine student wrote:

Hey, im in premed in NUIG and would recommend it 1000%! I absolutely love it

About the course: For premed, we do 4 subjects, physics, chemistry, biology and early patient contact, with anatomy after Christmas. The science lectures can be a bit boring but they're only 2 hours max a day, along with labs, so its not too bad! Early patient contact is really interesting..theres:
1 lecture a week on various aspects of medicine (history taking, clinical skills, some diseases, drug use, how the irish health system works)
Clinical skills: blood pressure taking, history taking, CPR
Wards: 3 hours a week for 4 weeks, where we get experience of being in the hospital, taking histories from patients and seeing some basic exams.

About the people: Theres about 60 in premed, and pretty much everyone gets on so well! I didnt know anyone else in medicine or science faculties but within days all the premeds were really good friends. Seems to be the general consensus for galway anyway, from talking to friends in other colleges, we have the most sociable college! (In my opinion anyway :P) Theres no little gangs that stick together from school, everyone is really open and friendly and more than ready to make new groups of friends.

About the college: Again, a really friendly atmosphere, the lecturers are all really approachable and its easy to contact them or the class reps with any problems. Its pretty easy to find your way around campus, each faculty has their own building more or less...for science lectures we're on the main concourse, but for a lot of the medicine course, lectures are in the Clinical Sciences institute at the hospital (UCHG) which is about a 5min walk from campus.

If you're doing 2 sciences you could be offered the 5 year course, ie, go straight into 1st med. Alot of people in premed were offered it but we all opted for premed for the more gradual introduction to college it offers, also, a few people who started in 1st med have dropped back to premed as the workload is pretty big and hard to handle for some people in your very 1st few days of college.

I agree with everything said above...UCD was my first choice bet i got Galway and never looked back...coolest, friendliest, craziest college ever. Course is also great!!!! Come to Galway!!!!!

DessieMG

hey, im only 16 and have an interest in medicine, although im not really that sure if its an interest or not, but i just wanted to know if anyone out there has sorta had an interest in it and has done it and loved it?!

emergencyroom

Hi, I'm in 5th year and considering Medicine in Galway. I 'm a bit concerned as I only do biology, i'm a bit concerned at how much of a disadvantage I'd be at without chemistry or physics?

yer man!

emergencyroom wrote: »

Hi, I'm in 5th year and considering Medicine in Galway. I 'm a bit concerned as I only do biology, i'm a bit concerned at how much of a disadvantage I'd be at without chemistry or physics?

You should be ok, I do science but we had the meds in with us in first year for their pre-med year. I didn't do physics or chemistry, only had biology like yourself. They assume you haven't done either course for leaving cert so it's pretty basic stuff.

pourquoi

Pre-med is designed to bring people up to speed on physics and chemistry. I did the three sciences for the Leaving and got the required grades, so I was offered the 5-year course.

I can't comment on pre-med, but First Med is definitely a no doss year. I really mean this when I say it: you gotta start studying from day one. For first semester we had 5 modules: Intro to Anatomy/Musculo-skeletal system, Intro to Physiology, Intro to Biochem, Intro to Pharmacology (which is being replaced with patient contact, i.e. being on wards, next year) and Professionalism. This semester we have 6 modules: Cardiovascular System, Respiratory System, Human Nutrition, Gastrointestinal System, Renal System and more Professionalism.

If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to send me a mail. It might take me a while to respond, but I promise I will eventually!

tetralogy

Allright Sallywest I'll give you the lowdown on medicine in NUIG from a hardened first year veteran.

Firstly you've got to love science. The first 2 (or 3) years is just all that. Also it's not just biology, princibles of physics are applied in respiratory pressures and blood flow for example. Once you hit third med it's the hospital wards you're headed.

If you can I'd highly recommend skipping premed and hitting up first med. Theres a whole load of myth surrounding first med regarding a rediculous workload and crushing stress but this is all exageration. It's not that hard in the end of the day if what you are looking for is to get your pass on. Basically you decide how hard you want the course to be, based on the grades you want and where you wish to place yourself in the class. Premed is really just sitting around chatting...it's not called 'zero-med' for no reason!

Furthermore in NUIG we dissect cadavers from the first week or two and it is truly an excellent approach to learning a subject, in this case anatomy. NUIG does it's utmost to run a competitive course with the other medical schools with the goal of producing well trained doctors. This ranges from the summer research programme you can enroll in all the way to Special Study Modules where you could end up riding around in an ambulance all night being a total hero:cool:

So sally if I were you I'd be laying down NUIG no. 1 and crossing my fingers come August. Remember to hit the leaving cert with everything you got because at the end of the day it's the best man for the job and you don't want to end up sitting on your ass in september while some other shmuck has taken your place in the course.

Put simply you only have to tune into one little fact...that this is the best course in Ireland and I for one wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

pinkballetdance

Heya
Another Galway med student here!
Alot of people when they're applying to medicine say that Galways the lowest points and so it must be the worst course, and I really think they couldn't be more wrong. I know there are people in my year who aren't there out of choice and that they would have preferred Dublin or Cork but its purely a point of location. Galway as a city can be a difficult place to get to if your from the south east. If one of my friends was to take busses home it would take him 7 or 8 hours between either going to cork or dublin then waiting for a connection and then going a bit further. It is an inconvience but theres always people around who can drive and so instead he gets a lift most the way and then either gets a bus the last short distance or gets picked up there! However if your not from the back arse of no where between bus eireann, citylink, trains and the various other private transport companies you should be fine!

Galway is an excellent college, we've got good lectures for the most part, everyones really approachable and friendly. Its a big course and getting bigger which I have to admit is unforchunate, but its a great course and I'd highly reccomend it!