Medicine in Trinity

s0ur_cherry

Hey I am about to sit my leaving cert this June and hope to study med in trinity come next september. However I've been doing a bit of research online and I've found a good amount of posts implying trinity is not a great med school - in fact they seem to be suggesting it's pretty abysmal I've read that the teaching is poor (and that lecturers sometimes don't even turn up?!), that the trinity students often have to use notes from other med schools, overcrowding in tutorials, outdated syllabus etcetc. These posts are a few years old though and are mostly from students who were in their final years, so what I'm wondering is whether the situation is still the same today and what's the story for prospective students? Would you recommend trinity or would you advise a different med school? thanks in advance!

Warrior011

I'm just after finishing first year in medicine, the Med School does have its moments where communications isn't the best, but mistakes happen everywhere. Mistakes I'm referring/ been subject to are just small mistakes where lectures are told they're in a different room/ time or just plane forgot, however, this did not happen too often (3/4 times in the entire year).

As for the lectures themselves, there was one or two lecturers (out of maybe 20) in the entire year that i disliked the style of lecturing. Any of the dealings that I've had of the lecturers are that they are really helpful with any queries that you may have about the subject.

In short, I can't really compare Trinity to any of the other Med Schools, but I havn't had any real problems with the way its run.

bythewoods

I like Trinity.
If I could go back and change my CAO form, I'd probably still have chosen to do Medicine here.

I sometimes regret not sticking with UCD, purely because I think PreMed probably would've done me the world of good, but apart from that, Trinners all the way.

Haven't heard of a situation where people've been borrowing notes from other Med schools tbh, I'm sure there are people with friends elsewhere who do a bit'a swapping, but there's not really any major need for it at all.
We're bombarded with notes.

In terms of overcrowding- I've never seen that! I only just finished first year though, but it's definitely not a problem I saw so far anyway.
We have small group learning tutorial thingies, the year is all split into groups of about 10 or so, which rotate around so you're with different tutors and people every few weeks.

The syllabus- well I don't think it's outdated anyway? We have pretty much the same books etc as other med schools, so eh, I don't think so anyway.

I do get mad with the School of Medicine sometimes though. Because we do modules from different departments (Biochemistry, Physiology etc), sometimes communication is a bit all over the place.
The teaching's good though I think.
There's some really great lecturers here who really do work hard to help you out if you're finding things a bit tricky.

GodlikeRed

s0ur_cherry wrote: »

Hey I am about to sit my leaving cert this June and hope to study med in trinity come next september. However I've been doing a bit of research online and I've found a good amount of posts implying trinity is not a great med school - in fact they seem to be suggesting it's pretty abysmal I've read that the teaching is poor (and that lecturers sometimes don't even turn up?!), that the trinity students often have to use notes from other med schools, overcrowding in tutorials, outdated syllabus etcetc. These posts are a few years old though and are mostly from students who were in their final years, so what I'm wondering is whether the situation is still the same today and what's the story for prospective students? Would you recommend trinity or would you advise a different med school? thanks in advance!

OP
College is really just an exercise in self-learning, you'll learn that soon enough when you enter college.
Final year students are under alot of pressure so I wouldn't read into them posts too much.
If you don't think Trinitys standards are not high enough go to RCSI, UCC or UCD. Its simple really!

just-joe

Yeah, seems like this kinda thing runs through all of Trinity, we'd have communication problems between the maths and statistics departments. Also, information about course choices is so late (this might not affect you as I have no idea if med students have any choice options), as well as timetables for lectures and exams etc.. Kinda annoying when you can't get your summer plans started cos you don't know when you're finished for absolutely ages. And semesterisation this year has been a bit of a mess!?

But really, not that much of a problem, on the whole its grand, and gives ya something to complain about, always good!?

So if youre not too uptight about things like this, then it won't bother ya at all.

Lastly, and obviously I'd say this cos we're in the TCD forum, but Trinity is awesome. From the little I hear about other colleges, we seems to kick their asses on enjoyment, especially the community vibe you get in Trinity. The campus is great, the people are great, the pav is great, sports, socs etc etc all make for a fantastic experience. Go for it!

I guess I'm just saying all of this this as I just finished a degree, left campus accommodation today, and missing it already. Its true though. Hope it helps OP.

Warrior011

just-joe wrote: »

Yeah, seems like this kinda thing runs through all of Trinity, we'd have communication problems between the maths and statistics departments. Also, information about course choices is so late (this might not affect you as I have no idea if med students have any choice options), as well as timetables for lectures and exams etc.. Kinda annoying when you can't get your summer plans started cos you don't know when you're finished for absolutely ages. And semesterisation this year has been a bit of a mess!?

I don't know about the later years, but first years do have a choice, but not in the core subjects, there is a choice in the sense that we have to do a student selected module (arts related), a language or a broad curriculum module.

enda1

I would probably recommend UCD's med course over Trinity's.

My experience is not first hand in either case but from what I've heard, the course in UCD is very well regarded and very well funded. Standards are high, and Hugh Brady (UCD's president) we must remember is a qualified doctor and former medical lecturer. So he perhaps has a certain bias towards the medical faculty.

Larianne

enda1 wrote: »

I would probably recommend UCD's med course over Trinity's.

My experience is not first hand in either case but from what I've heard, the course in UCD is very well regarded and very well funded. Standards are high, and Hugh Brady (UCD's president) we must remember is a qualified doctor and former medical lecturer. So he perhaps has a certain bias towards the medical faculty.

I've heard the opposite about UCD. People have said to me if they had a choice they would have put down TCD 1st instead of UCD. Communication being very bad between students and the department.

Also, I've heard the Anatomy teaching in Trinity is much better than any other university in Ireland. But that was mainly by one of the Anatomy lecturers so he's a bit biased.

I guess you just have to make the most of the course wherever you end up. And like Bythewoods said Pre-Med in UCD would be a good choice for anyone who wants to ease into college life.

HQvhs

Larianne wrote: »

Also, I've heard the Anatomy teaching in Trinity is much better than any other university in Ireland. But that was mainly by one of the Anatomy lecturers so he's a bit biased.

I'd have to dispute that! :P Anatomy teaching in RCSI is top-notch. Our lecturers and demonstrators include a group of retired consultant surgeons who are unbelievable teachers, with an amazing fountain of knowledge and anecdotes. They really make anatomy much more enjoyable and interesting, and relate it to clinical life like no lecturer could. I'm not sure other colleges do this, but I could be wrong.

Aside from that, I've no experience with other medical school, however I know TCD doesn't have a systems-based approach which strikes me as odd, seeing as systems-based is pretty much standard practice elsewhere. But each to their own, I've no experience of it!

A Neurotic

HQvhs wrote: »

I'd have to dispute that! :P Anatomy teaching in RCSI is top-notch. Our lecturers and demonstrators include a group of retired consultant surgeons who are unbelievable teachers, with an amazing fountain of knowledge and anecdotes. They really make anatomy much more enjoyable and interesting, and relate it to clinical life like no lecturer could. I'm not sure other colleges do this, but I could be wrong.

Aside from that, I've no experience with other medical school, however I know TCD doesn't have a systems-based approach which strikes me as odd, seeing as systems-based is pretty much standard practice elsewhere. But each to their own, I've no experience of it!

We don't officially have a systems-based approach, but I found they integrated our subjects nicely. I don't know exactly how SBL works, but this semester past for example, we were learning about the physiology of digestion, the anatomy of the GIT, and the biochemistry of cholesterol/lipoproteins and b12/folate/Iron absorption pretty much simultaneously. Seems like a roughly system-based approach.

I'd have to add that our Anatomy lecturers relate what they're teaching to clinical practice very well also

mardybumbum

HQvhs wrote: »

I'd have to dispute that! :P

When PT starts giving lectures in RCSI then you may dispute that.

Boethius

mardybumbum wrote: »

When PT starts giving lectures in RCSI then you may dispute that.

Sounds like a PT vs TF showdown is required......

just-joe

Whats PT and TF?

mardybumbum

just-joe wrote: »

Whats PT and TF?

Pakistani Table Tennis Federation

HQvhs

Boethius wrote: »

Sounds like a PT vs TF showdown is required......

I would pay to see that! Throw in HB and it would rock (the Gubernaculum)

Larianne

mardybumbum wrote: »

When PT starts giving lectures in RCSI then you may dispute that.

I was soooooooooo gonna say that! High Five!

just-joe

mardybumbum wrote: »

Pakistani Table Tennis Federation

Indeed, just what I was thinking!

Brods

This is a never ending argument really, no one is ever gonna have an unbiased view.

I know I asked a friend in surgeons for her notes on one specific topic but didn't really need them in the end, just me being a perfectionist.

I chose to go to Trinity for the opportunity to do schols and the slightly/debatabley better international reputation. Living on campus makes up for any problems with outdated teaching