Applying to Medicine as a Mature Student in Ireland and Abroad.

mostlycircles

Hi guys!

I'm a 22 year old lost soul desperate for enlightenment in relation to the above topic!

My birthday is the 6th January 1989 which means I won't be a mature student until 2012 and unfortunately I will have missed the deadline by 4 days.

I sat my first Leaving Certificate in 2006 with an average result of 425 points as a result of many negative external factors. That particular year I applied to various medical institutions and as a last resort, to Arts in UCD (and other colleges) with a view of becoming a teacher as a 'back-up'. On completion of my 3 year degree and a fairly disappointing 2:2, I decided to once again sit the Leaving Certificate along with the HPAT in 2010 and unfortunately missed out on the points for undergraduate medicine by the skin of my teeth. My next choice on the CAO was General Nursing in UCD, which I am now studying, and quite enjoying at that but I still aspire to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor..!
Ideally, I would like to use my mature years as a grounds for entry into Medicine as soon as possible but unfortunately I don't know what options are at my disposal! Which Universities would consider me? In which countries? And how can I increase my chances of succeeding??
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have found it hard to find any clear, straight forward information.

Cheers for any help guys!!!

imported_guy

mostlycircles wrote: »

Hi guys!

I'm a 22 year old lost soul desperate for enlightenment in relation to the above topic!

My birthday is the 6th January 1989 which means I won't be a mature student until 2012 and unfortunately I will have missed the deadline by 4 days.

I sat my first Leaving Certificate in 2006 with an average result of 425 points as a result of many negative external factors. That particular year I applied to various medical institutions and as a last resort, to Arts in UCD (and other colleges) with a view of becoming a teacher as a 'back-up'. On completion of my 3 year degree and a fairly disappointing 2:2, I decided to once again sit the Leaving Certificate along with the HPAT in 2010 and unfortunately missed out on the points for undergraduate medicine by the skin of my teeth. My next choice on the CAO was General Nursing in UCD, which I am now studying, and quite enjoying at that but I still aspire to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor..!
Ideally, I would like to use my mature years as a grounds for entry into Medicine as soon as possible but unfortunately I don't know what options are at my disposal! Which Universities would consider me? In which countries? And how can I increase my chances of succeeding??
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have found it hard to find any clear, straight forward information.

Cheers for any help guys!!!

dont apply as a mature here, you'll get destroyed at interviews unless you've VERY good reasons for why you got into arts first, then dropped it, and then you got into nursing and dropped that as well, (shows lack of commitment and perhaps immaturity) how will you gurantee you're not wasting the college's time who put an effort into teaching you a professional degree? how will you gurantee you wont drop out of medicine when sh1t gets real?

repeat the hpat, and apply again, you'll probably make it since you only missed out by few points, other than that look at the sticky thread for european colleges. ponzan in poland teaches through english.

moyloughman

Hi mostly circles just wondering how did you go back to do the leaving cert? was it a normal school or just home school as i am in a similar postition to you.

Masterplanner

I'm a reader, not a writer, and joined to give some information to Danbag1989 but the thread has been closed.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055212129&page=5

I'll put the info here cos your title includes "mature student".

Looks like UCC has ditched the HPAT for mature students. They awarded places for this September, with HPAT scores of 130 and 2 honours in 2 science subjects to non-degree holders, i.e. their interest wasn't in academics.

For anyone who wants to blow me out-of-the-water and say they would not accept students who have low academics, they did.

What's interesting about this is UCC were the ones most involved in saying the HPAT was the way to go. Siun O'Flynn, their Director of Medical Education, has been in a number of media interviews (can be googled) saying it's better than interviews and references currently until proved otherwise. She's on other medical education steering groups too.

I'm not saying mature students don't have other experiences besides 6As, but what I do want to say is that a Leaving Cert student with 6As and a HPAT of 130 could have missed out this year in UCC and that's unfair.

This is the only university ignoring HPAT scores that I have heard of.

imported_guy

Masterplanner wrote: »

(can be googled).

what exactly were you googling? lolzhimers, can we get a few links going please.

Masterplanner

imported_guy wrote: »

what exactly were you googling? lolzhimers, can we get a few links going please.

Hi there, she gave a number of interviews in The Irish Medical News and IMT etc. re entry to medicine. They were also referenced on The Union of Students website. Google it yourself!!

OP, it occured to be in a deja-vu moment, since I first wrote back to you this morning, that I had read practically this EXACT question previously, earlier this year I think. I didn't look back on your posts (not a stalker!) but did you post about this before? You have all but given your DOB, the previous post did give a DOB too (not recommended!) and also described being similar to your "lost soul" comment, that poster is also in your UCD Nursing class. Assuming this is you, here is my offering.........

You're sooooooooooo young. Lucky thing. Of course you can do Medicine here if you have the grades, or not (UCC). Why don't you consider talking to your tutor?

imported_guy

Masterplanner wrote: »

Hi there, she gave a number of interviews in The Irish Medical News and IMT etc. re entry to medicine. They were also referenced on The Union of Students website. Google it yourself!!

OP, it occured to be in a deja-vu moment, since I first wrote back to you this morning, that I had read practically this EXACT question previously, earlier this year I think. I didn't look back on your posts (not a stalker!) but did you post about this before? You have all but given your DOB, the previous post did give a DOB too (not recommended!) and also described being similar to your "lost soul" comment, that poster is also in your UCD Nursing class. Assuming this is you, here is my offering.........

You're sooooooooooo young. Lucky thing. Of course you can do Medicine here if you have the grades, or not (UCC). Why don't you consider talking to your tutor?

when you make a statement you're supposed to back it up. not tell people "google it yourself"

Masterplanner

imported_guy wrote: »

when you make a statement you're supposed to back it up. not tell people "google it yourself"

OK. I'll type 'siun o'flynn' into google and get back to you later :cool:

Masterplanner

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=383357294820
(From an article published in The Irish Medical News)

http://www.imt.ie/opinion/guests/2010/02/hpat-redirects-obsession-with-leaving-cert-points.html

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/new-points-limits-ease-middleclass-grip-on-medicine-2134301.html

Assuming that Siun o' Flynn is the main person these days, or certainly in the top 3, in evaluating the HPAT/entry to medical school and sticking with it until the data says otherwise, then for UCC to essentially abandon giving any weight to scores for mature students is grossly unfair to LC students.