becoming a surgeon

johnnymolloy

hi ive currently been in college studying accounting and can honestly say its not for me and i have been looking at the possibilities of becoming a surgeon as i was always good at biology and physics in school and it interests me. i havent got anywhere near the points to do it.

ive been looking at a course in the rcsi and theirs a 2 year course on the basics of of becoming a surgeon and then a final year to decide on what to specialise in.

so what im asking is do i need a medicine degree first before i can become a surgeon or can i just apply for the basic surgeon course?
also if i need to have a medicine degree how could i go about it ?

thanks

Biologic

Yeah, you're reading into that course wrong.
You need a medical degree (and loads of other stuff) to become a surgeon. Your options to study medicine are 1) Repeat the leaving and get the points 2) Get a good mark in accounting and try the graduate route or 3) Apply as a mature student. All are competitive and will require some form selection process.
Before you go leaving any other course, think long and hard about whether surgery is a realistic goal. It's a very demanding job, and even if you get a place in medical school that just means the beginning of about 12 years of exams. Definitely not a case on telling RCSI you want to do a 3 year course and then wandering the world with your scalpal, saving lives.

johnnymolloy

cheers for clearing that up for me what kind of fees are involved if i were to do it as mature student

Biologic

Not sure really. I think there's a minimum age on that route too. I went the graduate route. Your best bet is to repeat the leaving cert or finish your degree. Im getting the impression you don't know what you could be getting yourself in for. It's not just a case of deciding you want to do it and paying the fees. Places are scarce and the road to surgery takes ages. I know it seems like an attractive career, but try to do a lot more research into it before you commit.

johnnymolloy

ye i will definitely do more research on it before i make my decision. can you reccomend any sites that i could do that on?

the thing is theirs no way of me going back and doin the leaving and hoping to get 570 as i didnt do all honors subjects and i honestly cant bare doin anymore of the accounting its honestly not for me so im left with the mature student route

Biologic

I don't really know any sites dedicated to that sort if stuff. You could try the CAO website and ring the individual admissions offices for each medic school to ask about mature entry. As far as I know, mature entry is the most difficult way to get in (with regards to percentage of applicants accepted).
I'd be doing you no favours by sugar coating the truth: if you feel that scoring well in the LC is totally impossible for you, then the chances are you'll find medicine too difficult. I hope I'm wrong.

Sid_Justice

To become a Surgeon you need a medical degree first and foremost (and many years training after that). To get a medical degree you can apply for Graduate medicine if you already have 2.1 Level 8 Degree in another field and apply via GAMSAT (fees >50000). If you don't meet this requirement you can apply as a mature student which is individual dependent process that requires and interview. Fees here could be as low as 6000, or even lower if you meet grant requirements.

Without demonstrating a strong academic past history or a very strong academic potential you will find it difficult to get into any medical course in this country or abroad.

chanste

Just thought I'd throw out the idea that you might consider changing the degree you are doing to something other than medicine (If only to allow you to apply by GEM route). There are many threads on the boards here where people debate the merits of alternatives to medicine, but some of the obvious ones would be nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, biochemistry etc.

I try to encourage anybody to be as positive about things as possible, and if you are determined you may well get into medicine. Perhaps before committing to the cost, and acedemic demands of a medical degree you should really consider if you are suited to it (Only you know if you could do this kind of work so be realistic with yourself). Can you picture yourself spending upwards of 8 hours per day studying? While I'm by no means the best student in the class I'm no fool either and even doing that kind of work I'm scraping by in 2nd year med as would be a similar story for many of my fellow students.

yit

I think you need to research Medicine a bit more because I'm not sure if you know what you're potentially getting into. NewMediaMedicine has some good info, even watching an episode of junior doctors your life in their hands (was on bbc3 a while back one check youtube) would give you an idea of the workload involved in your first few years post med as a Doctor, after that surgery is a long road. Overall it's a long hard road requiring so much work and dedication. I know a mature student who's paying 13k/year but you would need to get in contact with admissions to ask. UCD grad med's prospectus is good, has a detailed description of the modules that are taught also. It's definitely a big decision to make!!

theowen

After graduating, d'ya need a first or something along those lines to become a surgeon?

rbrbrb

you definitely need an honours anyway. i'm in medicine in ucd and a surgeon came in to talk to us a few weeks back and said you definitely need an honours although i've heard competition for certain surgery training programmes is at an all time low due to emigration. very few people in medicine get 1sts, apparently only about 5 in any year so no you don't need a 1st to become a surgeon but you do need to perform well

Also when you think about it, there is an 'art' to being a surgeon, it takes a very special person indeed to be cut out for it. Getting all the first class honours you like in medical school exams won't matter a thing if you bawk at scrubbing up and getting stuck into different parts of a person's anatomy with your scalpel and insturments and fixing, removing, modifying, fusing or whatever is required for the patient. My late grandfather had a hip replacement many years ago, I am amazed when I think of the physical work and skill that went into it by the orthopedic surgeon. They (surgeons) are definitely in the elite of the medical profession in my book.

dissed doc

don't let the length of time for a medical degree put you off. If you aren't happy in accounting, better to find that out now rather than in 5 years time.