NUIG Medicine Questions

Betts

Hi, I've been accepted into NUIG's med program this fall. Thing is, I'm an international student, totally confused towards the Irish system. The NUIG website is pretty outdated and doesn't give a detailed report on the course. So, basically, I have a ton of questions:

1. How are the lectures like? Do lecturers just read off of powerpoint presentations? Do they teach passionately?
2. Could someone please give me a detailed report of the premed classes?
3. What does the dissection part of anatomy entail? Do students do the dissecting?
4. Are grades just based on end of year exams or a continuous assessment? What's the strucutre of each exam? Are they all MCQs?
5. What are practicals? Are they labs or a histology component? Are we tested on them within the exams or on a seperate assessment?
6. How good are the facilities (top notch or average)? Does having the med school out of campus a disadvantage, or are you practically on campus everyday?
7. Can you ace a course by just reading the slides or is it necessary to study from the textbook?
8. Oh, and in terms of accomodation, how hard is it to find a place near campus when looking in August?

Sorry for having such a long list! I'd appreciate any input!
Thank you!!

MadYaker

Start looking for accomadation NOW. Do not wait until August. Galway is small and most people live within walking distance of campus.

As regards the rest of your questions I don't know as I'm not a med student. These are the people in charge of the School of Medicine: http://www.nuigalway.ie/medicine/faculty.html

Maybe if you email them they will be able to answer your questions.

jumpguy

Betts wrote: »

Hi, I've been accepted into NUIG's med program this fall. Thing is, I'm an international student, totally confused towards the Irish system. The NUIG website is pretty outdated and doesn't give a detailed report on the course. So, basically, I have a ton of questions:

1. How are the lectures like? Do lecturers just read off of powerpoint presentations? Do they teach passionately?
2. Could someone please give me a detailed report of the premed classes?
3. What does the dissection part of anatomy entail? Do students do the dissecting?
4. Are grades just based on end of year exams or a continuous assessment? What's the strucutre of each exam? Are they all MCQs?
5. What are practicals? Are they labs or a histology component? Are we tested on them within the exams or on a seperate assessment?
6. How good are the facilities (top notch or average)? Does having the med school out of campus a disadvantage, or are you practically on campus everyday?
7. Can you ace a course by just reading the slides or is it necessary to study from the textbook?
8. Oh, and in terms of accomodation, how hard is it to find a place near campus when looking in August?

Sorry for having such a long list! I'd appreciate any input!
Thank you!!

Hi Betts, first question is are you entering premed (6-year course) or going straight into first year medicine (5-year course)?

I assume you've seen this already:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/medicine/documents/medicine_guide_for_international_students.pdf


I'll assume you're going into premed (since you ask about premed classes) and try to answer your questions:

I think from the off it's important to say premed is really easy going compared to the later medical years. It's a year where you should settle into Galway and Ireland and make the most of the abundance of free time you have before it's consumed by work in the later years. You'll study most of the same stuff as other undenominated science students will, so it's also a great opportunity to broaden your horizons and get to know people outside your course and class. There is a lot of stuff you'll already know if you have a good science background from school, and a good lot of the material might be pretty dull and unchallenging for you, depending on the extent of your scientific background.

While it's a good idea not to get dangerously complacent academically in premed (you don't want to be completely brain-dead when you start in first med, as there is no "adjustment" period, you're expected to hit the ground running), make sure to make the most of the free time you get, broaden your horizons a little and enjoy life.

1. In premed you learn physics, chemistry, biology throughout the year. In semester one you've a module called Early Patient Contact (EPC) and in semester two EPC is replaced by what is misleadingly titled on the timetable as "Anatomy" but is much more accurately called "Contemporary Topics in Medicine" (CTIM). I much preferred EPC to CTIM, and I think that sentiment was shared by most of the class. CTIM seemed to be a rather disorganised module with seemingly random topics being thrown at you.

The lecturers vary as with anywhere, and some people may love a lecturer and others loath them. For the most part, I found the lecturers pretty good in premed and interested in their subject.

2. You'll have to be more specific here... The modules you'll study are in point 1. Physics, chemistry and biology are fairly self-explanatory. EPC focusses on the clinical aspect of medicine, and you'll spend some time inside the university hospital talking to patients and taking their histories. There's weekly lectures in EPC on various clinical aspects of medicine, from hygiene to drug abuse, and you'll learn some practical skills like taking blood pressure and the correct hand-washing procedure.

CTIM focusses more on the scientific and research aspect of medicine. You get lectures on a very broad range of topics in medicine, from how drug trials work, animal testing, basic anatomy, etc.

3. In premed you won't do any dissecting. As part of CTIM, you get to observe the first meds (the year ahead of you) in the dissection room for one of their classes.

4. Grades are based on a mixture of continuous assessment exams and end-of-year exams. For example, in biology, continuous assessment forms 30% of your overall grade for biology, and end-of-year exams the last 70%. Continuous assessment is usually in the form of MCQ exams, and end-of-year exams often are either a mixture of MCQs and written or just written.

5. Practicals are basically time spent in the lab doing experiments. There is some histology in the biology practicals. They're examined in continuous assessment exams (usually one for each semester.)

6. The facilities are pretty good. Education and research is remaining a government priority for investment despite the economic problems here. I don't really know how they compare with other Irish universities tbh, but I haven't heard a bad word about the medical programme at NUI Galway in Irish hospitals yet. By "med school" I assume you mean the Clinical Sciences Institute (CSI), which is behind the university hospital. You will spend a little time there in premed, but most of your time will be on-campus and you'll only spend most of your time in the CSI during the clinical element of the medical course (from the second semester of third year onwards.) It's not that far from the campus, about a 5-10 minute walk depending on where you're walking from on campus.

7. Slides will do in most cases really, you can get the necessary textbooks from the library for free (they're usually in plentiful supply) if need be for further clarification on something.

8. August is leaving it very late. I'd try to have somewhere secured by the end of this month tbh. Most of the student accommodations will probably be full at this stage.

If you've any more questions, feel free to PM me!