Mature Medicine Applicants 2014

yoppo

livk wrote: »

Haha, yeah, you say that now

If I get called to interview I'm throwing a party! Be planning a trip to Ennis

livk

If you hear screaming from Limerick on that day, just assume i'll be there as soon as possible

yoppo

livk wrote: »

If you hear screaming from Limerick on that day, just assume i'll be there as soon as possible

The screaming could be something else, it's Limerick after all!

livk

For that you can celebrate on your own

EternalGeek

Children, children we are ALL getting interviews.

Power of positive thinking!!

Jesus, I'm coming off as a bit of a hippy here...I swear I am logical and scientific RCSI GODS!

livk

We're already planning our celebration party. Nothing but positivity here. We should move the party to Dublin

EternalGeek

Excellent as a dub that is quite handy for me!

yoppo

EternalGeek wrote: »

Children, children we are ALL getting interviews.

Power of positive thinking!!

Jesus, I'm coming off as a bit of a hippy here...I swear I am logical and scientific RCSI GODS!

I'm getting one cause I put a chomp in my envelope. Who doesn't like chomps!

EternalGeek

yoppo wrote: »

I'm getting one cause I put a chomp in my envelope. Who doesn't like chomps!

My sister was applying to art college and in the Self adressed postcard you send to CAO she wrote. 'Hello, Sarah, I made it safely to Galway but now I want to come home'.

She got offers to everywhere she applied.

yoppo

Here it is. 30 cent of delicious goodness.

EternalGeek

Hate to be a hater, but I don't really enjoy a chomp, it is the item in the selection box you offer your parents or poor hungry diabetic grandparent..

Do you just have a drawer of them then Yoppo?

livk

Ah now, I have to back yoppo up on this one. You're insane. Those are always one of my favourites.

EternalGeek

Noooooo, you guys are weird...it must be a country thing :P:P:P

yoppo

EternalGeek wrote: »

Hate to be a hater, but I don't really enjoy a chomp, it is the item in the selection box you offer your parents or poor hungry diabetic grandparent..

Do you just have a drawer of them then Yoppo?

I am more of a fan of the fudge bars but I thought that might give the wrong impression... Unfortunately I don't stack my drawer with sweets... If I won the lotto it would be full of twirls, fudges, double deckers and twixs (straw for tea).
:cool:

yoppo

EternalGeek wrote: »

Noooooo, you guys are weird...it must be a country thing :P:P:P

No, that's a Dublin thing. Anyone not from Dublin is classified as a culchie!!!!

EternalGeek

yoppo wrote: »

I am more of a fan of the fudge bars but I thought that might give the wrong impression... Unfortunately I don't stack my drawer with sweets... If I won the lotto it would be full of twirls, fudges, double deckers and twixs (straw for tea).
:cool:

Thats some big dreams.

Please tell me you have aspirations towards endocrinology and want to see diabetics all day??

EternalGeek

yoppo wrote: »

No, that's a Dublin thing. Anyone not from Dublin is classified as a culchie!!!!

Naturally.

yoppo

EternalGeek wrote: »

Thats some big dreams.

Please tell me you have aspirations towards endocrinology and want to see diabetics all day??

I'm hoping to do emergency medicine. I say that now while still 28 and can stay up all night. Could I do that qualified at 34?

Speaking of specialities, what does everyone hope to do?

EternalGeek

yoppo wrote: »

I'm hoping to do emergency medicine. I saw that now while still 28 and can stay up all night. Could I do that qualified at 34?

Speaking of specialities, what does everyone hope to do?

Excellent choice, that is my second choice!

My first choice is cardiothoracic surgery because 1. I have been a Christiaan Barnard groupie for 15 years (Yes, it is true, I didn't have many friends as a ten year old) and 2. I saw bypass graft surgery done and it just confirmed for me that everything I was killing myself for was worth it:D

livk

Haven't pinned it down just yet. All I know is I want to be in surgery of some description.

livk

I saw a few Bifemoral bypasses. Incredibly cool. I refused to go for my lunch that day, they all thought I was crazy.

EternalGeek

livk wrote: »

I saw a few Bifemoral bypasses. Incredibly cool. I refused to go for my lunch that day, they all thought I was crazy.

Ha, I used to do that during my theatre placement, I'd just keep sneaking into the ortho theatre!

yoppo

My second choice is trauma surgery. I've seen it on Trauma Life in the ER and it seems cool.

livk

Ha! I only managed that once when it was quiet

EternalGeek

yoppo wrote: »

My second choice is trauma surgery. I've seen it on Trauma Life in the ER and it seems cool.

I have the box set:rolleyes:

livk

That's some super intense stuff. So cool/interesting though.

Firstirish

Hey All,

Long time reader, first time poster. I've just read this entire thread, all 16 pages and glad to see I'm not alone.

I'm a first time applicant for Mature medicine and will wait anxiously over the next few weeks checking my inbox as often as I can for any sniff of a HPAT result or an interview.

I've a mix of a Med and non-med background. Studied Mechanical Engineering (2.2 hence no GEM) and then spent the last 7 years working in Mgmt & IT consulting, but on the flip side have spent 13 years working with voluntary ambulance, and am a qualified EMT so hoping that will help me.

Have 535 LC but no Chem, only physics, so restricted to just RSCI, UCD and NUIG this year, but seriously considering doing Chem next year if this year doesn't work out, not in a position to repeat full LC just yet.

I was just wondering though if anyone knows how well or how badly HPAT correlates to other aptitude or IQ tests? A rough calc would suggest that for undergrad entry I'd need 210-ish which would be a stretch to say the least but I have done well in IQ tests in the past so fingers crossed.
Also does anyone know if the change in HPAT section weighting is likely to have an impact on the results curve?

For anyone interested in UCD, I was at the Med Visiting day a few weeks ago and asked about the number of mature places, they said they have "between 0 and 2" , last year only 1 given, the previous year none. I spoke to the Dean and he said the reason is that they see more and more people applying for GEM instead of mature, or mature LC repeats who end up qualifying for undergrad so don't really go down the waitlist route at all.

In the meantime count me in for the party and/or the support group, depending on how things go.

livk

Hi, nice to see you posting I can't answer the HPAT question with a definitive answer for you because we got the newest version of the test this year with the different weighting. Did you receive the email from RCSI two weeks ago?

The weighting will definitely have an impact on the scores, as section 3 is what was bringing everyone's score up big time over the last few years as it was the section that improved the most with practice. I'm not sure how it correlates to other aptitude tests really. There's a bit of everything lumped in there. I did practice from a lot of different types and it seems to be it's own unique mix of different things. If you're generally good at aptitude tests i'd say you can be pretty confident about doing well.

Oh, and welcome to the party. I actually think I will set up a Facebook group for everyone. It's really nice to have support throughout all this. A small group on there would actually allow us to do all that fairly easily.

EternalGeek

Great idea Liv!

livk

I'll create a group later if people are interested. Anyone who'd like to join just pm me your email address and i'll invite you to the group. I'll keep it the group private.