Mature Entry Medicine 2015

crazystupid28

Congrats to all who got interviews and commiserations to those who didn't, sincerely. I know the disappointment all too well.

Ronivek, how in the hell did you not get invited to interview with your HPAT score?!

ronivek

crazystupid28 wrote: »

Congrats to all who got interviews and commiserations to those who didn't, sincerely. I know the disappointment all too well.

Ronivek, how in the hell did you not get invited to interview with your HPAT score?!

I guess either my personal statement contained some sort of red flag or maybe just wasn't very good. Or maybe HPAT really means nothing once you've been short listed to submit your documents; I'm not sure.

I've asked them for feedback but I imagine they won't say much; these places rarely do.

jody24

Mawahip wrote: »

I got an email telling me my application wasn't successful. My heart is utterly broken. This was my only chance to get to med this year as my Hpat was terrible .

wat was your hpat. i dont think hpat matter much with the dublin unis.

Mawahip

ronivek wrote: »

I guess either my personal statement contained some sort of red flag or maybe just wasn't very good. Or maybe HPAT really means nothing once you've been short listed to submit your documents; I'm not sure.

I've asked them for feedback but I imagine they won't say much; these places rarely do.

Are you doing the LC this Year? as i knew some people from last year who were sitting adult LC, their HPAT was 100th percentile and they were not called for the interview in RCSI, that's because the RCSI said their programme was for people who wouldn't have chance otherwise (their words) so basically : their HPAT was so hight they knew that another College will definitely take them, so they kept the places for others.

Mawahip

jody24 wrote: »

wat was your hpat. i dont think hpat matter much with the dublin unis.

oh trust me it does! my HPAT was 106 before you get all shocked, I did badly because I was in hospital for whole the 2 months leading to it !
a combination of bad luck, but at least i got my health right ? hahaha? haha ? ha? no one ? ok

ronivek

I got my official rejection e-mail just now. Oh well.

I really hope those of you who got interviews will receive offers; best of luck, let us know how you get on!

ronivek

Mawahip wrote: »

oh trust me it does! my HPAT was 106 before you get all shocked, I did badly because I was in hospital for whole the 2 months leading to it !
a combination of bad luck, but at least i got my health right ? hahaha? haha ? ha? no one ? ok

Health is more important! But I think for RCSI and TCD the HPAT is certainly a pretty low priority for assessing candidates. I got 100th percentile and didn't receive interview offers for either.

crazystupid28

Ronivek I am absolutely gutted for you. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of experience and references did you give in?

ronivek

crazystupid28 wrote: »

Ronivek I am absolutely gutted for you. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of experience and references did you give in?

I'm a Computer Science graduate working until recently as a Software Development Engineer. I have first aid qualifications and volunteering experience; but most of my volunteer work involves my engineering skills rather than anything else.

I gave in two references: one a professor and one a G.P.... Both of whom know me very well and gave very good references.

My clinical experience is very limited: I've had a lot of health issues so mostly it's from the perspective of a patient, although I would argue that spending time with other patients gives a much better perspective of treating the person (and all the mental health and trust issues that involves) and not just a label or a diagnosis on a chart.

I was very honest and open about my issues with health; it's possible that counted against me. I guess it would be very easy to say 'no' to someone on that basis, but it's possible there's something else about my experience or statement that didn't go down well.

UCD is my only hope at this point; I'm not holding my breath though.

crazystupid28

I used a similar tactic last year about my own experience with illness. Got a load of no's except for Cork. Like you I thought that my own perspective as a patient would give me an advantage but evidently not. I did include it this year but as an anecdote to show the importance of communication in healthcare or something along those lines.

UCD seem to only invite the upper HPAT scorers so you're definatly in with a shot. I haven't a hope of UCD but with a score like yours I wouldn't cut my losses just yet.

If things don't go your way this time around are you planning on applying again?

ronivek

I mean ultimately my experiences in healthcare have led to my decision to become a doctor; it's very difficult to skirt around that in a personal statement. Unfortunately it's also an easy way to dismiss an applicant; especially for a demanding career such as Medicine. I'm not saying that's what they've done; but they have to cut 120+ applicants down to 20-40 somehow.

Honestly I don't know what I'll do if I'm not successful. I've heard people say the schools like to see repeat applicants because it shows determination; but I'm heading towards my mid 30s now so it's not quite so easy to just throw away another year if there's some fundamental issue with my life/experience/personality that makes these schools think I'm not worthy of even an interview.

Right now I'm going through the other options in terms of avoiding mature entry altogether. It feels too much like a lottery; I hear far too many stories of people who spend years trying to get in without any consistency in how interviews and/or places seem to be awarded.

Unfortunately my personal circumstances are such that I can't realistically resit the adult Leaving Certificate. Even if I did manage to do so I could tank the HPAT next year or the year after in which case it would have been all for nothing anyway.

I could look into bumping my degree up to Level 8 and then going for GEM but that requires at least a year to achieve the Level 8 followed by a year of GAMSAT preparation. I believe a big portion of GAMSAT is based around essays and English; and that unfortunately is a weakness of mine so a competitive score would be by no means guaranteed.

So realistically mature entry is my only option for at least another two years. Kudos to all of you who have been trying for a number of years; it's a very difficult process and I really hope this year will be your year.

crazystupid28

I did the gamsat 3 years ago, got 64 and ended up 2% away from a 2.1 in my undergraduate. Its an actual beast of an exam.

Well as I said in a previous post I'm a repeater and made sure to mention it. Even though I got interviews, the competition is still fierce so I'm not getting my hopes up. Having read through previous years there's loads of entries of people with more eexperience, better scores, better grades etc. and it really comes down to how you represent yourself in a 30/40 minute interview. A lottery is the most apt discription of this entire process.

I don't know your personal circumstances but have you considered access courses? There's one in TCD but I think the deadline has passed for that and one in UCD that's on 2 evenings a week. It doesn't guarantee you entry but if you get high enough grades you're eligible for mature med consideration without the LC requirements.

Healium

ronivek wrote: »

I'm a Computer Science graduate working until recently as a Software Development Engineer. I have first aid qualifications and volunteering experience; but most of my volunteer work involves my engineering skills rather than anything else.

I gave in two references: one a professor and one a G.P.... Both of whom know me very well and gave very good references.

My clinical experience is very limited: I've had a lot of health issues so mostly it's from the perspective of a patient, although I would argue that spending time with other patients gives a much better perspective of treating the person (and all the mental health and trust issues that involves) and not just a label or a diagnosis on a chart.

I was very honest and open about my issues with health; it's possible that counted against me. I guess it would be very easy to say 'no' to someone on that basis, but it's possible there's something else about my experience or statement that didn't go down well.

UCD is my only hope at this point; I'm not holding my breath though.

Did you not apply for UCC?

ronivek

Healium wrote: »

Did you not apply for UCC?

Cork wasn't an option I was really considering to be honest; my personal circumstances make it virtually impossible to move there.

Considering how things have gone I'm going to see if there's anything I can do to change that; but I would rather turn down an interview offer and allow someone else the chance than to attend without a serious chance of being able to accept if I get an offer.

Mawahip

have anyone applied to UCC before and got in (based on mature years) or have any info about how they do things? any information will be highly appreciated.

may situation is: am 26 Y/O Sudanese but i was born and raised in Libya , I was in my 3ed year of medical school when the war in Libya started and we had to leave immediately, and sadly the universities were refusing to give papers to students proving their studies because they feared everyone will flea the country ! , so basically my family and i were resettled in Ireland with refugee statues 3years ago. and now i had to start over and do leaving cert !

I really really want to do medicine, so any info will be great!

Healium

Mawahip wrote: »

have anyone applied to UCC before and got in (based on mature years) or have any info about how they do things? any information will be highly appreciated.

may situation is: am 26 Y/O Sudanese but i was born and raised in Libya , I was in my 3ed year of medical school when the war in Libya started and we had to leave immediately, and sadly the universities were refusing to give papers to students proving their studies because they feared everyone will flea the country ! , so basically my family and i were resettled in Ireland with refugee statues 3years ago. and now i had to start over and do leaving cert !

I really really want to do medicine, so any info will be great!

This is what I was told in October: "Mature applicants are shortlisted for interview based on their person statement and their HPAT results. The personal statement is a very important part of your application and this is where you should include (with more details) what you have indicated below and also elaborate on why you wish to pursue this programme. You could also follow onto CAO any references that you think will strengthen your application."

However, if you do a search, you'll find mature entry threads from years back on here (although you might have to trawl through quite a lot of posts)

Mawahip

Healium wrote: »

This is what I was told in October: "Mature applicants are shortlisted for interview based on their person statement and their HPAT results. The personal statement is a very important part of your application and this is where you should include (with more details) what you have indicated below and also elaborate on why you wish to pursue this programme. You could also follow onto CAO any references that you think will strengthen your application."

However, if you do a search, you'll find mature entry threads from years back on here (although you might have to trawl through quite a lot of posts)

thanks Healium

TallGlass

crazystupid28 wrote: »

I don't know your personal circumstances but have you considered access courses? There's one in TCD but I think the deadline has passed for that and one in UCD that's on 2 evenings a week. It doesn't guarantee you entry but if you get high enough grades you're eligible for mature med consideration without the LC requirements.

Hi there, just reading over this and looking at courses to do next year its a bit late now for medicine but I have an interest in the course and would like to work in this area and study. I am 25 and my LC is pretty bad, scored 160 with a F in OL Maths and D1 in Foudation Irish, I done biology at OL and I got a B3 I think. I always liked science and with some effort I could easily get a good grade in Maths.

So my questions, is it LC results important for mature entry? Also which courses would be access courses to medicine that I could take next year?

Well done to all that got in this year seems intense !

crazystupid28

TallGlass wrote: »

Hi there, just reading over this and looking at courses to do next year its a bit late now for medicine but I have an interest in the course and would like to work in this area and study. I am 25 and my LC is pretty bad, scored 160 with a F in OL Maths and D1 in Foudation Irish, I done biology at OL and I got a B3 I think. I always liked science and with some effort I could easily get a good grade in Maths.

So my questions, is it LC results important for mature entry? Also which courses would be access courses to medicine that I could take next year?

Well done to all that got in this year seems intense !

If you go in as a traditional student, you need at least 480 pts plus HPAT. Each college will have their own points, a quick Google search will get you last years points. If I could go back now, I'd have just resat my LC instead of doing my Masters.

As far as I know you still need to meet the matriculation requirements of each college. More specifically the higher level biology,physics and/or chemistry requirements. For TCD and UCC, a HL B3 and HL C3 is required for bio, Chem or physics. For RCSI, UCD and NUIG its just 1 at C3 (I think?). Someone feel free to correct me. I have to resit my HL Chem this year even though I did chemistry in my first degree.

For access courses, both TCD and UCD run them. TCDs deadline has passed but UCDs won't open until August. It's expensive though but done part time (evenings) but there's no guarantee of a place in med.

Finally, you need to show that you've researched the course and have some voluntary experience. From what I understand, it doesn't necessarily have to be clinical but you need to be able to show how it relates to a career in med (what you did,saw,learned etc.). It's notoriously diffulicult to get shadowing experience in a clinical environment (patient confidentiality and all that) but there's loads of different organisations screaming out for people. All if mine just happened to be health related but you essentially need to demonstrate teamwork, working under pressure, professionalism yada yada yada.

I'm in my phone at the minute but I'll pm you some links later if you want.

TallGlass

crazystupid28 wrote: »

If you go in as a traditional student, you need at least 480 pts plus HPAT. Each college will have their own points, a quick Google search will get you last years points. If I could go back now, I'd have just resat my LC instead of doing my Masters.

As far as I know you still need to meet the matriculation requirements of each college. More specifically the higher level biology,physics and/or chemistry requirements. For TCD and UCC, a HL B3 and HL C3 is required for bio, Chem or physics. For RCSI, UCD and NUIG its just 1 at C3 (I think?). Someone feel free to correct me. I have to resit my HL Chem this year even though I did chemistry in my first degree.

For access courses, both TCD and UCD run them. TCDs deadline has passed but UCDs won't open until August. It's expensive though but done part time (evenings) but there's no guarantee of a place in med.

Finally, you need to show that you've researched the course and have some voluntary experience. From what I understand, it doesn't necessarily have to be clinical but you need to be able to show how it relates to a career in med (what you did,saw,learned etc.). It's notoriously diffulicult to get shadowing experience in a clinical environment (patient confidentiality and all that) but there's loads of different organisations screaming out for people. All if mine just happened to be health related but you essentially need to demonstrate teamwork, working under pressure, professionalism yada yada yada.

I'm in my phone at the minute but I'll pm you some links later if you want.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I am starting to wonder about my LC results, I am not happy with them at all. In fact I am fairly certain I could easily hit around 450/500 mark. I was so lazy and had no interest in school. Now at 25 I see the bigger picture now. In IT at the moment in a helpdesk role looking into the network role, I don't think it will be for me. The thoughts of earning a place doing medicine has me excited and if I had of thought about all this in school I wouldn't be coming back 7 years later !

I spend the years from 20/23 focusing on a career in the Garda and jointing the reserves. But didn't make it to the top tier only band 2 so I have pretty much wrote that off but I still do the Reserves. Again I feel I didn't do so well as in the back of my mind if I did do well I wouldnt get in due to LC results.

Should I resit the entire exam or just take Maths and Biology for example at HL. Which I would be certain I could do well in.

Mawahip

Hello everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the weather , and to those who have interviews on Thursday and Friday how is the preparations going?

Can someone help me with this please ? I just received a letter ( by post) from UCD saying the following :

" Dear......
Your application to University College Dublin has been received though the Central Application Office.
I note that you have previously registered to a Medical degree programme.
If you have successfully completed your examinations, please arrange to have an academic transcript from your college (detailing your courses and examination results, including any for the current session ) sent to this office before 1st July.
if you have not successfully completed your examinations, you must submit a confidential letter to the direct of admissions explaining why the relevant examinations were not successfully completed, your application then will be given individual consideration.
please quote you CAO number when submitting transcripts and in all correspondence in connection with your application.
if we do not receive the required documentation by this date we will assume that you no longer wish to continue with the application. "
ok, am so confused as for what does this mean? have any one got this letter ?

RichieRichRich

Mawahip wrote: »

Hello everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the weather , and to those who have interviews on Thursday and Friday how is the preparations going?

Can someone help me with this please ? I just received a letter ( by post) from UCD saying the following :

" Dear......
Your application to University College Dublin has been received though the Central Application Office.
I note that you have previously registered to a Medical degree programme.
If you have successfully completed your examinations, please arrange to have an academic transcript from your college (detailing your courses and examination results, including any for the current session ) sent to this office before 1st July.
if you have not successfully completed your examinations, you must submit a confidential letter to the direct of admissions explaining why the relevant examinations were not successfully completed, your application then will be given individual consideration.
please quote you CAO number when submitting transcripts and in all correspondence in connection with your application.
if we do not receive the required documentation by this date we will assume that you no longer wish to continue with the application. "
ok, am so confused as for what does this mean? have any one got this letter ?

I'd say they want to know why you didn't finish the medical programme i.e. Where you kicked out, financial issues etc. They could be grounds to not interview you.

Best of luck to all those with interviews tommorow. Please tell us how they go, the questions etc

I managed to pull of a 62 in the GAMSAT which was a huge shock seeing as I didn't study for it beyond a skim over a chemistry book the day before. A bit jammy alright but hopefully I can get a loan sorted and start GEP this September!

Sligo1

RichieRichRich wrote: »

I'd say they want to know why you didn't finish the medical programme i.e. Where you kicked out, financial issues etc. They could be grounds to not interview you.

Best of luck to all those with interviews tommorow. Please tell us how they go, the questions etc

I managed to pull of a 62 in the GAMSAT which was a huge shock seeing as I didn't study for it beyond a skim over a chemistry book the day before. A bit jammy alright but hopefully I can get a loan sorted and start GEP this September!

Congratulations! That's a fantastic result! Can I ask you what your prior degree was? Ie... Did you manage to get that result with a good background or are you from a completely unrelated discipline?

Mawahip

RichieRichRich wrote: »

I'd say they want to know why you didn't finish the medical programme i.e. Where you kicked out, financial issues etc. They could be grounds to not interview you.

Best of luck to all those with interviews tommorow. Please tell us how they go, the questions etc

I managed to pull of a 62 in the GAMSAT which was a huge shock seeing as I didn't study for it beyond a skim over a chemistry book the day before. A bit jammy alright but hopefully I can get a loan sorted and start GEP this September!

this literally came out of the blue i will call them and send the documents and pray .

Congratulations on your results ! they are fantastic, well done ! good lock in the loan and keep us updated

RichieRichRich

Sligo1 wrote: »

Congratulations! That's a fantastic result! Can I ask you what your prior degree was? Ie... Did you manage to get that result with a good background or are you from a completely unrelated discipline?

Thanks!! I have 1.1 pharmacy degree from RCSI and currently doing my masters. I put what little time I had to study into the hpat because I was hoping for mature entry to trinity. Got 148 and no invite to interview.

Then that gamsat result fell in my lap. Swings and roundabouts I guess!

Sligo1

RichieRichRich wrote: »

Thanks!! I have 1.1 pharmacy degree from RCSI and currently doing my masters. I put what little time I had to study into the hpat because I was hoping for mature entry to trinity. Got 148 and no invite to interview.

Then that gamsat result fell in my lap. Swings and roundabouts I guess!

Fair play! An excellent result. A friend of mine has just completed his 4 year GEM and had a background in Pharmacy. A great background to go in with.

ronivek

Congratulations RichieRich!

Best of luck everyone attending interviews today and tomorrow.

RichieRichRich

ronivek wrote: »

Congratulations RichieRich!

Best of luck everyone attending interviews today and tomorrow.

Cheers man!

Anyone interviewed today care to share on the experience??

jody24

RichieRichRich wrote: »

Cheers man!

Anyone interviewed today care to share on the experience??

which interview do u mean? if trinity i seriously made them laughing all the way though not sure if making them laugh all the way is a good point or a bad one?

RichieRichRich

jody24 wrote: »

which interview do u mean? if trinity i seriously made them laughing all the way though not sure if making them laugh all the way is a good point or a bad one?

️Haha really? I'd say that's good. What were the questions?