**HPAT and Medicine 2016**

F.Grimes

Anita Blow wrote: »

Trinners will always have Paul Tierney tho

This is true and needs to be taken strongly into consideration! PT is not to be missed :pac:

Doctorhopeful

F.Grimes wrote: »

Completely agree with this! UCD seems far and away to be the best Dublin based medical school

UCD was in the top 100 medical schools in the world last year according to The Times, first time ever for an irish med school

Robbiert

As someone who has trinity first (and is likely to get it) I'm not getting a good feeling from this thread. Hopefully despite the stress and poor organisation, the education is at least on par with UCD. Maybe trinity ball will make up for it lol

Question time: Are the placements equally split between Tallagh and James'? Hopefully the majority are in James' or there's a choice because Tallagh is an almighty trek.

F.Grimes

Robbiert wrote: »

As someone who has trinity first (and is likely to get it) I'm not getting a good feeling from this thread. Hopefully despite the stress and poor organisation, the education is at least on par with UCD. Maybe trinity ball will make up for it lol

Question time: Are the placements equally split between Tallagh and James'? Hopefully the majority are in James' or there's a choice because Tallagh is an almighty trek.

The education is good in trinity, it's just delieveried in a sub par way, particularly during 3rd year!

To answer your question! Placement aren't equally split, they are pretty much random, with regards to what you get and where! However generally the mix is one smaller hospital, a rehab/hospice, 2 medicine, 2 surgery, ENT/opth, clinical skills

pvakelly

F.Grimes wrote: »

Yeah, I've actually applied to do it!

So basically, its a year out at the end of 3rd year...Which will feel honestly like a water in the desert!

There are a few different streams. Molecular medicine, Neuroscience, Translational oncology, immunology, etc, etc, Just check the TCD website for the full list and a bit more info.

Usually Schols do the MSc, because they get it for free. Which meant a huge number did it last year. this year, I suspect maybe in the region of 10-12 students will do it!

If I get a spot I can fill you in a little more, or if you have any specific questions fire away.

Fingers crossed that you get it in that case!
Last question I promise Would you say that you had enough time in first year for a part time job, without impacting too much on your studies?

F.Grimes

pvakelly wrote: »

Fingers crossed that you get it in that case!
Last question I promise Would you say that you had enough time in first year for a part time job, without impacting too much on your studies?

Yeah it can be done! If your not commuting to far etc! I know of a good few people who had a part time job in 1st and 2nd! I think it would be completely impossible from 3rd year onwards though

FirstDraft1

<snip>

Mod: No advertising please.

Debzc

I'm really surprised about some people's opinions of RCSI. I've just finished my first year there and I love it. Yes, one or two of my friends there are disappointed they didn't get their first choice of UCD/TCD but when I ask them why they don't like RCSI, they simply say it is because they'd rather be in the same college as their friends but can't really fault RCSI's medical programme itself.

Also about the social life aspect, there's plenty of events and nights out etc.- more than I can find the time to go to anyway (I'm not a mad social person but I'm not a hermit either). Since all its courses are in healthcare, there are plenty of interesting/ fun/ educating events about careers in different areas of medicine. Also you get the opportunity to get experience in research in the summer which is funded and looks great on a CV, and people are happy to share their connections if you want to contact someone in a certain field/ do research abroad etc.

As for the student body, there are a lot of Irish there as well as others from all around the world. The majority of people are lovely and friendly and you can effortlessly make friends with people from all over.

I don't mean to sound preachy, I just feel RCSI gets a bad rep when I've found the education there is great, the opportunities/experiences are fantastic, lecturers go above and beyond and the students are lovely.

You're all of course entitled to your own opinions, I just thought I'd throw mine in. Also if anyone has any questions about medicine/ RCSI, I'd be happy to help. I know last year I had loads of questions but didn't know many people who studied medicine to query.

Best of luck and I hope you all get your first choices!

Mr Rhode Island Red

Debzc wrote: »

I'm really surprised about some people's opinions of RCSI. I've just finished my first year there and I love it. Yes, one or two of my friends there are disappointed they didn't get their first choice of UCD/TCD but when I ask them why they don't like RCSI, they simply say it is because they'd rather be in the same college as their friends but can't really fault RCSI's medical programme itself.

Also about the social life aspect, there's plenty of events and nights out etc.- more than I can find the time to go to anyway (I'm not a mad social person but I'm not a hermit either). Since all its courses are in healthcare, there are plenty of interesting/ fun/ educating events about careers in different areas of medicine. Also you get the opportunity to get experience in research in the summer which is funded and looks great on a CV, and people are happy to share their connections if you want to contact someone in a certain field/ do research abroad etc.

As for the student body, there are a lot of Irish there as well as others from all around the world. The majority of people are lovely and friendly and you can effortlessly make friends with people from all over.

I don't mean to sound preachy, I just feel RCSI gets a bad rep when I've found the education there is great, the opportunities/experiences are fantastic, lecturers go above and beyond and the students are lovely.

You're all of course entitled to your own opinions, I just thought I'd throw mine in. Also if anyone has any questions about medicine/ RCSI, I'd be happy to help. I know last year I had loads of questions but didn't know many people who studied medicine to query.

Best of luck and I hope you all get your first choices!

I had heard that there was virtually no Irish students in the college, same thing was said in a few threads I've seen on here, as well as mentions of a dodgy admissions system. Not that that would make a difference to the quality of teaching or anything, but it's something people might want to bear in mind.

spurious

Debzc wrote: »

I'm really surprised about some people's opinions of RCSI.

It's always surprising how many people form opinions about places they do not attend. It's why any sort of 'Which is better St. Jason's or St. Tracy's?' threads are kind of pointless. Nobody is in a position to say for sure and everyone's experience of any college is coloured by their own background/abilities/prejudices/friends etc.

Slow Show

F.Grimes wrote: »

Thanks to CH1123581321 for allowing me to post this PM response in the thread. .

Originally Posted by CH1123581321


Thats all I did for the HPAT, however, I did a mock exam every week, not under exam conditions, because thats a stupid idea. There is know point in racing through a mock test, in the correct time. Take your time and go through it slowly until you understand the question and the reasons for the answers. Then correct it, and go over every question you got wrong. Then add your words to the dictionary. So each exam would take about 4-5 hours to do fully. Obviously taking breaks throughout.


Feel free to ask me anything else

Great advice in general, but as someone who got in first-time a couple of years ago, I'd have to strongly disagree with doing the exam in your own time. It's just not practical. You are going to be racing against the clock, it's the nature of the test that you will be strapped for time. So there's no point in my opinion in acting as if this isn't the case, you need to train your brain to work quickly. Also, you need to be able to learn when a question is a lost cause and not worth the time you could dedicate it and to know when to rule out the highly improbable answers, make an educated guess and head on. I would advise to do the test under exam conditions, but when going back reviewing your test and your answers, to spend all the time in the world analysing questions and why you got them right or wrong. Also, if you push yourself to do it under time constraints, you will find that with each test you do, you finish it a little bit quicker and will hopefully eventually be able to get it done within the assigned time, perhaps with a few minutes to spare to go back over those educated guesses.

F.Grimes

Slow Show wrote: »

Great advice in general, but as someone who got in first-time a couple of years ago, I'd have to strongly disagree with doing the exam in your own time. It's just not practical. You are going to be racing against the clock, it's the nature of the test that you will be strapped for time. So there's no point in my opinion in acting as if this isn't the case, you need to train your brain to work quickly. Also, you need to be able to learn when a question is a lost cause and not worth the time you could dedicate it and to know when to rule out the highly improbable answers, make an educated guess and head on. I would advise to do the test under exam conditions, but when going back reviewing your test and your answers, to spend all the time in the world analysing questions and why you got them right or wrong. Also, if you push yourself to do it under time constraints, you will find that with each test you do, you finish it a little bit quicker and will hopefully eventually be able to get it done within the assigned time, perhaps with a few minutes to spare to go back over those educated guesses.

Fair opinion, but not what I would recommend.

For example, when your doing a maths question from a past paper, you wouldn't do it the allotted time for an exam. you'd think about it, so you understand the principle that is underlying the question.

You don't get faster by doing the wrong thing quickly. You get faster by understanding what you are doing, and having the required knowledge to answer the question.

My advice, go slowly. You only have around 12 exams to do, and racing through them like a bat-out-of-hell is just a bad idea.

Debzc

Mr Rhode Island Red wrote: »

I had heard that there was virtually no Irish students in the college, same thing was said in a few threads I've seen on here, as well as mentions of a dodgy admissions system. Not that that would make a difference to the quality of teaching or anything, but it's something people might want to bear in mind.

I can only go by my own experiences after studying medicine there this past year. I'd disagree with people's view that there are 'virtually no Irish students'. My class is big with about 40 CAO entry Irish students, as well as a good few Irish mature students/ graduates who have decided to do the 5 year programme. Plenty of craic all round. I have not heard anything about a dodgy admissions system aside from the odd post on threads here. Entry is the same as other medical schools: leaving cert points + HPAT via CAO and last year's combined points requirement was 729 (for undergrad entry school leavers).

I respect everyone's opinion but I'd also like to make sure prospective students get facts/ hear from people who attend each college rather than hearsay. Yes, there are more international students compared to other medical schools in Ireland, but there are also many Irish students and most of both the Irish and internationals are lovely. The higher international student numbers is certainly unique to RCSI but I would hope it wouldn't put anyone off.

F.Grimes

Debzc wrote: »

I respect everyone's opinion but I'd also like to make sure prospective students get facts/ hear from people who attend each college rather than hearsay. Yes, there are more international students compared to other medical schools in Ireland, but there are also many Irish students and most of both the Irish and internationals are lovely. The higher international student numbers is certainly unique to RCSI but I would hope it wouldn't put anyone off.

Just for context in TCD the breakdown is like this...

Roughly 190 per year.

120 Irish CAO applicants.
60 Foreign students from - USA, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore mainly.
10 or so mature students

Debzc

At the end of the day it's all about personal preference. You should take in info/ details based on facts and current students' opinions/ experiences from all of the schools, but make your own decision. Hopefully you went to open days to see campuses etc. too. You'll know yourself where is right for you.

Again if anyone has questions about the course or RCSI I'd be happy to help as best I can- just shoot me a message.

Gallagher1

Debzc wrote: »

I can only go by my own experiences after studying medicine there this past year. I'd disagree with people's view that there are 'virtually no Irish students'. My class is big with about 40 CAO entry Irish students, as well as a good few Irish mature students/ graduates who have decided to do the 5 year programme. Plenty of craic all round. I have not heard anything about a dodgy admissions system aside from the odd post on threads here. Entry is the same as other medical schools: leaving cert points + HPAT via CAO and last year's combined points requirement was 729 (for undergrad entry school leavers).

I respect everyone's opinion but I'd also like to make sure prospective students get facts/ hear from people who attend each college rather than hearsay. Yes, there are more international students compared to other medical schools in Ireland, but there are also many Irish students and most of both the Irish and internationals are lovely. The higher international student numbers is certainly unique to RCSI but I would hope it wouldn't put anyone off.

40 school leaving students out of a year of 250+. 16%, Not even 1 in 5. If I looked around a 300 seater lecture theatre with those stats, 'virtually no Irish' would spring to mind.

retweet

Gallagher1 wrote: »

40 school leaving students out of a year of 250+. 16%, Not even 1 in 5. If I looked around a 300 seater lecture theatre with those stats, 'virtually no Irish' would spring to mind.

What's the problem with the students being Irish or not? It won't be affecting where I put RCSI on my CAO next year.

Gallagher1

retweet wrote: »

What's the problem with the students being Irish or not? It won't be affecting where I put RCSI on my CAO next year.

Personally I find Irish people to be better craic and feel like I've more in common with them than others from completely different cultures. International students feel the same I assume, Im sure they would prefer to have more people of there own nationality in their year than Irish students who go on the piss at most available opportunities.

There is nothing wrong with having such reservations.

spurious

I would have thought the potential international contacts and future professional connections would far outweigh some parochial preference for 'locals'.

Anita Blow

(I'm a UCD student btw)
I don't think it's entirely fair to dismiss people's concerns as parochial. I have heard some reservations from friends in RCSI about the international aspect of it. They love RCSI and the standard of education there is great, but specifically mentioned that because such a large portion of the class is Middle Eastern (with different values, norms), the social aspect of college is affected. Others (albeit just a few people) said that because such a large portion of the class learned English as a second language, there's times when learning is affected because of the language barriers of fellow students.
Again though, you'll find that in almost all the colleges to some extent or another. UCD hosts Malaysian students for the pre-clinical years, as does Trinity.

F.Grimes

spurious wrote: »

I would have thought the potential international contacts and future professional connections would far outweigh some parochial preference for 'locals'.

I personally would far prefer to have Irish contacts, rather than a disparate collection of one or two people from different countries around the world. Especially when you think that you are most likely going to be working in Ireland.

I've always found the "international contacts" are a bit over-rated especially at this stage in your career!

Anita Blow wrote: »

UCD hosts Malaysian students for the pre-clinical years, as does Trinity.

Just for clarification, TCDs Malaysians, are full time students and not just for pre-clinical years.

Anita Blow

Ah that makes sense. In UCD there's ~100 Malaysian students and then ~100 Grad Meds who are taught separately for the pre-clinical years. Then when the Malaysian students return to Penang before Res & Final Year, the 100 or so Grad Students join the undergrad course and take their place.

I'd also echo what Frank said above about over-emphasis on international contacts. For the vast majority it will have little impact other than having some friends who live abroad. In the odd case that it does help, it's far more beneficial to have contacts in the likes of the UK/Canada/US where most of the people who do study abroad will go.

Gallagher1

spurious wrote: »

I would have thought the potential international contacts and future professional connections would far outweigh some parochial preference for 'locals'.

Come on now, having a slight preference for your own nationality or for even western nationals which you know you have a lot more in common with is hardly narrow minded or 'parochial'.

TSMGUY

Not a med applicant but as a British guy waiting to go to a British uni, I'd have to agree with the aversion to having a mostly international set of classmates. Even though there isn't a massive gulf between British and Irish culture, I'd enjoy myself a lot more being around other British students as the whole drinking and lad culture in this country is a bit too extreme for my tastes (which isn't to imply we don't get sloshed in Britain!). Having a class full of totally foreign students who probably don't drink at all and have a totally different conception of what "fun" is would definitely have an impact on your college experience. I think it's perfectly natural to count the international student rate as a disadvantage if you're not particularly eager to adjust and learn new cultures.

spurious

Fair enough I suppose, I was thinking more in terms of long term education and contacts/familiarity/knowledge of and in other cultures/nationalities which would be helpful in any career, not just medicine.

Surprised tbh at some of the attitudes.

TSMGUY

spurious wrote: »

Fair enough I suppose, I was thinking more in terms of long term education and contacts/familiarity/knowledge of and in other cultures/nationalities which would be helpful in any career, not just medicine.

Surprised tbh at some of the attitudes.

At the risk of sounding like a plebeian, I think most prospective undergrads are more worried about making new friends and getting laid, both of which are considerably more difficult when over 80% of your classmates are from vastly different cultures. In the long run, getting to know people from different cultures and building a network is more important, for sure, but in terms of the next 4 years I think most people will have more fun being around other Irishmen/women.

Debzc

It really does simply come down to each individuals' personal preferences, what they value the most and what they want out of the next 5/6 years.

I'm very happy in my decision. Others who made different decisions based on different preferences may be happy with theirs. There is no right or wrong, it's a personal decision.

F.Grimes

spurious wrote: »

Fair enough I suppose, I was thinking more in terms of long term education and contacts/familiarity/knowledge of and in other cultures/nationalities which would be helpful in any career, not just medicine.

Surprised tbh at some of the attitudes.

The contacts you need in later career, are not the ones you make in undergrad!

Whereas, having 120 docs spread around Ireland would be really valuable if you were a GP for example!

FirstDraft1

How many of you guys are looking for accommodation in UCC actually ??

IrishLassie26

Okay this might sound completely daft but I want opinions anyway!

I really want to do medicine as I am really interested in the body and how it functions and also I love the idea of helping people. However, I am really squeamish, particularly when it comes to taking bloods, stitches etc.

Does anyone else feel this way now or in the past?
Am I completely daft putting down medicine on my CAO or do you think it is a thing that can be overcome?