Pursuing Medicine.

matthew1998

I am beginning 5th Year this year and have come to a conclusion.

I would like to study medicine in NUI Galway(6 year),UCD,RCOS or Trinity.

(UCC off the list due to the demand of HC3 Chemisrty).

I have a few months for preparation before I embark on the voyage to 570ish points. Does anyone have any tips? Is there anything I should start thinking about now?

• I am doing after school study starting this September.(2 hours)
• I will be doing French,Geography,Physics and Biology.

Consonata

I will be on the same track as you although I'm aiming for UCD Med. This is what I suggest being a worthwhile exercise, as this is what I'm doing at the moment.

1. Sort your notes into folders with dividers so you know exactly where your info for everything is. For example: in my Biology folder I have my Cell Chapters separated from my Organism chapters and each topic gets its own poly pocket.
2. Next I would suggest that to keep up your language and brush up your grammar, do a few exercises on Duolingo everyday. Needn't take 15 minutes but it keeps all the French/German falling out of your head before September. Personally I'm reading a copy of Harry potter in French and its good because it helps with reading comprehension and I don't get bored or distracted doing it.
3. Figure out which of your subjects needs the most of your attention and which needs the least. Using your time economically next year is going to be essential, especially since you need to fit preparing for the HPAT into your timetable also.
4. Last, but not least, enjoy your summer! You don't want to over work/study too much so that you are going to burn out in February. A little like Duolingo, or Khan Academy is fine, but remember to hang out with your friends because next year is going to be being like a hermit 90% of the time.
   

Wesser

Don't do it. I'm several years out the other end and it's a terrible lifestyle. Very long hours with severe stress. I at one stage worked 126 hours a week on a regular basis. Have suffered mental illness as a result. Terrible pay and constant threat of being sued hanging over you. No job security and can't get a permanent job as a result I can't get a mortgage. That's after 14 years of training.
I'm sure that some people will say that I'm exaggerating and have no pity for my comment and have a tiny violin etc but I'm being totally honest.
I would advise.... Be an engineer.
Sorry to be disheartening but I wish someone told me the truth.

spurious

Thanks for your honesty Wesser. I've met a number of doctors who felt the same, it's not just you.

matthew1998 you may find more information in the HPAT threads, but make sure to listen to all points of view, not just those who say what you want to hear.

Go into it with open eyes. It's a long hard slog, which may well be worth it in the end, but a difficult roundabout to get off if you find out midway it's not what you thought.

matthew1998

Consonata wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, sounds like excellent advice!I will take a look at Duolingo.

I understand that the hours are slightly insane in the beginning and that it's no walk in the park.

Actually I was also considering engineering...
What about Veterinary (even if I had to go to Budapest or Vienna)?

emma123456

HPAT is a big part of getting into med so do not underestimate the amount of time needed for it. Yeah people say you can't study for it etc etc but in my experience having sat the HPAT this year, practise definitely helps develop the necessary skills to do well. It can be agitating at the start because it feels like you're getting nowhere but after a while, once you overcome the initial overwhelming feeling of finding it so difficult (that's how I felt anyway), you will start to see improvement. I know I'm being bias as I've only done 2 prep courses, one being in a grind school for a day and the other M*D*NTRY, but again from my experience I would definitely recommend ME. I know it's expensive but if it helps improve your score, in my opinion it's priceless! Get it straight away in September also, I waited 'til December and really only used it for January and February which I regret. It is very stressful trying to balance the LC and HPAT but if it goes well, it'll be worth all the stress in the end (or so they tell me....)

Good luck !

Doctorhopeful

Hi, to add a different point of view from emma123456 i would actually advise you to steer clear of prep courses unless you're desperate.

I have three friends who spent >€500 doing mdntry and got abysmally low percentiles, which goes to prove that it guarantees nothing.

Prep courses work off of optimising natural aptitudes. So, if you do well in the hpat after prep courses, chances are you would've done well ANYWAY. The thing that prep courses do provide is tests to practise on. However, i would recommend you buy the official acer exams online and do those first to gauge your natural aptitude in those before spending huge amounts of money.

In my opinion the most important thing you can do is just familiarise yourself with the exam and the styles of questions so that you can be (relatively) at ease on the day. As i said before, if you have the aptitude it will honestly shine through

And for the record, in regards to all the people you here who repeat the hpat and get phenomenal scores the second time around, a lot of this can be attributed to just being more relaxed and comfortable on the day (also, I wonder why we never here of people who repeat and do worse the second year.....something something prep courses' agenda)

You've got months and months to prepare, and although it's anecdotal, I got 98th percentile with no prep courses just two acer practise exams. So it IS possible :P

Arthur B

matthew1998 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, sounds like excellent advice!I will take a look at Duolingo.

I understand that the hours are slightly insane in the beginning and that it's no walk in the park.

Actually I was also considering engineering...
What about Veterinary (even if I had to go to Budapest or Vienna)?

You can also go to Warsaw, I think for vet, but there are many other places that offer medicine. I know a few guys who have just got into Bygdoszcz in Poland for medicine through English. You probably wouln't be able to learn Polish quickly I have Polish friends and when I ask them to speak...