Nurse wishing to study medicine

SHAUNGAL1983

Hi, I am a recently graduated nurse with a first class honours degree. I am considering advancing to medicine and have been scouring the net for relative information. However there is not much advice available in Ireland. Has anyone completed such a transition and could they please give some advice.
Thank you.

Coffeeandtea

I know indirectly of people who have. You will need to sit the hpat (it's an exam for med students)...and then you can apply as mature student and they will take into account your leaving cert score , your hpat results (there is a minimum you must achieve here) and your nursING degree (and results) and any work experience....you can also do a postgraduate degree in UL..it's 4 years (as opposed to 5/6 years for undergrad).


The hpat is hard; it's a sort of iq test.
and they say you can't study for it....but getting familiar with type of questions definitely helps (I think there are short prep courses available).

Medicine is an intense and difficult couse.
I know because my sister is junior doctor....so be prepared for that...it's an awful lot of work and sacrifice.

Final thing I have to say is I think working as nurse for a year or two would be no harm for several reasons

1)..if you are applying as non traditional student work experience will count

2) giving yourself a break from study...trust me medicine is tough degree ..you will sacrifice social life ect.

3)..you can save some money

4) and probably most important...make sure you definitely want to go down Dr route. .. (it will prove to interviewers too that you have experience to make that decision).

Hope that helps

(Ps someone told me that there is also postgrad in Cork. ..but I never heard of it).

Nessa859

Your best bet is probably a graduate entry medicine (GEM) course. These courses are offered by UCD, RCSI, UCC, and UL. They all require you to have achieved at least a 2:1 in your initial degree, and you have to sit the GAMSAT. GEM courses are all four years long, and quite expensive. There are loan packages offered, but bear in mind that you would be coming out of college with a very substantial amount of debt.

sneakysnake007

I agree that graduate entry to medicine (GEM) is the way to go, although it is expensive. However, there are loans available for fees which are roughly 15,000Euro per year and the course runs for 4 years with an internship year for the fifth year.

You must sit the GAMSAT, which the other poster mentioned. You can sit it in March and September in Ireland and costs around 325Euro. There are loads of posts already on boards with great information on both GEM and GAMSAT. I've spent hours upon hours reading up on it myself!

Rhinohippo

There are also courses that people do to prepare for the HPat.