GAMSAT 2018

alaskaalaska wrote: »

Where can you get statistical information regarding GEM such as;

1. How many people sit GAMSAT each year in Ireland ?
2. How many people apply for GEM each year in Ireland ?
3. How many places are given to Irish graduates in the 4 GEM Schools ?
4. Which of the GEM schools resorted to randomised selection last year in Round 0 ?

Also I am puzzled as to why where one does not get a Round 0 offer because of randomised selection why the Schools do not tell you what your place is in the waiting list . That waiting list is set in stone once randomised selection has been used at a cut off point . You can only go up on that list if places are offered in Round 1 . Surely if you are number 40 ( having been allocated to lowest random number ) on a waiting list of 40 you should be put out of your misery and know that your prospects are nigh to Zero . I am on 55 for UL with a very low random number and feel I should know where I am on the UL waiting list.

Any thoughts or suggestions

Hey I don’t know all of your answers but

2) At the RCSI open day the admission’s officer said usually there are around 1000 applications to GEM through the cao and this year there were 800 (can’t remember exact figures but approx).

4) If you google cao cutoffs 2017, 2016, 2015 etc. you can find the round 0 offers for previous years and when there was * after it then it went to random selection.

Also, how do you know that you’ve got a very low random number? Are you assuming this because you didn’t get an offer on 55 or can you check your number somewhere?

In 2016 round 0 was 55* and the next rounds were 55, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about

alaskaalaska wrote: »

Thanks medgirl18 for that information . To answer your question , you are entitled to get your randomised number from CAO and also the range of numbers from within which it was selected. My brother studied law and he told me to write a strong letter to CAO telling them I was entitled to both my number and the range of numbers from which it was selected . I had written politely previously asking for it and was referred to UL which in turn said the numbers were for CAO . I got a reply within a few hours when I sent the second letter . My number was in the early 200s . The range of numbers from within which all the randomised numbers for UL were selected this year was 1 to 1000 according to CAO . The law of averages suggests that of every 5 people who might get a round 1 offer I will be the last to get an offer . I dread the thought that there could be 40 people on 55 and on the waiting list and that my place on the list maybe 34th or 35th . If I knew that the numbers on 55 was high and given that I now know that I was in the bottom 20% , I could rest easy for the next 2 weeks knowing that I was not in contention . It seems an unnecessary stress on people who tied for a place and simply by chance were not given a place . If there was draw then what harm could it do to tell you what the result of the draw was

No problem at all. Oh that’s very interesting, I wasn’t aware of that at all. I’ll definitely contact them to try find out mine!

Sorry to hear that you didn’t get a higher number - you just have to hope that there aren’t many still waiting on 55.

I’m only on 54 so I feel that my only chance would be in the unlikely even that it goes to 54* and I’ve a high random number. The waiting really is the worst! I think two and a half weeks between round 0 and round 1 is a huge gap too when people will have accepted or rejected their offers after only one week!

Kirby2k07 wrote: »

edit

Anyone know anyone who has not accepted offers from UCD , RCSI , UCC or UL by 5.15 yesterday ? I am trying to get an idea of whether there will be a decent number of Round 1 offers from UL for those of us on 55* who were not selected or whether it will only be a few . Anyone know what happened in previous years when Round 0 was 55* in terms of how many additional offers were made in Round 1 and Round 2 ? All information ( positive or negative ) gratefully received by those of us who did not get offers on 55* and who are biting our nails for the next 10 days until 6AM on the 20th .
Thanks

alaskaalaska wrote: »

Anyone know anyone who has not accepted offers from UCD , RCSI , UCC or UL by 5.15 yesterday ? I am trying to get an idea of whether there will be a decent number of Round 1 offers from UL for those of us on 55* who were not selected or whether it will only be a few . Anyone know what happened in previous years when Round 0 was 55* in terms of how many additional offers were made in Round 1 and Round 2 ? All information ( positive or negative ) gratefully received by those of us who did not get offers on 55* and who are biting our nails for the next 10 days until 6AM on the 20th .
Thanks

When there is randomisation, there will be people who are on the cut-off who will not receive a place, that is the case every year and this year would seem to be no different.

Edit: Not sure about UL, as they have made offers below the cut-off previously, but more-so for the other institutions - haven't heard of them making many offers to below the cut-off.

CAO assigns you a randomised number for the application you have made . This year randomised numbers were chosen form 1 to 1000 . There was possibly 800 applicants this year for GEM so 800 individual numbers out of that range ( 1-1,000 ) were allocated . There are probably 320 places offered to EU Graduates in the 4 Medical Schools .. Google RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR STAT TREK to see how random numbers are generated . It only takes a few seconds to do . I did an interesting exercise and generated 500 random numbers out of 1,000 . I then counted the numbers below 200 and found that 97 numbers below 200 had been generated. That suggests to me that clusters of high or low numbers are not generated and that numbers are broadly spread within the range ( 1,000 ) . A perfect spread would have been 100 number below 200 . Assume that 60% of applicants fail to reach the lowest NON RANDOMISED cutoff which is 56 this year . 480 of the 800 numbers will be gone so the remaining pool is 320 . Let us say that 270 offers are made in Round 0 to those on 56 upwards . That will reduce the pool of randomised numbers by another 270 to 50 live numbers . Let us say that of those remaining live numbers that 50% of people on 55* are offered places this will leave 25 unallocated places and numbers . The numerical range will however have reduced by 50% and that should cut out almost all randomised numbers above 500 . If UL has 25 on the waiting list the first 5 who will get a round 1 offers are likely to have numbers ranging between 400 and 500 and not 800 to 1,000 . The acid test is what % of people on 55 were offered places on Aug 2 . If 75% of those on 55 were offered places then the first randomised numbers to be offered places might be from 250 down . If only 25% of those on 55 were offered places then the first randomised numbers to be offered might be as high as 700/750 . Its complicated . A low number may not be the end of the world if a high % of places have been randomly allocated eliminating most of the high numbers

Has anyone's loan application to boi taken longer than 4 days to process? Sent in my application over a week ago and have yet to hear anything back (other than requesting bank statements).

Hopefulgem2018 wrote: »

Mine took about 10 days - that is, from the time I submitted the application until I received confirmation that the loan had been approved. They are seemingly extra busy right now as people will also be looking to take out loans for postgrad courses etc so I wouldn’t be majorly concerned although I know it can seem torturous waiting for a response!

Yes tortuous to say the least, it's driving me insane! I was told I would have an answer by last Wednesday however I have yet to hear back.

Rainbowdash1 wrote: »

Yeah. Application was started well before offers. Like mid July. Was approved on Tuesday after offers.

And how were you notified, was it by email or phone call?

e1994 wrote: »

Rainbowdash1 wrote: »

Yeah. Application was started well before offers. Like mid July. Was approved on Tuesday after offers.

And how were you notified, was it by email or phone call?

By phone.

alaskaalaska wrote: »

Anyone get an offer from UL on 55*

Yes!

rz1990 wrote: »

Yes!

What was your number

alaskaalaska wrote: »

What was your number

They never responded to me about that. Did you get anything??

Hey guys! Good luck today, I hope that everyone waiting for an offer got good news! I'm just wondering is there anybody here who has been accepted to UCD, and is still (like me) desperately looking for accommodation in Dublin? Or can anyone offer advice on how/where you found accommodation?

Micha_8 wrote: »

I'm waiting for an offer with 53 no news yet. At a long shot will hear back in Round 2 on 29th but eager to repeat the Gamsat in March to broaden my options so either way ok.

Best of luck I’m on 54 but I’ve a very low random number so I will be one of the last 54s to get a space. It would be great to find out that they have at least gone onto the 54 list but maybe there are people still waiting on 55. I’m looking at it the same way, it’s not the end of the world and everything happens for a reason as cheesy as it sounds! UL was not my first choice at all so it will be good to broaden options with a better score in March!

alaskaalaska wrote: »

There is still a waiting list for people on 55* . I reckon that at least 70 % of those on 55* have got offers by now with perhaps 1/4 of the list with no offers , For people on 54 or 53 and for those of us without offers on 55* the key question is how many are on that 55* list and if more places become available from UCD and UCC and RCSI having made offers today to people who accepted places on the 2nd August but who have now got a higher preference School

I think the other 3 colleges all dropped a point today so there could be good chance that more people will get offers?