Everything HPAT and Medicine 2012

yellow hen · 17-05-2012 7:30pm

C

pros_medhead wrote: »

NoHarm1994 wrote: »

I just rang UCD there asking if it was possible to do Biomed and Health Sciences or Radiography for a year (and presuming I get enough in the HPAT next year) and then skip premed. Hence being able to avoid the 8000 euro charge or something, but they weren't very helpful just saying 'there is no guarantee.' :mad:

Anyone out there have any experience of this or would I be better taking a year off next year instead of doing a year of the courses mentioned above?

Hi there, i am a current Biomed student, and have looked into it. this is an email i got from Carl Lusby who is the student advisor for Med, Biomed and international students in UCD....

I'm afraid there is not a definitive answer to this, which is probably why you were receiving the automated replies.

Because UCD offers a six year programme, students being offered through the CAO get offered this programme. Only after they have accepted, is a decision made on what students, if any, will be offered a five year place.

It would appear likely that you would be offered such a place, but there is no guarantee at this stage. Unfortunately it depends on how many qualify for the 5 year and how many places they decide to offer. This can be different each year.

I'm really sorry that I can't give you a firmer answer, as I know there are financial implications in all of this.

With every good wish, Carl

It's really not appropriate to give someone's name on a public forum like this. I appreciate you are helping someone but you should just remove the name.

hollingr · 17-05-2012 7:32pm

More people doing foundation year profitable for the medicine school + recession = less and less people "qualifying" to skip foundation year

finality · 17-05-2012 7:38pm

yellow hen wrote: »

C

It's really not appropriate to give someone's name on a public forum like this. I appreciate you are helping someone but you should just remove the name.

God, yeah, seems like Carl Lusby's very concerned about keeping their identity a secret.

http://www.ucd.ie/international/information_for_students/studentsupport/

hollingr · 17-05-2012 7:40pm

Since when is Carl a female name??

They must have added the "Ms" infront because people kept assuming its a guy.

yellow hen · 17-05-2012 8:52pm

finality wrote: »

God, yeah, seems like Carl Lusby's very concerned about keeping their identity a secret.

http://www.ucd.ie/international/information_for_students/studentsupport/

Writing an email to one person is one thing but having that email intended for one individual displayed on a public forum is not appropriate.

finality · 17-05-2012 9:02pm

yellow hen wrote: »

Writing an email to one person is one thing but having that email intended for one individual displayed on a public forum is not appropriate.

When there was no private or personal information in the email I wouldn't see it as an issue to be honest. Maybe that's just me though.

skinny malinky · 17-05-2012 9:20pm

Carl's life will be forever changed after this public exposure. She'll probably end up on Celebrity Big Brother next year.

pros_medhead · 17-05-2012 9:57pm

ok.... firstly, i was justing sharing the information i received so others could take from it, its not exactly classified ?! secondly, carl lusby is a well renowned woman, she does sooo much work for students rights, finances, problems etc as well as being a student advisor for med, her email address and contact details are publicly available...

whats the problem??

yeah, i agree hollingr, its definitely more financially beneficial to make students do premed, one can only hope!!

tweetybird4848 · 18-05-2012 12:04am

pros_medhead wrote: »

NoHarm1994 wrote: »

I just rang UCD there asking if it was possible to do Biomed and Health Sciences or Radiography for a year (and presuming I get enough in the HPAT next year) and then skip premed. Hence being able to avoid the 8000 euro charge or something, but they weren't very helpful just saying 'there is no guarantee.' :mad:

Anyone out there have any experience of this or would I be better taking a year off next year instead of doing a year of the courses mentioned above?

Hi there, i am a current Biomed student, and have looked into it. this is an email i got from Carl Lusby who is the student advisor for Med, Biomed and international students in UCD....

I'm afraid there is not a definitive answer to this, which is probably why you were receiving the automated replies.

Because UCD offers a six year programme, students being offered through the CAO get offered this programme. Only after they have accepted, is a decision made on what students, if any, will be offered a five year place.

It would appear likely that you would be offered such a place, but there is no guarantee at this stage. Unfortunately it depends on how many qualify for the 5 year and how many places they decide to offer. This can be different each year.

I'm really sorry that I can't give you a firmer answer, as I know there are financial implications in all of this.

With every good wish, Carl[/

Hey! So are you looking to skip premed next year? Do you have many points with the repeat hpat? And are many people in your year in biomed in ucd in contention for med next year with improvements in hpat? I am also in first year and am hoping to go into med next year! I have heard of huge no's o people improving greatly by repeat hosts and I was wondering how people got on in biomed in ucd:)

pros_medhead · 18-05-2012 10:59am

tweetybird4848 wrote: »

pros_medhead wrote: »

Hey! So are you looking to skip premed next year? Do you have many points with the repeat hpat? And are many people in your year in biomed in ucd in contention for med next year with improvements in hpat? I am also in first year and am hoping to go into med next year! I have heard of huge no's o people improving greatly by repeat hosts and I was wondering how people got on in biomed in ucd:)

hi! yeah i really dont want to have to do premed !! ive since changed cork to number one just purely because its 5 yrs, most of my friends went there last year and loved it. yeah my hpat has boosted me so much, im fairly certain of getting offered med, provided the points dont go extraordinarily high. Yeah theres a few in biomed, i think around half of the people who repeated the hpat are fairly happy with their results so about 7 or 8 people maybe? i have a lot of friends in general science and human health and disease in trinity and theres alot of people who have significantly increased their hpat scores in those courses too, its going to be really tough for school leavers based on this! what course did you do this year?

spasmaster · 18-05-2012 11:04pm

Not to sound like a broken record, but whats peoples guesses on overall points this year?

NoHarm1994 · 19-05-2012 12:59am

spasmaster wrote: »

Not to sound like a broken record, but whats peoples guesses on overall points this year?

My guess is...

College......2009....2010......2011................2012
Cork..........715...10...725...8....733*......5...738
UCD..........719....6...725...10...735.......6.....741
galway........712*..5...719....9...728*.....7......735
RCSI.........715*..6...721...11...732......7.......739
Trinity.......724*..7...731*..8...739*.....8.....747 (Based solely on the fact that everyone I know applying for medicine has this down 1st)

seriouslysweet · 19-05-2012 2:52am

I would advise against caring, sure you can't change it. I didn't even look at my scores, asked parents would they be happy and they said yes so they're hidden in their safe til morning after LC night! I'd say studying hard is all we can do now.

spasmaster · 19-05-2012 1:27pm

seriouslysweet wrote: »

I would advise against caring, sure you can't change it. I didn't even look at my scores, asked parents would they be happy and they said yes so they're hidden in their safe til morning after LC night! I'd say studying hard is all we can do now.

last year i looked at the hpat reuslts same day as the leaving cert. i think thats the best idea, enjoy the summer with out worrying.:)

Fiscal · 20-05-2012 10:17am

Hi guys,
Iv seen there that Reilly is interested in scrapping the hpat.
May i ask,who actually decides whether or not it will be used?The government,the colleges or both?
Afaik in the uk, some colleges require the aptitude test while others dont.
Wondering if we will end up seeing the same as them

Kirby2k07 · 22-05-2012 9:04pm

Would a score of 745 be a viable application for Med in dublin in next year's applications? I'm wondering if the points jump this year will curve off in the following?

hollingr · 22-05-2012 9:18pm

College......2009.........2010...........2011
Cork..........715...10.....725.......8....733*
UCD..........719....6......725......10....735
galwy........712*..5......719.......9....728*
RCSI.........715*..6.......721.....11....732
Trinity.......724*..7......731*.....8.....739*

If you look at the above you can make your own assumptions, or read on!

Considering that hpat results are same/slightly down this year, you can be pretty certain of getting a spot in at least RCSI.. A 13 point jump in RCSI?? Not bloody likely!! UCD you also stand a good chance, Trinity not as safe a bet but still in with a shot. Make sure you have put them down in the order of which you would prefer to go to, not by the points!!

It really all depends on bonus maths points, I guess we're all hoping it isn't too striking an effect. Personally I think there will be a 4-5 point jump this year, possibly as much as 10 in some colleges but I think that's unlikely. I could be completely wrong though so don't take my word for it.

Kirby2k07 · 22-05-2012 10:14pm

Why are the RCSI requirements slightly lower most other colleges? Surely they would be a tad bit higher seeing as there's significantly less available places or am I wrong...

hollingr · 22-05-2012 10:23pm

Everyone has their own reasons.. here's a few common things you hear thrown around when people talk about RCSI:

- High fees

- RCSI only does pharma, med, and physio, it's a relatively small college.. so some might see it as less fun, less opportunities to meet people from different backgrounds, less social, no fun campus to live on, etc etc...

- Less 'prestige' as a degree compared to say, TCD

- Perceived as being full of spoilt rich foreign students

I don't know if any of these reasons are legitimate causes for the low points.. It is what you hear being said about RCSI though. Personally I think most of the above is exaggerated.

spasmaster · 22-05-2012 10:54pm

Abroad RCSI has a realy good reputation because of all the students who leave to other countries, probably as good as trinity.

hollingr · 22-05-2012 11:05pm

Regardless if it is right or wrong, perceptions/misconceptions can effect points for any course.

TCD is the "highest ranked" university in Ireland so it stems from there I guess, but is that going to give you any advantage applying for jobs? Probably not. Might help you getting a job in affiliated hospitals though after you qualify.. but you could say the same for any of the other colleges and their affiliated hospitals. If you are good at what you do, I think that will win through. That and nepotism/cronyism!

tophat · 24-05-2012 3:31pm

Any chance of points staying the same this year?

hollingr · 24-05-2012 3:44pm

Not very likely.. but possible. A very small increase of 1-3 points isn't out of the question, very hard to predict what exactly is going to happen with the honours maths bonus points.

reznov · 24-05-2012 4:22pm

If you're a doctor it matters not where you obtain your qualifications. Employers abroad probably don't even know what trinity is or RCSI. I'm sure they know of Cambridge and Oxford however!

hollingr · 24-05-2012 5:09pm

nnnyyyeah... I went to the royal cambridge society of ireland, don't you know.

Slow Show · 25-05-2012 9:59pm

Hello everyone, anyone here who's done Medéntry in the past, did ye do the distance course or the whole shebang? I reckon if I do it I'll probably get it in a few weeks so I might actually do something productive this summer, but there is absolutely no way I'm paying the 570 for the course without the group discount, and none of my fellow med hopeful friends are interested in taking part just yet so I'm kinda at a loss as to whether to wait it out or just get the distance course?

So what I'm trying to say is did the prep course make much a difference to y'all or would getting the distance package suffice?

(also, any 2013ers who want to be my friend, PM me!

)

hollingr · 25-05-2012 10:31pm

It made a big difference for me. I went from 174 to 192 after intensive prep starting in January (only 2months prep approx but I was doing lots of hrs each day)

the more prep you do the better really, and build up slowly. I'd wait and see what happens with the hpat, don't buy anything until you are 100% sure it's staying. There is absolutely no rush to get a course.. I found people through boards.ie to get a group discount, you only need one other person.

The day course was handy but not crucial, online course is the important one, i'd recommend treating the hpat like an extra subject to practise for, doing a few hrs each week, spending a long time analysing mistakes and coming up with strategies to improve speed and accuracy and question selection.

In the mean time you can practise speed reading, doing logic puzzles, and reading emo books!

pros_medhead · 25-05-2012 11:01pm

i think the distance package is enough, tbh, i came up a huge amount from that alone

Paralysis · 26-05-2012 7:24pm

Slow Show wrote: »

Hello everyone, anyone here who's done Medéntry in the past, did ye do the distance course or the whole shebang? I reckon if I do it I'll probably get it in a few weeks so I might actually do something productive this summer, but there is absolutely no way I'm paying the 570 for the course without the group discount, and none of my fellow med hopeful friends are interested in taking part just yet so I'm kinda at a loss as to whether to wait it out or just get the distance course?

So what I'm trying to say is did the prep course make much a difference to y'all or would getting the distance package suffice?

(also, any 2013ers who want to be my friend, PM me! )

Just to give a bit of a contrasting view - I found the prep course excellent, and as someone who is fairly average at standardised testing (687.5 UKCAT if that gives you a reference point) I got 191 91st%ile, and I do attribute that a lot to the course - but mostly because it forced me to actually do some prep, as i'm always a massive procrastinator at home.

Bbbbolger · 30-05-2012 5:28pm

I still don't really buy into prep courses. I did a good HPAT last year (183) but jumped to 195 this year while only doing a week and a half of prep before the test. Didn't do a prep course, just went over a sample paper, figured out why I went wrong, then did the next one taking into account my previous mistakes. I know a lot of people give the prep courses a lot of credit and some of it is deserved. But increases in scores cannot just be put down to courses. An extra year of maturing, familiarity with the test, and less nerves due to doing it before all have a very significant say in someones score the second time around. I think you might be better off trying to find test material (ask people who have done the HPAT before or who have attended courses), do some prep yourself, and then if you really think you need the boost go for the prep course. Just my two cents though

*Everything HPAT and Medicine 2012*

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Everything HPAT and Medicine 2012