GAMSAT 2018

arainagusime · 11-05-2019 5:34am

Urethra Franklin. wrote: »

I got 58 myself. I was delighted till I seen the distribution curve. 50th percentile. In September's exam that was around the 70th percentile. Being how the CAO works percentiles are important for determining if points are going up or down. Just hoping the Australians are skewing the curve :P Would have loved UCD personally but sure, it'll be grand.

Same score here. The 50th percentile has been a safe enough score in past years and Australia definitely skews the curve, as the only people getting into med schools with high 50s over there are either rural or have perfect GPAs. Most people need well over 60 to get an offer over there.

Does anyone know if the CAO cut offs page on Google tells the whole story? According to that, last year nobody got into Dublin with lower than a 59. In fact the 59 had an asterisk, which means not everyone with a 59 got an offer.

I'm hoping for Cork with a 58 because of strong personal reasons, but very worried that a 58 isn't safe for Cork.

che oh · 11-05-2019 7:37am

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Two students got into UL a few years ago with 50.
This was after the final round of offers so there's always hope.

This didn’t happen

arainagusime · 11-05-2019 7:50am

che oh wrote: »

This didn’t happen

Seems far fetched alright.

Does grad medicine even have round 1 or round 2 offers?

brendanwalsh · 11-05-2019 8:10am

che oh wrote: »

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Two students got into UL a few years ago with 50.
This was after the final round of offers so there's always hope.

This didn’t happen

Yes it did. Keep singing from the hymn sheet however, don't let me be the one to burst your UL bubble.

Source: know a person who works in admissions.
UL have had awful luck with people dropping out after a few weeks when they get offered dublin in the later rounds.

che oh · 11-05-2019 9:51am

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Yes it did. Keep singing from the hymn sheet however, don't let me be the one to burst your UL bubble.

Source: know a person who works in admissions.
UL have had awful luck with people dropping out after a few weeks when they get offered dublin in the later rounds.

Nope didn’t happen Brendan - Also have source - Give me the year and I’ll tell you exactly - I’ll help you out sure - lowest entry into UL in last 8 years was 52 - happened 3 times - Take Brendan with a pinch of salt lads ðŸ™„

galwaypharmer · 11-05-2019 1:40pm

Careers portal is fairly accurate with last round GAMSAT scores- In 2018 UCD definitely had 58 at random selection as I emailed them and pretty sure RCSI had 58*.

brendanwalsh · 12-05-2019 2:59am

Absolutely did happen, not only do I know someone in admissions but also had it on authority as well from a colleague working as a clinical based learning tutor.

Not sure the years it happened, will clarify and let you know.

For everyone to be aware, after the round three offers, the colleges can still continue to ring and make offers if people drop out a few weeks into the course.
Ul won't want to publicise the fact someone wth very low GAMSAT scores got in, so you won't find it on the CAO as these places offered outside the formal cao rounds.

Don't believe all you read from a first year medical student who thinks he knows it all.

Indecisivegirl · 12-05-2019 5:14am

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Absolutely did happen, not only do I know someone in admissions but also had it on authority as well from a colleague working as a clinical based learning tutor.

Not sure the years it happened, will clarify and let you know.

For everyone to be aware, after the round three offers, the colleges can still continue to ring and make offers if people drop out a few weeks into the course.
Ul won't want to publicise the fact someone wth very low GAMSAT scores got in, so you won't find it on the CAO as these places offered outside the formal cao rounds.

Don't believe all you read from a first year medical student who thinks he knows it all.

I honestly wouldn’t believe this guy. Last year before offers came out, he said he had a friend who worked in the CAO and that UL cut offs would be 51 (which raised loads of peoples hopes) then the offers came out and ULs cut offs were 55. This was among other incorrect cut off scores that he was apparently told by this friend.

arainagusime · 12-05-2019 1:49pm

New subscribers of this thread - brendanwalsh is not a fan of UL and frequently comments on the lower GAMSAT scores. He never says anything positive, and exaggerates for some reason. In some circles, he might be called a troll. Here is the proof (goes back years): https://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?query=brendanwalsh

UL's med school was built by a philanthropist billionaire whose mission was to rejuvenate education in Ireland, particularly in underappreciated areas. It is obviously going to have lower stats in its early years. The campus is lovely due to the massive funding and the people are sound. Limerick is up and coming and cheap to live in. Anyone who wants to practice medicine could do a lot worse than go to UL.

WorthlessPeon · 13-05-2019 2:05am

Interested in what people's opinion is of the percentile curve? I assume they're including scores from different countries such as Australia?
Secondly, why other than Australian entry being more competitive do they tend to score higher? Is it a different scoring system? Quite a few seem to score 70-90 in certain sections and I've rarely heard of similar scores in Ireland?
Just curious as to what people's take on this is

hughie101 · 13-05-2019 12:45pm

Is there much of a chance of getting into Ul on a 53? According to the CAO, medicine applicants are down by 3 percent and this years Dublin sitting was in RCSI instead of UCD, which is a smaller venue. I know the cut-off score depends on the score that the lowest person admitted to the course obtained but I just feel that medicine doesn't seem as appealing as it did a few years ago since theres a lot more money and opportunities in the country. This was my second time sitting the exam and im so sickend that i didn't get an extra point or two

Urethra Franklin. · 13-05-2019 5:36pm

medgirl18 wrote: »

Hey, well done on your score!

I’d be very shocked if you didn’t get UL with that but obviously we never know what’s going to happen. It would be highly unusual for it to jump that much though!

I got 54 last year with no offer but several people did get in with 54. You can actually find out your random number from the CAO, which tells you where you stand in the event that more than one person with 56 is competing for the last place. Mine was very low, obviously. I also know a current UL second year who got in at the very end with 53 in 2017 but all the 54s got in then.

Anyway up until now 56 has always been enough to get UL so I think you can be cautiously optimistic

Hey Medgirl, just wondering how you figure out your random number? Congratulations on your amazing score btw!

medgirl18 · 13-05-2019 6:29pm

Urethra Franklin. wrote: »

Hey Medgirl, just wondering how you figure out your random number? Congratulations on your amazing score btw!

Thanks a mil Urethra! I just emailed them through the contact form on the CAO website and they got back to me almost immediately. You are given a different random number (between 001 and 999) for each college you apply for. I just asked them for my UL one as I knew it was the only place I’d have a chance for on 54 but I assume they could give you all four random numbers, if you’ve put down all the colleges on your application that is!

Leoninus · 16-05-2019 10:20pm

Hey guys! Quick question...

I sat the GAMSAT in Dublin in March this year and got 68 (I maintain there was a clerical error, I was expecting MAYBE a 60). I chucked all 4 GEM courses down on my CAO in this order: 1.UCD, 2.RCSI, 3.UCC and 4.UL.

I'm now wondering, since I'm likely to get my first choice, UCD, is it worth altering my CAO so that that's the only choice - as in, is there any chance that somehow I'll only get an offer to Cork or Limerick? I'm asking because I live in Dublin, and to be offered a place at UCC and UL would be pretty much impossible to accept for practicality reasons. I put all 4 down for the craic really, but now worry about the possibility of an offer from one of the non-Dublin unis!!

indiep · 16-05-2019 10:24pm

hughie101 wrote: »

Is there much of a chance of getting into Ul on a 53? According to the CAO, medicine applicants are down by 3 percent and this years Dublin sitting was in RCSI instead of UCD, which is a smaller venue. I know the cut-off score depends on the score that the lowest person admitted to the course obtained but I just feel that medicine doesn't seem as appealing as it did a few years ago since theres a lot more money and opportunities in the country. This was my second time sitting the exam and im so sickend that i didn't get an extra point or two

Hate to point this out but you can use your GAMSAT score for 2 years so you'd assume everybody who got <55 and didn't get in will be reapplying in the hope that it goes down or they are randomly selected? There was only a handful of people who got in on 54 to UL and they all had to start late.

brendanwalsh · 17-05-2019 1:05am

Leoninus wrote: »

Hey guys! Quick question...

I sat the GAMSAT in Dublin in March this year and got 68 (I maintain there was a clerical error, I was expecting MAYBE a 60). I chucked all 4 GEM courses down on my CAO in this order: 1.UCD, 2.RCSI, 3.UCC and 4.UL.

I'm now wondering, since I'm likely to get my first choice, UCD, is it worth altering my CAO so that that's the only choice - as in, is there any chance that somehow I'll only get an offer to Cork or Limerick? I'm asking because I live in Dublin, and to be offered a place at UCC and UL would be pretty much impossible to accept for practicality reasons. I put all 4 down for the craic really, but now worry about the possibility of an offer from one of the non-Dublin unis!!

If you get an offer from Cork or limerick you don't have to accept them.

You're guaranteed to get dublin anyway as the minimum points for dublin have always been less than 68

Congrats and good luck in UCD, it's a beautiful college.

galwaypharmer · 17-05-2019 8:27am

In the event you get offered Cork/Limerick in the first round offers and accept them, is it not possible to get offered Dublin if the points dropped in later rounds given you had accepted Cork/Limerick?

arainagusime · 17-05-2019 3:02pm

galwaypharmer wrote: »

In the event you get offered Cork/Limerick in the first round offers and accept them, is it not possible to get offered Dublin if the points dropped in later rounds given you had accepted Cork/Limerick?

Same question.

If you accept UL on a 58 in round zero because it was your only option, are you not offered UCC in round 2 if the points drop?

medgirl18 · 17-05-2019 3:13pm

arainagusime wrote: »

Same question.

If you accept UL on a 58 in round zero because it was your only option, are you not offered UCC in round 2 if the points drop?

Yes you’d get UCC/Dublin in the next round assuming that you had them ahead of UL on the CAO. But if UL was your first choice then you would not get anywhere else even if you did have a high enough score at any offer stage.

Celestial12 · 17-05-2019 9:56pm

Congrats to everyone on your results!

If you have the points you'll get your first offer, it doesn't matter what you have listed after that. The points are unlikely to change by more than 1 point from last year, unless they've changed the quota for places in any of the colleges etc Otherwise, as you can see from previous years, the points have remained steady with little to no change. Just make sure all your documentation is in order and the process is quite easy.

If you accept an offer from UL in round 0 you will get an offer from another University in a later round if you have them as a higher choice, and a place becomes available. A couple of people in my class got late offers.

Indecisivegirl · 18-05-2019 5:42am

Does anyone know how many EU students UCC takes?

Celestial12 · 18-05-2019 12:44pm

Indecisivegirl wrote: »

Does anyone know how many EU students UCC takes?

I think they take about 75 students in total, split approx 50% EU/International.

Leoninus · 19-05-2019 9:43am

Thanks for your help guys!

As it turns out, the CAO have the free 'change of mind' thing open until 1st of July I think, so I just removed UCC and UL from my choices just to be sure. It was very easy. There's no sense in putting down courses I don't intend to accept, in fact it's clearly just stupid.

Also, having checked with CAO, the GEM offers are all sent out together on the 1st of August.

Good luck to everybody!

Edit: just to clarify, I mean the actual process of removing UCC and UL was physically very easy with the website's interface, I don't mean it was a clear and no-brain decision! Honestly, if UL were somehow transplanted to Dublin I think I'd prefer to go there. It looks awesome.

esme95 · 21-05-2019 1:02pm

Guys looking for some serious advice here. Got 56, been doing a lot of thinking and I think that I am just going to take a medicine offer. The thing is, I don't know if I will. I know that nobody knows what the points will be like yet, but do you think a score of 56 would be likely to be enough? I am not sure if I should hand in my notice fot work, given that I need a notice period of about 13 weeks is required.

arainagusime · 26-05-2019 5:59pm

esme95 wrote: »

Guys looking for some serious advice here. Got 56, been doing a lot of thinking and I think that I am just going to take a medicine offer. The thing is, I don't know if I will. I know that nobody knows what the points will be like yet, but do you think a score of 56 would be likely to be enough? I am not sure if I should hand in my notice fot work, given that I need a notice period of about 13 weeks is required.

56 is enough to be cautiously optimistic for UL. Nobody can really know, but what has changed since last year? The economy is still booming, and Acer hasn't changed their scoring system, so a 56 this year is about the same as a 56 last year.

What did you end up doing?

jody24 · 26-05-2019 6:17pm

Hi guys, i have lots of gamsat material including des oneills and golden gamsat book. cant really remember all but i am willing to sell them for a very cheap price (lets say 100 euro for all) or if the person really needs them and cant afford, i am willing to give him/her for free and hope he/she pas it round too.

esme95 · 27-05-2019 4:25pm

arainagusime wrote: »

56 is enough to be cautiously optimistic for UL. Nobody can really know, but what has changed since last year? The economy is still booming, and Acer hasn't changed their scoring system, so a 56 this year is about the same as a 56 last year.

What did you end up doing?

Thanks. I am going to hand in my notice tomorrow, hopefully I won't end up needing to repeat with a 56.

si1234 · 29-05-2019 5:47pm

I am on a 54, from 2018 sitting and due to personal reasons couldn't repeat this year

very worried and just hoping UL drops / get random selection. Is it from CAO or from UL you find out your randomly assigned number?

medgirl18 · 30-05-2019 12:10am

si1234 wrote: »

I am on a 54, from 2018 sitting and due to personal reasons couldn't repeat this year very worried and just hoping UL drops / get random selection. Is it from CAO or from UL you find out your randomly assigned number?

I got mine last year by emailing the CAO

I was on 54 with a random number of 200 and it wasn’t enough. I heard of someone getting in on 54 with a random number in the 600s but I’m not sure how much lower it went after that. People definitely got offers on 53 the year previously (my friend was one of them) but UL didn’t publish that their cut off went that low. Best of luck!

1direction · 19-06-2019 3:28pm

Hey guys! I’ve a score of 57 (didn’t do a whole pile of work for the ole gamsat). Was wondering what people think my chances of getting a UCC offer would be? Slightly apprehensive of UL as I’ve just done a couple of years Vet Med in Ucd which started to introduce problem based learning (now this year was their first year at it) and didn’t really feel like I learned as much through that as I would have with lectures. Now I’m obviously going to take a UL offer if it came but ideally would love a UCC offer

GAMSAT 2018

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