GAMSAT SEPT 2020

Medchem123 · 16-11-2020 12:08pm

leo of cork wrote: »

How did everyone get on????

59-super happy. enough for UCC or UL which I wanted. Now just which one to go to. How did you do?

leo of cork · 16-11-2020 1:16pm

I got a 55 so might get into Limerick this year as it was 55 cut off last year, worth a resit in March though I reckon

cosmo6576 · 16-11-2020 1:48pm

leo of cork wrote: »

I got a 55 so might get into Limerick this year as it was 55 cut off last year, worth a resit in March though I reckon

Fingers crossed - what was your breakdown?

leo of cork · 16-11-2020 1:50pm

S1-56 S2-55 S3-54, wasn't expecting to get over 40 so im happy out! Also points will go down across the board this year trust me so you should get UCD!

Peek1 · 16-11-2020 3:14pm

leo of cork wrote: »

S1-56 S2-55 S3-54, wasn't expecting to get over 40 so im happy out! Also points will go down across the board this year trust me so you should get UCD!

Why are you so sure of points going down? Just genuinely interested to know why you think so.

Also I hope the 55 gets you in! It's a very tough spot to be in as it's basically a lottery when you're on the very edge of the points, had 55 this year and unfortunately nothing.

Alexion · 16-11-2020 3:49pm

Yeah i would have thought points would be more likely to even go up this year?

AoifeK1995 · 16-11-2020 5:32pm

Got 56! Will definitely go again in March, but it was my first time and I'm coming from a non-science background, so I'm happy!

haileyr123 · 17-11-2020 12:22pm

I got 58 overall, worth the resit? How does entry to Northern Ireland work with entry not being solely dictated by Gamsat scores but with interviews aswell

Cal100 · 17-11-2020 2:05pm

haileyr123 wrote: »

I got 58 overall, worth the resit? How does entry to Northern Ireland work with entry not being solely dictated by Gamsat scores but with interviews aswell

I got 57 and I am personally not going to resit as I am more than happy to go to Limerick. I've also applied to Derry- have you applied yet?

cosmo6576 · 17-11-2020 2:43pm

When do applications open/close for Irish Unis for September 2021 commencement? Particularly interested in UCD. (I know I should know this)

Cal100 · 17-11-2020 2:47pm

cosmo6576 wrote: »

When do applications open/close for Irish Unis for September 2021 commencement? Particularly interested in UCD. (I know I should know this)

Open now, not sure when it closes. It’s via the CAO

Peek1 · 17-11-2020 5:16pm

haileyr123 wrote: »

I got 58 overall, worth the resit? How does entry to Northern Ireland work with entry not being solely dictated by Gamsat scores but with interviews aswell

You should be fine if you're happy with Limerick, and possibly Cork also.

Alexion · 17-11-2020 7:37pm

Its funny how everyone is like "id take limerick"...! its a lot to be like ill just accept something when youre paying back this education for years!

Peek1 · 17-11-2020 8:21pm

Alexion wrote: »

Its funny how everyone is like "id take limerick"...! its a lot to be like ill just accept something when youre paying back this education for years!

I assume everyone realizes its 15k+ plus a year and have the means to pay for it... also multiple others here have highlighted Limerick is great for grad med so its not like people are putting themselves in subpar courses.

Alexion · 17-11-2020 9:11pm

From asking a lot of people, it seems that people who get Limerick are definitely going to promote it and make the best of it as of course they should do but realistically you are just teaching yourself medicine for the first two years - that doesnt mean you wont be a great doctor at the end of it, but just a lot less guidance

cosmo6576 · 17-11-2020 9:38pm

I think the non-didactic style of UL will suit some people, but it strikes me as being less academic and thus i think there's some stigma around it unfortunately.

cosmo6576 · 17-11-2020 9:58pm

Curious - what's the age profile like here? I'm 27 myself

Cal100 · 17-11-2020 10:51pm

Peek1 wrote: »

I assume everyone realizes its 15k+ plus a year and have the means to pay for it... also multiple others here have highlighted Limerick is great for grad med so its not like people are putting themselves in subpar courses.

Completely agree. I’ve heard mainly really positive and some negative reviews, but at the end of the day I just want to study medicine so it doesn’t really matter to me where I go for that. I’ll be taking the Bank of Ireland loan out regardless

haileyr123 · 18-11-2020 12:45am

Cal100 wrote: »

I got 57 and I am personally not going to resit as I am more than happy to go to Limerick. I've also applied to Derry- have you applied yet?

Im only starting second year so I have another 2 years to do, Afraid to rely on it

ma003 · 18-11-2020 12:01pm

Alexion wrote: »

From asking a lot of people, it seems that people who get Limerick are definitely going to promote it and make the best of it as of course they should do but realistically you are just teaching yourself medicine for the first two years - that doesnt mean you wont be a great doctor at the end of it, but just a lot less guidance

I'd say a lot of people promote it cos they enjoy it even if it wasn't what they originally wanted lol. Medicine is medicine and I would never promote something that was rubbish but the only thing about not getting dublin that still stings a bit is that I have to pay rent. Otherwise a medical degree is a medical degree and at the end of the day everyone is teaching themselves as its gonna require hours of learning. I'm pretty sure undergrad at trinity does pbl too and i don't hear people complaining about it lol! My brother went to rcsi and skipped lots of lectures because he said it was more beneficial to study himself as many lecturers were rubbish so at the end of the day it doesn't really matter where you go, you have to find a way that suits you to learn! Theres so many online medical school sites such as amboss and osmosis that people use now when they have crappy lecturers in all medical schools so its not like theres a lack of resources! And yeh it could be argued that for the price we pay for fees people shouldn't have to do that but realistically all the med schools are ripping us off cos they can! It doesn't cost any other course 15 to 17 k to do a second degree and in all the medical schools besides UL the grads are put in with the undergrads for the last 2 years so its not like they are getting special treatment.

Also we have lectures all day wednesday and others spread throughout the week that supplement the case we are doing and there are also anatomy tutorials and clinical skills as well as 5 hours of pbl so its 100 per cent guidance driven so i dunno where people get the idea that we don't get lectures! Obviously to each their own but just thought I'd clear it up since people think we don't have lectures in limerick! I'd say the biggest advantage is that we are in groups of 8/9 for everything which rotate so you get so much more one on one time with tutors which obviously doesn't happen in other programs !!

DL1997 · 18-11-2020 12:40pm

Hi everyone,

I sat the GAMSAT for the first time in September and got 60. I would honestly be happy anywhere but as Im from Dublin and could therefore live at home, I am hoping to get UCD.

I know it's hard to predict but UCD has been 59 for the past four years. I don't know if I should do the exam again in March just to try and get into the 60s and be more secure with a place.

Any suggestions or comments would be really appreciated! Thanks so much

ma003 · 18-11-2020 12:52pm

DL1997 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I sat the GAMSAT for the first time in September and got 60. I would honestly be happy anywhere but as Im from Dublin and could therefore live at home, I am hoping to get UCD.

I know it's hard to predict but UCD has been 59 for the past four years. I don't know if I should do the exam again in March just to try and get into the 60s and be more secure with a place.

Any suggestions or comments would be really appreciated! Thanks so much

Well done, thats a fab score !! If you have the money and brain power to do it again tho I would especially if you are banking on Dublin and can't go anywhere else ! I almost missed out this year on Ul cos of random selection and it was sickening to be honest and just the fact that Rcsi is up in the 60s now would suggest it could happen to other colleges! Thats just my advice tho and well done really on your score !!

cosmo6576 · 18-11-2020 3:37pm

Interesting view. I too think points may go up a bit this year. What do you think the maximum increase would be? 3 points? 5? More?

ma003 · 18-11-2020 4:08pm

cosmo6576 wrote: »

Interesting view. I too think points may go up a bit this year. What do you think the maximum increase would be? 3 points? 5? More?

I dunno tbh! Like they could stay the same. I think someone mentioned this in the previous gamsat thread back in the summer but there could be 2 factors that determine it. The first is are people doing better with the online format and will it be online again in march changing the points trend. The second is that the points have been in the 60s in the years of the last recession. In 2010 RCSI was 64, ucd 61*, cork 60* and limerick 57*. So I guess the state of the economy and job stability might play into it making more people apply. I guess you could also argue people might not have the finanical means to do it too so less demand but its just a guessing game. I'd say a jump of 5 would be a lot but i guess it depends if having multiple exams online will start a new curve and cut off points or will they purposely still make sure only approx the same number of people are getting certain scores, depends on whatever way acer grade as well as demand. It would be terrible if it went back into the 60s but i guess that would mean that more people are doing well with the online format.

Alexion · 18-11-2020 4:20pm

ma003 wrote: »

I'd say a lot of people promote it cos they enjoy it even if it wasn't what they originally wanted lol. Medicine is medicine and I would never promote something that was rubbish but the only thing about not getting dublin that still stings a bit is that I have to pay rent. Otherwise a medical degree is a medical degree and at the end of the day everyone is teaching themselves as its gonna require hours of learning. I'm pretty sure undergrad at trinity does pbl too and i don't hear people complaining about it lol! My brother went to rcsi and skipped lots of lectures because he said it was more beneficial to study himself as many lecturers were rubbish so at the end of the day it doesn't really matter where you go, you have to find a way that suits you to learn! Theres so many online medical school sites such as amboss and osmosis that people use now when they have crappy lecturers in all medical schools so its not like theres a lack of resources! And yeh it could be argued that for the price we pay for fees people shouldn't have to do that but realistically all the med schools are ripping us off cos they can! It doesn't cost any other course 15 to 17 k to do a second degree and in all the medical schools besides UL the grads are put in with the undergrads for the last 2 years so its not like they are getting special treatment.

Also we have lectures all day wednesday and others spread throughout the week that supplement the case we are doing and there are also anatomy tutorials and clinical skills as well as 5 hours of pbl so its 100 per cent guidance driven so i dunno where people get the idea that we don't get lectures! Obviously to each their own but just thought I'd clear it up since people think we don't have lectures in limerick! I'd say the biggest advantage is that we are in groups of 8/9 for everything which rotate so you get so much more one on one time with tutors which obviously doesn't happen in other programs !!

More one on one time? I thought that the tutors were merely there to direct you to the right stuff rather than teaching you anything? I have heard the attendance at wednesday lectures is nothing in UL - one of my friends that done the course said they were a waste of time and worked every Wednesday. Im not doubting at all that you come out just as good as she is an excellent doctor, but personally i think the process is strange....I could accept the benefit of PBL if the cases were different every year but based on my friends experience she said they didnt even exactly problem solve as they had no baseline information, the tutor just read out a case and then they were like learn the anatomy, physiology etc. There is no problem solving. Just grabbing information off a block generated by other students passed down on a drive....

ma003 · 18-11-2020 4:53pm

Alexion wrote: »

More one on one time? I thought that the tutors were merely there to direct you to the right stuff rather than teaching you anything? I have heard the attendance at wednesday lectures is nothing in UL - one of my friends that done the course said they were a waste of time and worked every Wednesday. Im not doubting at all that you come out just as good as she is an excellent doctor, but personally i think the process is strange....I could accept the benefit of PBL if the cases were different every year but based on my friends experience she said they didnt even exactly problem solve as they had no baseline information, the tutor just read out a case and then they were like learn the anatomy, physiology etc. There is no problem solving. Just grabbing information off a block generated by other students passed down on a drive....

Oh really? Well i obviously can't speak for your friend but for every lecture that has been live online, there has been 100 plus people at them. Maybe thats due to covid and people have nothing else to do but still there are certain lectures i wouldn't miss like pharm, anatomy, immunology, others like sociology i just read the slides cos its ca based! Guess it depends on your tutor, like ours will go through stuff with us but yeh you're right its not like lecture style. I more meant with the one on one that you're free to actually chat and ask qs during the sessions rather than lecturers being busy. And in clinical skills its really nice for there to be such small groups because when we are doing an obs or resp exam they come over and make sure you are doing it correctly ! I mean like we have to come up with differential diagnosis for each case which i would consider problem solving and yeh there is a google drive with info but like most people don't want to ruin the next case so might just look for info for the current case. Like its personal responsibility, you're free to go read the next case but yeh you wont get anything out if it. And as for just getting info from the drive, thats not much different to my undergrad where had access to a drive too with notes and lecture slides from previous years. Also like its no different than using slides to copy notes. Like a grad med degree is only 2 years in lectures or pbl anyway and thats to learn the basic medical sciences that underpin disease so at the end of the day a lot of it is stuff from undergrad if you have a science background. Then you're in different counties anyway doing placements and doing clinical based learning ! Its just personal preference at the end of the day and i think if you're lucky enough to get accepted into a medical school and can afford rent and stuff then being picky about how its taught isn't the best idea! But yeh for me personally this works cos it makes me keep up with work because i know i'm gonna be quizzed in my pbl sessions whereas with just lectures I tend to find it harder to motivate myself and then have a load of lectures to work through! But each to their own! Haven't chatted to anyone who hates pbl in my course yet tho I'm sure there are one or two!

Alexion · 18-11-2020 5:10pm

ma003 wrote: »

Oh really? Well i obviously can't speak for your friend but for every lecture that has been live online, there has been 100 plus people at them. Maybe thats due to covid and people have nothing else to do but still there are certain lectures i wouldn't miss like pharm, anatomy, immunology, others like sociology i just read the slides cos its ca based! Guess it depends on your tutor, like ours will go through stuff with us but yeh you're right its not like lecture style. I more meant with the one on one that you're free to actually chat and ask qs during the sessions rather than lecturers being busy. And in clinical skills its really nice for there to be such small groups because when we are doing an obs or resp exam they come over and make sure you are doing it correctly ! I mean like we have to come up with differential diagnosis for each case which i would consider problem solving and yeh there is a google drive with info but like most people don't want to ruin the next case so might just look for info for the current case. Like its personal responsibility, you're free to go read the next case but yeh you wont get anything out if it. And as for just getting info from the drive, thats not much different to my undergrad where had access to a drive too with notes and lecture slides from previous years. Also like its no different than using slides to copy notes. Like a grad med degree is only 2 years in lectures or pbl anyway and thats to learn the basic medical sciences that underpin disease so at the end of the day a lot of it is stuff from undergrad if you have a science background. Then you're in different counties anyway doing placements and doing clinical based learning ! Its just personal preference at the end of the day and i think if you're lucky enough to get accepted into a medical school and can afford rent and stuff then being picky about how its taught isn't the best idea! But yeh for me personally this works cos it makes me keep up with work because i know i'm gonna be quizzed in my pbl sessions whereas with just lectures I tend to find it harder to motivate myself and then have a load of lectures to work through! But each to their own! Haven't chatted to anyone who hates pbl in my course yet tho I'm sure there are one or two!

yeah thats fair, i dont agree with the being picky part though, if you are commiting years of your life and accumulating that level of debt, it really is fine to be picky and choose the best one for you.

cosmo6576 · 18-11-2020 5:23pm

How old are you all? Sorry for re-asking, just curious! 27 myself

AoifeK1995 · 18-11-2020 5:30pm

cosmo6576 wrote: »

How old are you all? Sorry for re-asking, just curious! 27 myself

I'm 25! Hopefully will be starting grad med when I'm 26!

ma003 · 18-11-2020 6:00pm

Alexion wrote: »

yeah thats fair, i dont agree with the being picky part though, if you are commiting years of your life and accumulating that level of debt, it really is fine to be picky and choose the best one for you.

Oh yeh maybe that wasn't the best choice of words! I just meant its tough enough to get in anywhere so i personally couldn't have turned it down on the off chance i might get somewhere else next year when even if i hated pbl i could have adapted my learning myself anyway! But that was just me, i know people who have done the gamsat loads of times and haven't gotten it so i was just really happy to get anywhere !

GAMSAT SEPT 2020

Comments