Irish Kids GCSE UK, how to get into ROI UNIVERSITY

[SlieveMiskish]

Hi all, my husband and I went to UCC and we have a home and family there.. We would like our children to learn to love their home city by the Lee. Has anyone educated their children in UK got them into the courses they wanted in ROI? I’m wondering should they be homeschooled for 5th and 6 th year and do the leaving certificate online, via Bruce College, or go do A LEVELS here in UK. Any advice or experience would be deeply appreciated.

I tell ya, Go on Cork! 🥰

Then move there. Stop relying on your kids going there for uni. Seriously. You’re in total helicopter territory, but not even with the excuse that it’s for their benefit - it’s for yours.

It's massively controlling.

titchy I would in a heartbeat, but life is not always so straightforward. Thank you for your input, and to all the kind replies I’ve received tonight. I wish you all the best, goodnight .

They will need to do a MFL at GCSE level for most courses in the traditional universites. I'm not sure about the TUs.

With respect OP, you need to back off and realise that your DC’s university experience isn’t about you. You say that they need to make connections and learn to love Ireland but the harsh reality is that they don’t. They have their own lives to live. You chose to raise your kids outside Ireland and therefore it is unreasonable to expect them to have/develop heavy ties, purely for your own satisfaction it would seem. If you’re so desperate then why not just move?

We’re in the north so DD and many of her friends have experience of applying to both. The CAO system is an absolute shambles compared to UCAS, definitely not as fair and far more competitive. Presenting with A levels is still a disadvantage in terms of points - this has been on the agenda to fix for many years but neither education minister has actually committed to anything.

To put it into perspective..
30 kids in her year applied for medicine, both in ROI and in the UK as advised by school. 20 achieved a place at UK universities meanwhile only 1 got accepted within ROI!

According to Google there are 6 medical schools in Ireland and 47 in the UK, so obviously competition is higher for the Irish ones. The Irish Government are currently subsidising nursing courses in NI for ROI students as ROI doesn't have enough training places.
Personally I think CAO is fairer that UCAS, its more brutal with the points and random allocation though. But its better than the game playing of predicted grades and no clear information on what the real minimum entry grades are for a course.

I’m British with no family connection to Ireland and think it’s absolutely valid considering university in Ireland - good universities with good reputations and the difference in fees.

That is solely to do with the competition for places in medical school in ROI and the legacy of Covid grade inflation which is set to end this year which has been an absolute nightmare.

I wouldn’t see the CAO as a less fair system than UCAS. You do subjects you get allocated points for grades in those subjects. For medicine and some other healthcare programmes you do the HPAT. There is nothing unfair anbout that. Obviously things have changed but before fees came in in the UK droves of ROI students used UCAS and some still do although far fewer and it is a much more cumbersome system.

That is not true. The CAO system, while tough, is much fairer than the UK system. You list your courses in order of priority, you sit your exams and then places are allocated purely on the basis of who has done best in their exams. The only unfair element is if there are more applicants on a particular level of points than places when the final places are offered randomly. I would certainly not describe it as shambolic.

The Irish system is geared towards the Irish leaving cert just as the UK system is geared towards the UK system. Irish students are at a similar disadvantage applying to the UK as UK students are applying to Ireland. Dd had a few friends who applied to the UK as well as RoI for high points courses (dentistry, veterinary, medicine). They got their chosen courses in RoI but not in UK.

Dh and I did Alevels. My kids did leaving cert. They are very different.
Dh wanted the kids to go to Cambridge and do a proper traditional subject. The kids didn't apply to the UK and did subjects not available in Cambridge.

Agreed. (Irish and have studied and worked at universities in both countries). I think the system of applying on predicted grades, and the traditional worries about extracurriculars, personal statements etc, and then having to go through clearing if you over- or under-perform, is quite mad. The CAO is has no interest in whether you’ve done grade 8 Viola or Gold D of E. If you have the points, you get the place.

To be fair UK unis don’t care about your G8 viola or DofE either…

Well, not in my experience of Admissions, but the idea of extracurriculars being somehow important still seems to be lingering around on here a lot.

The GAA ...
Transition year well handled is a great thing.(I think it depends on the year head). Two of my kids did lcvp alongside leaving cert.

We looked into this for dd but as she was applying for medicine it always felt that it would be harder to get a place in Ireland. She would have applied if she hadn't got any offers in the UK but luckily she did. There is no scope for having a bad day in the Irish system, it's fair but brutal. There is often some leeway in the UK for a missed grade as universities decide themselves once results come in. It's not a computer programme making the decision.

UCC is a great uni, lots of friends kids have gone there, though I would say it's now bigger in terms of student numbers than many well known UK unis.

My son will be doing A-levels in NI. He’s keen to go to university in ROI and wondering if there’s a requirement that one of those Alevels must be a second language. It’s a way off for him (just started GCSE course) but this would be useful to know. Can anyone share their experience? Thanks

GCSE language is all that's required. As far as I'm aware, either Irish or a MFL does the job.

That’s interesting about the nursing places. As I know more nursing places were made available the last few years. Although my dd is in fourth year in UCD and even though they started out with about 140 students in the year, a lot dropped out and it’s about 100 left now I believe.

So did they study in the real capital of Ireland then?

Thanks, that’s really helpful to know

@Hollyhobbi my kids did primary and secondary and third level in Cork. Two moved to Dublin first work but made it back for mortgages 😀 one is stranded in Leinster.
I have A Cork granny so not a blow in.

My mum is from Cork city. One of my daughters was working in the city for a year and my niece trained as a doctor out of UCC and is back down there for another year!

With respect, I don't see how that indicates the CAO is a shambles.

If anything, it indicates that entry to medicine in Irish universities is extremely competitive. And there is another layer to applying to medicine in Ireland (HPAT) that the students you know may not have been prepared for.