Studying medicine in Ireland

[Melassa]

My DD wants to study medicine and is going through the process now with CAO but neither of us knows much about Irish universities, so I just wanted to get some feedback from people more enlightened than us.

DD has put down only 3 universities, all in Dublin (Trinity, UCD and RCSI, in that order) as she thinks it’s easier to travel out of (we live elsewhere in the EU so she’d need easy access to flights) plus she’s unconvinced about the west of Ireland as she was told by friends who used to go to Cork every summer that it rains all the time. Not sure how true this is, but as we live in a Mediterranean country as trivial as this seems it is something possibly to consider. Also it appears the university of Limerick has a different HPAT exam? So she’d need to take it twice? Is this true?

Does anyone have any insight? I imagine the 3 universities above are stiff competition to get into. DD picked the order purely on international standing, she liked the courses for all 3. Is there anywhere else anyone could recommend? Reading up I heard good things about Galway (yes west of Ireland but if the course is good she’d probably be too busy to go outside to get rained on anyway). If DD only puts down 3 universities will it be looked upon unfavourably?

Finally, I hear accommodation in Dublin and elsewhere is hard to come by and eye wateringly my expensive. Have prices really shot up in the last year? Which are the good areas to live in to access the universities easily? Is everything easily reachable on public transport?

DN applied for medicine in Ireland and is studying in Cork.

Your DD should certainly consider Cork and Galway as these universities have undergraduate medical schools as well. He absolutely loves Cork and feedback from a schoolmate of his who is in Galway is very positive too. These are student-friendly cities with a nice vibe.

If I recall correctly Limerick only offers postgraduate medicine and is not an option at undergraduate level.

There’s an Irish board on here called Craicnet, you could post there too.

Galway is a fantastic city for students, she’d be mad to rule it out. When I was applying for medicine, the points were lower there but that was a long time ago now.

unless it's changed, the cao goes in order of preference so if you put Galway or cork down lower you've nothing to lose. They're lovely cities and would definitely have a lower cost of living. I don't think there's a massive difference in climate across Ireland.

Also nitpicking but cork wouldn't be considered the west- just if you were talking to someone about the west in general terms they wouldn't be including cork in their definition of the west.

I don't know a lot about medicine, but the accommodation problem is very real especially in Dublin.
I went to UCD (not medicine) and really liked that side of the city. It's easy to get into town and although opposite side of city from airport, there's good access.
Dublin and the east is drier than the west, if that really is a factor, the area around UCD in particular (close to the coast) has very little rain. Not very warm though generally.
Friends who studied in Galway and Cork loved it there, especially Galway.

If she is put off Cork by the rainy weather , maybe Ireland would not be the best place to come 😁. She should put them all down on the CAO form. As PP said, UL is post-grad. The competition for medicine is stiff, and all of the Universities offering it are excellent and have good reputations. Accommodation costs are substantial - Cork varies from about €5k-10k for shared student accommodation, but Dublin could be another couple of thousand more. It can be hard to get but most get sorted eventually. The climate is a bit wetter on the western side of Ireland, but coming from a sunny Med country, it will probably seem greyer, wetter, damper no matter what part of Ireland she is in! Public transport is good in Dublin, but if in Cork or Galway she will be likely to be in walking distance of uni. There are plenty of inter-city buses/trains/airport buses etc if she has to fly out of Dublin.

The system in Ireland is totally based on academic results (combination of Leaving Cert/equivalent and the HPAT.) No one looks at where else you have applied, there are no personal statements. (I think a computer programme allocates the places after results are fed in). As others have says, if you are lucky enough to get the points you will be offered the place you have ranked highest that you qualify for.

I would definitely recommend putting down every university that offers undergraduate medicine. There is not that much difference in weather between Dublin/Cork/Galway for it to be a material factor. If your daughter is serious about being a doctor she needs to accept that she will go wherever she is offered a place.

I would caution that courses such as medicine are extremely competitive in Ireland. There is rarely much difference in points required between the different universities. And they will be looking for virtually perfect scores. My daughter studied in the UK & I doubt she would have got a place in Ireland. Would your daughter consider that if she is unsuccessful this year?

Galway is generally considered to be the best student city for craic. It's quite small and has a great vibe. The medical school is excellent. It tends to have lower points simply because of location - Dublin and Cork have a bigger catchment. Dd is currently in 4th year there and loves it. It does rain a fair bit but I don't think it's massively worse than the rest of the country.

Cork is a fantastic city and also a great University. I'm not as familiar with the course there but I would expect it to be excellent too (they all have to comply with medical council requirements so are similar).

One of the problems with Dublin is size. A lot of the students are local and commute so from a social perspective, it's not as good. It's a while since I've heard the numbers but it was something like 80% of University of Galway students were not from galway and a similar number of UCD students were from Dublin.

UL is postgrad only.

Re the CAO - You put courses down in order of preference. You then get offered your highest preference that you have the points for. I'm not sure how it works in terms of requirements for non-Leaving Cert students but I know a friend of dd's wanted to go to Scotland and there were only a few places available for EU students (pre-brexit) so make sure to check the requirements. Putting down all the medical courses makes sense in terms of increasing your chances of getting a place.

Thanks all, lots of food for thought. I will encourage her to add Galway and Cork. I’d heard good things about Galway for other degrees but was uncertain about what it was like for medicine.

In terms of the weather I only mentioned it as one of the reasons I left the U.K. because I couldn’t cope with the grey and the rain, I suffered from a lot of depression that doesn’t really happen here, so it’s perhaps more me who is sensitive to this. Apologies if I offended anyone! Plus a fellow Italian regaled her with stories of constant lashing rain in July, which was probably exaggerated. However DD tells me she likes the U.K. climate so might cope better (disclaimer - she only ever spent a month at a time with relatives and usually in the summer so has not yet coped with an entire year of grey). That said, if she wants to become a doctor and is determined to study outside her home country then the weather is the least of her issues.

she’s doing the IB and is predicted a 43, so points wise she’s there, unless she bombs her HPAT. She did apply to the U.K. but didn’t do too well in her UCAT and only one BMAT uni replied so far, so I don’t hold out much hope. Plus she’s not a dual citizen, she’s EU only so despite being eligible for home fees through me, I’d need to fork out for a student visa plus pay separately for healthcare, which according to online calculations is ££££. I only let her apply to the U.K. so as not to thwart her ambitions, but I’m really not keen for a whole host of reasons, I’d much rather she stayed in the EU.

Medicine is competitive everywhere, Italy too has tightened up its tests and in the last 2 years the number of students who got in has fallen significantly. I do hope she does get into an Irish university but I’m aware it is going to be a challenge. At worst she can apply in September for Italian universities as a (relative) fallback option. She doesn’t have other languages to an advanced enough level to apply in France or Germany, so she’s limited to English speaking countries or staying at home.

thanks also for the feedback on accommodation and costs, it’s all been really useful. I imagined it to be a little less expensive so I will need to adjust my expectations.

Maybe too late now as I assume she's doing the HPAT next month but she should really do some practice on the HPAT. Medentry is the most popular training company for it. They do a couple of live courses but also a lot of stuff online.

Cork is in the south, not the west, of the country. Dublin is a bit drier, I think, also slightly colder.

Prices for accommodation are probably highest in Dublin.

Hi again, I can completely understand the concern about the weather - right now I would love to be in Italy! Just another thing, you mention it needing to be English speaking - you may already know this but Irish students who have missed out on uni places here are heading to Poland, Netherlands etc to study Medicine through English. I imagine the same opportunities exist for other EU students. Good luck to her anyway, hope she gets what she wants.

Is Medentry the one that costs about €300? Is there not a cheaper course or are the cheaper ones crap? I think DD found something that was free from the student room, not sure how good it is. She has IB mocks for the next couple of weeks so was taking a break, but if the Medentry the only one worth it then I’ll happily pay.

we did think of trying for an English speaking course in the Netherlands or even in the Czech Republic, but aren’t they only the first 3 years, then you’d need to find somewhere you spoke the language for the clinical experience years? Or is it easy to transfer and join another course halfway through? Maybe because in the meantime others had dropped out? We did ask someone we know in a teaching hospital in Italy and he rolled his eyes. Or are there specific courses for year 4 onwards?

Medentry is definitely worth it.

I can't remember how much it cost (it was over 4 years ago) but if you put the effort in with it, it definitely improves your score. Dd ended up with 93rd percentile. She did all the sample papers from them and the in person 2 day course.

My ds is doing médecine in Galway. He loves it, loves the weather( we live in southern France and it is a welcome respite). He did a lot of online preparation for the HPAT, I will need to ask him what he used. He also went to Dublin for a weekend and did a fairly intensive prep.
He didn’t get in the first year as there was massive grade inflation after Covid. They do expect ( and get) very high marks in the HPAT.
France is brutal for medecine . Wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

Oh and getting accomodation in Galway is an absolute nightmare.

Cork is south ( and wet) but was wore for accommodation then Dublin and an excellent med school

So, did he defer or just try again?

I’m concerned DD has left it too late for the HPAT. She won’t be able to start until her mocks are over next week. The basic package on Medentry is 15 hours online I think, there’s no time for anything in situ. She got a slightly above average mark in her BMAT so will need to step it up for the HPAT by the sounds of it.

Sorry, just to add, for the Medentry courses, is the platinum worth it? Is the workshop onsite somewhere or or is it all online? As we’re abroad there’s not really the time to fly her somewhere, so I was wondering.

You have to do the HPAT in your year of entry but you can use your leaving cert or equivalent from a previous year. You can only defer if you have been offered a place and you have a very good reason for deferral. Galway also don't allow deferrals for medicine.

Presumably she has already registered to do the HPAT? If so, I would say give it a go and apply to the universities. If she ends up not getting a place, then she can apply again next year and repeat the HPAT. I would recommend the 2 day in-person option Medentry do too

Most definitely. That's the option with the 2 day workshop. Dd also bought extra practice exams. We didn't get them at the beginning when it would have been cheaper but she had finished all the ones included.

There is also a discount for multiple people buying together. I think it's 2 or 3 people applying together and you get 20% off.

Thanks, I’m just wondering if she has the time. Is the workshop online then? If not and it’s over a weekend I suppose I could fly her over without missing school.

there’s a discount now, so I was going to snap it up.

No my ds didn’t get in the first year but he was able to reapply and redo these HPAT the following year.

Cork is currently nightmarish for student accommodation, with students commuting crazily long distances by car daily because they can’t find anywhere to live in the city.