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?

Cork has an airport, which may have direct flights to somewhere close. It rains, but it only goes below freezing a few nights of the year.
Are RCSI fees higher than National University and Trinity?

Not rtft but another advocate for Cork or Galway here. Cork has a well serviced airport in it which I should imagine might be handy for you all? Its a large, very busy city with far less ripoffery than Dublin! The climate (or parts of Cork on the Gulf Stream) can sometimes benefit from better weather. Ireland is as green as it is for one reason only - lots of bloody rain!

The workshop was in person when dd did it. She did it during the october mid-term break. I think the other one was over the christmas holidays but I'm not sure.

I just saw it was online and booked the platinum package, there’s a course in for February, the weekend before her exam.

thanks for all the info, it helped me make a decision!

and thanks all for the information on Cork and Galway, I guess accommodation is going to be brutal anywhere. Let’s see if DD gets in, then we’ll take it from there.

Best of luck to her.

My son is in the same situation: IB candidate, looking for Medicine in Ireland and Italy. We chose to book some city breaks to each of these destinations and visit some campuses. We did the north of Italy in November and we'll visit Galway, Cork and Dublin at the end of February. There is an airport closer to Galway & Cork too: Shannon.

My son marked Cork and Galway as first options, exactly for the life cost reason, but also for another aspect: he asked to every university a specific question about the application process. The only "humanly" answer came from Cork. Others responded without actually addressing his problem and Rcsi didn't even bother to send a reply. I think these things, even though not very serious criteria, sey something about the general attitude in each institution.

If you are looking for on campus accommodation, you should apply for their lottery (this is the system for both Cork and Galway. Didn't check Dublin yet). It will be open from February. If you get a place, you have to pay a deposit and if not accepted to that university, most of the deposit would be refunded.

Good luck to all our young applicants!

Exactly. After 3 years you should speak the local language, to be able to understand what happen in the hospital. Patients do not speak English. You can graduate the whole 6 years without using any other language than English, but it would be less productive for your personal achievement, compared to the ones that speak the local language. Moreover, I understand that in Netherlands there is a very difficult Phisics test for entering medicine. If your child is IB, like my son, I suppose she got only 2 sciences too, and for Medicine, Bio and Chem are mandatory. So no Phisics for him after Y11.

May I ask why you consider Italy as your last option? I know that most universities offer international programs. The only problem for this year is that the specific exam (IMAT) is not going to be held by Cambridge anymore, and so far there is no info about who/when/how/where. But I am curious about your reasons (as I understand that you are Italian). Thanks.

Certainly, affordable student accommodation in Cork is difficult to come by at the moment and affordable house shares are snapped up very quickly. Student halls charging <€5,000 for the academic year are in huge demand. However, UCC accommodation will usually find suitable accommodation for students coming from afar.

A lot of premium student halls are coming on stream at the moment. For example, Coleman Court will see another 300 rooms coming on stream starting at €7,800. Bottleworks who will open shortly with over 620 new student rooms within a mile of UCC will mean that those willing and able to pay in excess of €10,000 per year won't have that much difficulty in finding accommodation.

We looked at Ireland and DD would have applied had she not got a place in an English medical school first time round. (The process would have had strong academic reluctance but tended to do less well on aptitude tests.

Her preference was Galway which sounded fun, and which has attracted a lot of biotechnology investment in recent years.

We knew a London based French girl who applied for a deferred place in Eire. Her thinking was that if she failed her first year in France, and lots do, she could start again that September in Ireland. (She passed, so stayed in France.)

One thing to look at is F1/F2 places. A Malaysian we knew took his preclinical years in Malaysia in a programme that allowed his to take his clinical years in Ireland. (Malaysia has an oversupply of medical students so clinical places are hard to get.) The concern was that Ireland has insufficient F1/F2 (still called housemen I think) places for overseas students. As it turned out COVID struck and he was graduated early and given an F1 place. He is still there working as an SHO. But that might just be international students. EU nationals should count as home students.

We knew a London based French girl who applied for a deferred place in Eire. Her thinking was that if she failed her first year in France, and lots do, she could start again that September in Ireland. (She passed, so stayed in France.)

What this girl was planning was not possible. Had she failed first year in France, she would be ineligible to start first year of a medicine programme in Ireland.

The concern was that Ireland has insufficient F1/F2 (still called housemen I think) places for overseas students.

I assume you are referring to the intern year? EU students are treated as local students. International (non-EU) students are not guaranteed an internship but local students are. There is some agreement with the UK so they may also be treated as local.

We knew a London based French girl who applied for a deferred place in Eire

It's Ireland, not Eire. Eire means load or burden. Éire is the Irish for Ireland and is generally only used when speaking Irish.

Also, Galway doesn't allow deferrals for medicine. I'm not sure about the other universities.

I travelled the world and cork is still hands down my favourite place ever. It’s so stunningly beautiful!!! I can’t believe she would t consider it

Dublin is ridiculously expensive!!!

West Cork is covered in snow today 😉it is very pretty.

Agree no such thing as a deferral. However, pretty sure that the dreaded PACES would not preclude restarting a degree elsewhere as I have several friends whose children went to either Belgium or Romania after failing to get through the selection process.

It wasn't me that said you couldn't restart a degree if you failed elsewhere. I would be amazed if you couldn't. However, it would likely impact on fees as in order to get the government portion, you must be a first-time undergrad. Whether the systems are sufficiently joined up for them to know whether you have done a year outside Ireland, I don't know.

What is PACES? I've never heard of it.

To answer this I would have no issue with choosing an Italian university, but DD is adamant she wants to go abroad. I do have friends linked to both Bologna and Rome Sapienza who know the courses well and are happy to discuss it with her, but she’s keeping it as a last resort (the applications and entry tests are in September).

I’d be happier if she were in Italy, but she wants to explore other countries.

Where does she want to practice? Does she speak Italian fluently (native or at least C1 level)? It seems odd to me to study medicine abroad as a first choice if she wants to work at home (Italy). Will she need to do a conversion to practice in Italy?

Or can she practice in Italy without any conversion?

Sorry about any wrong information. The mum who told me seemed pretty confident. Her main complaint, fairly common from Lycee CDG parents, was that her DD had not got a place in the UK (pre Brexit) despite the fact that French school system was obviously superior to that of the British. Thus forcing the daughter to go back to France to study. Perhaps the DD got a place in Ireland that year so was confident of a place on reapplication.

Thanks for the clarification on the intern year. It does seem to be a risk for international students, so perhaps something students from the UK might need to double check. Getting that early clinical experience is difficult in countries with a large private sector, or with an over supply of pre clinical places. (Both apply to Malaysia.) Either way he seems to have enjoyed his time in Ireland.

Thanks for the clarification on the intern year. It does seem to be a risk for international students, so perhaps something students from the UK might need to double check.

The UK is treated as EU for fees purposes so I assume would also be treated as EU for intern placements. Definitely best to check though.

She has no idea. She’s bilingual Italian English and is currently doing her IB in English, so she could pick either language easily to practise in. I guess as she gets older she might change her mind and her goals. Right now at her age everything is black and white.

I actually know a couple of Italian specialists (my age!) who are bilingual/bicultural and started off their careers in English speaking countries, then moved back to Italy once specialised, for family and other reasons. They were in high demand not least because they could publish and research their specialisms in both languages, albeit in an era when fewer people spoke English in Italy. I guess she would always find a job in Italy wherever she studies (we too have a shortage of doctors) and having the extra language will always be an advantage.

You should definitely make her go and visit the Bicocca Bergamo hospital, where Milan - Bicocca international medicine school is located too. That place is from another world.

And the exam used to be in September until this year. They made some changes, but they didn't say how things will run. It's been said that for the national program admission they will be in April and July, but nothing yet about the international program.

Sorry, meant to add that she wouldn’t need a conversion course to work in Italy if from an EU institution, plus the fact she’s had Italian schooling means she won’t need the language test either.

Oh that's good. I met a couple of kids from the Netherlands who had attended the British school there and because their schooling was in English, they had to sit language exams in Dutch. They weren't impressed! I know of others who've had to add a year to convert their qualifications into local ones. Some doing a conversion course, some just having to get paperwork registered, which due to dates diplomas were issued also meant a year out! Sounds like this is something (one bureaucratic thing!) that's actually easier in Italy!