Irish universities - entry from UK?

[Habbibu]

I'm hoping that someone with knowledge and experience of Irish university admissions is around. We are looking for a friend and it seems that entry into medicine/dentistry is almost impossible for UK entrants. For example, TCD is saying 738 points this year for medicine, but according to the conversion calculator 5 a stars would only get you 645 points. And it is pretty much impossible to do it from Scotland unless you have a freakish number of highers because advanced highers are scored so low.
Does anyone get in to the subjects with these high scores?

It is a while since we looked, but don't you get points for the Irish equivalent of UCAT, and extra points for maths at A level.

Still not easy. Irish medical schools attract applications from all over the EU, as well as the UK and the rest of the world.

Irish medical students sit the HPAT exam - it adds extra points to the LC and is supposed to test logic/intelligence.
Maximum LC points are 625

The maximum points anyone can count from their Leaving cert is 625.
100x 6 subjects with top grade of H1 and 25 bonus points for higher level maths.
For medicine entry here you have to do a separate test called the H-pat which gives the extra points to bring it up to 738. The H- Pat is sat in early February normally and everyone applying for medicine has to sit it. That’s probably the first place to check out. TCD always has a good number of UK students and the admissions office there are very used to dealing with the different systems. Give them a call or an email, most of the info will be very similar for other colleges in Ireland too.

Okay, thanks. It's really weird because the way they map grades to Scottish qualifications and the way the points are scored seem to be completely unrelated. So H1 is equivalent to B at advanced higher, but H1 gets 100 points but B at advanced higher gets 21! It doesn't look as if ucat is counted at all.

X post aplo. Thanks, that makes more sense. Now. I can see how Irish students get in but I cannot see how UK students get in without very weird numbers of qualifications. Maybe that's how it is. You're right, I'll call them tomorrow. Doing it for a friend but I'm also really curious now

There was another thread on this - I’ll see if I can bump it up for you.

The bottom line is that for top point courses in the CAO system, you can’t achieve the results from the UK with 3 A levels. The system is set up for Northern Ireland who do 3 A levels and AS levels or schools that do 4 A levels.

I went quite far with this - I spoke to my Alma mater who said CAO decide and won’t revisit it. But it’s not in their interest to change as they would be flooded with UK applicants who qualify for free fees.

It really annoyed me - my kid is Irish, lots of links there, wouldn’t need accommodation but has been in a UK school. It feels like discrimination basically but it seems there’s nothing to be done.

Ah, ok. Fair enough. I'm surprised they don't charge fees to be honest- like Scotland do for English students. But I appreciate you letting me know because it now makes a bit more sense

Again when we looked you also needed a language at GCSE.

It is a problem. Particularly for Irish citizens educated in NI. Part of the issue is that ROI, as a member of the EU, has to treat all EU applicants equally. Their medical education system will attract applications from across the EU, but they will want to train those likely to stay there to practice. So, effectively, they slant the scoring to benefit those with the Irish leaving cert.

One partial solution is this scheme https://www.qub.ac.uk/alumni/IrelandHealthcareScholarshipProgram/

Rather than change their selection criteria to make it easier for those with English qualifications to gain healthcare places in the Republic, they are helping to fund additional places in the UK.

When DD was applying for medicine she got a low UCAT so we looked closely at where else she might consider (Malta, Malaysia, Eastern Europe etc) ruling out most. She was sitting 4 A levels including maths and had the languages but decided that taking the HPAT would be too much of a distraction half way through an already stressful Yr13. Luckily in those days there were still UK medical schools that did not require UCAT and she got a place so did not need her fallback which would have been to take a gap year and apply overseas as well as in the UK.

Sorry, the link is wrong.

There was talk of support for NI and other eligible students who would study in Belfast and then work in the ROI. Perhaps it is still in the pipeline.

I am making a meal of this.

Here is a better link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68437614

Thanks!

In case it is relevant to some reading the thread, even if not the OP, this is the QUB link.

www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/MRCI/admissions/UndergraduateAdmissions/AdditionalMedicineplacesforSeptember2024entry/

Obviously this is partly political and in line with the thinking behind the Good Friday Agreement, but equally it helps solve an ROI problem in that Dublin is fast becoming unaffordable for students from rural areas. Belfast is a lot cheaper. This scheme allows Irish students to study in Belfast on the same terms as they would at home. And also supports NI students who can access the Republic's lower fee structure with UK qualifications and without leaving home.

On top of that there aren't enough places in Ireland there were pupils with max points this year that didn't get into their 1st choice course because of the way places are being allocated now via random selection

extra.ie/2024/08/30/news/irish-news/leaving-cert-courses-cao-lottery

Yes, I noticed there were a really small number of places. I wondered if that was a problem for the health services.

May I suggest that your friend starts by reading the CAO Handbook, and then the parent and guardian guides carefully. UCAT isn't used because Ireland is a separate sovereign country with its own systems.

For A levels, a max of 4 (or 3 + AS/EPQ) are scored. A max score needs Maths too.

For medicine, they combine Leaving Cert/A Level/ Scottish Highers etc scores and add HPAT score.

Irish Unis fill places by demand, so if there are 50 places in say Economics and finance (UCD), and 100 people got maximum points and apply, the CAO allocates those 50 places to the 100 through random allocation. Much fairer than subjective personal statements and interviews.

The current Irish cohort hadn't sat Junior Cert, so their grades remain inflated, and they will only go down a small amount next year.

I think that securing accommodation, particularly in Dublin, will be far more challenging than the application.