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What Are My Chances Of Acceptance At Irish/uk Schools?


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Hi, I would like to start off by introducing myself - I am a Canadian high school student from Calgary, Alberta, and I would like to study medicine in Ireland or in the UK. (I know the deadline for UK med schools was around 2 months ago but I would still like to know if I had a shot) :)

 

I have pretty good grades (except my English):

English: 85

Math: 95

Chemistry: 93

Biology: 92

Physics: 96

Spanish: (I'm sure they don't care about this mark, but just for the sake of it) 98

Law: (again, just for the sake of it) 92

 

Also, I have good extra-curriculars as well:

Approximately 240 hours of volunteering, including 50 hours at a hospital. I also volunteered as a food distributor to the homeless, a hockey referee, summer camp leader, etc.

I'm also part of the First Aid team in my school, where we are "on-call" twice a week to assist in any emergencies (we don't have nurses in our school).

I'm a Prefect, and was the captain of the school soccer team in Grade 11.

 

I'm primarily interested in TCD, UCD, NUIG, and UCC, I would like to come back to NA for residency. I know that coming back to Canada is close to impossible, but I'm completely fine with going to the US.

 

I have a few questions:

1) Given that I submit a good personal statement, and I obtain some good reference letters, what are my chances at these schools?

 

2) If I had applied to UK schools, which ones would've accepted me? (I know I would need to take the UKCAT, but I'm just curious).

 

3) How is student life at those schools (TCD and UCD specifically)? How are Canadian/American students treated?

 

4) I know that no medical school is considered easy to get through, but is the courseload at these schools intensive? What's the difference between the 5 and 6 year programs?

 

Thank you so much for your patience! I look forward to hearing back from you!

Sofabed

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1. I think your chances are pretty good that you'll get into at least one of the schools

2. You probably would have gotten in somewhere assuming i'm correct about Alberta marks being tough and assuming the admissions know that. I'm not sure if you've heard of this program but there is a program called http://medhandbook.st-andrews.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/UG-teaching_A990_brochure.pdf It sounds good for someone from Alberta like you. Its one of the 2 programs (the other is an SGUL where you spend your last 2 years out of 6 in the US) that have deadlines Jan 1st I believe. You'll still have to write the UKCAT though. As you probably know if you miss the deadlines you can't be considered anymore for that year.

3. No idea. I study in the UK, but here people just treat you as one of them and i'm sure its like that in most schools except I know RCSI is very international so then you'll just be one of many.

4. The courseload is alright actually at my school, its tough but not crazy like in Canada, I think that is because its spread out over 6 years

5. 5 year programs are direct medicine whereas 6 year programs will have a "foundation" year where you basically do stuff you'd do in 1st year uni in Canada (sciences, bio, chem). This is for Ireland. In the UK the 6 year programs are straight medicine with a research year/semester attached and usually award a BSc on top of the MBBS/MBChB. The truth is you could probably handle the 5 year program, but if you don't have IB or A-levels or 1st uni in Canada they will make you apply to the 6 year program I believe, this may have changed.

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Thanks for your reply! May I ask which school do you go to?

Yes, I'm well aware of the A990 program, but I didn't apply because there were only 20 spots and I didn't believe in myself :(

As to the 5/6 year programs, I believe Trinity only has a 5 year program for undergraduate. Does that mean they won't take me straight out of high school if I don't take IB/A-Levels? And what is the equivalent of A Levels in Canada?

Thank you so much for your patience!

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Thanks for your reply! May I ask which school do you go to?

Yes, I'm well aware of the A990 program, but I didn't apply because there were only 20 spots and I didn't believe in myself :(

As to the 5/6 year programs, I believe Trinity only has a 5 year program for undergraduate. Does that mean they won't take me straight out of high school if I don't take IB/A-Levels? And what is the equivalent of A Levels in Canada?

Thank you so much for your patience!

 

Canada doesn't have the equivalent of A-levels, since A-levels is standardized its considered on the same level as IB and AP curriculums. I don't know enough about Trinity and whether or not they will accept a high school student. When I was applying, I didn't apply to Trinity because I believed I was only eligible for the 6 year programs. I think someone told me they were able to apply to Trinity's 5 year program as a high schooler without AP or IB so i'm not sure. Its best to ask the atlantic bridge if you are eligible.

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