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Could Use Some Opinions. 5 Year Irish Medical Program?


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I am by no means wealthy but yes with LOC and OSAP you can make ends meet. Certain schools will allow you to compete for merit based scholarships esp after 1st year, and you are allowed to hold a student job in the regions I've researched. Yes, it will mean living very cheaply for 4 years.

No. No you can't. I'm not sure why you're arguing when you're very wrong.

 

LOC and osap do not cover the total COA for rcsi and the likes. And most of them have no scholarships or very minor for internationals. Direct from the ABP website.

 

The euro is at 1:1.56 with the cad. It is 100% not affordable to attend at its most basic levels unless you have family money. This doesn't even consider all the interest you would somehow have to manage.

 

Rcsi is 80k CAD for tuition alone. So that's 320k CAD for the degree alone.

 

Please stop talking nonsense when you havent done your research. Other uninformed posters will see things like that and believe it.

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I am by no means wealthy but yes with LOC and OSAP you can make ends meet. Certain schools will allow you to compete for merit based scholarships esp after 1st year, and you are allowed to hold a student job in the regions I've researched. Yes, it will mean living very cheaply for 4 years.

Not unless your OSAP + student job will make 200K you can't. 

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In my opinion it comes down to: would you rather have a medical degree (a professional degree + skills recognized and applicable worldwide) or work in Canada (assuming if you apply 100times only in Canada and never get in)...is it more important to you to have medical skills or to live in a specific place forever?

 

 

This is right, the quality of education in the UK, Aus, Ireland etc is all very much up to par with that available in Canada/US if not better. With that being said, a medical degree doesn't mean anything unless you can get residency. 

 

In many other countries, many of the people in Canada going abroad would have the stats to become doctors in those countries. Its safe to say that these people would make safe and good doctors. Its unfortunate that they are forced abroad but the sad reality is Canada has a lot of talented individuals, but we don't have enough demand for doctors in Canada for all these people to become doctors.

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Ask people on waitlists if we don't have enough demand.

Our one tier public health scare system is broke. That's the reason we don't have enough doctors.

 

Going back to some posters above. Who said I'm arguing? I didn't realize that having a different opinion is automatically "wrong" or constitutes "arguing". Go to your local bank and find out about LOCs. Many have a grace period after graduation. Yes, it is a LOT of money and yes you will have to be very efficient with personal finances but it is doable. It is only four years, not a 30 year mortgage.

There are thousands of Cdn students in various undergrad, grad, or professional programs the world over and not all of these kids are the children of millionaires.

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Ask people on waitlists if we don't have enough demand.

Our one tier public health scare system is broke. That's the reason we don't have enough doctors.

 

Going back to some posters above. Who said I'm arguing? I didn't realize that having a different opinion is automatically "wrong" or constitutes "arguing". Go to your local bank and find out about LOCs. Many have a grace period after graduation. Yes, it is a LOT of money and yes you will have to be very efficient with personal finances but it is doable. It is only four years, not a 30 year mortgage.

There are thousands of Cdn students in various undergrad, grad, or professional programs the world over and not all of these kids are the children of millionaires.

You can't have a difference of opinion on factual data. Am I not being clear with my verbiage or is there something honestly confusing or being misinterpreted?

 

The maximum bank loan you will get is 275K with cosigner, and even then that is not gauranteed. Then OSAP for whatever 40-50K perhaps over 4 years?  That is still 125-175KCAD short for the COA for a school like RCSI. This does not take into account interest that will accumulate.

 

I did not say you have to be millionaires to attend a school like RCSI at the present moment, but you do have to come from a family that has disposable income in excess of 6 figures. Most Canadian families don't have this.

 

Also, NO bank will give you an interest free loan, the INTEREST ACCRUES while you are in school. Interest accumulating has nothing to do with 6 month or 12 month principal payment grace periods. Guess what, during that grace period your interest is again....still ACCRUING.  

 

You keep using false rationale.

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these schools were very expensive - well before the dollar went down. As it happens the only three people I know that personally went there used large LOCs, parental support (all three had parents that were doctors), and in one case an inheritance (the entire inheritance actually - it was a 6 figure one).

 

Not cheap at all and they are all in the throws of high repayment amounts during residency now. They are making it work but it isn't pretty.

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I honestly don't understand the argumentative tone.

I think every person can do what they feel is best for them financially but options do exist and MANY students go abroad for all kinds of studies and rely on loans / scholarships / personal savings etc. The main point is that it is DOABLE. I think if someone is considering applying abroad they should start thinking about the finances early i.e. if you don't get into Canada the first time around and think about possibly going abroad in a year, start looking into LOC options and saving money.

Also, RCSI is the most costly, there are 5 other schools in Ireland which are cheaper.

 

You can't have a difference of opinion on factual data. - sort of makes me laugh, science changes and disproves things sometimes; please don't hold this view throughout a career as a physician, just because something seems to work well now doesn't mean it can't be improved or viewed differently. Just because "it has always been like this" doesn't mean it can never change.

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I honestly don't understand the argumentative tone.

I think every person can do what they feel is best for them financially but options do exist and MANY students go abroad for all kinds of studies and rely on loans / scholarships / personal savings etc. The main point is that it is DOABLE. I think if someone is considering applying abroad they should start thinking about the finances early i.e. if you don't get into Canada the first time around and think about possibly going abroad in a year, start looking into LOC options and saving money.

Also, RCSI is the most costly, there are 5 other schools in Ireland which are cheaper.

 

You can't have a difference of opinion on factual data. - sort of makes me laugh, science changes and disproves things sometimes; please don't hold this view throughout a career as a physician, just because something seems to work well now doesn't mean it can't be improved or viewed differently. Just because "it has always been like this" doesn't mean it can never change.

 

for some this is certainly possible - and having the EU citizenship really helps it along a bit. Probably would require help from the family as others have pointed out. No one is doubting this expensive and has clear limitations though.....and picking the most expensive school over there isn't going to make it money wise easier ha :)

 

Lost the train of thought on the thread - why Ireland vs the US? Was it the EU citizenship that tipped the argument, or the dollar....?

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I honestly don't understand the argumentative tone.

I think every person can do what they feel is best for them financially but options do exist and MANY students go abroad for all kinds of studies and rely on loans / scholarships / personal savings etc. The main point is that it is DOABLE. I think if someone is considering applying abroad they should start thinking about the finances early i.e. if you don't get into Canada the first time around and think about possibly going abroad in a year, start looking into LOC options and saving money.

Also, RCSI is the most costly, there are 5 other schools in Ireland which are cheaper.

 

You can't have a difference of opinion on factual data. - sort of makes me laugh, science changes and disproves things sometimes; please don't hold this view throughout a career as a physician, just because something seems to work well now doesn't mean it can't be improved or viewed differently. Just because "it has always been like this" doesn't mean it can never change.

The point is that you NEED some kind of substantial personal savings. There isn't any way around this, any loopholes to magically have a bank loan you an extra 100K minimum. 

If you have those resources, great. But the point is these schools are simply not a realistic option for someone with no additional reasources

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for some this is certainly possible - and having the EU citizenship really helps it along a bit. Probably would require help from the family as others have pointed out. No one is doubting this expensive and has clear limitations though.....and picking the most expensive school over there isn't going to make it money wise easier ha :)

 

Lost the train of thought on the thread - why Ireland vs the US? Was it the EU citizenship that tipped the argument, or the dollar....?

Not sure what happened to the thread. I think OP is asking opinions about the Irish programs specifically the 5 year ones that don't need MCAT. There are many people on this forum who quickly jump on anyone saying anything about moving abroad for med school. Some people forget that some of us have a career dream that's more important than returning to life in suburban Vancouver. I've known many well qualified students who applied 3-5x in Canada (while working away at other degrees or jobs) and then just went abroad with no intent to return. Some people settle for something else or give in to admission people saying "maybe you're not bright enough". I think it's just a lottery in this country and there are many well qualified people, suffering because of the system we have here. If it's your dream just go somewhere else to live it if you have to, so I'm a supporter of going wherever the student gets in.

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Not sure what happened to the thread. I think OP is asking opinions about the Irish programs specifically the 5 year ones that don't need MCAT. There are many people on this forum who quickly jump on anyone saying anything about moving abroad for med school. Some people forget that some of us have a career dream that's more important than returning to life in suburban Vancouver. I've known many well qualified students who applied 3-5x in Canada (while working away at other degrees or jobs) and then just went abroad with no intent to return. Some people settle for something else or give in to admission people saying "maybe you're not bright enough". I think it's just a lottery in this country and there are many well qualified people, suffering because of the system we have here. If it's your dream just go somewhere else to live it if you have to, so I'm a supporter of going wherever the student gets in.

Most of us didn't say anything to the contrary. In fact I said it was a good idea to go to the EU due to the op having citizenship.

 

The disagreement came in when you blatently underplayed the cost factor and make it seem that its not an issue. Obviously you're oblivious as you keep rambling about unrelated issues as support for your statements.

 

Anyways, I am done responding to this thread. For any other users that stumble upon this thread: at the moment given the Euro to CAD conversion, many foreign medival schools are not feasible on bank loans alone. Make sure you have personal savings before considering those schools. Thinking bank loans are enough is a dangerous notion and you could end up in the position of applying, being accepted and then not having the funds to attend. So do your research and dont be a naive Premed.

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