Any americans studying medicine in Ireland?

[futrmd1]

Hi, I am in the process of applying to some irish medical schools through AB. I would love to hear from fellow americans who are currently studying in Ireland or have studied at any of the irish med schools. I need information and more than anything ADVICE!!!... I am applying to TCD and NUIG for their 5 year program. I have my Bachelors in Biology, I have not taken the MCATS, and I can't say I have done much research. But I have lived in three different continents, done a lot of volunteering and shadowing.
here are my main questions:

1. How are you guys funding your studies, room and board, food, travel, and every other expense? Is U.S. Financial Aid enough to cover all the related costs?
2. Which schools would you recommend the most.
3. What suggestions would you have in terms of writing the essay?
4. Does the school prepare you enough to be competent enough to pass the USMLE's?
5. What can you tell me about Ireland itself as a society and the whole environment. Are they open minded, nice people?

Any advice you can provide me would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from any of you.

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[JohnSnow]

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[nineof9]

I am also an American applying and I believe that the cost is what really is pulling me back right now. From the looks of it, a majority of the people that are studying in Ireland have some support (whether big or small) from family at home. I unfortunately do not fall into that boat, and the $8,000 down payment to save a seat for admission if I was admitted is a very daunting sum that I could not afford at the current moment. This is a huge financial risk that I debate constantly (whether to go abroad and really gain a greater experience of medicine in the world, or to hunker down in the US and try for a US position).

As for the education, I believe it is all what you think of it. America has a different type of healthcare system that is a "one of a kind" in the world. The American system is truly a market driven industry, and we will never fully integrate into a single payer system like in many European countries. Due to this, the medical education although the same in many aspects of the science of medicine is different. Medicine is practiced differently in the US than it is around the world simply because our healthcare system is very much different from other countries (when a patient wants an expensive MRI, they get it as long as they can pay for it.... this is not the case where governmental budgetary issues take precedence in a national payer system). Does this make the US healthcare system superior? ABSOLUTELY NOT, as it is flawed just like many other healthcare systems around the world. The main point is that studying in Ireland is aimed at making practitioners who are effective in treating patients in their healthcare system (this trickles down to the medical education they receive). You will learn different things in Ireland that you will not learn in the US, and vice versa... the medical education you receive anywhere is what you make of it, and how hard you push yourself to understand the material so I wouldn't worry too much about whether the education elsewhere is sub-par than America.

I hope this helps!!!

 

[Facebookaddict]

Hi, I am in the process of applying to some irish medical schools through AB. I would love to hear from fellow americans who are currently studying in Ireland or have studied at any of the irish med schools. I need information and more than anything ADVICE!!!... I am applying to TCD and NUIG for their 5 year program. I have my Bachelors in Biology, I have not taken the MCATS, and I can't say I have done much research. But I have lived in three different continents, done a lot of volunteering and shadowing.
here are my main questions:

1. How are you guys funding your studies, room and board, food, travel, and every other expense? Is U.S. Financial Aid enough to cover all the related costs?
2. Which schools would you recommend the most.
3. What suggestions would you have in terms of writing the essay?
4. Does the school prepare you enough to be competent enough to pass the USMLE's?
5. What can you tell me about Ireland itself as a society and the whole environment. Are they open minded, nice people?

Any advice you can provide me would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from any of you.

Hii I'm a first year at UCD in the 6 year program, so I came right out of high school. Trinity's programme seems tougher than ours, and 2 students have already dropped out of it. I'll try to answer your questions as best as possible.

1. Loans for tuition and part of accommodation. My parents pay for the rest.
2. I personally would choose UCD But between TCD and Galway, I'm not really sure about the 5 year programs. I think Trinity would be better, though.
3. Ok, so for the essay I wrote about how I used to live in Ireland and would be a bridge for the American students here (too bad I'm the ONLY one from the states in my class. 7 other Canadians!). Write about your strengths and what your experiences abroad have taught you.
4. I haven't looked into the USMLE stuff yet. Mainly because I'm in premed, but also because I don't know many older meds.
5. Irish people are soooo nice! That was one of the hardest things for me to get used to because people in high school weren't even this nice. As for the students, nights out are big. Class activities include clubbing and a few other things. Even though society isn't as quick as it is in the US, you should still keep yourself up to date on everything.

Which college do you go to? And have you ever came to Ireland before? Let me just add that quite a few of us international students felt it very difficult to come back after the christmas holidays :/ Feel free to ask anything else! Hope this helped

 

[Lbgem]

Hi, I am in the process of applying to some irish medical schools through AB. I would love to hear from fellow americans who are currently studying in Ireland or have studied at any of the irish med schools. I need information and more than anything ADVICE!!!... I am applying to TCD and NUIG for their 5 year program. I have my Bachelors in Biology, I have not taken the MCATS, and I can't say I have done much research. But I have lived in three different continents, done a lot of volunteering and shadowing.
here are my main questions:

1. How are you guys funding your studies, room and board, food, travel, and every other expense? Is U.S. Financial Aid enough to cover all the related costs?
2. Which schools would you recommend the most.
3. What suggestions would you have in terms of writing the essay?
4. Does the school prepare you enough to be competent enough to pass the USMLE's?
5. What can you tell me about Ireland itself as a society and the whole environment. Are they open minded, nice people?

Any advice you can provide me would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from any of you.

1. Loans, purely loans. Though I worked the year before I came here and saved up money for the initial expenses before loans kicked in at week 2? 3? or so.

2. RCSI is more geared towards USMLE prep, though the school is more expensive. So I'd say either RCSI or UCD. But Trinity over Galway though I couldn't give you a good reason why. That's just my own personal impression. I want to say they're pretty much equal though.

3. I wrote on what they asked to write - not why this school, but it was something like what qualities do you possess or something like that. Follow the instructions (they seem to emphasize this), the usual goes, spellcheck, double check, don't use it as a confessional of all the things wrong with you.

4. Pretty much on our own here for USMLES, though there are a couple of events? every once in a while - i.e. seminar nights explaining what to expect. The profs are trying somewhat to make more USMLE style questions, but really you're on your own pretty much. Most of our tests here are essay, which takes a lot of getting used to.
The lack of focus on USMLE doesn't really bother me, cause I came here knowing that, and I know what areas aren't taught here so I can focus on those. Also, med school is pretty much all self-study/learning anyways... for the first two years as far as I can tell.

5. The Irish are super nice, even if they're not always right about directions... You will miss home a lot, the food is not really the same. It may LOOK like peanut butter, but looks can be deceiving. If I had access to anything - mac & cheese, peanut butter, salad dressing (ranch, blue cheese, italian....anything), etc is what I'd bring back. It is trial and error so you'll have to relearn what you like and don't like.

I don't regret coming here, but it does take some adjustment. And I agree with facebookaddict on how difficult it was to come back here after being home for break. I almost wished I hadn't gone home because you get used to hardship of being away from all your friends and family, and then you get a taste of it, and have to leave again. It really sucks. Also yes, the class tends to be pretty social - biweekly drinking/pub events, soccer, that sort of thing.

And yes, as Americans we're definitely outnumbered by Cannucks (20 or so in my class to 3 of us).

This post is going to come out a lot more rambly than I intended as it's late, so if I confused you on anything feel free to ask and I'll clarify.

 

[JOConnor]

How do US students fair when it comes time to match in the States? Are US students able to do their residency in Ireland and/or find work afterwards and stay abroad?

 

[leorl]

Hi, I am in the process of applying to some irish medical schools through AB. I would love to hear from fellow americans who are currently studying in Ireland or have studied at any of the irish med schools. I need information and more than anything ADVICE!!!... I am applying to TCD and NUIG for their 5 year program. I have my Bachelors in Biology, I have not taken the MCATS, and I can't say I have done much research. But I have lived in three different continents, done a lot of volunteering and shadowing.
here are my main questions:

1. How are you guys funding your studies, room and board, food, travel, and every other expense? Is U.S. Financial Aid enough to cover all the related costs?
2. Which schools would you recommend the most.
3. What suggestions would you have in terms of writing the essay?
4. Does the school prepare you enough to be competent enough to pass the USMLE's?
5. What can you tell me about Ireland itself as a society and the whole environment. Are they open minded, nice people?

Any advice you can provide me would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from any of you.

I'm a few years out, graduated in 2007 but I go back at least once a year.

1) I used a combination of personal finances, Stafford and Perkins loans (at that time the max was 18000). I fortunately didn't have to look elsewhere for funding, but for people who need more than the federally funded loans, they did private loans. US Financial Aid will not be enough to cover all costs. Tuitition alone is at least 27000, probably more at this stage and will continue to rise throughout your schooling.

2) There is no "best" school. RCSI, Trinity have name recognition because of outside factors.

3) In your personal statement, try to make it somewhat unique and memorable (very generic advice, I know)... what I did in mine was basically detail exactly why I wanted to go to Trinity. I had previous experience with Trinity and was also able to say what I loved about the Trinity environment.

4) It's not the school that prepares you for the USMLEs, it's YOU. You will learn the information well if you put in the time and effort you need for your own education. However, the Irish system teaches information in a different way than is needed for the USMLE, so you will have to spend a significant portion of time studying in the "USMLE way.

5) For the most part open-minded. There are a few anti-Americans. There are a few ...how should we say...not ethnically diverse people there, but I didn't really have any problems. You may start to see a more cultural/ethnic divide in your more senior years, but it's not really any different from anywhere else. I had very good Irish mentors as well. The culture is generally not as open as American culture, but when you put in the effort to befriend Irish people, it is very rewarding. I loved my time there, still have some of my best friends there, and go back frequently.