Explain 5 and 6 year degree @ Irish schools

[msweezer]

Hello,

I am confused regarding the programs offered... According to Atlantic Bridge..
>>US and Canadian students who will have completed (i) high school and (ii) high school and/or college-level courses in biology and chemistry and either physics or mathematics by September 1, 2006 but will not have received a bachelor's degree by that date are eligible to apply for Fall 2006 entry to the six-year medical degree courses at:

University College Dublin www.ucd.ie and The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland www.rcsi.ie

I did not think these were the only programs available to someone w/o a bachelor's.
Are they saying a bachelor's degree with probably little science background is better than an associate's w/ the physics, chem, math, bio done or that will be done by September.
What excatly will one be doing the the extra year? If you have all of the typical US pre-med courses done, do they make you take them all over again?
Also, what kind of chem does Ireland require -- general, organic, or both?
big thanks

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[Mike MacKinnon]

Hey

Well these are 2 seperate tracks.

6 yr program is for those directly out of high school without any degree.

5 year program is for those with a degree

The irish schools do not seem to dictate what you need as a pre req for 5 year program. They also seem to place much more emphasis on the overall applicant than NA schools. However, this is only done for IMG applicants. If you look at the expectations for Irish applicants they are statistically harder than those for NA applicants. Its all very odd.

Essentially, there are no "specific" pre reqs but you should look at yourself in relation to other applicants. You can imagine that many of them will have Inorganic Chem, Biology, Organic Chem. I do not see physics as important, but then who knows?

The schools who require the MCAT obviously must expect you do well on it; ergo, take all the regular pre reqs.

At the end of the day there is no equation for success in application to Irish med schools. I think they take alot more chances on applicants than NA schools do, but then there is no way to really know that for sure as nothing is published as to what types of people are accepted.

 

[leorl]

Currently, or when i was a direct entrant (requirements have probably changed), those with bachelor's degrees but not in a science field (i.e. little science background) were put in the 6 year programs, not the 5 year programs. The 1st year does include your basic sciences - ochem, gen chem, physics, biology, etc. However, it is slightly different here in that the Irish complete a lot of these subjects for their leaving cert and their level of sciences in secondary school is higher than the US high school student. So the science courses may not be what you would expect out of a science course in a US college, since the Irish students may have covered that at some point in their past already.

 

[aussiedoc]

i can confirm leorl's statment. Mate of mine whom started RCSI last year oct 2005 has a law degree and was only accepted into the 6 year course (ie pre-med + 5 years). If u have a science background you go into the 5 year course. However starting in 2006 RCSI has a postgrad 4 year course (missed it by 1 year). Dont know any details on this course atm.

 

[msweezer]

Is it worth taking the science courses in the US?
Do you know if they will make you take them over again in Ireland?

Out of the following two options what do you think is better....
Associate's and working towards bachelor in nursing or asscociate's + med school pre reqs.
Thank you

Currently, or when i was a direct entrant (requirements have probably changed), those with bachelor's degrees but not in a science field (i.e. little science background) were put in the 6 year programs, not the 5 year programs. The 1st year does include your basic sciences - ochem, gen chem, physics, biology, etc. However, it is slightly different here in that the Irish complete a lot of these subjects for their leaving cert and their level of sciences in secondary school is higher than the US high school student. So the science courses may not be what you would expect out of a science course in a US college, since the Irish students may have covered that at some point in their past already.