I am an American who was recently accepted to Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine. I was looking to hear from other students who were starting school at TCD this upcoming fall.
Sorry i didn't see your post TCDMed,Hey MadPride! I applied for on-campus housing too. My accommodations application is still being reviewed, but I think that going with university housing is my best bet at this point. Everything is going to be so new, so I think that living on-campus at least for the first semester is a good idea (to me at least). And that is so awesome that you have family there in Ireland. It'll be like your home away from home.
I graduated from undergrad in US in 2010. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that most Irish first year med students will be coming right out of high school. While North American applicants will have already graduated from undergraduate programs. I am interested in how big of an issue the age difference will be among students?
I got my acceptance to TCD in mid-March, and applied for accomodation at Trinity Hall (so not the on-campus housing) on April 18th and heard back on the 27th! I'm in House 80, Apartment 15, and looking foward to meeting who else will be living nearby!Hi Elisabethjl !
How long did you have to wait to hear back for a room assignment? I submitted my application at least 3 weeks ago. I'm sure it takes more than 3 weeks to figure out where to put people, and you were probably more on the ball in signing up right after you got your acceptance. If you could let me know that would be super!
Thanks!!I got my acceptance to TCD in mid-March, and applied for accomodation at Trinity Hall (so not the on-campus housing) on April 18th and heard back on the 27th! I'm in House 80, Apartment 15, and looking foward to meeting who else will be living nearby!
London, Ontario! Excellent.Hello MadPride and one8piece...i m from London Ontario and going to TCD to study medicine in Sept...have you guys booked ur flight already?
London, Ontario! Excellent.
I have not booked my flight yet! I aiming to book it for when i'm allowed in residences, if i get in.
You?
Cannot wait for TCD!!! I'm from North Bay (ontario) and i'm applying to on-campus housing. Otherwise, all my family lives in ireland, so i won't be without a roof over my head.
Which of you are applying out of high school (Secondary school) and who are applying out of undergrad/post secondary?
I just graduated my undergrad.
I'm having trouble with the health insurance plan. I have yet to read the insurance plan in detail. I heard ODON is the cheapest (like super cheap) compared to the others but only if you think you will never ever get sick. The coverage is really low but really cheap and meet the requirement when you register at Garda upon arrival in Dublin. I don't have much info about VHI, AVIVA, QUINN although they are the big ones in Ireland. Can we actually register for the health insurance before arriving in Ireland???
Hey Shamis,
Wow you booked your flight really early! Which website/agent do you use? Are you allowed to make date modification once you booked the ticket? I haven't reserve a spot for flight yet but I think I might be taking Aer Lingus (Ireland Airline) or Air Transtat. They are reasonable price (CAD600-800), some direct into dublin and some with one stop at Chicago.
I am planning to go Week of Sept 3 or 10 as well. I also will be looking for off-campus housing, so probably going to stay in hotel for the first few days in Dublin.
I'm for sure attending the orientation week, I heard from the seniors it's an awesome week to find out all about the services and resources available on campus, browse through different campus clubs, as well as make meet new friends.
Did any of you submit your Garda/police check form and health requirements stuff to TCD yet? I did my health stuff already and will be wrapping it up with my doctor tomorrow. I am wondering if we can mail the health stuff by ourselves? I know the package says your doctor should mail it but I don't know what mail service they are going to use and I'd prefer registered mail.
I'm having trouble with the health insurance plan. I have yet to read the insurance plan in detail. I heard ODON is the cheapest (like super cheap) compared to the others but only if you think you will never ever get sick. The coverage is really low but really cheap and meet the requirement when you register at Garda upon arrival in Dublin. I don't have much info about VHI, AVIVA, QUINN although they are the big ones in Ireland. Can we actually register for the health insurance before arriving in Ireland???
ODON is really cheap - I think I paid about $120 for the year, but as you said low coverage. I registered/bought it before I arrived in Ireland via their website. You get to pick the coverage period so it's not like you buy it now and waste the few months you're not in the country. It also satisfies the Garda requirement.
Hey Shamis,
Wow you booked your flight really early! Which website/agent do you use? Are you allowed to make date modification once you booked the ticket? I haven't reserve a spot for flight yet but I think I might be taking Aer Lingus (Ireland Airline) or Air Transtat. They are reasonable price (CAD600-800), some direct into dublin and some with one stop at Chicago.
I am planning to go Week of Sept 3 or 10 as well. I also will be looking for off-campus housing, so probably going to stay in hotel for the first few days in Dublin.
I'm for sure attending the orientation week, I heard from the seniors it's an awesome week to find out all about the services and resources available on campus, browse through different campus clubs, as well as make meet new friends.
ODON is really cheap - I think I paid about $120 for the year, but as you said low coverage. I registered/bought it before I arrived in Ireland via their website. You get to pick the coverage period so it's not like you buy it now and waste the few months you're not in the country. It also satisfies the Garda requirement.
Hey, would you be able to send me the link for the plan that cost $120 or around that from ODON...i cant find it online..did u have to call them? if yes, what number did u use?
Hi LbGem! Do you mind briefly explain how the healthcare system work in Dublin? Are there any differences with Canadian healthcare system?
If I have an ODON insurance, and say I need to see a doctor about minor symptoms like common cold, diarrhea, or fell down and have a somewhat deep cut that need 2-3 stitches, and I walk into a "walk-in" clinic. Does the clinic deal directly with ODON insurance OR do I have to pay the clinic and then make my own claimants by filling a form and submit receipts to ODON? What's the general waiting time like in a "walk-in" clinic there? Is the flu vaccine covered? How about blood tests and imaging tests?
Did you stick with ODON for the entire medical school years or was it only in your first year that you use ODON? Are you satisfied using ODON?
Hi Shamis! This is the link for the Euro120 ODON plan for Trinity College Dublin [https://www.odon.ie/index.php/tcd]
Hello Lbgem..
I know I m totally rushing things, but would you be able to let us know if there are any books that we can get from here (Canada) for our first year? do you think they change the curriculum every year? would getting the books via amazon would be any better? or is there some med student organization that sell books to new students at TCD? I know getting the books from here would be rediculous in terms of carrying it, but I am just interested to know the books used in first year.
Shamis
UCD student not Trinity sorry. I would tell you to get the books from amazon.co.uk though. A lot of these posts will tell you books are MASSIVELY cheaper over there than here. I found this half true. They are generally cheaper. I found the rare exception with 1-2 being more expensive but not by much (aka not worth it to lug over). Quite a few students like to go to Claredon medical bookstore to buy supplies/books, but again, I've found amazon to be cheaper, so never really understood why students bought it from there/the bookstore.
I am a HUGE book person - like I have an entire 2-3 full bookshelves of medical textbooks, and I would still tell you to wait til you get over there to buy them. Unless they're small/cheap/light and it's something you know you will use - USMLE books in my case (maybe in yours?) but I didn't really touch them til end of first year - so I would still tell you to wait unless you know what you're going to use (which you don't really, not yet). Also, trust me on this, WAIT 1-2 weeks into the semester to decide which books you really need (except for anatomy, pick up an atlas asap). You might go oh the syllabus has like 5 books on here - I'm going to buy them all! No no no. That's a huge waste of money. When I was doing the immuno portion I realized I needed to brush up so I picked up an immuno book, which helped. But for the genetics? Didn't need it.
Trust me on this. I didn't listen and I wouldn't say I regret it? But it made it much harder lugging about 20 pounds of books over.
The biggest reason why you shouldn't buy them yet is mainly because you don't know if you will need them. A lot of people don't really use textbooks or will get the pdf pirated version which saves a ton of money. Don't listen completely to your profs on what books to get. The three books I bought solely b/c of prof recommendations I hated and didn't use. That was probably the only money I wasted on books. Check first if 1. you need the book (maybe you're a pro in the subject and won't need it or the powerpoint slides they give you are sufficient) 2. which book to get based on what you like/what other students recommend - ex. I like Costanzo's physio, but prof recommends Vander. I found Costanzo's to be very easy to understand/basic/what I needed to know and honestly it summarized in about 5 pages about 3-4 lectures worth of slides - I know I aced one of the essay questions on the final because of this. For Anatomy atlases - there are tons - some like cartoons (Netters), some like McMinn's, Rohan's (Rohan's has better pictures, but McMinn's is easier to follow because of the alphabetical tags), just to name a few off the top of my head.
I know you want to be an awesome student, but just calm down . If you're planning to study for the USMLE, I can toss a couple recs your way to get your feet wet and aren't heavy reading for the summer if you *absolutely* must pre-read (I think this is a waste of time to do during the summer though and I was one of those that felt oh I'm getting ahead if I start in the summer! nope, you don't know how to study yet) - very light/easy and shouldn't be too much trouble to pack.
Hope that helps.
Oh also, 2nd years may sell you their texts or your medical society (I assume trinity has one like ucd) will arrange a booksale so you can sometimes snag a cheap book or two. But I found it wasn't worth it to rely on this super much as the booksale was 3 weeks into the semester and the student union (not the campus) bookstore had none of the books I needed for sale. So again, amazon is your friend, and do some comparison shopping yourself if you'd like, claredon has a website so you can always search for the same books there as on amazon.
This is certainly helpful. Thank you
I am not thinking about buying the books per se. I just wanted to browse (get some titles). Your wisdom is greatly appreciated. I am planning on writing the USMLE, any advice in that department? All I heard was "the first aid books", nothing for specific subjects.
Ps. I am a bit confused..so there are two medical schools, one at UCD and one at TCD? how different are those programs? difference in length? or material? class size?
Thank you for your advice
Hey can you please share your stats and link me the website where to apply thanksI am an American who was recently accepted to Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine. I was looking to hear from other students who were starting school at TCD this upcoming fall.
I got my acceptance to TCD in mid-March, and applied for accomodation at Trinity Hall (so not the on-campus housing) on April 18th and heard back on the 27th! I'm in House 80, Apartment 15, and looking foward to meeting who else will be living nearby!
No at Trinity, the international students don't get interviewed.Hi were you interviewed considering you were an international applicant?