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hey guys, well i think i'm going to accept the RCSI offer...anyone else?
fifi said:I am going to accept my RCSI offer....now that I made up my mind, I am getting nervous about the $$ and the risk I am about to undertake.
is anyone living in residence? what is mercer court / millin house like? can anybody in the school comment on this for me?
what would your advice be for a first year student who likes privacy/quietness?
fifi said:wandaa:
I'm from vancouver. My choice is to live in res for at least the first year, I think this is easier for me - new place, new school, new culture., etc. I'm just trying to choose between millin house and mercer court.
any suggestions?
Chiq said:How big are the bedrooms in Mercer, and do they just randomly assign you roommates or are there roommate preferences/matching that you do here in the U.S when you're a freshman? I haven't gotten in but just curious....
john182 said:Don't worry about the investment mate every American in my class there matched in 1st choices from ENT, gen surg, OBGYN you name it. It's one of the best investments to make for a medical degree given the history, training and international recongition with Harvard's own surgical teaching programme. Don't worry whether it's a risk. It's an investment in yourself and when you are raking in the entire 6 years fees in a single year as an attending you'll feel better.
John182 what are you smoking?!?
Did the RCSI pay you to tell those lies?
I can poke more holes in your arguement than I can poke in your mother and little sister combined!
Lets start with the match! Very few people from the RCSI match in the USA. In reality it is only 10% of the class at the most. Considering most of the class can't speak, write or read English by the time they graduate, they haven't a hope of matching. Accordingly, most RCSI grads are stuck with dead end careers in Ireland... which is probably a good thing considering how incompetent they are. At least there mistakes will be confined to the ugly moss covered rock in the middle of the Atlantic where a couple more stuttering, mouth breathing, knuckle draggers will not be noticed! The girl with the club foot and eye patch who works the midnight to 6am shift at the gas station knows more about medicine than most RCSI grads... and she didn't have to fork over 35,000 per year. My insincerest apologies if that piece of work is your mother, John182
Don't worry about the tuition?!? Yeah right! At 35,000 per year and rising, you should be sweating buckets! Be very suspicious when a Paddy forces you to sign a binding agreement when you commence your studies, demands 35,000 per year and guarantees NOTHING in return. Be very cautious! Better yet, give me the 35,000 per year so my Yale alumni buddies and I can go out for dinner at Dorsia in Manhattan, then go on a coke bender for Memorial Day weekend. Don't worry, we are gentlemen and we will be sure to invite your little sister. The bonus for you is that you'll save money by not having to buy a plane ticket to Dublin and you won't get TB and MRSA (a rite of passage at RCSI). What do you get for those crazy fees? ...nothing! No teaching in the clinical years, no opportunity to perform procedures and no responsibility at all. However this is probably a good thing considering the quality of the students the fabled RCSI. RCSI is all about the the R's: Racism, getting Ripped off and taking it in the Rear!
Aligned with Harvard's surgical training program? My ass! I am a Yale boy and I can tell you for sure RCSI is more closely aligned with training programs in Ethiopia! In Ireland, you have to do 3 years of post grad training before you can do the basic surgical skills course, which teaches you to suture and cast broken bones. Congratulations sparky! 35,000 for 6 years, then 3 years of training so you can function at the level of a 3rd year American medicl student! USA #1!!!!!! Your mommy will be very proud of you when you suture your first wound on your 40th birthday! By that time, I will be retired and spending my days at the Yale alumni club in Manhattan sipping cocktails served to me by some failed RCSI wanna-be hack. John182, take note! I like my drinks with extra ice. You have to work for that tip Paddy!
Rake that money back!?!? John182, the only thing you will ever rake in is scorn and ridicule. In fact, as I type this at the Yale alumni club in Manhattan, my buddies can hardly keep their canapes and merlot down... but that could be the coke... Just precisely where will you be an attending, let alone making that sort of money. I can guarantee you that unless you go to a "real" medical school, you will spend your days swabbing for rectal chlamydia somewhere in North Dublin. But hey, look at the bright side: you'll see your mom on a regular basis.
The truth is John182 couldn't buy his way into a cheaper medical school and he is stuck trying to rationalise his lame assed decision. Should studied harder butt boy!
PB Jr.
PBateman said:In fact, as I type this at the Yale alumni club in Manhattan, my buddies can hardly keep their canapes and merlot down... but that could be the coke...
PB Jr.
dmonroe said:I am an American final medical year student at RCSI.
For those of you who are unaware, there is indeed growing tension because of the increasing cost of tuition at RCSI. Much of this is justified. Unfortunately, what started (a while back, and not on this website) as an interesting analysis of the value of an RCSI education has become a purile, bitter and indeed ignorant discussion that has little to offer those considering RCSI as an option.
A couple of things I have noted:
There are indeed Americans who come to RCSI and hate it. Many of these are from affluent backgrounds where they are used to a certain amount of social and professional recognition as a birthright. When they migrate to Ireland they are no longer a part of the ruling majority. The lack of familiarity and the loss of this recognition makes them unhappy. If they can, they switch out (and should). I should add that I come from what would be considered an affluent white background, but have experienced none of these feelings. If you are open-minded, and able to find happiness in a variety of environments, not just one, you'll probably like it here.
So in short here are, as I see them, the plusses and minuses of attending RCSI as an American:
Plusses:
1) Two academic years of anatomy, one being neuroanatomy, the other gross. American medical student average about three months of this important course.
2) Three years of clinical training.
3) The ability to diagnose clinically, regardless of the availability technology. This is probably the most attractive thing about studying in Europe. Ask an American student to differentiate between extradural and subarachnoid bleed, and he'll tell you to use an MRI. Ask a European medical student the same question, and he'll ask you about the patient. Both should arrive at the same answer. The European trained medical student can 'do it without a calculator'. Examples like this are common. Do not underestimate the importance of this. Ask any trained physician, regardless of specialty.
4) Proximity to Europe. At times, because of the elongated course, you will have time to travel. Take a textbook to Belgium for under a hundred euros round-trip. Visit a hospital in Tunisia or Poland (have done all of these). Achieve some perspective about your professional life.
5) Matching in the US, if you want it, is not a problem. This has been proven time and again. Two last year matched at the Mayo clinic, and people have gone to Columbia, Urology at the Cleveland Clinic, and straight into plastic surgery. Even my Norwegian wife matched in a major teaching university for general surgery. Almost everyone else got their first choice. These are the facts.
Minuses:
1) It's getting pretty expensive (especially as the dollar gets weaker). This goes for both living expenses and tuition. I'm not sure if this will change. I don't anticipate problems paying my loans back.
2) At times the school can be conservative, and slow to evolve. Student opinion can, at times, be undervalued when compared with the US. Even so, evolution is taking place.
3) Overcrowding on the wards and in facilities may become an issue (some think it already is) if the school continues to increase the class size without expanding student facilities.
These are just a few from both sides. In all I have enjoyed my time here, and if I had to choose again (between med schools in Houston, Philly and Dublin) I'd make the same exact choice. I feel that the education I received is superior. Both of my parents are specialists - one trained in the states and one in Europe - and they agree.
PBateman said:Dmonroe. I read your post with great interest. In fact, way more interest than a US residency program director will ever devote to your application.
My first question is: What is the view like from your moral high ground?
Your lame attempt to defend the RCSI was desperate and clumsy. Yes desperate and clumsy - just like the first time I watched Louis Carruthers have sex with my maid.
You say that if you had a choice to do it all over again, you would still choose to attend the RCSI. My ass! (which is waxed & toned by the way!) People attend RCSI for many reasons, but it is never their first choice. You are likely there because no other medical school in the USA (USA#1) would accept an applicant who reads at a grade 3 level. Lets talk board scores. I guarantee that you could square your board score and you still couldn't touch me!
Do you think RCSI grads have a monopoly on international travel & medical experiences. You visited a hospital in Tunisia and Poland. At least you got a chance to get away from Ireland and see what real medicine is like. However, that plane ticket to Poland cost you whatever the price was plus 35,000. Are you ****ed? With that kind of money, Louis Carruthers and I could fly to Poland first class, spit roast your mother in the house where the Pope was born, visit a hospital to laugh at the hapless Poles and still have fistfulls of money left over to go on an old fashioned Warsaw coke bender!
Yale grads like me have great international health experiences. One time, Louis Carruthers and I picked up 2 Peurto Rican hookers (because the Radcliffe girls weren't putting out - something about the urinal cake and butter knife...). We took them back to a suite at the Waldorf Astoria, but one of them overdosed on cheap glue. We called Louis' driver and he took them to hospital. That was a great international health experience - the hookers were Peurto Ricans, Louis' chauffeur was Mexican and the urethritis I had was doxycycline resistant!
Dmonroe, it sounds like the curriculum at the RCSI is really "progressive". You are right, if we have a patient with a suspected cranial bleed at Columbia Presbyterian, we get an MRI, because this is 2005 (I think... did a lot of blow on the weekend and things are confusing as I come down). MRI is the gold standard and we aim to treat with certainty. Of course we ask about the patient - is your sister hot and do you have insurance? The RCSI methodology of history taking, clinical exam and phrenology sounds great! What do you do when you reach a diagnosis - trephination to let the demons out, exorcisim or application of the leaches?!? Your 35,000 is being put to good use, butt boy!
I stand corrected. In a previous email, I said there are no Irish grads working at Columbia Presbyterian. In fact there is an RCSI grad who is employed to mop the floors in the cafeteria!!!
Lets not let all this stuff come between us. Next time you are in New York, you are welcome to visit the Yale club... we are always looking for a new shoe shine boy!
Yours sincerely in all manner of superiority,
Patrick Bateman Jr.
Lex81 said:Thats some funny **** dude, haha. But seriously, who the hell takes all this time to write paragraphs and paragraphs just to dis a school? Now I gotta come to the defense of RCSI, this nut case Bateman must be on the rock! If this cat is for real, which I doubt, it seems like he's got some sorta personal vendetta, and he needs to chill the f$@# out, or lay off the yayo. Look mate, I've been accepted to Tulane, Albany, and U. of MICHIGAN medical schools, but I'm heading to RCSI because of the cultural and life experience it offers. You all can piss and moan about the money, but we're going to be doctors in the end and it will all be paid off PERIOD. Yeah, it might take a little bit longer, but you simply can't put a price on the experience of living abroad for an extended time, its absolutely life enriching. I should know, I've lived all over the world throughout my life.
I think most people go to RCSI because they are adventurers, explorers at heart... at least thats what I am. To have an opportunity to study medicine while enriching yourself in a cultural and worldly adventure is an opportunity I bet few would pass up. This dude bateman seems like one of those loser "intellectuals" (nerds) from an ivy school that tries to rectify their lack of passion (yes thats the correct word) through bashing a cherished institution from a safe vantage, ie an internet forum. Please grow up man. Its cool if you want to share your opinion, but to come off like some dip**** is just dick. Im stoked to head to Dublin in the fall, I'll see you all there! ciao
-Ben
Lex81 said:Thats some funny **** dude, haha. But seriously, who the hell takes all this time to write paragraphs and paragraphs just to dis a school? Now I gotta come to the defense of RCSI, this nut case Bateman must be on the rock! If this cat is for real, which I doubt, it seems like he's got some sorta personal vendetta, and he needs to chill the f$@# out, or lay off the yayo. Look mate, I've been accepted to Tulane, Albany, and U. of MICHIGAN medical schools, but I'm heading to RCSI because of the cultural and life experience it offers. You all can piss and moan about the money, but we're going to be doctors in the end and it will all be paid off PERIOD. Yeah, it might take a little bit longer, but you simply can't put a price on the experience of living abroad for an extended time, its absolutely life enriching. I should know, I've lived all over the world throughout my life.
I think most people go to RCSI because they are adventurers, explorers at heart... at least thats what I am. To have an opportunity to study medicine while enriching yourself in a cultural and worldly adventure is an opportunity I bet few would pass up. This dude bateman seems like one of those loser "intellectuals" (nerds) from an ivy school that tries to rectify their lack of passion (yes thats the correct word) through bashing a cherished institution from a safe vantage, ie an internet forum. Please grow up man. Its cool if you want to share your opinion, but to come off like some dip**** is just dick. Im stoked to head to Dublin in the fall, I'll see you all there! ciao
-Ben
I would say hardly rich. Most of the Americans I know are on loan, the UAE students get sponsored by their government to go there, and Malaysian fees are half the normal fee.Rico said:A friend of mine in RCSI said everyone in Dublin knows that RCSI is a place for rich international students from U.S, Bahrain, and Malaysia.
Kaptain Krunch said:Was in RCSI last Saturday for the case studies competition.
Wow, it's a classy looking college. Maybe we were in the section they used for visitors but I've never seen such expensive surroundings.
All the students and staff were extremely friendly as well, greeting us as soon as we opened the door. The wine reception afterwards was most welcome as well (I vaguely remember telling some pathologist how we were all winners in the end. Boy, was I hammered!)
O yea, Trinity won the competition!
(I'm from UCC so am not biased)
Kaptain Krunch said:O yea, Trinity won the competition!
(I'm from UCC so am not biased)
How about 4 internal medicine matches in Mayo last year? As for Hopkins they do not accept FMG applicants period.Jammer said:Classy looking college? Compared to what, the methadone clinic on Pearse Street? Just remember, RCSI is great at putting up the facade: the plasma announcement screen stares you right in the face when you walk in, flat screen Mac on the desk in the lobby, fancy receptions filled with faculty wearing Luis Copeland suits and fake smiles, sipping their bitter wine. However, when it comes to delivering the medical education product to the students that have purchased it, they fall far short of the standard and quality they claim to provide. They always draw comparisions to and boast their ties with U.S. medical schools such as Harvard, the Mayo Clinic, and Johns Hopkins. Tell me, how many RCSI graduates have matched in a residency program at Harvard in the past 10 years? And satisfaction??? Talk to a medical student at Harvard or Johns Hopkins and you would be hard pressed to find one that is disappointed by their experience in medical school; those medical schools strive to maintain the highest standards of excellence, they aim to set the bar. Talk to a student at RCSI and see what they have to say about their experience, how many times they have been disappointed with the overall lack of organization, the lack of respect shown for the students. That should tell you something about what RCSI is really like.
By the way, where is Bateman? It seems like he's the only one that is actually being critical on this string.
r3boot said:Alot of the people who have been at rcsi and complain about the teaching are the ones who are used to being spoon fed and having everything going as THEY planned and have no consideratino for anything else that is going on (this is espacially true in the clincal years).
NIQ said:How about 4 internal medicine matches in Mayo last year? As for Hopkins they do not accept FMG applicants period.
leorl said:Really?! Do you know who was on the team? I would have thought it would have been publicized a bit more. I think I remember gettin a general email asking people who wanted to be on the team, but no email on results and specifics.
You might have ignored a previous post where I said I'm a fourth year at RCSI. I gaurantee that this is accurate information from the graduating class, and I personally know 2 of the people that accepted it.Jammer said:How about who? Are your facts anecdotal? Or even worse, are you getting your facts from the residency list that RCSI provides to prospective applicants? The list that claims that RCSI graduates have a 98% match rate to US residencies. I'll tell you this, that list is inaccurate, false advertizing, and outright lies! Only including people that applied to the US match this year, the first rank match rate is something more like 50-60%. And the overall match rate was only about 80-85%. And that's not even counting people who have elected to stay for at least an intern year in Ireland,. Some not by choice.
Do some research, dig a little deeper and see what you really find. Ask some people that matched if they think that RCSI has been supportive of their endeavors over their years in medical school. Yet RCSI basks in trumpetting around their graduates that match in the US, as if RCSI had some integral role in the result.
NIQ said:You might have ignored a previous post where I said I'm a fourth year at RCSI. I gaurantee that this is accurate information from the graduating class, and I personally know 2 of the people that accepted it.
I will agree with you that RCSI does very little for in the actual match process. Most of it is independant work, and they'll just go as far as giving you the righ references, and adding their "seal of approval". Suffice to say I know many people that are 90+ in both step 1 and 2 and that matched in very good programs.
I did see that you mentioned that this years third year class is getting screwed with clinical experience, and this is true. Most of the people in their year aren't too happy about this and I sure wouldn't be if that happened to me. Hospital crowding is a major problem in Beaumont. Fortunatly for my third year I was in James Connely where it was only 3 people on a team, and interns went out their way to help us out (yes I know I was the minority)
PBateman said:Dmonroe. I read your post with great interest. In fact, way more interest than a US residency program director will ever devote to your application.
My first question is: What is the view like from your moral high ground?
Your lame attempt to defend the RCSI was desperate and clumsy. Yes desperate and clumsy - just like the first time I watched Louis Carruthers have sex with my maid.
You say that if you had a choice to do it all over again, you would still choose to attend the RCSI. My ass! (which is waxed & toned by the way!) People attend RCSI for many reasons, but it is never their first choice. You are likely there because no other medical school in the USA (USA#1) would accept an applicant who reads at a grade 3 level. Lets talk board scores. I guarantee that you could square your board score and you still couldn't touch me!
Do you think RCSI grads have a monopoly on international travel & medical experiences. You visited a hospital in Tunisia and Poland. At least you got a chance to get away from Ireland and see what real medicine is like. However, that plane ticket to Poland cost you whatever the price was plus 35,000. Are you ****ed? With that kind of money, Louis Carruthers and I could fly to Poland first class, spit roast your mother in the house where the Pope was born, visit a hospital to laugh at the hapless Poles and still have fistfulls of money left over to go on an old fashioned Warsaw coke bender!
Yale grads like me have great international health experiences. One time, Louis Carruthers and I picked up 2 Peurto Rican hookers (because the Radcliffe girls weren't putting out - something about the urinal cake and butter knife...). We took them back to a suite at the Waldorf Astoria, but one of them overdosed on cheap glue. We called Louis' driver and he took them to hospital. That was a great international health experience - the hookers were Peurto Ricans, Louis' chauffeur was Mexican and the urethritis I had was doxycycline resistant!
Dmonroe, it sounds like the curriculum at the RCSI is really "progressive". You are right, if we have a patient with a suspected cranial bleed at Columbia Presbyterian, we get an MRI, because this is 2005 (I think... did a lot of blow on the weekend and things are confusing as I come down). MRI is the gold standard and we aim to treat with certainty. Of course we ask about the patient - is your sister hot and do you have insurance? The RCSI methodology of history taking, clinical exam and phrenology sounds great! What do you do when you reach a diagnosis - trephination to let the demons out, exorcisim or application of the leaches?!? Your 35,000 is being put to good use, butt boy!
I stand corrected. In a previous email, I said there are no Irish grads working at Columbia Presbyterian. In fact there is an RCSI grad who is employed to mop the floors in the cafeteria!!!
Lets not let all this stuff come between us. Next time you are in New York, you are welcome to visit the Yale club... we are always looking for a new shoe shine boy!
Yours sincerely in all manner of superiority,
Patrick Bateman Jr.
kuralia said:You should not insult a person who is trying to explain the value of education by differences.I think his article is very attractive and you just jellish because you could not get into RCSI.And you an't no Yale graduate,maybe hoosier university
PBateman said:Nice one kid! You tried to diss me, but you couldn't quite get the words out. I assume by your broken english, mis-spelled words and sentence fragments that you are studying "medicine" (and I use the term lightly) in Ireland.
What the **** does "jellish" mean? You couldn't respond to my iron clad arguements with any sort of reason, so you have resorted to inventing a pidgin language.
Congratulations! You have spent 35,000 per year for a worthless degree and you can neither read nor write. I bet you feel real good about your withered old mother whoring herself out to pay for your miseducation.
yours in all manner of superiority,
Patrick Bateman Jr.