Advice please.... Irish grad-entry acceptance!

[JohnDough1]

I've been accepted to an Irish graduate entry program and I cannot decide whether to go or not... I'm looking for advice - perhaps some of you have been in a similar situation?

I'm a Canadian who has just completed an MSc. I have written the mcat several times with my best score being 27O (10 PS, 7 VR, 10 BS), written in March. I plan to rewrite in July and I think I can do better but there's always the possibility of not... I have never applied to North American schools before and feel that I have to at least apply here before going to Ireland to avoid being in debt for many years to come, in addition to avoiding the hurdles of coming back to NA to practice. I feel that if I go to Ireland without even applying here, I'll have always thought "what if...". That being said, I find it very difficult to give up an acceptance to a good med school. I may reject this current offer and reapply to both Ireland and North American schools for 2010. I suppose my question is will this hurt me in my Ireland application... will the adcoms for the schools be influenced by my decision to reject the offer this year?

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[coralis]

To gain entrance in a North American medschool you need WELL above 27O ... more like 32 and above plus an undergrad GPA of 3.6 and above. If you think you have that apply in NA if not... GO TO IRELAND NOW!

 

[jnuts]

The MCAT score's relation to Canadian med school admission is a little looser; GPA is a much stronger indicator. If you don't have a 3.7+, and if I were you, I'd really look hard at Ireland.

I think Cor is quite right and you'd be a long shot at American schools--they tend to weigh the MCAT score quite heavily. Also I noticed that your weak area is Verbal Reasoning which is probably the hardest to improve.

Have you considered going to Ireland for the first year and applying to NA while you are there? One person in my class did that successfully and left after the first year for UBC. He did not recieve credit for his year here but I don't think he has any regrets. If you took that route you'd have all your bases covered.

 

[JohnDough1]

Hi, I've certainly thought about that. However, did your friend lie on his application about being in 1st year meds at a different school? As far as I know, adcoms do not like accepting people who are already enrolled in medicine.

My gpa is 3.5, with my last two years being 3.82. My only shot is for U of T if I raise my verbal by at least 1 score. If I can improve significantly, I think I have a reasonable shot at Western and Queen's as well. Do you know if students have been accepted to either of these thre schools once they have already begun medicine at a different school, say in Ireland?

 

[jnuts]

He's the only one I know of, and as I said UBC (actually someone else from our year was waitlisted and then rejected from UBC). I never asked him if he told the admin committees. I think the best way to find out if they look down on it would be to give the admissions offices a shout and ask them point blank. He was also at RCSI and not UCD, I've never heard of anyone from UCD doing it (that may just be that I don't know too many UCDers).

As I'm sure you know, your GPA certainly seems competitive, but you have to get your MCAT above the standard (its either 8 or 9 in all subjects?) otherwise your app just gets binned at UoT. And to be pragmatic, the stastics of repeat MCAT takers improving their scores aren't great especially as you have a fair statistical chance of dropping your other scores.

(http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/admissionsadvisors/examstatistics/retester/start.htmhttp://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/admissionsadvisors/examstatistics/retester/retestvr.htm)

Something else to keep in mind is that as far as I know Queen's and Western both still practice regional preference so I wouldn't put too much stock in them if you're from Toronto. In fact I just checked at Western's website and your MCAT and GPA are both still too low unless you're a regional. And in terms of US schools, Canadian GPAs mean very little to them and to be blunt your first MCAT was nowhere near high enough and they'll still see that first score even if you improve significantly.

Not that I'm trying to persuade you, but without knowing what you can get on the MCAT you're gambling your future without knowing what your cards are. Have you done any recent practice tests to see if you're scoring significantly higher on VR?

Bottom line, I'm sure you know your chances better than I do. If I were you I'd go to Ireland. But then I'm biased.

 

[npthuluv]

Hey, I don't know whether or not you ended up accepting the Ireland offer, but I asked the dean of admissions of a particular North American med school if they would look at an applicant who had completed their first year at an Irish GEP for medicine. She said that they would, although the credits would not be transferred and you would have to start from first year again. Hope that helps a bit!

 

[JohnDough1]

Thanks for the information! Which school did you ask?

 

[roo]

I recommend not going to Ireland if you don't want to complete schooling there.

Transfers back to North America are uncommon. Even if you did do a transfer, your subsequent choice of residency is more limited since why would a residency program want to hire on a medical student who has a history of just staying for a year then transferring away (which then leaves a hole in their residency program rotation for the rest of the years).

There isn't much justification for the "go to Ireland and transfer to North America" route. Yes Ireland costs more, but *all* your tuition and a big slice of your lodging are tax credits against your future income anyways. Improved residency options are negated by a history of transferring from programs after telling them how much you wanted to go there.

 

[npthuluv]

I asked GW, JohnDough1.