thanks...I am glad to hear that.
If you don't mind me asking.......how is UCC. From the very little research I have done on the city of cork, it seems like it is a very small city. How is the cost of living in Cork compared to Dublin? I personally don't have any preferance of university in Irland, I guess one of the main deciding factors I will be considering is how much in the end am I spending to live in Ireland.
UCC is great. The med school is relatively small (my class was 120, recent admissions have been around 140) and everyone gets to know you, both classmates and admin/profs (well, profs get to know you if you ask questions and actually seem interested in the material). I have had a realy good experience here so far (middle of 4th year).
Expense-wise, Cork is much less expensive than Dublin. Student rooms start at around 65-85 euro per week plus utilities for one room in a shared house, usually with other students (count on another 75 or so per month). If you go with one of the many student complexes rent is a little more expensive - usually around 4500.00 per year starting on September 4th and running until June 4th. Campus Accommodation will let you move in early and leave late, although you will probably have to pay extra rent for that, but the private complexes like Victoria Mills and Brookfield will not let you move in early. In 1st year most people go with UCC campus Accommodation just because it is easy and you know what you are getting; the apartments are clean and completely furnished, but some of the privately rented student houses can be real dumps. Food, drink and entertainment expenses vary widely (and wildly) from person to person - I think the average is about 300 euro a month, but it depends on what your vices are (mine would be books, travel and music, so some months I spend way more and some way less).
Cork itself is small but has much more going on than any comparable small city in Canada that I know. There is live theatre, an Opera House that hosts everything from opera to comedy acts to live theatre, an "art house" cinema (the Kino), lots of pubs hosting live music and several art galleries. It's actually a benefit that Cork is so small because you can walk almost everywhere you need to go, including the hospitals once you start going out to them. I very rarely take the bus unless it is really raining or I have a lot of parcels. Cork is also a very friendly city; everyone asks where you are from and how long you have been here and how you like it, (and once a lady on the bus offered to pray for me - she was alarmed that I lived so far out in the sticks (it takes me a whole 20 minutes to walk downtown
) and sometimes had to walk home at 7:00 pm by myself after a class
😱 - really, not a problem. Cork is fairly safe!
🙂 ).
Good luck on your application. Hope to see you here next year,
M
