Atlantic Bridge Program: what is their role?

[shepherder88]

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Hey all!

I'm mulling over the prospect of applying to a few Irish medical schools next year as a backup to applying for domestic programs. Based on what I've been reading (lurking as a guest) for the past few weeks, it might be a viable option. I'm confused about the decision process and how this works in general. Here are my questions,

1. Is the Atlantic Bridge Program an actual part of the Irish medical school system? I'm leery of 'middle men' being part of the application process and applying directly to each school is preferable.

2. How many people apply and what GPA/MCAT scores are they looking for? (they don't list this information on their website)

3. Is there a list of residency GME programs that North American graduates of Irish medical schools available for interested applicants to view? I ask this because I'm genuinely concerned that matching back in the US will be extremely difficult in four or five years time.

4. Can we apply to schools directly? I'm interested in applying to RCSI since it seems to be the school which accommodates the bulk the North American exchange students

5. Does the Atlantic Bridge Program company choose who is accepted and who is not?

Mainly, I'm trying to determine if this isn't just some outright scam. I've been seeing a lot of posts expressing discontent in the admissions process of applying to Irish medical schools as an international.

 

[shepherder88]

Sorry for posting it twice! I thought it didn't go through the first time.

 

[Lbgem]

1. As far as I understand it, it is a middle man in a sense - ABP forwards the applications to the school. Also, I've heard Finbar (those of you that had interview can confirm/reject this) tends to be around on the interview days for some of the schools, so they do play a part in admissions. It seems they pick for Galway, which apps are forwarded to that school for example. I imagine most of the apps for the bigger schools (RCSI, UCD, etc) go to the schools, rather than being handpicked to go to the schools. A possibility as well is that once an applicant is accepted to a school or two, their app isn't considered by some of the other schools, or not forwarded by ABP.

2. If you find this out let me know 😛.

3. Check around the boards - specifically where people match up/etc. There isn't an official list that the school puts out on their website stats wise.

4. Not as far as I can tell. That's what ABP is for. If you have solid/decent stats most likely RCSI will see your app. And follow the directions in the application.

5. No. The school adcom does. I will say it seems like they do play a role in which apps the schools see however. More so for the smaller schools, less for the bigger ones.

Most of this is just my personal conclusions based on my experiences as well as others that have posted on the board that I am assuming aren't trolls (i.e. Moose, Tachyon, etc).

 

[asd979]

Hey all!

I'm mulling over the prospect of applying to a few Irish medical schools next year as a backup to applying for domestic programs. Based on what I've been reading (lurking as a guest) for the past few weeks, it might be a viable option. I'm confused about the decision process and how this works in general. Here are my questions,

1. Is the Atlantic Bridge Program an actual part of the Irish medical school system? I'm leery of 'middle men' being part of the application process and applying directly to each school is preferable.

2. How many people apply and what GPA/MCAT scores are they looking for? (they don't list this information on their website)

3. Is there a list of residency GME programs that North American graduates of Irish medical schools available for interested applicants to view? I ask this because I'm genuinely concerned that matching back in the US will be extremely difficult in four or five years time.

4. Can we apply to schools directly? I'm interested in applying to RCSI since it seems to be the school which accommodates the bulk the North American exchange students

5. Does the Atlantic Bridge Program company choose who is accepted and who is not?

Mainly, I'm trying to determine if this isn't just some outright scam. I've been seeing a lot of posts expressing discontent in the admissions process of applying to Irish medical schools as an international.

I'm a Canadian currently finishing 1st year at UCC in Cork, so I can explain the process for you.

1) You can't apply to the Irish schools as a North American without going through Atlantic Bridge. Simple as that. They collect your information and determine which programs you're eligible for (ex: Graduate Entry Program vs 5 or 6 year programs). The Irish schools will NOT accept applications from North America that are not from Atlantic Bridge.

2) From my previous correspondence with Atlantic Bridge, they accept about 130 students total per year, spread out among the schools, and for every spot they receive about 10 applications. GPA and MCAT scores vary, as each school has different ideas over what is more important, some do not consider MCAT at all. Personally I wouldn't go in with a GPA lower than 3.0 or an MCAT lower than 25. I managed to sneak in with a 3.02 and a 27R, though the last two years were around 3.3. Some schools also place heavy emphasis on things like research, which may have played in my favour.

3) We're all concerned about matching. Especially when you hear stories coming out of UCC of a few students not matching into FM in Canada this year. However, that's not to say that matching is impossible. I've seen some lists floating around of the programs that people have matched recently and there are some competitive ones that graduates have matched into. I don't want to tell you that coming here is a guarantee that you'll match, because it's not. But people matching into competitive programs coming out of Ireland speaks for itself.

4) I've answered this one already.

5) Officially, no they don't select the students being accepted. Unofficially, they play a large role in the selection. Peter Nealon, the program director is present at the University of Limerick interviews, as well as the selection process and does make recommendations. Therefore I'm going to assume that Atlantic Bridge does advise the various schools on who they should select, but they do not have the final word.

I can tell you right now that it's not a scam, I'm proof of it. People are disillusioned because they aren't hearing a lot of information on the status of their applications or interviews. I can sympathize with that, but Atlantic Bridge is very busy dealing with all of the applications they receive and I can imagine that the numbers of applicants is growing every year. Also, Atlantic Bridge is run by the Irish, and they operate on Ireland time. North America's idea of being on time is very different from the Irish, and should you get here you'll quickly learn that.

 

[schroon]

My understanding is that the Atlantic Bridge Program was created 15+/- years ago when there was consideration of closing Cork or Dublin because of a drop in qualified Irish applicants.

To increase the number of qualified applicants the schools created the ABP to attract qualified North American applicants. RCSI elected to participate. Limerick joined the ABP in 2007.

Each school enrolls 30 North American students to their 4 year programs.

A rep for the ABP informed me that next year some or all of the 4 year programs may cut the number of North Americans to 20 or even 15 because the number of qualified Irish applicants has increased and the off shore supplement to enrollment is no longer needed.

From my observation the ABP offers a legitimate alternative/ fallback for a Canadian or US student. When I spoke to the ABP rep regarding the 4 year GEP program he indicated that the admissions process looks at grades, MCATs, and the academic rigor of the applicant's program. The rep specifically indicated that the Irish schools attempt to avoid the applicant that is a no science major but has taken only the required science courses with hope of fluffing their gpa.

Good luck.

 

[IamSuperDoctor]

2.:

Here is the latest trend of acceptances - as seen in the stats of applicants thread:

gpa: 3.4-3.9
MCAT: 28-36 (mostly 30+)

 

[5788401]

2.:

Here is the latest trend of acceptances - as seen in the stats of applicants thread:

gpa: 3.4-3.9
MCAT: 28-36 (mostly 30+)

does anyone know if atlantic bridge program converts/confirm our transcripts and then simply send that info to all the schools? or all they do is just collect our application and then send everything as is to the different schools?

 

[schroon]

Unless you are planning to submit fraudulent transcripts I don't understand why you would care whether the ABP confirms your transcripts.

Please advise.

 

[5788401]

Unless you are planning to submit fraudulent transcripts I don't understand why you would care whether the ABP confirms your transcripts.

Please advise.

because different schools converts GPA differently, that's why I was wondering if it was a centralized thing or up to the individual schools, because i found out that my GPA ended up dropping quite a bit from the % to GPA system.

 

[Shoushu]

2.:

Here is the latest trend of acceptances - as seen in the stats of applicants thread:

gpa: 3.4-3.9
MCAT: 28-36 (mostly 30+)

wow, the Irish (and/or UK) schools are becoming that hard to get in? If most applicants have 3.4+ and 30+, they could get in some US school and won't be labeled as an IMG.

 

[leorl]

People don't necessarily choose to go to Irish schools because they "couldn't get into US schools." Most US people accepted into Irish schools are quite competitive and made a conscious decision to apply to Ireland. It might be different for Canadians.

 

[medisforme]

Yeah, it is different for Canadians. Most Canadians (such as myself) who apply to Irish med schools only do so after multiple rejections from Canadian med schools or do not feel they have the stats to be competitive at Canadian medical schools (My stats 3.8/32S and this is my 4th application cycle).
I do agree with what Shoushu said about many applicant to Irish medical schools also being competitive to some of the lower tier schools in the US (Much moreso if you are an American citizen compared to a Canadian).