Medicine in Ireland

[Kingstonhopeful]

I found this post on the Canadian premed site with no response, but I have many similar questions so I thought I would post it here.

Hey everyone,
I have recently learned of the Irish route that is taken by many well qualified Canadians that just can't get into a Canadian school. If those on the forum who are attending or know about Irish schools can shed some light into some questions, that would be great! My first question is about schools. After looking through all the schools, it seems that the University of Limerick has a curricular model that is pretty much identical and can be considered the 'closest' in this way to the majority of Canadian med schools (mix of some lecture with pbl and lots of early clinical experience). Would this be a correct assessment? Are any Irish schools in any way closer to the typical Canadian model? Do program directors in Canada care about the curricular model of schools?

How do Canadians find coping with medical school in Ireland? Like I know in the states and carrib, its a large volume of material which students must get through, taught in a lecture based format. In the carrib this results in the high attrition rates but why are the attrition rates in Ireland so low?

In addition, with regards to rotations, how does that work. In Ireland I would imagine that Canadians don't drive so how would you get around if you get a rural rotation? Where do you stay during the rotiations? Furthermore, there seems to be reputation of Limerick for instance of not being the safest of cities? How true is this?

Finally, and perhaps the most important question is the future. For those in Ireland, what does the future look like for Irish grads. I keep hearing numbers like everyone who wants to match back in Canada does in FM or IM but will this still be the case in your opinion 4-5 years from now?

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[BlueJaysFan]

Huh interesting post, can anyone share some information on the questions asked?

 

[asd979]

Finally, and perhaps the most important question is the future. For those in Ireland, what does the future look like for Irish grads. I keep hearing numbers like everyone who wants to match back in Canada does in FM or IM but will this still be the case in your opinion 4-5 years from now?

Categorically untrue. There are many students who match in plenty of other specialties.

 

[med2UCC]

I found this post on the Canadian premed site with no response, but I have many similar questions so I thought I would post it here.

it seems that the University of Limerick has a curricular model that is pretty much identical and can be considered the 'closest' in this way to the majority of Canadian med schools (mix of some lecture with pbl and lots of early clinical experience). Would this be a correct assessment? Are any Irish schools in any way closer to the typical Canadian model? Do program directors in Canada care about the curricular model of schools?


How do Canadians find coping with medical school in Ireland? Like I know in the states and carrib, its a large volume of material which students must get through, taught in a lecture based format. In the carrib this results in the high attrition rates but why are the attrition rates in Ireland so low?

In addition, with regards to rotations, how does that work. In Ireland I would imagine that Canadians don't drive so how would you get around if you get a rural rotation? Where do you stay during the rotiations? Furthermore, there seems to be reputation of Limerick for instance of not being the safest of cities? How true is this?

Finally, and perhaps the most important question is the future. For those in Ireland, what does the future look like for Irish grads. I keep hearing numbers like everyone who wants to match back in Canada does in FM or IM but will this still be the case in your opinion 4-5 years from now?

On paper it may look like the Canadian model but it is probably not. I don't know the Limerick curriculum from 1st hand knowledge, but none of the schools Ido know about are in any way like a North American school. Programs in Canada know diddley about how Irish schools work, so you can go anywhere - they all have good reps.

No one I knew had any problem keeping up with the large volume of material. In Cork if you failed an exam by a little bit you got to do an oral exam to try to redeem yourself. If you failed that (or failed the initial exam by more than the margin of error) you could do a fall rewrite. If you failed that, you repeated the course. If you failed too many times you were booted. No one I knew ever got booted out except one fellow from Malaysia who had mental health issues.

Usually the schools arrange somewhere for you to stay when you are away on rotation. The bus and train system is great so transportation is not an issue. A lot of the Irish students have cars and are more than willing to car pool.
Limerick is a lovely city as long as you aren't involved with drugs or prostitution. You weren't planning to finance your degree this way, were you?


People seem to match into other things regularly. Urology, anaesthesia, ortho, rads - you can match into these from Ireland, you just will have to work hard to do it. But you'd have to work hard to match to these at home too, so...
Cheers,
M

 

[stressed101]

med2UCC thanks for the info! I was wondering what you think of Galway..also any helpful hints you can give to those starting med school this fall?

 

[med2UCC]

I didn't know many people in Galway when I was in Ireland but the school is certainly sound and Galway is a lovely little city.
As for advice for those of you going to Ireland this fall, have a great time! I am jealous - I miss Ireland. Don't spend a lot of time thinking about how this isn't like Canadian med school, or what you expected. Get the most out of it and thoroughly enjoy the experience. Travel as much as you can. Have fun. Cheers,
M
Oh, and get a Tesco club card - good discounts on food every 3 months or so, and you can use the points towards travel too.

 

[asd979]

I'm heading to Cork in about 3 weeks. How were your experiences there? The education you received? The classmates you had?

 

[med2UCC]

I'm heading to Cork in about 3 weeks. How were your experiences there? The education you received? The classmates you had?

The education was excellent although occasionally frustrating. When you go home to do electives, try to get some hands on procedures done, since you will get very little of that sort of thing in Ireland. Don't worry; you'll catch up. Also take whatever chances you can to do extra stuff - i.e. on your surgical rotations ask if you can scrub in for cases. Cork is a lovely little city full of wonderful people. Check out the English Market (entrances off the Grand Parade and off St Patrick Street (just Patrick St to the locals) for olives, feta cheese and good cheap meat and veggies. There was a little craft market running out of hte UNitarian Church on Prince's Street when I was there, good for Christmas presents. Blarney is also good for shopping.
some of the classmates were a little crazy, but most of htem were great. get to know your class; you'll be spending a lot of time with them.
Travel. It's a great chance to see lots of Europe. Ireland is lovely to travel around. Check out the Ring of Kerry, the Burren, the Dingle peninsula and definitely go to Dublin. Clarendon books on Clarendon St is a great place for medical text books.
Have fun,
M

 

[skatertudoroga]

Hey, could you please advice me on irish schools as an american citizen? I have applied to MD schools in usa twice. Received interviews and failed. Now applying MD and DO. So far no MD interviews. From what I've read it seems that DO is better than Ireland in terms of matching? But either way I would not be able to do a competitive specialty like orthopedics. But I heard that ER is easy to get out of DO but is becoming increasingly difficult for foreign grads. Especially if you don't interview well! The reason I am interested in Ireland over DO is that I want to study at a university. I did my ugrad at a big school... And I really want to travel around europe. But I would not want to completely kill my career. So any thoughts? Thanks.

Also you mention cities like Cork. What about Dublin for 4yr programs?

 

[med2UCC]

Hey, could you please advice me on irish schools as an american citizen? I have applied to MD schools in usa twice. Received interviews and failed. Now applying MD and DO. So far no MD interviews. From what I've read it seems that DO is better than Ireland in terms of matching? But either way I would not be able to do a competitive specialty like orthopedics. But I heard that ER is easy to get out of DO but is becoming increasingly difficult for foreign grads. Especially if you don't interview well! The reason I am interested in Ireland over DO is that I want to study at a university. I did my ugrad at a big school... And I really want to travel around europe. But I would not want to completely kill my career. So any thoughts? Thanks.

Also you mention cities like Cork. What about Dublin for 4yr programs?

Hey there. I talk a lot about Cork because that's where I went to school. It also has a 4 year program.
Dublin is also a good choice. As I stated above, all of the Irish schools have good reputations so there is no problem if you don't get into your school of choice.
As for matching to competitive residencies, yes, it is harder from an Irish school. I really can't comment on the DO route as I am Canadian and most provinces won't accept DO for anything. A few will let you study family medicine if you do a DO. That being said, most of my colleagues and most of the students in other years managed to match into the specialty of their choice, including one who matched into Ortho and another who matched into Rads. I also know of someone who matched into Urology from Ireland. It's not impossible, you just have to work hard and do well on your exams. It's also much easier to match into the US from a foreign medical school than it is to match into Canada, so you should be fine.
As far as travelling, if you want to travel go to Ireland. Much better opportunities to travel cheaply from there, and the universities are real universities. You'll have a culturally enriching experience.
Cheers,
M

 

[HappyGo]

I know a student in a famous Carb med school where half of the class are repeats🙂

 

[leorl]

Honestly, the decision to go or not go DO doesn't really have anything to do with choosing to go to Ireland. DO NOT GO TO IRELAND JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN'T GET IN SOME PLACE ELSE. I find the people who do so a) are not happy and b) do not actually do well in their academic medical school careers. The people who are happiest actually want to come, and you cannot assume that all north americans who go to Ireland are there for the same reason. If you do not interview well, practice. The Irish system uses a lot of oral assessment, especially for your final year. If you cannot speak well, you will not do well.

Many people base their decision re: DO vs. MD on whether they think they will travel in their careers and need a transferable degree.

Dublin for medical school has two of the most "well-known-by-name" schools, so you will not go wrong there. The only problem is that RCSI is very expensive. THe Dublin schools do have connections with some of the main hospitals in the US.

 

[enmeds]

I have been hearing some amazing things about the University of Limerick. It is a newer school but they have an emphasis on clinical and pratical medicine. Apparently their anatomy is very clinically oriented and alot of their curriculmn encorporates clinical skills which is what you need on the wards. As a result UL grads have been impressing the docs during their rotations with such skills.