Rcsi Gep

[galwaybound]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I heard a rumor over here that RCSI's GEP that was supposed to commence in 2006 never actually happened. I was told their state funding for the program got pulled and that only UCD went ahead with the program. Can anyone confirm or deny this rumor?

 

[leorl]

That's wrong. I know people in this year's RCSI GEP program.

 

[leorl]

oh yeah. and it's pretty expensive.

 

[JediBookworm]

Do you know how many students are in this program? I've heard 50 total, and half are from North America.

Did graduates who entered RCSI before the GEP program existed enroll in the 6-year program, but skipped the 1st year?

 

[segaBOY]

I'm doing Pharmacy at RCSI and know 2 in the accelerated med program, it takes 4 yrs and all the rest but the cost is a bit heavy.

This is how they put it: It costs €40k per yr but if you are an EU applicant and you come in top 25 in the selection process they'll lower it to €9k for the first yr and €22k for each other yr, still very expensive and RCSI is known for raising fees as they wish.

Can anyone tell me how much the accelerated post-grad med program costs in UCD?

Thanks

 

[docolive]

Relative to the other medical schools (UCD, UCC, Trinity), do you think that RCSI is the most competitive in terms of cut-offs for G.P.A. and/or MCAT???
thank you.

 

[leorl]

Jedi, that's about correct...only I think there's 40 in the class, not 50. I could be wrong though. About 1/2 north american. These are true graduates. Yeah, in the old "system" depending on which university, those with science degrees entered the 6-yr program but Directly Entered into 2nd year. So we're known as "direct entrants."

I'm not really sure how competitive RCSI is in terms of US qualifications. In terms of Irish qualifications (ie. leaving cert), the standard may be slightly lower. However, this doesn't really affect the Irish population, but mainly the foreign ones. (ie. there have been stories before of foreign students with relatively low leaving cert points but the right amount of $$$ gaining entry). In the old system anyway, not too many Irish gain entry into RCSI.

 

[JediBookworm]

I was just browsing around when I found out that RCSI recently updated their med admissions pages.

1) The GEP has 50 seats, 25 for EU and 25 for non-EU students.

2) Interviews for North American applicants actually take place in February, as opposed to May/June (from the ABP confirmation email). Previous interview locations have been Toronto, San Francisco, and New York.

3) It seems the major focus is "competitive MCAT results", which takes up 75% of the admissions criteria (!!!). The remaining 25% is allocated to "degree eligibility", "confidential references and life experiences", and finally the interview.

4) Graduates may be of any discipline, including the humanities and social sciences.

http://www.rcsi.ie/admissions/How_to_Apply/GEP/index.asp?id=2304&pid=1066&jid=24&jpid=2304

 

[Pigface]

(ie. there have been stories before of foreign students with relatively low leaving cert points but the right amount of $$$ gaining entry). In the old system anyway, not too many Irish gain entry into RCSI.

Yes leorl, this is actually true. The situation is, that as the government funded places in RCSI are for eu only school leavers, other school leavers may gain entry with lower leaving cert (or equivalent, eg A levels, IB) points. The requirements for these non-eu students are significantly lower - over 100 points lower. However they do have to pay those massive fees. This is one of the reasons that repeat leaving cert and private schools such as the institute of education have so many non-eu students.

This is an interesting topic, as irish school leavers who are willing to pay the fees, in order to gain entry with these significantly lower requirements are NOT allowed to. The government has essentially decided not to allow irish students to "pay their way in", or so it seems. This is regarded as a reversal from the system from around 50 years ago in Ireland, where entry to medical school was often only for those from wealthy backgrounds who had the right connections and the money.