Stats of Applicants to Irish schools and Acceptance, Waitlist or Rejection

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Can anyone please give me some advice?

I am applying next year to RCSI's GEP program through the Atlantic Bridge. I have a 3.8 GPA from a good UC school and majored in biochemistry. However, I have a low mcat (27:10/6/11).... I have all As in my english classes though.

Does anyone know how much RCSI weights MCAT or how my verbal score will affect me? I heard a rumor that they care more about the sciences, but can anyone clarify this for me.

Also, can you apply both to the 5 year and 4 year program and hope to gain entrance into one of them?

Any other advice? Any help would be much appreciated.🙂
 
calidoc, you have already posted that information. Everyone read it - there is no need to post it more than once. Your MCAT for the 4 year program is lower than average but your GPA is good. A high GPA is more beneficial for the 5 year programs, while a high MCAT is good for the 4 year programs.
 
I'm from: Ottawa, Canada
My country of citizenship is: Canada
Currently studying: B. Health Sciences, 2nd year of Biomedical Mechanical Engineering
At this University: University of Ottawa
My GPA is: 3.4
I applied to: Ontario, Memorial, UCD, UCC, Limerick, Trinity, NY
I was accepted at: Waiting to hear.
I was waitlisted at: Waiting to hear.
I was rejected from: NOSM, Ottawa, McMaster, Queen's
 
calidoc10 said:
Does anyone know how much RCSI weights MCAT or how my verbal score will affect me? I heard a rumor that they care more about the sciences, but can anyone clarify this for me.
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As posted previously the average MCAT for the entering class of 2008 at RCSI was 29. Depending on how they weight verbal you might be okay. That said, I really think we have to take ABP at its word when they say that the Irish schools accept North American students in order to diversify their classes (and for their monies!). That means its the big picture. You can not just list your accomplishments, write a lack lustre essay and hope your stats do the talking. Primarily, these schools want to ensure you will be a.) happpy in Ireland b.) actually accept their offer if they make one. Apparently, they also want interesting people that will bring unique view points to the classroom. The last thing schools want is to extend a bunch of offers and have them rejected or have students abandoning the program after one year (although some schools make that their business model, i.e. SABA). Of course, in regard to the first maybe that is why they have the whole deposit thing.

And yes you can apply to both 4 and 5 year programs. High GPA for 5 year, high MCAT for four year.
 
calidoc10 said:
I am applying next year to RCSI's GEP program through the Atlantic Bridge.
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You could also rewrite the MCAT. Improving a 6 VR should not be difficult, even if English is not your first language.
 
calidoc10 said:
So is everyone here Canadian? Why do so many Canadians apply to international schools? I rarely meet an American applying to them...
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Because our provincial governments ration healthcare to save money, and thus must restrict the number of doctors in the system. They did this in the nineties, and thus made competition for med school spots absolutely insane. Despite the doctor shortage, provinces are terrified of spending on more on the healthcare budget, because it is already almost 50% of many provincial budgets. More doctors = more billings = deficit. God forbid we actually introduce incentives into the system to make it more efficient. Seriously, our system costs a lot of money.

Also, a lot of people apply to med school, because they do not know what else to do. This excaberated by the fact that middle class jobs are on the wane in North America (like the boomers had). This pushes many students that actually want to be a doctor (or whose parents really want them to be a doctor) to go international.
 
Is anyone aware of any Canadians (Toronto) with an interview invitation to RCSI, as of today?


 
I have an interview on Feb 28th for RCSI. In toronto I applied to the 5/6yr program.
 
How does RCSI compare with UCD for academic reputation and pathway back to the US?

Thanks.
 
schroon said:
How does RCSI compare with UCD for academic reputation and pathway back to the US?

Thanks.
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I do not know how UCD is ranked, but apparently RCSI is considered a first tier medical school by Canada. For reference, Harvard is also considered first tier. Not sure how true this is, but I also read somewhere that 100% of RCSI students match somewhere in North America. Keep in mind that around 2017 Ontario claims it will have solved the doctor shortage, which could mean fewer spots for IMGs.
 
Thanks all for the comments!

Has anyone here applied to both the 4 and 5 year program? Is it frowned upon to do that at all?

Also, is 3.8 considered high for RCSI? From what I hear, the Irish schools are definitely not safety schools for people who don't get into US/Canadian schools (unlike the Caribbean schools).

And is anyone here applying to any other European schools? My friend told me of Charles University in Prague (all classes are taught in English and tuition is ~15000 euro a year).
 
calidoc10 said:
Thanks all for the comments!

Has anyone here applied to both the 4 and 5 year program? Is it frowned upon to do that at all?

Also, is 3.8 considered high for RCSI? From what I hear, the Irish schools are definitely not safety schools for people who don't get into US/Canadian schools (unlike the Caribbean schools).

And is anyone here applying to any other European schools? My friend told me of Charles University in Prague (all classes are taught in English and tuition is ~15000 euro a year).
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Match rates are much worse for schools in continental Europe. Personally, I would go top four Caribbean before I went to a European school. Cheaper though. Probably an equally rigorous education too.

Can't really comment on GPA with RCSI. What exactly they look for is a little bit of a mystery. It is definitely not going to hurt you to have a GPA of 3.8 though, and I think it is considered good. It probably depends on your program, years of study completed, the school you attended (remember that the U.S. has tiers of post-secondary education).
 
I finished at a top 20 california school and majored in biochemistry. In california my stats are average at best as all california schools are super-competitive. I'm just trying to assess my options.
 
Der Kaiser said:
Match rates are much worse for schools in continental Europe. Personally, I would go top four Caribbean before I went to a European school. Cheaper though. Probably an equally rigorous education too.

Can't really comment on GPA with RCSI. What exactly they look for is a little bit of a mystery. It is definitely not going to hurt you to have a GPA of 3.8 though, and I think it is considered good. It probably depends on your program, years of study completed, the school you attended (remember that the U.S. has tiers of post-secondary education).
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Please don't spread false information. Caribbean match rates are NO WHERE NEAR match rates from Ireland!!! A <20% match rate from top 4 Carib schools compared to 65% match rate from Irish schools to Canada alone! Going back to the US is almost 100% guaranteed from Ireland. Get your facts straight. Why would anyone go to a no-name school in a 3rd world country with low reputation and stigma when you can go to a top 50 international institution that is comparable with if not better than many US/Canadian schools!
 
Handsome88 said:
Please don't spread false information. Caribbean match rates are NO WHERE NEAR match rates from Ireland!!! A <20% match rate from top 4 Carib schools compared to 65% match rate from Irish schools to Canada alone! Going back to the US is almost 100% guaranteed from Ireland. Get your facts straight. Why would anyone go to a no-name school in a 3rd world country with low reputation and stigma when you can go to a top 50 international institution that is comparable with if not better than many US/Canadian schools!
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You completely misread me. European=continental Europe, not Ireland. Plus, in regard to the Caribbean schools I was strictly speaking of the top four, and I am not referring to match rates back to Canada but all of North America.
 
Der Kaiser said:
You completely misread me. European=continental Europe, not Ireland. Plus, in regard to the Caribbean schools I was strictly speaking of the top four, and I am not referring to match rates back to Canada but all of North America.
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Apologies. For Canadians: Ireland>>>>>>>Carib. For US: Ireland=Carib. That is only in terms of matching. I still think Irish schools are way better than Carib's.
UK might be another option. But eastern Europe is not.
 
For those who are unsure about the stats involving international medical schools, here is a study does by CaRMS (Canadian Resident Matching Service):
http://www.carms.ca/pdfs/2010_CSA_Report/CaRMS_2010_CSA_Report.pdf
which pitches Ireland, Poland, Carribean and Austalia medical schools against each each and compares their graduates and re-entry into Canadian medicine. Although I must disagree with Der Kaiser, based on this study (Canadian point of view), Polish graduates did more clerkship and had less difficulty in doing rotations in Canada than their Carribean counterparts. I believe its due to the unwanted (and uneeded) stigma as stated earlier.
 
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Just got an email from the ABP, I was selected for an RCSI interview in toronto feb28-march 2nd. Woot! gona update the above post. Anyone have any questions for me?
 
monkeyonthenet said:
. . . which pitches [sic] Ireland, Poland, Carribean and Austalia medical schools against each each and compares their graduates and re-entry into Canadian medicine.
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You may find this interesting (page 51)
http://www.caper.ca/docs/pdf_2005_2009(1)_img_dbase_report.pdf

In 2009, 527 IMGs matched to R1 positions in the CaRMS match. By country of origin:

United Kingdom 16 (3.0%)
United States 14 (2.7%)
Poland 10 (1.9%)
Ireland 34 (6.5%)
Australia 23 (4.4%)
Netherlands Antilles 30 (5.7%)

The obvious flaw in this data is that we don't have the denominator - we don't know how many Canadians applied from each country, to get an actual match rate by country. However, skuttlebutt has it that Ireland does exceptionally well, and this data suggests that Australia does well, also.
 
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Handsome88 said:
Apologies. For Canadians: Ireland>>>>>>>Carib. For US: Ireland=Carib. That is only in terms of matching. I still think Irish schools are way better than Carib's.
UK might be another option. But eastern Europe is not.
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What he said.

My family doc, my brothers surgeon, and my stepmoms plastic surgeon are all from ireland, two from trinity and one from rcsi. I never had much interaction with Canadian docs, seems like almost everyone is from Ireland!

Although I have heard of people going to study in poland, I dont know much about that though.
 
Does the invitation for an Interview get sent by email or courier? Im a canadian from Winnipeg and I applied to the 6 year programs for RCSI, NUIG, and UCD. I was really hoping of scoring an interview at RCSI but i have not recieved one or been rejected. Im really hoping i recieve one in the next few days. Do they send the interview invitations all at one time or are there other people in the same boat as me???
 
Right there with ya, ginge. I applied to the RCSI 6-year program with competetive stats but haven't heard a word yet.
 
its sent by email, I think the 6 year program interviews are held later in the year. Am not sure though.
 
The CaRMS study that I posted seems to have tweaked that weakness. However, as always the study depends on individuals on a voluntary basis. Therefore, some of them might not be as representative as they should. But the stats you posted are quite similar to the one in the CaRMS study done in October 2010 without US stats. In the end, Ireland seemed to be the most popular place to go and I agree with them.
 
BigTX said:
Right there with ya, ginge. I applied to the RCSI 6-year program with competetive stats but haven't heard a word yet.
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Alright there BigTX, lets cross our fingers and hope that we both get invitations for interviews in the next few days. What were your stats like just out of curiosity?? My stats are on a previous page of this thread ( page 9 i believe).
 
monkeyonthenet said:
For those who are unsure about the stats involving international medical schools, here is a study does by CaRMS (Canadian Resident Matching Service):
http://www.carms.ca/pdfs/2010_CSA_Report/CaRMS_2010_CSA_Report.pdf
which pitches Ireland, Poland, Carribean and Austalia medical schools against each each and compares their graduates and re-entry into Canadian medicine. Although I must disagree with Der Kaiser, based on this study (Canadian point of view), Polish graduates did more clerkship and had less difficulty in doing rotations in Canada than their Carribean counterparts. I believe its due to the unwanted (and uneeded) stigma as stated earlier.
Click to expand...

Apologies if I was wrong. Remember though that I mentioned the big four Caribbean schools in comparison to all of Eastern Europe. Still, it was based on things I read and examination of some of the match lists I'd seen.

Just to clarify, I still think Ireland is the best international option, especially for Canadians. If you read through this thread you would see that I have also applied to the Irish schools, and this is a big reason for that. My impression re: eastern Europe is that the St. Georges or Ross would be a better choice (not the fifty million other schools in the Carib).
 
IamSuperDoctor said:
Just got an email from the ABP, I was selected for an RCSI interview in toronto feb28-march 2nd. Woot! gona update the above post. Anyone have any questions for me?
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So jealous! Put in a good word for me 😉.
 
Giemsa said:
You may find this interesting (page 51)
http://www.caper.ca/docs/pdf_2005_2009(1)_img_dbase_report.pdf

In 2009, 527 IMGs matched to R1 positions in the CaRMS match. By country of origin:

United Kingdom 16 (3.0%)
United States 14 (2.7%)
Poland 10 (1.9%)
Ireland 34 (6.5%)
Australia 23 (4.4%)
Netherlands Antilles 30 (5.7%)

The obvious flaw in this data is that we don't have the denominator - we don't know how many Canadians applied from each country, to get an actual match rate by country. However, skuttlebutt has it that Ireland does exceptionally well, and this data suggests that Australia does well, also.
Click to expand...

Would you be able to comment on the Ontario government report that states the doctor shortage will be solved by 2017? I think you posted something about it on Premed 101 (or someone with the same user name).
Thanks for the info. If I could only convince my wife to move to Australia! (Ireland was hard enough)
 
Der Kaiser said:
Would you be able to comment on the Ontario government report that states the doctor shortage will be solved by 2017? I think you posted something about it on Premed 101 (or someone with the same user name).
Thanks for the info. If I could only convince my wife to move to Australia! (Ireland was hard enough)
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How would this affect us studying abroad?
I thought it might be a plus, because then they might waive the return of service s@#% (I don't understand why we have to do it when we ARE CANADIANS TOO, and in fact we worked harder than most CMGs because we have more obstacles to go through!)
 
IamSuperDoctor said:
What he said.

My family doc, my brothers surgeon, and my stepmoms plastic surgeon are all from ireland, two from trinity and one from rcsi. I never had much interaction with Canadian docs, seems like almost everyone is from Ireland!

Although I have heard of people going to study in poland, I dont know much about that though.
Click to expand...

It's true that Ireland holds great future for Canadains coming back. But you should know from the beginning that you will NOT have the same options in terms of residency as your CMG counterpart. It is now impossible to get a plastic surgery residency in Canada from anywhere in the world (even US). Other options are also going to close down in the next 3-4 years.
I'm just saying that because a lot of people don't know that and end up applying to ridiculous specialties like rad onc or derm or even surg because "they like it" but they don't realize that they just can't get it as IMGs. If you want to practice in Ireland and apply back to Canada without the risk of being stuck outside, then think Family Med (which is actually very good in Canada, do not compare it to the US primary care!). The most surprising match I've seen lately has been in orthopedic surgery from TCD. Let's see if others will still be able to do that in this years match.
 
I just got my invitation for interview with RCSI today! I have applied to all of the schools in Ireland and this is the first I have heard from any of them. Does anyone know if other schools have been sending anything out?
 
Barks said:
I just got my invitation for interview with RCSI today! I have applied to all of the schools in Ireland and this is the first I have heard from any of them. Does anyone know if other schools have been sending anything out?
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Did you apply to medicine or veterinary medicine? (your name Barks suggests the latter).
 
Der Kaiser said:
Did you apply to medicine or veterinary medicine? (your name Barks suggests the latter).
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I have applied for medicine at all schools and veterinary medicine at UCD. My name would suggest that, I know. But it's just my last name 😛
 
Barks said:
I have applied for medicine at all schools and veterinary medicine at UCD. My name would suggest that, I know. But it's just my last name 😛
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Lol. I seriously thought it was 'cause you like dogs. Anyway, I ask 'cause we have the same MCAT scores and similar GPAs. Almost exactly the same breakdown too. Mind you, you are a science major, which I am getting the impression is important to the Irish.
 
Heh. Indeed. Yea, I think that the science background is a big help. I know two people who went to Ireland; one to Limerick in 2008 or 2009 and one who started at Cork this year and they were both in my microbiology program here.
 
i called to schedule my appointment today, it appears that the first day was already full and there was 3 spots left on the second day. I took one of them. Heh, these are filling up fast.
 
IamSuperDoctor said:
i called to schedule my appointment today, it appears that the first day was already full and there was 3 spots left on the second day. I took one of them. Heh, these are filling up fast.
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i guess that means they sent out all the interview notices already🙁. Oh well, there are other schools. Maybe one of you could knock off another interviewee to clear a spot for me?
 
Theres also a third day, march 2nd, which may have spots. I believe RCSI may also hold a second round of interviews.
 
Just got a response from ABP and confirmed there are two rounds of interviews for administrative purposes. I am not even sure RCSI is my first choice. I just really need good news after Canadian rejections! (although I expected them)
 
So I spoke with Peter Nealon today and I booked my interview for the 2nd of March. Already booked my flight too. I would suggest doing that as soon as possible as there are flights that are already filling up. See you in Toronto!
 
Der Kaiser said:
Just got a response from ABP and confirmed there are two rounds of interviews for administrative purposes. I am not even sure RCSI is my first choice. I just really need good news after Canadian rejections! (although I expected them)
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Hey Der Kaiser, did the ABP happen to tell you when the second round of interviews will be held??
 
Barks said:
So I spoke with Peter Nealon today and I booked my interview for the 2nd of March. Already booked my flight too. I would suggest doing that as soon as possible as there are flights that are already filling up. See you in Toronto!
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Same! Except for March 1st and no flight, I'm driving up there. I'm somehow already nervous, which is great.
 
Der Kaiser- - with you fluency in German have you applied to any German med schools?
 
schroon said:
Der Kaiser- - with you fluency in German have you applied to any German med schools?
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No. From what I can tell they are six year degrees. Foreigners compete for limited spots amongst other foreigners via a standardized test. This is what I've heard anyways.
 
Okay, so I found some informations. I know it seems I am obsessing about this, but I stopped watching T.V. and have nothing else to help me procrastinate!

Anyway, in 2007 it looks like people were getting interviews for end of March at the beginning of March. My guess is that this is second round. In 2008 some people were rejected mid-late February by RCSI and/or Cork, so I think rejections could come as early as March, which in a way is nice, 'cause at least they will not leave you wondering.
 
Is there anyone here who applied to the 6 yr program at RCSI? I'm getting scared that interviews are already being sent out.
 
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