Why Ireland/UK?

[cephalexinRX]

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Hello all,

I am not a medical student or even applying to medical schools. I am an allied health (age 26) professional working at an Ivy medical center hoping to start medical school (career change/upgrade) at hopefully age 30.

I accidentally came across this board. Can some of you please share why you are going to medical school in UK/Ireland? Please, I don't mean to offend anyone. Is it one or a combination of the following: back up, prefer the international experience, would rather not have DO?

Obviously, not everyone is going to Ireland/UK as a back up, apparently they are quite competitive. For those that chose UK/Ireland over DO programs, can you please share your reasoning. Again, please take no offense, I'm just interested.

Thanks.

 

[JohnSnow]

I'm not an Irish medical school student but I am an applicant to Irish schools. I'll try to shed some light on your questions.

A big factor of why I've applied to Ireland is that they will let me start a year earlier than US schools (since I missed the application deadline for US schools).

The DO degree is fine if you plan to only practice in the US and a handful of other countries. The degree has some global recognition problems which is the biggest turn off for me. Whereas an Irish degree is recognized everywhere I can ever think of working.

Furthermore, DO schools tend to be located in random (sometimes rural) places. I'd rather get to experience a new culture in Dublin, Ireland than spend 4 years in Parker, Colorado. I'm sure Parker is lovely, I just don't have an interest in spending 4 years there.

A lot of Canadians apply to Ireland because there are far more qualified applicants than there are slots in Canadian medical schools (more so than in the US even), and they can have some difficulty getting into US schools since they are sometimes classed as international applicants.

I happen to be a dual citizen, US & EU, which minimizes the risk of studying in Ireland since I would be guaranteed a post-grad slot there based on my EU citizenship status.

Ultimately, if you just want to live and practice in America I see no reason why you shouldn't just go for the DO its a 1st rate degree.

 

[leorl]

When I decided to go to Ireland, it was purely so that I could get another perspective on the world / another culture. I wanted to go for the international aspects. I'd checked it out beforehand by doing a junior year abroad in undergrad and also was a competitive rower at the time. I realized that by doing medical education overseas it would allow me the time to train and race competitively as well as study / enjoy life. Happened to work out well for me.

 

[Medstart108]

I recently was accepted to both UK (St.Andrew's/Edinburgh and SGUL) and Irish (NUIG) schools.
The reason I applied is I have heard many horror stories of applicants doing a Canadian Undergrad and not getting into a Canadian medical school after multiple tries. Canada has so few medical schools and nearly everyone and their grandmother is interested in medicine. Out of the top 10 kids in my school, 7 want to become doctors. I'm currently a high school student and I want to avoid the disappointment of spending 4 years of your life in undergrad and then having to apply to a Carribbean or Irish school and spend another 5 years. In the end, this system just makes me wish I was American or British. Otherwise it wouldn't have to come to this 🙁

 

[S0B]

i recently was accepted to both uk (st.andrew's/edinburgh and sgul) and irish (nuig) schools.
The reason i applied is i have heard many horror stories of applicants doing a canadian undergrad and not getting into a canadian medical school after multiple tries. canada has so few medical schools and nearly everyone and their grandmother is interested in medicine. Out of the top 10 kids in my school, 7 want to become doctors. i'm currently a high school student and i want to avoid the disappointment of spending 4 years of your life in undergrad and then having to apply to a carribbean or irish school and spend another 5 years. In the end, this system just makes me wish i was american or british. Otherwise it wouldn't have to come to this 🙁

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