Applying to Ireland

Sorry if this is the wrong thread/really supid question!

I was thinking of applying to Cork University to study Medicine for 2009. Of course, Unis in the Republic arent listed on the UCAS site, so, it may seem like a stupid question, but do I apply as an international student? Becuase if I remember rightly, those applying from NI apply as Irish Students, but I dont know how it works for us on this side of the water.

Reply 1

Speedbird2008

Hmm..

My sister was going to apply to Trinity in Dublin, and I remember her saying that there is a way of basically transferring your application from UCAS to the Irish application system.

I would speak to the admissions tutor, though.

Btw, why Cork, not Trinity? Also, my sister said that at the weekends the campus' become empty because all of the students go home, as Ireland is such a small country.

Hope that helps. :smile:

Reply 2

pinkpenguin

Yeah it does thank you!

My family is from Cork (2 Generations ago), and i think it is a nice city. I think its gonna be an 'apply and see what happens' jobs. :biggrin:

Reply 3

fatal

Go to the CAO website and they will be able to process your info, I'm not entirely sure how Irish universities rank us Northern Irish. I think we are just considered as home applicants o.o bear in mind that some Irish universities require 4 A-levels! x

Reply 4

fatal

Speedbird2006

Hmm..

as Ireland is such a small country.

Its not so small that a whole uni clears off home! I live an hour away from Queens uni and friends of mine who go there often do not come home regardless of how close they are.

Reply 5

Speedbird2008

No, but my sister was told by numerous people that most of the Irish students clear off home at weekends. I have loads of family in Belfast, as well, and they were saying Trinity students come home at weekends, as it is pretty close and everyone else does so. Where are you in Ireland, fatal? My uncle and his family live in Banbridge. :smile:

Reply 6

fatal

Ballymena hey. (you'll understand if youve seen that gay ad years ago). I could not imagine driving fora good 3 hours just to get home o.o maybe people have other opinions! Some times i think us Irish are a little bit of a mystery to a lot of English/British cos they seem to think we are little leprechauns with gunds and car bombs! lol (more true than I would like to admit)

Reply 7

Phoebus

fatal

The following applies to all UK applicants to TCD from 2007 and may have been adopted by all or most other Irish medical schools from this year onwards:

Connemara

Last year if you obtained 4 x A Levels at Grade A (all taken in the same academic year), you scored 150 pts per A Level to make a total of 600 points. The cut-off for medicine at TCD being 590,meant that all applicants with 600 points were offered places.

If this were to be repeated this year (ie 2007), a large proportion of the places on offer could be taken up by A Level applicants rather than those with the Irish Leaving Certificate. Not surprisingly, this was not popular with Irish candidates or TCD; so, to redress the balance, TCD is introducing a new approach to scoring A Levels this year, as explained here.

Essentially, all candidates for medicine with AAAA will enter a ballot for places to be awarded in proportion to those applying with 510+ in the Leaving Certificate. So, if 10% of the applicants scoring 510+ have A Levels, 10% of the available places will go to them.

It is possible that all Irish medical schools will follow TCD's lead.

Note that the A Levels must have been taken in the same academic year to count. Also, the cut-off for Cork in 2007 was 580 pts, so you will almost certainly require 4 x A grades to even get into the lottery.