Just 8 Days Left – Can You get into Medicine??

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This blog originally appeared on my new blog site; www.mthanrahan.blogspot.com where you can see more Leaving Cert. Blogs as I countdown to the Results Date, August 17th 2011.

Now there’s only eight days left so I’ll cut out the waffle from this blog and get straight to the point. As my original Hpat blog has gotten so much attention so far I think it’s about time to do another. 

So here’s the big question;
Is there ANY chance for those of us wanting to study Medicine of getting a place in any one of the five third level institutions offering it to undergraduates?

Well I can’t really answer that but I can give you a rough idea.

Firstly it is said that approx. 3000 students did the Hpat exam this year. That number has slightly decreased from last years approx. 3200. 

Obviously there aren’t that many places for medicine, but how many are there?

TR051 – 109
DN400 –  120
CK701 – (I could not find any info on this) let’s presume 110
GY501 – 99
RC001 – 39

So that makes roughly 477 places which means you have to be in the top 16% of candidates when the Leaving Cert. Points and Hpat are combined. Let’s hope that there are significantly more places at UCC!

Last year the minimum Hpat score possible that could get you into Medicine was 160 assuming that you get 600 points of course. 161 was ranked in the top 30% of Hpat candidates. However this year the top 30% rank is at 171, a rise in ten points. 

So, if there was a rise of ten points in the Hpat surely the CAO points needed to get into medicine will increase by at least 10. 

Here are the 2010 point requirements for the 5 universities:

TR051 – 731
DN400 –  725
CK701 – 725
GY501 – 720
RC001 – 721

*My prediction for 2011 simply involves adding 10 onto these points. 

So by my own prediction I can’t get into Trinity, By my mocks score in the previous blog I will have 735, so I might just manage UCD or UCC. Otherwise I’ll be staying closer to home with NUIG. But knowing my “luck” I’ll miss getting any Medical course by just 1 point!

Mt. Hanrahan
www.mthanrahan.blogspot.com

9 thoughts on “Just 8 Days Left – Can You get into Medicine??”

  2. MCh

    Hi Michael,

    I am about to register for this year’s HPAT and I was wondering how long you prepared for the test?
    Did you get into Medicine?
    Regards

    Reply
  3. Mthanrahan

    Hi,
    Here’s what my preparation was:
    I took the first Acer practice test sometime in 5th year, and then didn’t really think about it much again until september of 6th year.
    I sat the UKCAT in September 2010 and spent 1 week preparing for that because I only just decided to do a UCAS application. But that test is similar enough to the Hpat that I’ll count that as prep for that too.
    Then I did a 2 day HPAT preparation course in Dublin. And after that I did about 2-4 hours of prep every Saturday between Jan and the Hpat, with about 2 hours everyday during midterm.
    One thing i regret is not doing MedEntry which i hear is good.

    Yes. I am currently studying Medicine in UCC.
    Just note that I didn’t do relatively that well in my Hpat (compared to people who get in). I got 178. Section 2 was my downfall. Section 3 was by far my best and is probably the only reason i got into Medicine at all.

    But also I do not at all regret going to UCC. I am really enjoying Medicine here. I was offered a place in UCD in round 2 but I just loved cork. We have fantastic new facilities and labs and the course is very well run. If anyone is still deciding they should definetly consider UCC for their 1st preference.

    Reply
    1. Mthanrahan

      I don’t and never have owned a Hpat book. What exactly are you talking about Denim?

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