Med school in Ireland?

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hello everyone, I am Mary, 42 years old, married with 3 young kids and I want to go to med school in Ireland. I always wanted to do medicine but never felt I could with no family support in this country to help with childcare etc. Now that we are returning to live in Ireland after 23 years in the US, I may have a chance! Does anybody have any info on what is required for admission over there? Difficult to find stuff online. I went back to school when youngest hit Kindergarten and so far have an Associates Degree (gpa 4.0), been accepted to nursing school (turned it down) and been accepted to Wellesley College. I don’t feel too old at all and think I would make a great doctor! Open to any and all advice, thanks!

2

Depending on what your citizenship is now, this link may help you. At a minimum it gives you links to 5 or 6 med schools in Ireland.


http://www.atlanticbridge.com/


Hope it helps.


Lynda

3

Hi Lynda,


Thanks for the reply, that will be a very helpful website to me. I have dual citizenship, Irish and US. Ireland is my home country but I’ve lived in the US for 23 years. I believe Irish universities will treat me as a foreign student on the basis of residency, because I have not lived in Ireland for 3 of the past 5 years.


Mary

4

Hopefully you can get the tuition rates of an Irish citizen??? It’s a pretty expensive route for an American or Canadian (me) citizen, but I am considering it because I have always wanted to live for a while in Ireland or Scotland.


Good luck.


Lynda

5

Hey Mary,


That sounds exciting! Are you moving just because of medical school or would you be moving anyway? (I can totally understand the latter). I know that it can be hard to be away from your home no matter how long it has been.


You might want to look over at SDN (okay, stop the groans!). There is a thread in the international section that has Ireland listed. Maybe you can get some feedback from students applying to one of the medical schools there.


Welcome to OPM…you will love it here!

6
  • mlohan Said:
Hi Lynda,

Thanks for the reply, that will be a very helpful website to me. I have dual citizenship, Irish and US. Ireland is my home country but I've lived in the US for 23 years. I believe Irish universities will treat me as a foreign student on the basis of residency, because I have not lived in Ireland for 3 of the past 5 years.

Mary



I have dual citizenship in Ireland and the US as well!! I was born and raised in the US, but my dad is 100% Irish (although his parents met in Boston).

I have looked in to the Atlantic Bridge Program too, but I am giving US med schools another try... if it doesn't work out this time I'll have to discuss with my husband if an overseas move might be a possibility...

Good luck with your apps, let us know what you find out!
7

Lynda,


There is no way they are going to consider me a citizen, I will have to pay through the nose just like you would. There are pros and cons though. Even though I would not have to pay tuition as an EU citizen, I would have to be in ferocious competition with a very large pool of applicants. So as an American, I will have to pay tuition but the competition is less fierce and I think I have more of a chance of getting in. If you are seriously considering this, please let me know. I am going to Galway next week and will be finding out as much information as I can, I’m happy to share what I learn with you.


Mary

8

We are moving because my husband recently lost his career of 15 years (due to politics, not the economy) and we cannot afford to maintain our present life without his income. We decided that if we have to move, we are going home and come what may, we are going to follow our dreams. He wants to be a lawyer and I want to be a doctor. He has a Bachelors in Legal Ed so his path will be much quicker and smoother than mine. But neither of us were really able to do what we wanted to up to this point because we have 3 children and no family support whatsoever in the US. Back in Galway, we will have tons of that. I just need to figure out a way to PAY for school now, they don’t do school loans over there the way they do here, it’s going to be a big obstacle for sure. But if it can be done, I am determined I will find the way, I don’t give up easily.


Thanks for the welcome and what is SDN (sorry for any groans this may induce…)


Mary

9

Thanks Mary, that would be great. I was looking at Galway and Cork. I will likely apply next year when I am applying in Canada and the US.


SDN stands for Student Doctor Network. It is also a forum for students trying to get into med school. I haven’t visited it because I hear that they are not warm and friendly towards non-trads and they don’t seem as supportive as OPM.


Good luck with the move. It will be nice to be back around family.


Lynda

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  • LJSimpson Said:


SDN stands for Student Doctor Network. It is also a forum for students trying to get into med school. I haven't visited it because I hear that they are not warm and friendly towards non-trads and they don't seem as supportive as OPM.

Good luck with the move. It will be nice to be back around family.

Lynda



While I agree that it is not as friendly as OPM, I've had the opportunity to exchange posts with many nice members. I usually take the rest with a grain of salt because many are traditional students with a very limited view of the world...it's good for a laugh sometimes.

If you move past the threads on the top and go further down, you will see that there are threads for international schools and further down you have more information about different specialties and residencies.
11

I also find that SDN is good for information sometimes. Not to criticize OPM, but I actually get motivated by having an occasional person trying to tell me I can’t do it. Sometimes I feel like the support here is too overwhelming, if that makes sense.


Don’t get me wrong, I’m here most of the time. I only venture over there occasionally to search for certain nuggets of information or to get that splash of cold water on my face, so to speak.


Mike

12

Congrats on getting into Wellesley! Why don’t you do pre-med there?

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Wellesley was my plan until my husband lost his job and we decided on the move to Ireland. I am so bummed to be missing the opportunity to go to such a great school but I am not willing to be away from my husband and kids for 2 years.