Medicine - Graduate Entry

Graduate Entry Medicine

Entry Requirements
GEM applicants must hold or expect to hold in the year of admission a minimum second-class honours, grade one result (2H1) in their first honours bachelors degree (QQI Level 8) and a competitive GAMSAT score. The minimum score for entry in 2023 was 63.

GAMSAT
The purpose of GAMSAT is to assess a candidate’s ability to understand and analyse material, to think critically about issues and, in the case of the Written Communication section, to organise and express thoughts in a logical and effective way. GAMSAT questions are based on material drawn from a variety of sources. They typically require candidates to read and think about a passage of writing, interpret graphical displays of information, use mathematical relationships and apply reasoning skills to tables of data.

GAMSAT is divided into three separately timed sections designed to assess performance in the areas of:

1. Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences.
2. Written Communication.
3. Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences.

Practice tests and further information on GAMSAT is available gamsat.acer.org.

https://www.qualifax.ie/resources/student-supports

https://www.qualifax.ie/resources/student-supports

https://www.qualifax.ie/resources/recognition-of-prior-learning

Fees & Funding

Entry 2024

Early online application (discounted): Fee €30 Closing Date: 20 January 2024 at 5pm

Normal online application: Fee €45 Closing Date: 1 February 2024 at 5pm

Late online application - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: €60 Closing Date: 1 May 2024 at 5pm

Change of Mind - restrictions apply (see page 3 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee: Nil Closing Date: 1 July 2024 at 5pm

Exceptional online late application (see page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook): Fee €60 Closing Date: 22 July 2024 at 5pm

Be sure to complete any action well in advance of closing dates. You should avoid making an application close to a closing date. No extensions to closing dates will be allowed and all application fees are non-refundable.

LATE APPLICATIONS
Late Applications are those which are received after 5pm on 1 February 2024. The closing date for late applications is 5pm on 1 May 2024, subject to the restrictions listed on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook. The online facility for late applications opens on the 5 March 2024 at 12:00 noon - a fee of €60 applies.

Exceptional Late Applications (Exception to the timetable)
The exceptional closing date of 22 July at 5pm applies only to applicants who are registered as an undergraduate student on 1 May 2024 in any year in any one of the participating HEIs (subject to the exclusions listed below). In order to avail of the Exceptional Late Application facility you must have entered the HEI through the CAO system. This is an exceptional late closing date and all steps must be completed by 5pm on 22 July. No changes may be made after this date.

If you did not enter your current course through the CAO system, you must first contact the Admissions Office of the HEI to which you wish to apply and they will inform you if you may submit an application direct to the institution.

Exclusions:
You may submit a late application only for entry to courses other than your existing course. If you wish to repeat the year in the same course you must arrange this within your HEI.

Mary Immaculate College Limerick, Marino Institute of Education, Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick and Maynooth University have special procedures in place in the case of current or previous students who wish to apply for entry to another course in the same HEI. Such applicants must contact their Admissions Office to determine the application procedure. However, if you are a student in another HEI and you wish to apply to any of these five HEIs, you should apply through CAO.

Refer to page 34 of the 2024 CAO Handbook on how to make an Exceptional Late Application.

Restrictions
As a CAO applicant you may experience one or more of the following restrictions based on your course choices, your category of application, or restrictions imposed by the HEIs that you wish to apply to. Please read the section on 'Restrictions' on page 3 of the 2024 CAO Handbook carefully. This section includes information on:

General Restrictions
1. Making a late application
2. Making changes to your course choices

Restricted Courses
3. Applying for a restricted course

Mature Applicants
4. Mature applicants

Supplementary Admissions Routes
5. Applying for DARE and/or HEAR

Award: MB, BCh, BAO (NUI & RCSI) LRCPI & LRCSI
Awarding Body: National University of Ireland

RCSI was the first medical school in the Republic of Ireland to introduce a Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) programme in 2006, enabling students from a range of undergraduate backgrounds to study medicine.

This accelerated programme is designed for students with an undergraduate degree who wish to return to education and pursue a career in medicine.

Our GEM students are taught in a purpose-designed building on the St Stephen’s Green campus. From Year 1 on the programme, they also spend a lot of time in RCSI’s teaching hospitals. There is a very early emphasis on clinical skills to ensure that upon graduation students are career ready.

YEAR 1
Year 1 of the programme is delivered through systems-based modules, teaching you about how the body works in the healthy state. You will be taught through a mixture of lectures on the biomedical sciences and small group teaching involving weekly cases, facilitated case discussions, data interpretation tutorials, clinical skills training, group projects and anatomy practical labs.

SURGICAL GRAND ROUNDS, WEEKLY CASES AND CLINICAL SKILLS TRAINING PROVIDE CLINICAL CONTEXT IN THE FIRST SEMESTER.

In the second semester, you will spend one half day per week on clinical sites. Once you complete your exams, you will spend the last month of the academic year completing your clinical attachment at one of the teaching hospitals affiliated to RCSI.

FIRST SEMESTER
Fundamentals of Biomedicine
Musculoskeletal Biology
Blood: Haematology and Immunology
Health, Behaviour and Patient Safety
Gastrointestinal Biology
Medicine and Surgery

SECOND SEMESTER
Cardiorespiratory System
Renal and Endocrine Biology
Nervous System Biology
Evidence-Based Health/Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine and Surgery
Molecular Medicine

YEAR 2
Again in Year 2, the programme is delivered through systems-based modules but during this year you gain an understanding of the basic pathological and microbiological principles underlying human disease, along with detailed teaching on clinical aspects of relevant human conditions within each module.

Each module comprises small group tutorials encompassing weekly cases, clinical skills (including relevant historytaking and examination) and radiology. Clinical teaching is also facilitated by simulation scenarios using our state-of-the-art simulators.

FIRST SEMESTER
Cardiology
Respiratory
Gastrointestinal and Hepatology
Clinical Competencies

During Year 2, you complete 10 weeks of clinical attachments that provide the opportunity to become an active member of a clinical team within the hospital (including placements at specialised orthopaedic and ophthalmology hospitals), and learn about the multiple aspects of patient management within this setting. In addition, you will complete a teaching programme in medical professionalism and leadership.

SECOND SEMESTER
Renal, Endocrine, Genitourinary and Breast
Central Nervous System and Locomotors
Haematolymphoid and Tropical Medicine
Clinical Competencies

YEAR 3
Years 3 and 4 of the GEM programme are delivered in RCSI-affiliated teaching hospitals located throughout Ireland, providing you with different learning opportunities.

YOU ARE ATTACHED ON A ROTATIONAL BASIS FOR SEVEN WEEKS AND PARTICIPATE FULLY WITH THE CLINICAL TEAMS IN BOTH URBAN AND RURAL SETTINGS.

You will be fully immersed in the specialties of General Practice (learn alongside a general practitioner in a GP surgery), Paediatrics (you will be placed in one of the Paediatric units throughout the country), Obstetrics and Gynaecology (you will be attached to a Maternity Unit and expected to assist on the labour ward), Psychiatry (you will attend a Psychiatry service under the supervision of a local psychiatric service).

In the Medicine and Surgery rotation, you will also have the opportunity to enhance your prescribing skills and undertake a placement in Otolaryngology.

FIRST & SECOND SEMESTER
Rotations:
Medicine & Surgery (ENT)
Paediatrics and Neonatal
General Practice
Psychiatry
Obstetrics and Gynaecology

YEAR 4
The final year prepares the GEM student towards becoming a working clinician.

THIS YEAR PROVIDES YOU WITH SIGNIFICANT CLINICAL EXPOSURE VIA ATTACHMENTS, ELECTIVES AND THE SUB-INTERNSHIP, THROUGH WHICH YOU ARE TRAINED AND ASSESSED AS YOU UNDERTAKE THE ROLES OF THE NEAR-GRADUATING DOCTOR.

This clinical experience runs in parallel with a teaching programme focused on knowledge and skills in these areas.

GEM students will also take part in a sub-internship programme which offers you the opportunity to function as a member of a clinical team in preparation for internship following graduation.

FIRST & SECOND SEMESTER
Rotations:
Medicine & Surgery
Sub-internship
Student Selected Clinical Attachment

RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
123 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, D02 YN77, Ireland
Tel +353 1 402 2228
Email admissions@rcsi.com
rcsi.com/dublin

International Students