UCD shifted to graduate entry for medicine. This thread covers what qualifications are required, what the GAMSAT or other entry criteria look like, how the 4-year curriculum is structured, and how UCD graduates compare academically to students from TCD or RCSI.
4 Likes
so i’m trying to figure out if UCD’s graduate entry route is the right fit for me. i have a BSc in biochemistry and i’ve been looking at GAMSAT prep but honestly i’m not sure if UCD uses GAMSAT or something else entirely. and the bigger question i keep coming back to is whether doing 4 years at UCD puts you at a disadvantage compared to someone who did 5 or 6 years at TCD or RCSI. Is the shorter program seen as less rigorous or does it actually prepare you just as well clinically?
1 Like
UCD does use GAMSAT as part of the entry process along with your undergraduate GPA. the way it works is both components are weighted and combined into a score that determines whether you get an interview. then the interview itself is another hurdle on top of that. from my cycle i think the GAMSAT cutoff was around 55 to 58 but it varies year to year depending on the applicant pool so don’t take that as a fixed number. you also need at least a 2.1 in your undergraduate degree, a 2.2 might get considered depending on your GAMSAT score but a 2.1 is the safer benchmark to aim for
TCD student here, not trying to start a rivalry but i think it’s worth giving an honest outside perspective. the 5 year undergraduate program at TCD does give you more time in pre-clinical sciences which some people find valuable as a foundation. but from what my friends at UCD have told me and from working alongside UCD graduates on clinical placements, i genuinely don’t think there’s a meaningful clinical competency gap. the 4 year program is intensive and compresses things but the outcomes seem comparable. where i notice a difference is UCD students tend to already have a prior degree background in science which sometimes means they grasp concepts faster in the early clinical years
graduated from UCD two years ago and want to directly address your concern about the 4 year program being seen as less rigorous. in my experience working in hospitals now, nobody has ever questioned my training or compared it negatively to TCD or RCSI graduates. the IMC accreditation is the same, the intern year requirements are the same, and the clinical exposure during the program is comparable. the 4 year intensity is real though, it’s not like you get an easier ride just because it’s shorter. year one especially hits hard because they assume you can handle graduate level pace from day one