Starting the long road to a career in medicine

CAO application is the first step to securing an undergraduate place in one of the five medical schools

TOMORROW MARKS the launch of the CAO application process for those interested in securing a college place in August 2011. Anybody who wishes to apply for any course on offer through the Central Application Office (CAO) may register their interest from tomorrow onwards, up until applications close on May 1st next year, by going online to cao.ie and following the simple application process.

If you have not already gone to a bank and paid the €30 application fee – a welcome reduction of €5 on last year’s fee – using the bank giro form which is included in the pack supplied by the CAO to all schools and directly to individual applicants, you may use a credit card to make your payment.

It is not necessary to list any courses at this time to complete the registration process. Once registered, you will immediately be provided with an individual CAO number, which you will use until you have completed your application process next year, when you will hopefully be allocated your desired place.

If you are interested in securing an undergraduate place in one of the five medical schools you must both (a) achieve a minimum of 480 points in the Leaving Certificate and (b) meet the minimum entry requirements for each medical school, for which you will apply. Both these requirements must be achieved in the same sitting of the Irish Leaving Certificate examination, or its equivalent.

Unlike any other course offered through the CAO, you cannot retake the Leaving Certificate in a single subject in which you failed to meet a minimum requirement for medical entry, and add it to your existing Leaving Certificate result.

You must also complete the HPat-Ireland (Health Professions Admission Test-Ireland) admissions test, which is independently administered by ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) within the two-year period immediately preceding admission to the medicine programme. You will need your CAO application number to complete the application to take the HPat assessment test, so you must register with the CAO and get a number before you can apply to take the HPat test.

The test measures your logical reasoning and problem-solving skills as well as non-verbal reasoning and the ability to understand the thoughts, behaviour and/or intentions of people. It does not test academic knowledge and you do not require special understanding of any academic discipline.

However, some familiarity with the question types typically presented in HPat-Ireland would be an advantage and, therefore, sample questions are available at hpat-ireland.acer.edu.au. Information about how to purchase further HPat-Ireland practice materials is also available on the HPat-Ireland website.

The test is a two-and-a-half hour paper-based assessment consisting of three modules or sections:

(i) Logical reasoning and problem-solving

(ii) Interpersonal understanding

(iii) Non-verbal reasoning

All questions are in multiple choice format with four or five possible responses, from which you are asked to choose the most appropriate response. There is only one correct response. Each of the three sections of the test is given equal weight.

The maximum score you can receive is 300. In addition to your overall score, you will also receive an overall percentile rank to give you an indication of how well you have performed against other HPat-Ireland candidates.

Further details regarding the test, including the approximate number of questions in each section, can be found at hpat-ireland.acer.edu.au. Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with a physical and/or specific learning disability.

The cost of applying to the HPat-Ireland test in 2011 is €95. This fee will cover your online registration for the test, materials required for the paper test, provision of test results to you and the transfer of your result to the CAO. You will be given notification of your result on June 27th, 2011, once you have finished your Leaving Certificate.

Only current sixth year students or past school leavers can apply to sit the test. Current fifth year students, who are interested in applying for medicine and want to take a trial run at this test, are not allowed to do so under the ACER rules.

The only sitting of the HPat-Ireland test in 2011 will take place on February 26th. There will be no alternative test date for HPat-Ireland. If, for any reason, you are unable to sit the test on February 26th, the only option available will be to sit the test in 2012 or later.

HPat-Ireland results can be used for application to a medical school for two years, ie if you take the test in 2011, the result can be used for admission in 2011 and 2012 only.

Test centres will be located in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Sligo and Waterford. Every effort will be made by ACER to accommodate applicants in their preferred test centre. However, as capacity in some test centres may be limited, places in those venues will be allocated on a first-come basis, so I would advise you to apply as soon as possible after November 3rd when HPat applications open.

The €95 fee applies until January 20th, after which a late application fee of €145 applies until the February 1st final deadline. If, however, you leave your application until January, you are highly unlikely to get a place in a centre of your choice.

Next week: what result will I need in my Leaving Certificate and HPat test to secure an undergraduate medical place? Are there any real benefits in attending fee-paying HPat preparation courses?