Medicine, the HPAT and the CAO: One BIG Mistake to Avoid
3 weeks ago by Tom
For any Leaving Certificate students hoping to go on to study medicine, the HPAT (Health Professions Admission Test) and the CAO (Central Applications Office) are two well-known abbreviations that are of great importance as you prepare for life after the Leaving Certificate.
I wasn't certain until the very end of 6th year about what exactly I wanted to do after school. Honestly, it wasn't until those last few weeks while I waited for my Leaving Cert results that I realised for certain that I had put down the right courses in the right order, born from my desperate hope that I would get the points I needed to get into medicine.
For undergraduate medicine in Ireland there are six options:
- Trinity College Dublin (TCD)
- University College Dublin (UCD)
- Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI)
- University College Cork (UCC)
- University of Galway
- and the University of Limerick (UL)
Balancing optimism and caution with HPAT results
Like everyone, I was hoping for my first choice and, being a Dublin native, also hoping to stay at home. I had all five universities in the top five places on my CAO level eight list (UL's undergraduate medicine programme was not yet available at the time of writing), something you really have to do if you want every chance of being able to study medicine in Ireland.
One of the great things about the CAO is that you can change your list up until 1 July at 5:00pm, even after you've finished your Leaving Certificate, however this does bring with it certain hazards. The relatively late closing date allows for students to put in place backup plans if they feel certain exams didn't go as well as they could have. However, I have heard of horror stories of people who thought they did absolutely terribly in exams and completely changed their CAO, only to find they had gained enough points for their number one course come results day, which they had long since removed from their CAO.
With HPAT results being issued before the CAO closing date, there's a big risk of this happening to students hoping to pursue medicine. Obviously, it's important to have attainable courses listed on your CAO and have a good few backup options in case things go pear-shaped. If you discover after receiving your HPAT results that there is literally no hope of you getting medicine this time around, then it's important to leave yourself with other options. However, just make sure to be cautious of jumping the gun when you get your HPAT results, because remember you have no idea how the overall points for medicine will change this year or what results you will receive later in the year. Just make sure you don't end up getting the points but without the course on your CAO!
Written by Philippa, who scored 100th percentile in HPAT and is currently studying medicine in Ireland
