Madam, – The medical profession has been in existence for over 300 years in Ireland and during most of that time it was an almost totally male-dominated profession. Those same men almost never saw as a “problem” or something that needed to be addressed.
I find it amazing that now that the pendulum is in danger of swinging the other way, it is seen as a “problem” and instead of accepting the fair system of the points in the Leaving Certificate, another test has to be brought into the equation.
I suspect that the male-dominated (particularly at the top) profession felt threatened by the level playing field that existed up to this year. Realising that women were higher achievers and their numbers would outrank them, they felt had to do something about it. I would be interested to know if the candidates for the aptitude test are named and thereby their gender is known to the examiners, or are they simply a number, as in the Leaving Certificate? I very much doubt it. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – This was my second time to apply for medicine, so I have had plenty of experience with the system. The first time I applied (2007) I was innocent and naive enough to think that as long as I worked as hard as possible and did my very best, I would be guaranteed the place I deserved studying medicine.
Alas, despite pushing past unbearable levels of exhaustion and stress, taking antibiotics for a chest infection caught a month before the exams, and contracting an incurable skin disorder (the doctor identified its cause to be stress), my efforts were pointless. The day of the results revealed I had got only 545 points. The following Monday, I was forced to accept my sixth offer of preference on my CAO form. Repeating was out of the question – one round of Leaving Cert exams had given me enough stress to last a lifetime.
So I soldiered off to college with a broken heart. This year I decided to try again. The new aptitude test sounded promising, and I hoped it would give me the chance to show that a Leaving Cert result of 545 is more than the adequate to become a doctor. My score on the test was 164, giving me an overall score of 709.
Two weeks ago, my heart was broken again when it was announced that minimum points for entry to medicine ranged from 713 (in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) to 729 (in Trinity College Dublin). I had missed my dream by four points.
People tell you to follow your dreams and fight for what you want, to never give up trying, but there are only so many times you can be told that you aren’t good enough, that your dream is too big for you.
I don’t know how to fix my heart. They won’t let me study how to mend it. If there’s a cardiologist out there who knows, any advice would be appreciated. – Yours, etc,