The CAO handbook lists medical laboratory sciences as a certificate course but, in effect, the course is a five-year degree. Almost all students progress via the three-year certificate to the final two years of a degree programme. The certificate is a historical legacy and is no longer recognised by the Department of Health for purposes of employment as a medical laboratory technician in centres under its ambit.

A degree is the minimum qualification required, so for new entrants a degree is a must. You should think five years of study not three. As with all third-level paramedical courses in Ireland, securing a place is no mean feat. This year, you would have needed points in the mid-400s range (DIT Kevin Street also has a requirement for a higher-level C in chemistry). First-year places are limited to about 20 in each college.

Although admission is purely points-based, college lecturers advise students to visit a laboratory before they list it on their CAO form. Even better, try for some work experience and find out what the jobs is really like. A number of hospitals offer Transition Year work experience programmes.

The certificate courses in the three colleges - Cork RTC, Galway RTC and DIT - follow the same basic structure. Students spend the first two years in college and the third year in a designated hospital lab. Colm O'Rourke, lecturer in DIT Kevin Street, explains that first year students will study the basic sciences - biology, chemistry, physics, maths - and a language (French/ German in DIT).

In second year, they will begin to branch into areas such as biochemistry, physiology, applied physics and instrumentation, the medical lab sciences and statistics and computing.

Third year is spent in designated teaching labs. Students will spend some time in each of the major specialisms - haematology, clinical chemistry, transfusion, histology and microbiology. Eamon Wall of Cork RTC says that this programme is quite structured with students completing methodology projects and a library dissertation.

They are also graded in each department and sit an exam in biomedical sciences at the end of the year. Third-year students are paid a training grant by the Department of Health for this year.

Then it's back from the lab to college for more study. Richard Delaney, lecturer in Galway RTC, says that progression to the degree is automatic. Graduates of Galway RTC's certificate compete on an equal basis for places on the degree programmes in DIT Kevin Street and Cork RTC. Each year, some students also go to Ulster University to complete the degree there.

Eamon Wall explains that the Cork RTC degree is done conjointly with UCC and students attend lectures on both campuses. The degree itself is awarded by the National University of Ireland. There is a certain element of specialisation in the degree, he says.

In DIT Kevin Street, students select a specialist option as their major subject. They must also undertake a second specialist discipline as a minor subject. The specialist programmes include cellular pathology, clinical chemistry, clinical immunology, haematology/ blood transfusion science, and medical microbiology. Final-year students must also complete a research project.

DIT Kevin Street has just introduced a taught master's programme in molecular pathology. This consists of two year's block release study and a project. Students can choose between specialist modules.