The Central Applications System for Britain and Northern Ireland differs from the Irish system in that criteria other than Second Level exam results are taken into account. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) form asks students to write a personal statement and admissions tutors treat this very seriously.
They also look at the mixture of courses students have listed (you have up to six choices in the UCAS system) and they may ask applicants to undergo additional assessment procedures. Maggie McGougan, research and projects officer with Robert Gordon University in Scotland, says students should mention any relevant experience on the form. For instance, if you are applying for pharmacy, she says you should refer to any work experience in a pharmacy or hospital - also any experience mentoring or helping other students and anything that involves working with the public or local community.
"With Transition Year, a lot more students in Ireland have the opportunity to gain relevant experience. If we had two applicants with the same grades, the one with relevant work experience is more likely to get the place," she says. There are currently more than 200 students from the Republic in the college's health and social care faculty.
Catherine Evans, schools and liaison officer with the University of Huddersfield, says applicants for the college's physiotherapy course should try to get experience working with young people, the elderly or people with disabilities. You will need six B3s in higher-level papers if you want to compete for one of the college's 40 physiotherapy places. Each year, there are some 1,400 applicants.
Evans also stresses the importance of the personal statement: "When we shortlist it is not always the students with the highest grades who make the list." Huddersfield holds group interviews for physiotherapy applicants and some experience of this type of interview would be helpful, she adds. In Queen's University Belfast, there are up to five pre-medical places and two pre-dental places available. Admissions officer Stirling Wisener advises that Leaving Certificate applicants must do the pre-medicine or pre-dentistry year so it is not easy to secure one of these places.
QUB requires a minimum of four higher-level A1s and two higher-level B3s in the Leaving Certificate for medicine or dentistry. There are also specific science subject requirements.
The University of Ulster offers a range of healthcare courses, including optometry (usually 510 to 570 points), biomedical sciences (usually 405 to 465 points), speech and language therapy (usually 465 to 525 points) and occupational therapy (usually 510 to 570 points). There is high demand for all of the healthcare courses, says admissions officer Dr Tony Barnhill. This year, the competition for the 65 places in physiotherapy was the toughest ever, he warns.
The number of applicants from the Republic has been falling, he says, and the reason may partly be due to misinformation about the fees situation. The fees are means tested, and paid on a sliding scale, he points out, and last year, only 25 per cent of students in UU paid the full amount (£1,050 sterling in 2000-2001) while 50 to 60 per cent didn't pay any fees.
There is no student services charge - in the Republic this is more than £300 in some colleges. Off-campus accommodation is also cheaper, he points out.
Useful website: www.ucas.com
