Our student series is back again for another week, a series of pieces where students are quizzed on their respective courses.
Every part of student life is acknowledged, from the course work itself to the pubs and nightclubs as we aim to give young people planning on attending college in September an idea what it is like to attend college or university.
Next up to answer our questionnaire is David Moore from Portlaoise who is studying medicine in UCD.
What are you studying?
Medicine
Where are you studying?
University College Dublin.
Why did you choose to study what you choose?
I have had an interest in becoming a doctor since I started secondary school.
I realised since TY when I began working part time jobs that I enjoyed working and interacting with the public every day, which is an essential part of the job of a doctor.
I never had an interest in office jobs or sitting in a lab so medicine seemed like the right choice to apply my interest in science in a practical way.
What are your plans when you finish college?
I’m not quite sure yet. This year will give me an insight into the different areas of the job such as general medicine and surgery.
After this, I can decide to pursue a speciality in medicine but I will probably follow the path of all the other junior doctors and take a year out to explore and to work as a doctor over in Australia!
Do you think you would like to stay local, or perhaps move away?
That depends on what route of medicine I choose to go down. I imagine that, in the long run, I will stay in Ireland.
I could definitely picture myself setting up a GP practice in portlaoise if I go down the GP route.
If I sway more towards the surgical side I might decide to stay in Dublin so there’s many factors that will go into my decision.
Would you like to move home after college?
I enjoy coming home at the weekends particularly to get a good dinner from Mam.
I believe you get relocated a lot during intern year but regardless I will definitely visit home quite a bit.
What’s the hardest thing about your course?
It’s probably the amount of information that you have to learn.
Over the course you are essentially expected to learn a huge amount about the human body, what happens when things work smoothly and what happens when things go wrong, and why they go wrong.
It is easy to fall behind if you don’t keep up with the studying.
What’s your typical college routine?
Well I would wake up in time for my first lecture which could be at 9am or sometimes later if I’m lucky.
I lived on campus this year which meant I did not have far to travel to my lectures.
It varies from day to day but usually there would be 3-5 lectures a day with a lab or two some weeks.
We will be starting anatomy dissection labs in the coming year. I would spend a few hours of the afternoon in the library and usually go to the gym in the evening.
Of course the room is made for socialising and I make time for going out with friends to the nightclubs in town like Coppers or Ryan’s.
What’s your favourite part of the course?
I find it interesting learning all the details of the body which eventually will allow me to treat patients in the future.
I always had an interest in this part of biology in school.
I expect to really enjoy the clinical years where I will be on placement in hospitals, interacting with real patients which will enhance my insight into the career.
What advice would you give to anyone considering choosing to study in UCD?
I could not recommend UCD enough and it was definitely the best choice for me.
It has a huge campus, and it boasts great facilities from sports to academics.
The college is only a short bus journey into the city at night. There is always a good, friendly atmosphere on campus.
The college is only about a 1 hour drive away from Laois so it is very accessible compared to most other colleges.
