Join our Student Ambassador, Ashley Wei, as she shares her experience and insights on why she decided to study in Ireland!
Many factors contributed and built up for me to decide to move from Canada to Europe and choose to study in Ireland. In High School in Canada, I took Advanced Placement courses which are very similar to the IB program or A levels, but AP was more of a North America-recognized program. I got advertisements from US universities for opting to share my AP grades with US universities, which gave me the idea to study abroad or at least complete an exchange program to a foreign country during my degree.
Both my junior high school and high school in Canada was very special in that we had an Official German Bilingual Program and had a German exchange program to study in Germany. I never participated but I really wanted to and I want to definitely study abroad at some point. While talking to my mom she mentioned an exchange to France and how studying in a foreign country is very different from being a tourist. You experience the culture and lifestyle much more intensely and she was supportive of the idea and mentioned I should choose somewhere in Europe. I knew I would pursue a Science program and medicine while having a conversation with my family doctor, he introduced me to the idea of studying in Ireland when he knew I was interested in studying in Europe. Ireland is an English-speaking country but very unique destination, it’s a hidden gem, there are many international applicants but not as competitive with a higher acceptance rate.
I decided to do more research about the schools in Ireland and discovered the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland which I now study at. The school is a unique university with only health science specialties, it is very easy to connect with other students and share similar study challenges. I learned about its reputation amongst doctors, after my application my old family doctor retired but coincidently my new family doctor told me that one of the partner doctors of the clinic graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the school I now study in. I guess it’s destiny after all.
Ashley Wei is studying Medicine at RCSI via Education in Ireland.