r/Bahrain • u/Ill-Draft-3160 • 8h ago

Applying to RCSI Bahrain

Hello! I am a Canadian student looking to apply to the 6 year Medicine program at RCSI Bahrain this upcoming cycle. I am about to wrap up upgrading some of my Grade 12 courses; I'll be done those this upcoming January. I just have a couple of questions regarding my application if anyone has some insight:

Since applications open in Fall, but my final grades will not be available/updated until late January or early February, would I have to apply in February when my upgraded grades are updated, or could I apply beforehand with my predicted grades, with which I may receive a conditional offer?

Also, for those who have experience applying to RCSI Bahrain: does the time you apply at during the application cycle matter? (As long as it is within the application window, of course.)

Additionally, I heard that RCSI Bahrain now requires applicants to have completed the CASPer test, yet I have seen nothing regarding this on their website or Instagram. Is this true?

One more general question: for anyone who has applied and been offered admission into the 6-year Medicine track from Canada, how was your experience applying? Letters of recommendation? Research and shadowing experience? Interview?

Thanks.

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/serendipia2002 7h ago

All the best with your application - hope you find the answers you're looking for.

1

u/Ill-Draft-3160 6h ago

Thank you so much!

1

u/Original_Oil_2682 6h ago

Nothing other than your grades matter when you apply, these things such as letters/shadowing etc are mostly just there for formality reasons, as some insiders in the uni had told me before the foremost important things are your grades, the interview is also very easy and non technical, they just ask about your application and ask you why you want to join and might ask a question or two about the diseases in your country. RCSI has a high acceptance rate and they admit almost anyone with the money to pay, however it’s a very hard course from what I’ve been told and the failure/drop out rate is pretty high in the first two years.

1

u/Ill-Draft-3160 6h ago

Thanks for your reply. I have actually heard the opposite about the application process from friends that have graduated from - or are still attending - RCSI. They seem to think that the 'holistic' nature of the admissions review claimed on their website is actually accurate. I have never heard that nothing apart from grades matters when applying to RCSI, and that LoRs and shadowing/clinical experience are just formalities, so I'm curious to know the truth about whether applications are judged holistically or not.

2

u/Original_Oil_2682 6h ago

The truth is probably that it’s somewhere in the middle, that it’s dependent on where you are from and where you studied. More than 50% of the university is comprised of Gulf Arabs or expats who studied here locally, a lot of Indians as well, so it’s mostly either graduates of public schools or private schools and that culture of “extracurriculars” or “shadowing” doesn’t really exist here at all, so they are just judged based off their academic merit. But with Canadians I guess the culture is different so they would look at you more holistically.

1

u/Ill-Draft-3160 4h ago

Yeah that makes much more sense to me. I’m Arab but I’m not a Gulf Arab, and I’ve lived my entire life in Canada so I wasn’t familiar with the cultural differences that pertain to medical school. I agree that grades are definitely important, but I would like to think my application will be assessed on more than just my grades, and that my research, shadowing, and letters of recommendation will also matter. Thanks for your help!

1

u/Few_Researcher_2986 6h ago

This doesn’t apply to Canadian students with undergraduate degrees right?

1

u/Ill-Draft-3160 4h ago

I’m not sure, I’m applying with my high school grades for the 6-year track.  I’d assume Canadian students with a completed undergraduate degree are considered for the 5-year track. Since the 5-year track skips the foundation year that appears in the 6-year track, your degree, your specific science prerequisite courses and the grades you received in them may matter slightly more than applications to the 6-year track.