More than 500 would-be doctors apply for just 60 places

MORE than 500 late vocation aspiring doctors have applied for the 60 graduate entry medical school places being made available from next September at the University of Limerick (UL) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.

UL was last month nominated by the Department of Education as the lead graduate entry school of medicine in the country, getting 108 of the 240 places which will be available each year from 2010.

The other places have been divided among existing medical faculties at other colleges.