Change fails to widen medical school access

THE new selection system aimed at widening access to medical school for Leaving Certificate students has failed to significantly improve the chances of those with less than near-perfect results.

As almost 47,000 people are offered college places by the Central Applications Office (CAO) this morning, school leavers competing for around 400 medicine degree places have for the first time been ranked through a combination of Leaving Certificate results and scores from an aptitude test taken earlier this year.

The system is designed to ease pressure on students to get top grades in all subjects for entry to five medical schools, with all students who sat the test in February and who have at least 480 points eligible for consideration.