Entry in 2025 and 2026 for Irish, EU and UK Students
In Irish universities, undergraduate entry to medicine for school-leavers is based on both:
- achieving a minimum of 480 points and meeting the minimum entry requirements for the course in the same sitting of the Irish Leaving Certificate (or non-Irish school-leaver qualification equivalent); and
- completing the required admissions test, the HPAT-Ireland (Health Professional Admission Test), in the year of entry to the medicine course.
There is also a graduate entry route to medicine for candidates who hold, or expect to hold by the end of the relevant academic year, a 2:1 (second class honours, grade one, or equivalent) award in their first honours bachelor degree (Level 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications) or equivalent and who sit the required admissions test, the GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test).
For further details regarding both undergraduate and graduate entry routes to medicine, please consult the CAO website.
Entry in 2027 and beyond for Irish, EU and UK Students
Irish Universities with Medical Schools are modifying the calculation of points applied for admission through the Central Applications office (CAO) to all Undergraduate (Direct Entry from School) Medicine programmes in Ireland.
This change will come into effect for students seeking admission to undergraduate medicine degree programmes from August / September 2027.
The changes are as follows –
- Leaving Certificate scores above 550 points will no longer be moderated – full points scored by candidates will be applied in the calculation.
- Points scored in the HPAT assessment will be weighted to 150 maximum (down from 300 currently). HPAT results from a sitting in the year of admission to a medicine programme will continue to be a requirement.
The changes will not be applied until 2027, in order to facilitate secondary school student decision making at the commencement of their senior cycle school programmes in autumn 2025.
Further details regarding HPAT and CAO application details will be available in the normal timelines.
Frequently Asked Questions: Selection to Medicine – CAO Entry to Undergraduate Medicine Programmes from 2027
No. The existing scheme for calculating points (Leaving Cert plus HPAT) will not change until 2027. Applicants are reminded to make sure they are aware of any school-specific eligibility requirements for medicine programmes. All 2025 details can be found on the CAO website at Selection Criteria for Undergraduate Entry to Medicine for EU Applicants 2021. These will be updated in autumn this year for 2026 applicants.
These changes will apply to all Irish and EU students seeking entry to undergraduate medicine programmes in 2027 or later, in the following universities:
- University of Galway
- University of Limerick
- Trinity College Dublin
- UCC
- UCD
- RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The primary requirement to present both the Leaving Certificate result and HPAT result for the calculation of points for Medicine will not change. However, the way in which both Leaving Cert and HPAT points are counted will change. Leaving Certificate points above 550 will no longer be moderated, and the maximum possible HPAT points will be reduced from 300 to 150. So from 2027, the maximum combined Leaving Certificate and HPAT points for Medicine will be 775 (LC 625 + HPAT 150), rather than the current maximum of 865 points (LC 565 + HPAT 300).
The existing rule that HPAT must be taken in the year of CAO application will continue. Applicants will continue to need to meet the minimum entry requirements as well as the existing 480 points minimum requirement, all in the same sitting of the Leaving Certificate.
These changes are being introduced as a result of the significant ongoing increase in the number of medical places for CAO applicants since 2022. By 2026, over 200 extra places will have become available across all undergraduate medicine programmes, including through a new programme in the University of Limerick opening in 2026. In addition, following the revised Leaving Certificate grading scale and points scale in 2017, significant changes have taken place in overall points profiles across the Leaving Certificate cohort.
There has also been an expansion of places in all the existing Graduate Entry Medicine programmes, with a new programme expected to commence in 2027 in the University of Galway.
In order to promote the widening of participation and access to medical education in Ireland, all the universities offer entry pathways to medicine through both the HEAR and DARE access routes, and also through the Mature Student entry route. These routes did not exist when HPAT was introduced in 2009.
The removal of points moderation brings the Irish medical schools in line with international practice for admission to medicine. Moderation of points scored from school leaving examinations is not a commonly applied approach either for other health professional programmes or other academic programmes more generally nationally. Neither does this happen widely on an international level.
The introduction of the revised Leaving Certificate common points scale in 2017 now provides a broader range of more granular Leaving Certificate points scores for candidates, compared with the previous scale when HPAT was introduced.
HPAT provides a complementary process, in addition to the Leaving Certificate, for selection to Medicine programmes. It assesses logical reasoning and problem solving, interpersonal understanding and non-verbal reasoning. Multi-test assessment for admission to Medicine programmes is commonplace internationally.
In recognition of the respective values of both Leaving Certificate and HPAT in the selection of students to undergraduate Medicine programmes, universities with Medical Schools will alter the current weighting of points achievable from HPAT to align more closely with points achievable in individual Leaving Certificate subjects.
In addition, the Leaving Certificate has proven to be a stronger predictor of performance in Medicine degree programmes. The universities now have well established supplementary admissions pathways such as DARE, HEAR and mature entry routes to support access to medical education by more diverse student profiles, as well as through the Graduate Entry to Medicine routes.
Admission to Medicine (and many other health programmes) internationally is based on final post-primary school assessment results combined with an additional tailored complementary assessment tool such as HPAT. HPAT is designed specifically for use as a component of assessment for selection to health care professional programmes. In an Irish context, relying solely on Leaving Certificate results for entry to medicine would move away from this international norm.
HPAT was originally introduced in 2009 to follow international good practice and remove the (at that time) exclusive reliance in Ireland on the Leaving Certificate to enter medicine.
In the meanwhile, the number of medical places available has significantly increased (through both CAO undergraduate entry and through the new Graduate Entry to Medicine route, introduced in 2007), and the DARE and HEAR schemes have been introduced, including for admission to medicine, resulting in broader and more diverse cohorts of medical students.
Most countries in Europe, including Switzerland and the United Kingdom, use a standardised entrance exam such as HPAT for admission to study medicine. This is also widely used internationally, for example in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and many others.
The relative weighting of these supplementary admissions tests and the national school leaving grades, as well as in some cases interviews and reference statements, can vary.
These changes mean that entry to medicine will refocus on Leaving Certificate achievement, which has proven to be a stronger predictor of student completion than HPAT. The ongoing expansion in the number of medical places available, the changes to the Leaving Certificate grading scales and points system in 2017, and the planned unwinding of the Covid-era post-marking adjustment of Leaving Certificate grades from 2025 all point to the opportunity to introduce these changes for future selections to medicine from 2027.