RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) welcomed prospective mature and graduate students to an Open Evening held in the College on 6 November. This Open Evening provides graduate and mature applicants the opportunity to learn about the application process and participate in workshops for each of RCSI's undergraduate degree programmes in Pharmacy, Physiotherapy and Medicine.

Professors Arnold Hill, (Head of the School of Medicine), Professor Paul Gallagher (Head of the School of Pharmacy) and Professor Marie Guidon (Head of the School of Physiotherapy), welcomed prospective mature and graduate students and outlined the format of the evening. Céleste Golden, Admissions Officer, presented an information session on how to apply to RCSI, the various graduate, mature and pharmacy technician entry pathways as well as academic eligibility, tuition and living costs. The prospective students then attended the individual school workshops.

The Schools of Pharmacy (led by Professor Paul Gallagher and Dr Helena Kelly) and Physiotherapy workshops (led by Professor Marie Guidon and Ms Louise Keating) focused on curriculum, clinical education and the practicalities of entering a health science course as a graduate. Academic staff and current RCSI students were on hand to answer a range of questions regarding the application, interview process, structure and content of the programmes.

Academic staff were assisted by graduate and mature entry student panels from each of the Schools of Pharmacy, Physiotherapy and Medicine, who provided the attendees with detailed personal experiences of the admissions process and their lives at RCSI.

The Physiotherapy student panel was made up of Rebecca Mahon, Paula Donovan and Valerie Saunders. Professor Guidon said: "We were delighted to welcome interested graduates and mature students to RCSI and hope that the evening was informative and of value to them when making important future career choices."

The Mature Entry Medicine student panel, whose diverse backgrounds included nursing, finance, healthcare, the armed forces and EMT, presented an enlightening Q&A session in the O'Flanagan Lecture Theatre. The RCSI Mature Student panel who generously provided valuable insight and their time away from the books were Michelle Ohle, Yvonne Sweeney, Joanna Peart, Conor Keogh and Colm McCourt. Dr Enda Barron, who graduated from RCSI in June 2012, provided great insight into his RCSI experience as a mature entrant and life since on the GP Training Scheme.

Speaking on the open evening, Celeste Golden said: "Open Events are extremely important for RCSI and particularly for Graduate and Mature students who are considering their return to education. Feedback has been excellent and the success of RCSI's Open Events is down to the efforts of our students and staff who give up their time to collaborate and inform prospective students; many of the attendees will decide RCSI is their College of choice."