Answer three quick questions to find your route into an Irish medical school. If you apply through the CAO with A-levels, the IB or the Leaving Cert, you will see where your grades sit on the new 2027 scale and what would raise them.
This shows where your grades sit, not whether you will get an offer. Offers depend on your HPAT and on everyone else applying that year, and 2027 is the first year under the new scoring.
Undergraduate medicine through the CAO is decided on one number: your school points plus your HPAT score. There is no personal statement, no interview and no UCAT for students applying through the CAO. From 2027 entry your school points count for up to 625 and the HPAT for up to 150, a maximum of 775. You need at least 480 points from one sitting to be considered at all.
Before 2027, points above 550 were scaled down and the HPAT was out of 300, so the test decided most places. Both of those change for 2027, so your grades now count for more and the HPAT for less.
| Grade | Each of best three A-levels | Fourth A-level, AS or EPQ |
|---|---|---|
| A* | 192 | 24 |
| A | 165 | 24 |
| B | 142 | 20 |
| C | 120 | 18 |
| D | 100 | 16 |
| E | 67 | 14 |
This is the scale the CAO publishes for UK applicants, used by every university in the CAO system. Each school also sets minimum subjects for medicine (RCSI, for example, asks for GCSE English, Maths, a second language and a lab science), so check every course you list on the CAO.
Leaving Cert students already know their points, so the checker shows where they sit on the 625-point scale. For the IB, the checker uses the CAO's published conversion: 44 or 45 is worth 600, 42 is 577, 40 is 553, 38 is 520, 35 is 481 and 34 is 466, and HL Maths at grade 4 or above adds 25 when maths counts towards your total. The points come from your overall diploma score in a single sitting.
The HPAT has three sections: logical reasoning and problem solving, interpersonal understanding and non-verbal reasoning. It has a lot in common with the UCAT. In 2026 standard registration closed on 16 January and late registration, at an extra fee, on 26 January. You need your CAO number to register, and the test is sat in February. Scores only count for the year you sit it.
Not applying through the CAO? Read about the Atlantic Bridge Programme for the USA and Canada, compare the six medical schools, or see our full guide to studying medicine in Ireland.
You need at least 480 points from one sitting to apply, plus the HPAT in the year you apply. From 2027 entry your school points count for up to 625 and the HPAT for up to 150, so the highest possible score is 775. Places go to the highest combined scores, so most successful applicants are close to the 625 ceiling. 2027 is the first year under this scoring, so the first cut-offs will be published with round one offers in August 2027.
Two things change for entry in autumn 2027. Points above 550 are no longer scaled down, so every point up to 625 counts in full. And the HPAT is weighted to a maximum of 150 instead of 300. Together that makes school grades count for more and the HPAT for less. The 480 minimum and the rule that the HPAT is sat in the year of entry both stay.
Your best three A-levels score 192 for an A*, 165 for an A and 142 for a B. One fourth subject (another A-level, an AS or an EPQ) adds up to 24 for an A or A*. A-level Maths at grade E or above adds a 25-point bonus when it is one of the subjects scored. A*A*A* with an A* EPQ and A-level Maths reaches the 625 maximum.
Yes. UK citizens living in the UK, including Northern Ireland, apply through the CAO, Ireland's version of UCAS, and sit the HPAT. The CAO is separate from UCAS, so it does not use any of your four UCAS medicine choices. Universities decide EU or non-EU status by fee assessment, so someone living in the UK without UK, Irish, EU, EEA or Swiss citizenship is usually treated as non-EU and applies directly to each university instead. For UK, Irish, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals who have lived in the UK, EU, EEA or Switzerland for three of the last five years and have not been to university before, the Free Fees Initiative usually covers tuition, leaving the student contribution: €2,500 a year in 2026/27, cut to €2,350 in Budget 2027.
For Ireland, yes. A UK student with three A-levels can score at most 601, while one with an A or A* in a fourth A-level or an AS can reach 625. The CAO scores an EPQ as an AS level, so an A or A* in an EPQ adds the full 24. UK medical schools do not usually reward a fourth subject, so this is specific to the CAO.
No. Students from the USA and Canada apply through the Atlantic Bridge Programme, and other non-EU students apply directly to each university (Galway through regional agencies). Neither route uses the HPAT. Graduates apply for graduate entry with the GAMSAT or, for North Americans, usually the MCAT.
Tell us your grades and where you live. We will tell you honestly whether Ireland is a real option, and help with the HPAT, your UCAS application or both.
Ultimate Package students from our 2025/26 cycle, with their UCAT scores and offers, who trained with us for the UCAT, personal statements and interviews.
“Harry got my UCAT up to 2,590, working through the sections I kept dropping marks on week by week. Gemma then ran my interview practice so the MMI stations didn't catch me out, and Dr Akash mentored me the whole way through. I'm off to King's for Medicine.”
“The interview prep was the part that actually moved the needle. Proper mock MMIs, not just lists of questions, and feedback that was honest about what I was getting wrong. I ended up with four offers and firmed UCL.”
“The Ultimate Package kept me organised from UCAT through to interviews. They knew what dental schools actually ask and tightened up my personal statement. Four offers in the end, and I'm going to Birmingham.”
“Vet applications come down to the written SAQs as much as the interview. Dr Rebecca went through my SAQs line by line, sharpened my answers and prepped me for the panels. I came away with four offers and chose the RVC.”
Book your FREE consultation today
Click to book your free consultation
