City woman to graduate with top marks in medical field

Date Published: 04-Jun-2012

Dearbhla Geraghty

A young City woman who overcame injuries sustained in a serious road accident will graduate at the top of her class tomorrow (Wednesday) from the Royal College of Surgeons.

Louise Rabbitt (26), the daughter of Maureen and John originally from Forster Street was an Arts student in NUIG when she decided to change directions altogether and become a doctor. During her school years in the Jes, where she was surrounded by inspirational people such as Carl Hession and Frank Canavan, she thought that she would follow a career in music, but life had other plans for her.

“I then decided to do an arts degree and see how I got on – I loved history, so it was perfect for me,” she says.

However, when that BA in History and Psychology was drawing to a close, she began to wonder what to do next, as a career in academia was not very inviting. She made the unusual decision to return to college, but this time blazed a trail in a totally different field.

“My family thought I was nuts, and my Mum famously says ‘but you never played doctors and nurses when you were small’ – but once the idea took root, it never let go,” she recalled.

In order to get a place on the third medical graduate entry programme at the Royal College of Surgeons, however, she first had to pass the GAMSAT (entrance exam) – and that meant getting herself up to a pre-med level of education.

“I spent the weekends of my final year (in NUIG) studying science,” Louise says.

“It was a challenge for me, so different from what I had been doing, but it was an interesting challenge.

“I have no regrets, and would go back and do Arts again. It taught me how to study, and got the partying out of my system.”

After doing an introductory course, she prepared for the exam herself, at home in the Claddagh, and won a place on the four year post graduate course. She missed her first graduation day at NUIG, however, as the new course had already started in Dublin.

“Most of my (medical) class did related undergraduate degrees – such as pharmacy and physio – but there were a few others who did things like engineering and commerce,” she said.

She does not sugar-coat the last four years, describing them as difficult, as students were required to work in hospitals early on, which allowed less time for study.

However, when she graduates tomorrow, Louise will be first in her class – valedictorian – and the winner of the Edward Guiney Medal for Paediatric Surgery.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.