You can apply to Basic Specialist Training programmes in four
specialties:
General Internal Medicine
General Paediatrics
Histopathology
Obstetrics and Gynaecology

You can apply to more than one specialty, although very few candidates will apply to more than two specialties.
The first step is to complete the online application for the relevant training programme and submit the required supporting documentation.

Following the applications deadline, the verification process will commence where your eligibility and application are checked and
verified. You will be informed if your application has been verified or not.

Interviews will take place a few months later; if you are invited to
interview stage, you will be sent details in advance.
You will receive marks for your academic achievements, performance at interview, clinical acumen, general suitability for the specialty and your appraisal forms. You will be matched to your highest possible
preference based on your total marks.

First round offers will be made within a couple of weeks of the interviews. There are usually three rounds of matching and offers.

You can only be matched to one preference in each specialty. You can be offered a place in more than one specialty, but you can only accept one offer.

The application form is an online form. You will need to upload the
required documents to the online form. You may start your form, leave it
and come back to complete it at a later stage if needed. Forms left in
draft form will not be considered.

- Academic transcripts

- Decile/centile place

- Proof of Irish Medical Council registration / eligibility for registration

- Proof of English language competency

- Two appraisal forms

- Passport identity page

- Stamp 4 Residency Permit (if applicable to you – other types of residency permits do not need to be submitted)

- A passport-style photo of yourself

There are three ways to confirm your eligibility for Irish Medical Council
(IMC) registration:

- Submit your certificate of current or previous registration on one of the divisions of the IMC.

- If you are not currently and have never been registered on one of the divisions of the IMC, you may be considered automatically eligible for registration if you completed your medical degree in one of a list of EU countries. A list of eligible countries is available in our Entry Guidance and Advice section. If your country is listed, your academic transcript which you are required to submit will confirm your medical degree was completed in that country.

- If you do not fall into either category 1 or 2 above, please contact the IMC and ask them to provide a letter confirming your eligibility for registration and submit this with your application.

You may wish to support your application and gain additional marks by including evidence of some of the following:

- Professional qualifications/ education

- Audit experience

- Presentations

- Publications

- Abstract publications

Please visit this Entry Guidance and Advice section for information on how scores are allocated for your application and interview.

Click here to access the RCPI Help Centre for more Frequently Asked Questions on applying to BST.

Access downloadable BST Entry Guidance and Advice documents

We also have a dedicated administrative team to support Trainees in Basic Specialist Training. They are happy to deal with any questions you have about BST. Contact the team on helpdesk@rcpi.ie

You can apply to Higher Specialist Training in 28 programmes. You can apply to more than one programme, although we advise against applying to more than two programmes.

You must submit a separate application for each programme. The application process is fully online – you don’t need to submit a paper application.

Make sure you read the entry requirements for your chosen programme carefully. The entry requirements are listed in the HST for each programme.

Shortlisting for interviews (where necessary) will take place in December/January. Interviews for shortlisted candidates take place in February.

As there are a limited number of places in HST, entry to each programme is competitive.

PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE ALL DOCUMENTS BEFORE BEGINNING YOUR APPLICATION. LATE DOCUMENT SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED

• Certificate of completion of Basic Specialist Training (BST)
• Evidence of postgraduate qualification such as MRCPI
• Proof of Irish Medical Council registration / eligibility for registration
• Proof of English language competency
• Two Appraisal Forms
• Passport identity page
• Stamp 4 Residency Permit (if applicable to you – other types of
  Residency Permits do not need to be submitted)

There are three ways to confirm your eligibility for Irish Medical Council (IMC) registration:

• Submit your certificate of current or previous registration on one of the divisions of the IMC.
• If you are not currently and have never been registered on one of the divisions of the IMC, you may be considered automatically eligible for registration if you completed your medical degree in one of a list of EU countries. A list of eligible countries is available in the RCPI's Entry Guidance and Advice section. If your country is listed, your academic transcript which you are required to submit will confirm your medical degree was completed in that country.
• If you do not fall into either category 1 or 2 above, please contact the IMC and ask them to provide a letter confirming your eligibility for registration and submit this with your application.

If you completed BST in July 2021 or earlier but do not yet have your BST Certificate, please apply now by contacting Helpdesk@rcpi.ie.

The online application form will ask you for the following information:

• employment and training history
• clinical practice - experience to date
• academic achievements
• teaching experience
• audit experience
• research experience
• presentations to date
• publications to date
• management and leadership experience
• career objectives
• contact details of two references, one of whom must be your most recent supervising consultant (must be same two references who have completed your Appraisal Forms)

Please note you are not required to submit additional documents related to the above. Please be brief in describing only relevant experience under each of the headings on the application form.

Please note that formatting (paragraphs, special characters, bullet points, spacing etc.) will not copy over to your final application. All free text boxes are limited to 500 characters (letters/spaces etc).

Interview details will be posted in the Current Applications section on the RCPI website.

Please visit our Entry Guidance and Advice section for information on how scores are allocated for your application and interview.

Click here to access the RCPI Help Centre for more Frequently Asked Questions on applying to HST. Alternatively, they have a dedicated team to help you through your Higher Specialist Training, available to deal with any questions you may have. Contact RCPI on helpdesk@rcpi.ie.