Networking Group - JCs General

[UBKmom]

I do not have the statistic on hand to ascertain whether a retainee gaining admission into Medicine but I think there is a possibility depending how you spin the story. Gov/media nowsday like such comeback kids kind of story…a person overcoming great adversaries to achieve great results… to prove the flexibility of our system and upwards mobility is still alive and kicking. This also prove the strong character of the applicant and interviewer will likes such candidate. Personally, I do hope more such candidates are given more opportunity, its this kind of people who has the smart to survive in a crisis.

[phtthp]

UBKmom:

I do not have the statistic on hand to ascertain whether a retainee gaining admission into Medicine but I think there is a possibility depending how you spin the story. Gov/media nowsday like such comeback kids kind of story…a person overcoming great adversaries to achieve great results… to prove the flexibility of our system and upwards mobility is still alive and kicking. This also prove the strong character of the applicant and interviewer will likes such candidate. Personally, I do hope more such candidates are given more opportunity, its this kind of people who has the smart to survive in a crisis.

Yes, newspaper ever published article below, against adversity, against all odd, on some students able to enter Medicine

eg

This boy, scored PSLE T-score 181. Nobody expect someone with 181 T-score, to enter NUS Yong Loo Lin Medical school. Yet, against all odd, he proved it. With 181, he entered Secondary Normal Academic stream.

At Secondary 5, he did his O-level.
After that, he entered Singapore Polytechnic and did Biomedical Diploma, excelled in it and was admitted to NUS Medical school. But, was he ever a Repeat student, anywhere during his academic journey, inspite of scoring 181 (PSLE ) ? No, he wasn't

Did he ever repeat his Sec 5 O-level ? No, he did not
Did he ever repeat his final year, at Singapore Polytechnic ? No, he did not

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/from-a-psle-score-of-181-to-nus-medicine

[ngl2010]

phtthp:

UBKmom:

I do not have the statistic on hand to ascertain whether a retainee gaining admission into Medicine but I think there is a possibility depending how you spin the story. Gov/media nowsday like such comeback kids kind of story…a person overcoming great adversaries to achieve great results… to prove the flexibility of our system and upwards mobility is still alive and kicking. This also prove the strong character of the applicant and interviewer will likes such candidate. Personally, I do hope more such candidates are given more opportunity, its this kind of people who has the smart to survive in a crisis.

Yes, newspaper ever published article below, against adversity, against all odd, on some students able to enter Medicine

eg

This boy, scored PSLE T-score 181. Nobody expect someone with 181 T-score, to enter NUS Yong Loo Lin Medical school. Yet, against all odd, he proved it. With 181, he entered Secondary Normal Academic stream.

At Secondary 5, he did his O-level.
After that, he entered Singapore Polytechnic and did Biomedical Diploma, excelled in it and was admitted to NUS Medical school. But, was he ever a Repeat student, anywhere during his academic journey, inspite of scoring 181 (PSLE ) ? No, he wasn't

Did he ever repeat his Sec 5 O-level ? No, he did not
Did he ever repeat his final year, at Singapore Polytechnic ? No, he did not

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/from-a-psle-score-of-181-to-nus-medicine

But I think it is the same kind of comeback kids story if genevaong’s DD can get into medicine. Retained at JC1 then obtained straight As at A level then get into medicine. Or, retained at JC1 then moved to poly then get into medicine.

[phtthp]

I know that there are A-level students with a string of perfect 4As, who got rejected by NUS Medical school.

To me, if one is a Repeat student, still want to pursue medicine, perhaps consider overseas, still got chance.

[ngl2010]

Maybe don’t think too far ahead. First need to get all straight As for A level then talk. Now actually no point to talk. If no straight As, no need to talk about getting into medicine in local unis.


No straight As, no talk.

[sharonkhoo]

phtthp:

do local universites (NUS Yong Loo Lin, NTU Lee Kong Chian) even allow the taking in of Repeat (JC1 / JC2) students, for MBBS degree admission ?


Every year (batch), bear in mind that there are so many hundreds of applicants : hungrily, competitively applying for MMBS, for scarce, limited spaces in local (NUS, NTU). Besides RI and Hwa Chong that take in the bulk (majority) of applicants for medical admission, still got so many more other Junior colleges' candidates, also vying for scarce, limited spaces.

Interview medical panel only short-list candidates armed with straight-As (from A-level cert), plus those who displayed excellent Cca record, good leadership track record. I believe many of these short-listed candidates never failed nor repeat JC1 / JC2, before. Question is -
how can these repeating JC1 / JC2 students, ever compete with those \"clean\" candidates, who never have any blemish before, in their academic record ?

Once a student repeat, whether repeat in JC1 or JC2, already created a blemish (stain) in their academic record, particularly if applying for highly popular Medical / Law faculty.

I'm fairly sure that there is no bar for a student to apply to any course (even Medicine and Law) simply because they repeated a year in JC. On the other hand, since these are highly competitive courses which requre interviews, who knows how an interview panel will view them? A lot will depend on the reason for the repeated year, and how the panel assesses the candidate in terms of character etc.

[floppy]

1. Idiom of the day: cart before the horse.

2. (TV) Movie of the day: the comeback kid (which also happens to be the nickname of a former POTUS).

Can a repeat student make it to Med? Yes, provided he / she can score straight As and meet the IGP. The final result is what matters; how many u-turns, left turns or right turns you make to get there, it makes a great story to tell, but not that important.

Can a repeat student score straight As after repeating? Statistically not impossible but in reality, the odds of winning Toto may be higher. A student is being retained for a reason and if he / she can’t meet the JC promotion standard, which is already very lax, hard to see it happening unless there is a serious change in attitude.

Insisting on doing the same while expecting different results?

[genevaong]

ChiefKiasu:

I'm a little confused. Even if your DD wants to rejoin the council, doesn't she has to be voted in? And wouldn't she have to work with new people again? I don't think the rest of the council would stay back just for her.

Yes, she would most likely need to be voted back into council and work with new people.
I am hoping to talk her out of this as I personally do feel that she needs to do well this year, as I know retainees can face many struggles during their repeat year, one of which is likely to be being despised. She told me that when she went back to help council for the school's openhouse last week at the request of her teacher, she ran into her 2018 physics tutor at the library and her tutor was very rude to her. Her tutor looked at her and rolled her eyes, even showing looks of disgust before walking away. She mentioned before how this tutor looked down on students who got anything less than an A2 and she is a very arrogant person. I really hope that she can work hard and do well enough this year to prove this tutor wrong, and I really hope she can do well enough to tell people that \"I was a retainee with 6As and 1B.\"

[hesterMOM]

phtthp:

I know that there are A-level students with a string of perfect 4As, who got rejected by NUS Medical school.

To me, if one is a Repeat student, still want to pursue medicine, perhaps consider overseas, still got chance.

There was a graduate from Anderson Junior College who was matriculated into NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in August/September last year who was also a retainee. Heard she was from Choir.

[hesterMOM]

Hello genevaong


Am a mother of a JC3 waiting for her As results.
My dd is also hoping to enter medicine faculty, and is currently working at a nearby clinic as receptionist.

I would support that you advise your dd to not take on any CCAs for the next 2 years and focus on her studies, and take on 2-3 volunteer opportunities during her holidays (perhaps just 1-2 during March and September holidays) to show her passion in contributing to society. This can be far more impactful compared to being a councillor. Allow her to join her school's internship opportunity during her post-promos since she does not have PW, and have her join the healthcare sector for internship if she has really made up her mind on stepping on the medicine career. If she does well enough during her mid-year blocks, you could encourage her to join Orientation next year as a facilitator, but on conditions that she does not neglect her studies like she did last year (according to various reasons you may have found to be the cause of her retention). In JC2, you could have her continue her volunteer opportunities, and perhaps stop by end of June holidays. This would be a good time to halt all external commitments and focus on her prelims and As for a final boost. After her As, I would advise a month's off from any work and to understand with regards to how she feel she did for As, and to bring her on a holiday or something to let her relax. After that, you could support her to work at polyclinics or any general practitioner's clinic, and to also continue participating in volunteer opportunities.

Remember, this 2 years is not a race for the most shining portfolio, but her own marathon to her own aspiration, and also a marathon for her to strengthen her academics and build her portfolio consistently but slowly. She can always add good shining points into her portfolio after As if her heart is really into medicine.
If she can make this work, I believe her retention story can be the ultimate obstacle of her life that can win over the interview panel. Many has been saying that medicine interviews now look beyond academics. With academics will buy you the interview ticket, but during the interview, how you win yourself the offer ticket is how you can put your own success story forth. They say that they focus alot now on whether applicants have faced any obstacles during their path of studying, and many can spin up a tale, but I believe that your dd's retention story can be the most realistic one that can buy her the offer ticket from the university.

But first, she has to make her academics work.