Application for NUS/NTU Medicine 2020/2021

[BonVoyage]

Thank you Desmond for all your invaluable insights and encouragment. All the best to your son in his academic pursuits and God bless you and your family too.

[BonVoyage]

Thank you Desmond for all your invaluable insights and encouragment. All the best to your son in his academic pursuits and God bless you and your family too.

[Desmond Tang]

I thank "greyskies" for initiating this chat group that we are able to kick-start the chatting and sharing. Everything that was being written and shared here will surely be consigned to posterity. It will serve as a quick reference point for future students or parents wanting to find out about the competitiveness of getting into medicine course.


I salute all parents here for we all want the best for our children. I wish everyone one of them all success in their future endeavor. Be the best you can be in whatever you do, whether in medicine or in any field of expertise.

Kudos to everyone here and thank you for the thought and advice.

[rawsalmon]

Hi all,


I saw in 2019 application for nus/ntu medicine application forum that the RI acceptance rate to nus yll school is 35% while HCI is 20%. Does it mean that the recent years for RI acceptance rate is no longer 50%?

[proudmum]

rawsalmon\" post_id=\"1986507\" time=\"1595131789\" user_id=\"31470:

Hi all,

I saw in 2019 application for nus/ntu medicine application forum that the RI acceptance rate to nus yll school is 35% while HCI is 20%. Does it mean that the recent years for RI acceptance rate is no longer 50%?

I believe there are much fewer RI, HCI students in the 2020 NUS YLL cohort. MOE wants diversity in the cohort. So opportunities are given to those in neighbourhood JCs, poly, NUSH, IB. It has shifted away from favouring RI/HCI in the cohort unlike in previous years.

NTU admission includes BMAT as an important selection criteria which means only those with good BMAT are selected for interviews. So naturally there is a higher % of RI, HCI in NTU LKC than NUS YLL.

[Desmond Tang]

proudmum\" post_id=\"1986551\" time=\"1595144567\" user_id=\"1755:

rawsalmon\" post_id=\"1986507\" time=\"1595131789\" user_id=\"31470:

Hi all,

I saw in 2019 application for nus/ntu medicine application forum that the RI acceptance rate to nus yll school is 35% while HCI is 20%. Does it mean that the recent years for RI acceptance rate is no longer 50%?

I believe there are much fewer RI, HCI students in the 2020 NUS YLL cohort. MOE wants diversity in the cohort. So opportunities are given to those in neighbourhood JCs, poly, NUSH, IB. It has shifted away from favouring RI/HCI in the cohort unlike in previous years.

NTU admission includes BMAT as an important selection criteria which means only those with good BMAT are selected for interviews. So naturally there is a higher % of RI, HCI in NTU LKC than NUS YLL.

\"Proudmum\" is right, this year 2019 medicine has been diversified. MOE has proposed that NUS/NTU medicine school to have more diversity in their intake selection. You can read the news here https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/more-aptitude-based-varsity-admissions-to-shift-emphasis-away-from-academic

Beside looking at academic history, leadership qualities, CCA and credentials, they are looking for applicants with exceptional abilities. Example during MMI interviews, 2 students were being posed the same questions. Student A presented it in context done in accordance with convention or etiquette practices in medicine. Student B presented it out of context and deviated away from the main point by joking its way out of the questions. The interviewers felt good and student B aced through the MMI and got offered. Whereas student A, who had all the credibility academically, good CCA, doing voluntary works and credentials, was not successful. Both were from the same elite school. This year many top students were shocked at the results of the shortlist process.

It's not easy to get in to study medicine. You must have the special touches they are looking for besides very good academic results and all rounder.

[Jadescaper]

Desmond Tang\" post_id=\"1986558\" time=\"1595148067\" user_id=\"185268:[quote=\"Desmond Tang\" post_id=1986558 time=1595148067 user_id=185268]

proudmum\" post_id=\"1986551\" time=\"1595144567\" user_id=\"1755:

\"Proudmum\" is right, this year 2019 medicine has been diversified. MOE has proposed that NUS/NTU medicine school to have more diversity in their intake selection. You can read the news here https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/more-aptitude-based-varsity-admissions-to-shift-emphasis-away-from-academic

Beside looking at academic history, leadership qualities, CCA and credentials, they are looking for applicants with exceptional abilities. Example during MMI interviews, 2 students were being posed the same questions. Student A presented it in context done in accordance with convention or etiquette practices in medicine. Student B presented it out of context and deviated away from the main point by joking its way out of the questions. The interviewers felt good and student B aced through the MMI and got offered. Whereas student A, who had all the credibility academically, good CCA, doing voluntary works and credentials, was not successful. Both were from the same elite school. This year many top students were shocked at the results of the shortlist process.

It's not easy to get in to study medicine. You must have the special touches they are looking for besides very good academic results and all rounder.

This year selection criteria for both YLL and LKC med schools are indeed very different. YLL rejected applicant with 8-Distinction (only 70 students in RI cohort scored 8* or more), while LKC accepted.

[kibblesmoke]

Yes, this year’s selection criteria quite weird… Has anyone heard from LKC?

[proudmum]

Jadescaper\" post_id=\"1986560\" time=\"1595152233\" user_id=\"185976:

Desmond Tang\" post_id=\"1986558\" time=\"1595148067\" user_id=\"185268:[quote=\"Desmond Tang\" post_id=1986558 time=1595148067 user_id=185268]

I believe there are much fewer RI, HCI students in the 2020 NUS YLL cohort. MOE wants diversity in the cohort. So opportunities are given to those in neighbourhood JCs, poly, NUSH, IB. It has shifted away from favouring RI/HCI in the cohort unlike in previous years.

NTU admission includes BMAT as an important selection criteria which means only those with good BMAT are selected for interviews. So naturally there is a higher % of RI, HCI in NTU LKC than NUS YLL.

\"Proudmum\" is right, this year 2019 medicine has been diversified. MOE has proposed that NUS/NTU medicine school to have more diversity in their intake selection. You can read the news here https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/more-aptitude-based-varsity-admissions-to-shift-emphasis-away-from-academic

Beside looking at academic history, leadership qualities, CCA and credentials, they are looking for applicants with exceptional abilities. Example during MMI interviews, 2 students were being posed the same questions. Student A presented it in context done in accordance with convention or etiquette practices in medicine. Student B presented it out of context and deviated away from the main point by joking its way out of the questions. The interviewers felt good and student B aced through the MMI and got offered. Whereas student A, who had all the credibility academically, good CCA, doing voluntary works and credentials, was not successful. Both were from the same elite school. This year many top students were shocked at the results of the shortlist process.

It's not easy to get in to study medicine. You must have the special touches they are looking for besides very good academic results and all rounder.

This year selection criterias for both YLL and LKC med schools are indeed very different. YLL rejected applicants with 8-Distinction (only 70 students in RI cohort scored 8* or more), while LKC accepted.[/quote]These 8* students are probably high achievers thus they scored very high Bmat which is ranked highly in LKC selection criterias. Dean of LKC said at one of the interview that those who are admitted to LKC are mostly straight As students. Of course, their performance at the MMIs, CCA leadership qualities, voluntary work, dr shallowing, hospital & care experience, personal qualities, references, testimonials etc played a big part.

However, this year, we have also seen quite a number of students with highly impressive portfolios of CCA leaderships, H3 distinction, straight A* and high Bmat who did not receive any offer from any medical school. Some decided to goto UK while others settle for bioscience courses.

We have also seen students with 5* who made it to YLL.

There are also students with offers from Cambridge, Imperial, UCL that are not offered by YLL.

So, I can only conclude, this entire admission exercise has a element of luck (tee kiam, tee kiam).

What u can only do is to cast your net wide and apply to as many medical schools as you can. This will increase your change of an offer.

All the best to all students....

[lunchmoney]

My sensing is that besides favouring non-RI/ HCI Jcs, YLL is looking for a certain kind of personality, ie those who will make good General Practitioners eg those who are relaxed/ cheerful and can connect well with people and not so much the academic types. As for LKC, I am surprised that those with high BMATs were not offered a place. It could be that their MMI did not go well.