Application for NUS/NTU Medicine 2021/2022
-
MadMed\" post_id=\"2081370\" time=\"1662541457\" user_id=\"197965:
I fully agree and empathize with you and your DS over the whole application process. It has not been easy but it's good to know that your DS finally get to pursue his medical passion.
I’m not trying to splash cold water onto you guys with regards to the application for medicine in Singapore. Do bear in mind that it’s way much harder than you thought in just getting an offer to study medicine.
My DS had a perfect score academically (which I heard there are around 1,300 students achieved perfect scores every year), along with a 8.0 BMAT result (about 95 percentile), and had volunteered work at the Community Centre alongside a MP for close to 2 years, went for the interviews, and got rejected at both NUS and NTU applications. After which, he went on to apply to four UK universities, went for another 4 interviews with these four universities, all got rejected. Most recently, he applied for three Australia universities, went for the interviews as usual, and finally finally he got an offer from one of the Australian universities.
What I’m trying to say here is that the application journey for medicine was extremely traumatizing, both for the parents and my DS, with disappointment after disappointments. Over the last 1.5 years while he was in NS, all his annual leaves were applied for medicine interviews. Can’t imagine that he had to go through nine interviews sessions, each for a couple of hours, to finally get this precious offer. In addition to all these traumatic anxieties, the parents now have to prepare to part a total of around S$500,000 for the school fee, plus $120,000 for food & lodging.
So my sincere advice to all potential applicants, do prepare to arm yourselves with great determination to face the challenges. And for parents, the outrages school fees.
Yes, all medical aspirant who want to pursue medicine must be mentally prepared to face challenges, stress and disappointment. Your passion for medicine must start off from your Secondary School days. You must study Physic/Chemistry/Biology as your subjects. Also do well in your MTL. Especially Biology seemed to be the criteria for all things. Your academic excellence, CCA, valuable voluntary works and network of referees start from here as you build your base.
Maintain your network of important contacts and the organization institution that you have volunteered and attached. Your teachers, contacts and volunteer work will provide you with strong credentials and testimonials. Keep them in your records and don't lose them.
Do the same thing as you go on to Junior College. Your JC teachers are important too. Most students who opt to study in JC are good in their studies and they take their subjects at H2 or H3 level. Also keep abreast of our healthcare systems and the events that are unfolding.
You must have excellent academic results and credentials to apply for medicine. Even with your top academic results, leadership/shadowing work/volunteer work and good referees does not guarantee you a smooth route to medicine. There are plenty of top students vying for a place to study medicine at all the medicine school, very competitive and the number of places available so limited. So only the best of the best are being selected.
So when selecting your university courses be prudent and wise, do not put your course option to waste. Do not just have the thought that medicine is your only passion and hope. Try looking into the horizon, there are rainbow of opportunities. If you have laid your options well like study dentist/study TCM/Biomedical Sciences/Pharmacist/Phycologist etc... You are still on the path of healthcare studies. After acquiring your degree you decide to apply for medicine again or just proceed to take up an allied healthcare job with a great institution as your career. Everyone of these great students that didn't make it to medicine, they are doing great things with their acquired knowledge of know how helping and contributing to our healthcare services.
What I want to say is all is not lost even if you didn't get to do medicine. You are still very unique and special in other ways.
As this thread is too long already, I hope those who would like to contribute their experiences go over to https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2081361#p2081361 -
doodbug\" post_id=\"2081375\" time=\"1662545491\" user_id=\"13281:
Since Year 2019 had sensed that the admission criteria has been liberalizing and diversifying. Seeing potential students from neighborhood JCs and Polytechnic have been admitted into medicine. Academic excellence may not be the main consideration during selection but these students have unique talents that those high achiever students did not have. The medical school is now looking for potential students from all walks of life from various JCs and Polytechnic. These great students have brought with them a diverse range of educational backgrounds and skillsets that have given them unique perspectives and will be an integral part of medicine practices.
Thank you for your sharing.
Yes, this is not the first time I am hearing of distraught / helpless parents, witnessing the disappointment of their kids who are unable to get a place in local universities to read Medicine. Fortunately, your child has supportive parents who are willing to support his/her ambitions and convictions to pursue Medicine.
I think many people may not realize that the \"competition pool\" extends beyond perfect scorers - you do not need 90 RP be shortlisted for Medicine - it's usually some way off, though mostly As. Similarly, for IB, you don't need 44 or 45 to get shortlisted. Once you are shortlisted, your performance in other aspects matter. So do your feferrals (which you do not get to see) for local universities. It's very difficult and just not possible to understand why some who may have fared poorer academically, or did not have as stellar a CCA record, get a place, whereas others, don't. Unlike the old days where only triple science students are eligible to apply for Medicine, under the current system, PCM and BCM students can apply for Medicine, which is a large pool.
My kids on the other hand, in spite of the exposure we had given them, both decided early on that Medicine is not for them. I heaved a sense of relief - at least I won't have to confront the financial undertaking of supporting kids to study Medicine overseas if they don't make it to the local university. -
Academics is but the first cut off bar for shortlisting purposes.
Doctors treat patients from all societal stratas - they will need to be able to empathise, counsel and persuade. We are in a different era now where knowledge is ubiquitous. A diverse class profile helps to bring diverse perspectives and a richer cross-learning experience. I am glad the medical schools are basing their selection more broadly, and not narrowly defined by grades alone.
But parents and students should not be overly dismayed - the opportunities to read Medicine are far greater today than 20 years ago - the number of places i n the medical schools have increased significantly and there is no more gender quota. -
My kids don’t seem interested in medicine either, but I have been following this process out of interest. The application process seems to be following what happened in the US (for high ranking universities); there was a move away from grades alone to grades becoming a commodity and students competing on other attributes.
This is part of the reason why I’ve always said reducing tests won’t (alone) reduce stress (reducing tests may be beneficial for other reasons). Ultimately, if there is stress it is due to limited vacancy and many qualified applicants.
I definitely encourage people to work hard towards what they want and never give up. But we also need to realize one doesn’t always get their first choice, and there are still many things one can do to earn a living and have an exciting/fulfilling career. -
If there Any difference to the employability or career prospects between graduating with a medical degree from local university vs say lesser known overseas universities(recognised by Singapore)?
-
MadMed\" post_id=\"2081370\" time=\"1662541457\" user_id=\"197965:
Thanks for sharing. Just for curiosity sake, is there postpartum analysis on what interviewers are looking for and what your DS is not having that they want? Some of the qns I might have (as a bystander) is:
I’m not trying to splash cold water onto you guys with regards to the application for medicine in Singapore. Do bear in mind that it’s way much harder than you thought in just getting an offer to study medicine.
My DS had a perfect score academically (which I heard there are around 1,300 students achieved perfect scores every year), along with a 8.0 BMAT result (about 95 percentile), and had volunteered work at the Community Centre alongside a MP for close to 2 years, went for the interviews, and got rejected at both NUS and NTU applications. After which, he went on to apply to four UK universities, went for another 4 interviews with these four universities, all got rejected. Most recently, he applied for three Australia universities, went for the interviews as usual, and finally finally he got an offer from one of the Australian universities.
What I’m trying to say here is that the application journey for medicine was extremely traumatizing, both for the parents and my DS, with disappointment after disappointments. Over the last 1.5 years while he was in NS, all his annual leaves were applied for medicine interviews. Can’t imagine that he had to go through nine interviews sessions, each for a couple of hours, to finally get this precious offer. In addition to all these traumatic anxieties, the parents now have to prepare to part a total of around S$500,000 for the school fee, plus $120,000 for food & lodging.
So my sincere advice to all potential applicants, do prepare to arm yourselves with great determination to face the challenges. And for parents, the outrages school fees.
1. How is volunteering at MPS relevant to the application?
2. How does he exhibit his passion for Med?
3. What are the reasons for choosing this profession? For compassionate reasons? If so how to demonstrate that?
4. How did he react to real-life medical life and death questions the panel has? I was told this was asked and someone reacted badly to it therefore failing the interview
5. Interview skillls? Some can speak naturally/brilliantly but empty vessels but some are truly brilliant but can’t articulate their thoughts well -
Hi! All,
The topics that discussed herein are relevant and informative. It would be great if we can all move forward over to \"Application for NUS/NTU/DUKE-NUS Medicine 2023/2024\" - https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=102955&p=2081361#p2081361 for further discussion. As of now I believe many students or parents can at least learn the know how of planning ahead for medicine application so that it will help them better prepared for the new beginning year 2023/2024 onwards.
I have placed the subject titled as \"Application for NUS/NTU/DUKE-NUS Medicine 2023/2024\". You can see that an additional Med School, Duke NUS has been included for discussion as well. The medical scenes have changed and that's why we are seeing not only academic excellence is important but the admission teams from these universities are looking for candidates with other \"X-Factors\" besides good results and credentials that can compliments well into today's complex and changing medical scenario.
We have parents and their DD/DS that can contribute and share their experiences of going through the application and interview processes. The conditional pathway for medicine that has been introduced by DUKE-NUS partnering with our local universities have also been discussed at other forums for some time and I believe it is an important part for our DD/DS planning as well. That's why I encourage we move over to the new thread to kick-start the Year 2023 onwards. -
Imp75\" post_id=\"2081464\" time=\"1662614552\" user_id=\"2358:
From what I have gathered the medicine questions usually focused on topic concerning - 1) The Professional Role of the Doctor as a Colleague, 2) Duties of a Doctor in the workplace, 3) Doctor to doctor: getting on with colleagues, 4) Dealing with Difficult Medical Colleagues - Mostly ethical problems doctors face in their work and how would you deal with it if you encountered such situation? You must present yourself with confidence. Panicking in these sessions will loose a lot of marks.
Thanks for sharing. Just for curiosity sake, is there postpartum analysis on what interviewers are looking for and what your DS is not having that they want? Some of the qns I might have (as a bystander) is:
1. How is volunteering at MPS relevant to the application?
2. How does he exhibit his passion for Med?
3. What are the reasons for choosing this profession? For compassionate reasons? If so how to demonstrate that?
4. How did he react to real-life medical life and death questions the panel has? I was told this was asked and someone reacted badly to it therefore failing the interview
5. Interview skillls? Some can speak naturally/brilliantly but empty vessels but some are truly brilliant but can’t articulate their thoughts well
It is all about how self smart and street smart you are when handling those med interview questions. As all the questions have not right or wrong answers. The questions are meant for the judges to access your mental dexterity - The nimbleness, type of intelligence, the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience. They test you on math question and gauge your problem solving dexterity. How you approach the question and obtain relevant information to work out the answer. The interviews at times can be relax and easy but some questions the interviewer posed can looked very simple but it's very tricky and hallucinating. It seemed straight forward but using our daily life logic might not be the right answer to the questions.
The panel of judges can be doctor and professor in their respective specialized field. They have read all your application details before shortlisting and interviewing you. They have already know you inside out. One judge will play a good guy and the other judge will be very unfeeling and insulting to you while interviewing you. Especially the very rude judge will treat you like a fool till you felt that your IQ was really so bad after the interviews. At the end of it you felt totally drained out, still in confusion and doubting if you are really suitable enough to study medicine. You can see that attempting the medicine exams and interviews requires lots of EQ and IQ besides good grades.
One conclusion is that all the medicine schools are looking for candidates with excellent mental dexterity and a jovial side of you. Able to handle situation regardless of how bad is the situation and still hold yourself professionally. -
I have posted some information pertaining to BMAT matters that's helpful when you want to apply for Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (NTU). Those interested go over here to find out https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=102955&p=2081664#p2081664
-
Desmond Tang\" post_id=\"2081516\" time=\"1662628915\" user_id=\"185268:[quote=\"Desmond Tang\" post_id=2081516 time=1662628915 user_id=185268]
Hi
From what I have gathered the medicine questions usually focused on topic concerning - 1) The Professional Role of the Doctor as a Colleague, 2) Duties of a Doctor in the workplace, 3) Doctor to doctor: getting on with colleagues, 4) Dealing with Difficult Medical Colleagues - Mostly ethical problems doctors face in their work and how would you deal with it if you encountered such situation? You must present yourself with confidence. Panicking in these sessions will loose a lot of marks.
It is all about how self smart and street smart you are when handling those med interview questions. As all the questions have not right or wrong answers. The questions are meant for the judges to access your mental dexterity - The nimbleness, type of intelligence, the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience. They test you on math question and gauge your problem solving dexterity. How you approach the question and obtain relevant information to work out the answer. The interviews at times can be relax and easy but some questions the interviewer posed can looked very simple but it's very tricky and hallucinating. It seemed straight forward but using our daily life logic might not be the right answer to the questions.
The panel of judges can be doctor and professor in their respective specialized field. They have read all your application details before shortlisting and interviewing you. They have already know you inside out. One judge will play a good guy and the other judge will be very unfeeling and insulting to you while interviewing you. Especially the very rude judge will treat you like a fool till you felt that your IQ was really so bad after the interviews. At the end of it you felt totally drained out, still in confusion and doubting if you are really suitable enough to study medicine. You can see that attempting the medicine exams and interviews requires lots of EQ and IQ besides good grades.
One conclusion is that all the medicine schools are looking for candidates with excellent mental dexterity and a jovial side of you. Able to handle situation regardless of how bad is the situation and still hold yourself professionally.[/quote]
Very useful info. I need one more info.
My child is in Y3 IB program. She was not offered with triple science. So, for someone who wants to be a medical professional, any disadvantage of not taking \"Biology\"? Though NUS & NTU websites say either Biology or Physics, I am still sceptical about this.!!
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login