Excerpt
Getting into university is already a long process in itself, further compounded by the additional submissions required by the medical schools in Singapore. While this may appear daunting and overwhelming to applicants like you, fret not, Icon Education is here to demystify & guide you throughout the entire process.
What does NUS Medicine look for?
he National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) undergraduate programme is highly competitive, with an approximate number of 2800 applicants and only an intake of 280 students per year.
Hear from Riya, a current NUS MBBS student:
There are two application routes that an applicant can take before being shortlisted for the admissions assessment. First-time applicants will partake in the Standard scheme, preliminarily shortlisted based on academic prerequisites. Academic profiles typically look like the following:
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Singapore-Cambridge ‘A’ Levels |
AAA/A for both the 10th and 90th percentile, a pass in Chemistry and a pass in either Biology or Physics. |
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Polytechnic Diploma |
Accredited diplomas with 3.93 GPA for the 90th percentile, and 3.74 GPA for the 10th percentile. |
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International Baccalaureate |
A pass in HL Chemistry, and a pass in either HL Biology or HL Physics. Supplementary qualification (e.g. UK/ ANZ UCAT, SAT/ ACT with Writing, AP Exams) is only required if the applicant is submitting predicted scores. |
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NUS High School |
Major CAP of minimally 2.0 in Chemistry, and either Biology or physics, and a CAP of minimally 1.0 in another major, and in the English Programme and Research Project. |
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Other Qualifications |
Requires a Year 12 or higher level pass in Chemistry and either Biology or Physics. Requires supplementary qualification (e.g. UK/ ANZ UCAT, SAT/ ACT with Writing, AP Exams). |
For repeat applicants or applicants who do not meet the cut-off point but have exceptional co-curriculars that evidence their suitability for the MBBS programme, they may opt to apply via the Aptitude-Based Admissions Scheme (ABAS).
While all applicants have to provide a Medicine Portfolio in addition to answering five short questions in the general NUS online application, the ABAS ensures that your portfolio will be considered alongside your submitted results for the first stage of the shortlisting process, instead of it being reviewed only during the admissions assessment stage.
Image reference: https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/prospective-students/how-to-apply/
The Medicine Portfolio
To holistically assess your suitability for the programme, all applicants have to provide a Medicine Portfolio in addition to answering the five short questions in the general NUS online application. The information provided in the portfolio aids the admissions panel in identifying motivated applicants who actively commit themselves to improving lives in the healthcare sector. This consists of a 500-word personal statement, a list of your top 10 achievements and activities over the past 4 years, an official school testimonial and two letters of reference.
Admissions Assessment
If you have been successfully shortlisted for the admissions assessment, you will then undergo the Focused Skills Assessment (FSA) and Situational Judgement Test (SJT). The FSA involves a series of in-person interviews and tests while the SJT is an online test. Both are designed to assess your motivations, abilities and alignment with the medical school’s ethos and research culture.
Tips to enhance your application
In order to stand out amongst other applicants with similarly impressive grade profiles, how you curate and present yourself through the Medicine Portfolio and performance in the Admissions Assessment becomes all the more important. However, many applicants tend to struggle with expressing their desires to study and further the medical field wholly in these components.
This could be due to these common factors:
1. Many applicants lack the prior experience necessary to make an informed decision to pursue medicine. Without the exposure to the medical field and its various demands, many applicants find themselves unsure of the specific differences between medicine and other adjacent fields (pharmaceutical science, bio-engineering, nursing etc.), resulting in unclear motivations.Building experience requires you to plan out your extracurricular activities before you even begin your application. For example, this can take the form of medical internships, job shadowing at local clinics and hospitals, being involved in medicine related research projects and participating in related online or offline courses. Activities of this nature will reflect your intellectual curiosity, as well as highlight your initiative and eagerness to engage in both research and hands-on experiences in the medical field.
2. It is also important to note that the strength of your application does not directly equate to the quantity of achievements listed in your portfolio. Many applicants have accumulated many impressive experiences under their belt, however, they fail to properly reflect on what about these experiences stood out to them and contributed to their decision to pursue medicine. This results in a gap between their experiences and motivations, a discrepancy made most evident during the interview stage.
As what is provided in your medical portfolio and interview performance is intrinsically linked, it is imperative to not only search for relevant opportunities to partake in, but more crucially, to make it a habit to record and reflect on your experiences in detail. Even if these may be short in duration and limited by scope, your ability to identify specific examples and understand how they directly impact your decision to pursue medicine will provide the admissions panel with a more well-rounded reflection of your aptitude and fit for medicine.
3. Lastly, many applicants struggle with explaining which aspects of the NUS’ MBBS programme makes it the right fit for them. This requires you to look closer into what specifically draws you to it – be it the school environment, the research culture, the programme structure or the types of opportunities available that you believe will help you to develop into the doctor that you aspire to become.
While not an exhaustive list of pointers to look out for, we hope that this helps to kickstart and structure your NUS MBBS application. Do reach out to Icon Education should you require more targeted help. All the best!
Additional resources
https://www.icon-plus.com/articles/sg-med-guide
https://youtube.com/difference-between-nus-and-ntu-medicine
https://www.icon-plus.com/articles/day-in-the-life-of-a-doctor-uk-vs-singapore
