Friday 12 July 2013

Making it to Medical School

Many students wrote in to find out but I am not the right person to answer doubts and queries. Students and parents should write directly to the deans of the medical schools whether in Malaysia or overseas. If scholarship is a concern, parents/students can apply for PTPTN or MARA/JPA scholarships.

There are so many medical schools to choose from. Once students register they cannot simply hop from one school to another as there are many obstacles.

Where do you start searching for medical schools? It depends. If the student is from a poor family, I would suggest to seek advice directly from the dean of any public university that has a medical school. In my last care of students' database, I found that 60% of our local students were from poor families. In some families, the father had died and the mother had to work to earn an income to feed the family. Some of these jobs were harsh, like driving a school bus/van. Many poor students had trouble going home as they did not have money. But our medical school had set up a students' fund to assist these poor students during crisis.

Students usually score 4.0 (four flat) before applying to medical school. But nowadays, many medical schools have programs and remedies to help non 4-flat students once they register. Many medical schools today will accept students who are motivated, have passion, and are willing to give their all to study hard and obtain a medical degree. This gives hope to students and parents to approach the various medical school with an open heart, and try and ask around for seat in medical school.

Which are the good medical schools to try? This is my personal list and views:
  1. USM medical school - limited to 180 students per year. Space is a major constraint. We don't have good facilities and we are already 30 years old. Only BPSP is new. We don't have corpses at all, so Anatomy is dry.
  2. UniKL medical school in Ipoh - the Anatomy Dept is very good as they have corpses and the lecturers (all Burmese) are very dedicated. Their OSPE (exam) is also very good and well set-up. The MCQ format is different from that of USM medical school.
  3. Cyberjaya Medical University - the lecturers are very good and students successfully complete their degrees. Students can transfer credits here and complete a medical degree.
  4. Management & Science University (MSU) in Shah Alam - the medical program is 1 year in Shah Alam and 5 years overseas  in Bangalore. Students seem to enjoy the extra coaching and intensive teaching-learning activities, and good weather in Bangalore. The housing, teaching & learning facilities in Bangalore are modern and better than in Malaysia. 
  5. USM KLE medical program in Belgaum, India - same program as USM but there is good coaching by the dedicated teachers. The place is new. Facilities are modern and better than in USM and elsewhere in Malaysia.
  6. College Insaniah in Alor Star, Kedah - the program is good but sometimes they have problems as aired on TV and news recently.

2 comments:

azmi abdul hadi said...

Askm Dr.
I found that your blog was very interesting and helpful for me.
Currently I was offered to enrolled for USM KLE medical programme this year and I'm still new and exploring in this course.
I wish that you could share with me some tips on how to succeed in medical school especially in the first year and how to study anatomy, physiology and biochemistry efficiently as a medical student.
Thank you very much =)

Faridah said...

Wa'alaikumussalam Azmi Abdul Hadi,

TQ for writing. The simplest way to learn is to buy a book each of the 3 disciplines and start reading. Read everyday and learn smthg by writing it down. Then revise. Search for the relevant diagrams online. Study them carefully and memorise. Once you get the hang of studying the 3 disciplines, things should be easy. Never fall behind in your reading. Be prepared before each class lecture. Ask if you don't know or find the answers online. There are interesting blogs online that are helpful for first year students. You can also use Facebook and ask your teachers or coursemates. Learn as much as you can as everything will be handy later when you don't have time. I hope that helps.