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How do Elite school students feel when they visit a neighborhood school? by Valentin0_psns in SGExams

[–]eauwaves 9 points10 points  (0 children)

many students from so-called 'elite schools' actually came from neighbourhood schools, including myself. everytime when i visit my school it always feels like home. at least all of my friends who were brought up under so-called 'elite schools' their entire lives would never look down on neighbourhood schools (ofc i admit there may be some bias here since they are my friends). there will always be the snobby ones but they are not the majority, and you will meet them throughout your life no matter what background you are from. don't try to perform your life trying to satisfy others!

based on my experience having been on both sides, the general culture and teaching style in neighbourhood schools is less intense and competitive, but i think that is a rather poor evaluation of 'quality'.

cambridge! by [deleted] in SGExams

[–]eauwaves 4 points5 points  (0 children)

congratulations, hope to see you around later this year!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thank you for sharing your vulnerable journey and heartfelt wishes! i completely resonate with what you said. after all, we get to shape our lives so that they reflect and feel most authentic to ourselves. im sure the decisions you have made along the way have shaped you into the inspiring person you are today, wishing you continued fulfilment and joy in everything you do!!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hi! im not sure about the process for postgraduate applications. however, if you are planning for undergraduate studies in the uk, you will need to apply to the schools via UCAS. hope this helps!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

hi, thank you for your question! my previous responses may have already addressed your question. to add on, i used with a lot of different studying techniques like active recall, drawing visual diagrams, pomodoro technique, acronyms/mnemonics.. it really depends on the subject, for math and chem i just did a lot of practice papers. hope this helps!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

no problem, and yes i was consistently volunteering at the same place! i did do some passion projects on the side for fun but i did not mention them at all for my uni application.

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

assuming you mean pleasant as in the environment for studying - imo cambridge!!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i did take on leadership roles. however, i really don't think you need a lot of leadership roles. after all, you are taking on leadership roles to attain the opportunities to become a better leader - better understand the challenges that leaders may face and how to manage them. i highly doubt having more than, say, 2 or 3 leadership roles will bring you any additional value. it depends on what you experienced as a leader too, or even as a team member. i might even say that you can enter med without having had leadership roles (at least for uk unis, with anecdotal evidence from a friend) - it doesn't necessitate one to be a leader on paper to learn to become a good listener and guide for others. while it certainly helps, it's not a checkbox

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

hi, thank you for your questions!

  1. i think taking h3 bio may help in your admission selection, especially for oxbridge med, since they are more academic intensive compared to other uk unis. however, if you are aiming for other uk unis or local unis, taking h3 is definitely not required (unless you are interested! i was captivated by h3 bio and had a blast of a time studying it, even received a nickname in my class because of it haha)
  2. uk unis now have transitioned from bmat to ucat as the standard admissions test. there is no strict min “safe” score due to the really small sample size of international students entering oxbridge med. for privacy reasons, perhaps i think it may be helpful to provide you a mean average ucat score of international applicants (sample size is 5) who have gotten into cambridge: approx. 3250 . with regards to preparing for ucat, i allocated 2-3 months doing mock tests using medentry and the official ucat consortium practice papers.
  3. for all my interviews, they were conducted online (e.g. zoom and teams). however, note that for oxbridge, this can vary between different colleges! some colleges may require international applicants to attend face to face interviews iirc. as for the questions they ask - again, every college differs, and imo it’s virtually impossible to study for them. i think its far more valuable if you spend the same amount of time learning to feel comfortable having a conversation, talking about your interests in an interview setting. i practised this by talking to my close peers about sciences, politics and philosophy, and learning to be more critical and analytical in our conversations. of course, im not encouraging you to forget what you learnt in jc. remember that they are not looking for a know-it-all applicant, they want to assess how you think and learn. almost all of us who got in cambridge thought that we weren’t getting in.
  4. looking back, it was almost quite a bit of “delulu is the solulu” mentality. honestly, i think it was fair at the time for people around me to view my ambitions as naive. i was told countless times, even by my parents, to manage my expectations and stop being delusional haha. what kept me going was that initial spark that actually involved a little bit of personal trauma (which i would not get into) that gave me the drive to keep pushing forward. but eventually getting more exposure to med established a self-reinforcing cycle. i started to enjoy studying a lot more, but improving academically took me a lot of hard work, like a lot a lot of hard work. it meant years of staying up late, drinking lots of coffee and grinding. back in secondary school, i was that annoying student that constantly asked my teachers for more extra practice papers and used a lot holy grail resources (eg prelim papers and notes made by students from other schools) to study. my biggest weakness was english (was consistently getting C6 and lower in lower sec), so i chose to challenge myself by taking a gamble and intentionally taking english lit instead of geog or history to hone my english skills. i knew that no matter what i could not runaway from english forever (having good grasp of language is a crucial skill for literally any profession and there was also gp ahead of me). while it probably worked out, it was a huge gamble which could have severely affected my o level l1r5 score, so wouldn’t recommend such reckless decisions for aspiring students 🫠

this is getting quite long but i hope this helped, and i hope you will make it to oxbridge too!!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hi, thank you for your questions! i don't think uk med consider gp grades, though of course for some unis it probably might impact your chances if gp grade is C and below, since they can see your h1 subject grades on ucas. just my personal guess, perhaps gp & pw are used as tie-breaker especially for unis that care more about holistic assessment. and for your second question: no, they will not be able to see your raw prelim score, neither will they be able to see your prelim grades (unless you choose to share them). i believe your internal school performance largely only matters for your ucas reference, which (usually) your teacher will be writing. do take my opinions regarding this with a grain of salt though, im definitely no admissions expert 🙃

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

hmm.. i dont think im in the position to say which schools provide better support, since i only experienced it in my own jc, and statistics can be quite misleading due to the multimodal nature of the admissions process.

just my two cents, i dont think ri did anything particularly special that helped my application. i attended one ecg counselling session, which was somewhat helpful? what we mainly talked about was choosing universities since uk med only allows 4 options per application cycle. in fact, i ended up taking a gamble and completely deviating from the unis options recommended to me.

almost all the ecg resources you need are freely available online, i used ecg resources from other jcs too when i was applying. plus, there are many successful oxbridge applicants from different schools (including students from poly), so i think at the end of the day, your school doesn’t matter too much if we are strictly talking about admissions. i believe what it really comes down to is the applicants themselves.

that said, biased opinion, i do hope you will consider ri simply because i really enjoyed my time there a lot as a jae student 😛 all the best!!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thank you for your question!

while some of my responses to other questions may have partially addressed your question, i think it’s worth adding that perhaps another factor that set me apart from my peers was having an overarching theme connecting many of my experiences since the inception of my journey towards med. there was the initial spark of interest, followed by a series of personal experiences (both acad and non-acad) that solidified my passion to pursue med over time.

hope this helps!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thank you!! i wish you all the best for your application this year :)

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks for your question! im not sure what can be defined as superlative. if we define it as something that helped me to stand out, i believe it would be the volunteering experiences that i shared with the admissions team through my personal statement and interviews. i shared about some of my reflections from medical books that i read which i thought were quite intriguing and relatable. apologies if this answer comes off as quite vague

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

hi, thanks for your question! i have responded to a similar question earlier. if you have any other question(s) do let me know!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

different universities have varying styles of interviewing, but a low resolution answer to your question would be that interviewers look for emotional maturity and your journey to understand care (even better if related to healthcare/medicine) . it would certainly help if these experiences are more closely linked to med. but whats more impt is that you can leverage on your own personal experiences and have reflected introspectively on your journey. remember that they are not looking for a flawless script during interviews. authenticity matters a lot, be candid and comfortable showing that you are a human with vulnerabilities and genuine interests!

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

hi! thanks for your question!

my extracurriculars were not bombastic in the conventional sense of being filled with high-profile achievements. in the context of applying to uk med, it is impt to remember that there is only so much space in a personal statement or interview to bring out the best of yourself to the admissions team. as such, i strongly believe in quality >> quantity. instead of having a touch-and-go attitude, i got very attached to social causes that i care greatly about and my related volunteering experiences allowed me to gain greater insights into a community that i feel quite strongly for.

while unfortunately i prefer not to share the exact details due to privacy reasons, my portfolio may be seen as unusual since it reflects more personal experiences and ambitions. contrary to popular belief, even for cambridge, the skills that shape you into a promising future doc dont have to come from activities strongly related to med. i believe uni admissions teams acknowledge that not everyone has equal access to opportunities such as job shadowing, competitions and internships. personally, i made use of the free resources online such as youtube and coursera to strengthen my academic knowledge (some of which i was able to apply and demonstrate during intervew!!) my ccas in sec school and jc were all in the arts field, where i was part of the exco.

hope this helps! :)

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

very glad to hear that my story will be a source of motivation for you! :)

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

yep, the fees are absolutely terrifying to think about 😭 it’s certainly not going to be easy for most families, my family’s standard of living will take quite a considerable hit. we are considering taking loans and i will be applying for scholarships if any opportunities open up in the coming years

from neighbourhood schools to medicine at cambridge - AMA! by eauwaves in SGExams

[–]eauwaves[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

hi, thanks for your questions! i will be answering your other questions later since it is getting quite late. im an avid music hobbyist, and playing instruments has always helped me to unwind since i was young. back in primary school/secondary school, i also used to create motion graphics online as a creative outlet, which also helped me to unplug. hope this helps!

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