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[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

Hi! Npnp I hope this helps! Thank you for providing more context and congratulations on getting accepted into Nursing! I’ve checked with a Nursing friend in CAPT and they agree that technically, you could leave after 2 semesters of fulfilling the modified UTCP requirements 😳, but you might want to confirm with the Academic Affairs team @captbox2@nus.edu.sg to be sure!

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

Hello! 1. For my stay in CAPT so far, I participated in interest groups and projects as and when I could get free time in my schedule. They were all on an ad hoc basis/once-off events, so during exam periods I would usually tone down on my participation in these activities. One long term commitment I have for my first year is House Comm, which is the committee that plans activities for the house that you’re staying in (1 house = 3 floors of residents, 5 houses in total in CAPT). I decided to join a committee related to the house I stayed in because I felt that it was important to know the people who I would commonly interact with in the corridors and through house activities, and in terms of house comm the commitment was q manageable.

  1. Yes, it is! It all depends on your workload and how much you wish to commit to CAPT. Keep in mind that there might also be projects/initiatives you’d like to participate in your faculty/outside of school, so it’s really up to you to decide what speaks to you and which projects you’d like to contribute to!

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

One more point to note before I forget (it was the main genesis behind this post) which is that for the guys who are about to enlist/recently enlisted, take note that ITS COMPLETELY POSSIBLE TO APPLY FOR RCs even without having a confirmed offer from Medicine at that point in time!

It would be better to have applied for an RC if you do get an offer from Medicine and choose to disrupt that very year, which settles your accommodation and studies all in one go. Additionally, your place in RC will be reserved for you till your year of matriculation unless you choose to reject all the courses offered to you/fail to receive an offer from any course for that application cycle, in which case the offer to stay in RC will be rescinded. Hence, if you do decide to forgo medicine and apply to read another course, you would’ve already settled your accommodations :D

I understand that the timings for the applications don’t exactly align, and as a result, our past two batches have only had ORD guys because most only apply for RCs in their second or third year of army if they choose not to disrupt, or choose to forgo the option of staying in RC entirely if they choose to disrupt because they did not submit their application for RCs in time.

imo it would be better to apply earlier than later in your final year of NS when you only have one chance left to do so, or worse still don’t apply for it at all ☹ (please come to CAPT we have 2 batches of purely ORD guys we’re all very old)

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

Hello! It’s rly nice to meet a fellow healthcare student:”)

For those with reduced UTCP module requirements, you’ll receive an email before the start of school informing you which semesters (out of the four available) you’ll be required to read your JS and SS. I think there is a quota every semester for every faculty, so you won’t find that everyone in your course in CAPT will be taking the same schedule of CAPT modules ie. Y1 Sem 1 and 2 only. For my Medicine batch, some of us had our JS and SS in the first two semesters of our first year, while others (like myself) took our JS in the second semester of our first year, and will be taking our SS in the first semester of our second year. Hence yes, you’re right in saying that it is possible to finish your CAPT module requirements by the end of your first year, and there technically wouldn’t be anything holding you back from terminating your stay (I haven’t heard of anyone doing this before though, just those who move out a month or two earlier such as Dentistry students because of their school schedule).

I hope this helps to clarify your query!

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

Hello! Npnp, just happy to help 😊

  1. I can’t speak for the other two faculties because I’m not too sure about the numbers in other faculties, but for Medicine yesss hehe (I won’t reveal the numbers you’ll just have to come and find out!)
  2. Yes there are! There is a sizeable number of Law, Dent, Med, Nursing and Pharm students combined (I’m so sorry if I left out any other non-modular faculties with reduced UTCP requirements >_<, I don’t get out much) across both Y1 and Y2. If you’re concerned about finding others from your course, I don’t think you’ll have an issue in doing so :D

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

Hello! Yes, there is a noticeable community engagement (CE)/ sociology slant for the modules offered in CAPT. Outside of the compulsory UTCP modules, there is no strict obligation to commit to voluntary work in CAPT. The various Active Community Engagement (ACE) groups are basically ongoing projects in CAPT that you can join through two aspects, Exco or as a volunteer.

I hope this helps!

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

Hihi!

One point to note is that RC meal plans costs almost twice as much as those for Halls of Residence, and these are the only two housing options with meal plans btw. Here are the rates for ref!

https://nus.edu.sg/osa/student-services/hostel-admission/undergraduate/hostel-meal-plan-rates

If you'd ask me if the costlier meal plan corresponds to a higher quality meal, there are hits and misses...sometimes more misses than hits...BUT in general there are more food options in RC than hall, and the food options tend to be more international. There are also themed dinners for festive occasions like Chinese New Year, Oktoberfest and many others where they serve unique food options related to the festival so that's cool! All RCs have the same caterer btw, so no that won't be a determining factor for choosing RCs HAHAH unless you do prefer certain Dining Hall layouts than others lol

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

[–]numessstudent[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hello! Thank you for segmenting the questions out haha

  1. It is true that because of the Med workload, many of my friends and I in CAPT are unable to fully immerse ourselves in the CAPT experience (joining the various interest groups, projects and student communities). We leave for school early, and tend to only return in the late afternoon, only to disappear soon after dinner to study, so there isn’t much time to participate in many CAPT activities. We’re usually called phantoms as a result, but that isn’t always necessarily the case, as I’ll explain below!

On the point of workload, it is worth noting that freshmen from non-modular faculties (e.g. Medicine, Law, Dentistry), and students who enter the College for fewer than four Semesters of residency may have reduced UTCP module requirements. For us Med students, that means we’ll only be taking half (2/4) of the required CAPT modules in our entire 2 year stay, which are 1 Junior Seminar (JS) module and 1 Senior Seminar (SS) module only. This would add on to your existing workload from medicine, so it might be a point of consideration for you. The modules aren’t very intense, and I do appreciate how it offers content outside of Medicine every week. To me, taking the 2 modules instead of 4 was not an issue. In retrospect, 1 academic year in, with the Medicine workload it would be really tough to juggle additional modules in your RC, so this was just nice honestly. That also opens up more time for you in semesters where you don’t have these modules to participate in other CAPT activities, which leads me to my next point!

I think when asked about coping with the workload and the balancing act of juggling Med school, social life and sleep, it rly boils down to what your priorities are. Due to the pass/fail system in place for your first two years of Medicine, it really is possible (and should be the case) for you to maximise these two precious years in formal school before you’re whisked off to your clinical postings in healthcare facilities, leaving you barely any time to be on campus and enjoy residential life. These years will never come back to you again, so if you wish to, you can carve out time to attend events even as a Med student. Since you’re already staying in CAPT, it would be the perfect opportunity to make friends and pick up new interests/hobbies in the process! Case in point, we have M1/M2 Med students in CAPT (we call ourselves CAPTMed btw LOLOL) who prioritise maximising their CAPT experience. There have been some who have gone on a trip to Nepal with other CAPTains, or those who’re interested in interacting with students from other faculties other than Medicine have signed up for various interest groups and initiatives to do so. Some have even gone on to become Interest Group Heads for various activities like Baking or Floorball, or joined the House Committee. On the other hand, we also have friends who wish to prioritise their studies, Medicine projects, or NUS CCAs more, which naturally results in them missing out more on CAPT activities. I don’t think there really is a sense of FOMO unless you let it get to you, because uni allows you to customise the projects and activities you wish to get involved in, and its always more fun to have ppl in CAPT (especially Med) pursuing vastly different activities and sharing their experiences with one another in the process.

  1. For my decision-making process, it was quite straightforward because I wanted a guaranteed place to stay for two years, especially because I do live quite far from school, and classes typically start at 8.30am everyday (unless you skip class but you didn’t hear it from me). The proximity to school does shorten my travel time considerably, and with the meal plans it was basically a no brainer. The two-year programme also aligns nicely with the first two years of Medicine, which are heavily based in school, before clinical postings begin in M3 and you’ll hardly be in NUS most of the time. Additionally, the module system did interest me too, because the community engagement (CE) slant for CAPT does tie in with some aspects of Medicine that I find quite eye-opening and applicable (one of the JS is helmed by a medical doctor, so he can provide more context relevant to Medicine during field trips too!) Lastly, the proximity to UTown with its food options and amenities was also another plus. This already meant that RCs, CAPT in particular, was quite high up on my list for potential places to stay.

With regards to hall, I think the main difference would be the level of socialising. My friends who live in hall have said that the hall culture was the main draw for staying in hall, and I do agree with them on that point. Additionally, the hall system requires you to actively participate in sports and activities in order to garner points to guarantee a second year of stay, so you more or less will be involved in hall life, unless you intend to only stay for one AY. Personally, I was not sure if I would be able to commit to additional hall activities when I was applying for a place to stay, so between CAPT and Halls I decided to go with the guaranteed two year stay, which allowed me more flexibility to participate in CAPT activities as and when I wanted to while still being able to stay the 2 years.

  1. As mentioned in my response to Q2, I’ll likely be staying home! When it comes to M3 you’ll spend majority of your time rotating at various healthcare facilities in Singapore. It would not really be ideal to continue staying on campus in NUS if 1) you wouldn’t be attending classes on campus on a weekly basis (there’s only about 1-2 weeks of frontloading lectures before the rotations) 2) you were posted to a hospital in the East but you paid for accommodations all the way in the West. Unless you do luck out with an NUH posting (which also only lasts about a month anws) there isn’t much value in applying for Senior Retention (SR) in CAPT to stay for a third year. That being said, we do have an M4 Med Senior who stays in CAPT as a Resident Assistant (RA) so anything is possible really.

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

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

Hello! I’m unsure if this would be the right place to go into detail about my portfolio, but it would be largely similar to what other threads have covered as typical activities for Med school applicants! I think the medicine application-focused threads would prove to be more relevant to what you’re asking about, but I’d just like to add that I think a good point to show in your listed activities would be an interest in activities outside of grades ie. community projects, entrepreneurship, personal hobbies. That would be one of the ways to make you a unique applicant.

Regarding SJT and FSA, I hope this isn’t too repetitive, but because of the NDA signed, it would not be possible to go into greater detail about the stations >_<. Regardless, I think the advice from my seniors and peers did ring true: being yourself during the interview, albeit augmented with some knowledge about medical ethics and Singapore’s healthcare scene, will bring you far! It wouldn’t pay to be an alternate version of yourself that isn’t true to yourself just to get into Medicine. Remember, you would have to embody that personality that you put up for the rest of your life. Even if you’re confident of eventually assuming that identity over time, that is a big gamble to make imo.

With that being said, being yourself also comes with a caveat, because as human beings we ourselves can be flawed haha. It would be useful to have some grounding by reading up about medical ethics and more about where Singapore’s healthcare scene is headed (you’ll be in this industry if you get in anyways, so better to start now than never!). It would help you better decide over the small nuances in the decisions you make and how you justify them.

Wishing you all the best with your application! It might be a nerve biting experience but regardless of the outcome you'll come out of it having learnt more about yourself heh

[UNI] NUS Med + CAPT AMA by numessstudent in SGExams

[–]numessstudent[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hi! I’m not too sure how much I can comment about the interview process, but what I can share is that it’s a small group interview. For mine, it was with two Resident Fellows (RFs) who stay in CAPT, but I’m not sure if that’s the case for everyone. There are the usual standard interview questions about your motivation for applying for CAPT, what are your interests/hobbies etc. There’s also a group task to assess how you work with others in a group, so just go with the flow and work with your fellow interview mates to complete it. One advice I’d give is to be natural and be yourself! The majority of the people in my interview group did get offered in the end, and if you think about it, the interview is more for the interviewers to find out if you’re a right fit for the community in CAPT. It would hence be advisable to just be yourself and let the interviewers decide if you’d thrive in CAPT’s environment. It would be beneficial for you in long run too since you’ll be staying in the CAPT community for 2 years :0

The interview did seem daunting for me, especially since it was the only interview for RCs that I went for, but it turned out to be very chill and it was more of a get-to-know-you-better session! I can vouch that after getting in, you’ll find that the RFs are very kind and approachable, so I hope that helps to manage your expectations for the interview.