What To Do For Your Medical School Application After A-Levels?

Now that you have your A-Level scores and the A’s in H2’s, its time to work on the remaining bit of the application. You will need the following:

1. Personal Statement
2. Referee details (2)
3. List of Achievements (Past 2-3 years, academic and non-academic)
4. Official Testimonial (NUS only, make sure you have it collected from the school)
5. BMAT score (Nov 2020 sitting, NTU only)

Once you have all the above collated, you will need to submit your application by mid March to be considered for application, but the earlier the better.

The most daunting of the above is the Personal Statement. To summarize your motivation (with proof), prior experiences showcasing empathy and leadership, among other qualities in just a few hundred words requires time, effort, and a certain level of finesse. Be sure to pick a few relevant experiences – quality matters more over quantity here.

So, what are the best medical programmes in Singapore?

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Proclaimed the best medical school in Asia in 2017, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine offers students an active, collaborative and engaging curriculum with top-notch practical and theoretical experiences

• Grades: AAA in A Levels or 42+ in the IB.
• Standardized Testing: None
• Focused Skills Assessment, FSA (End of March/April):

This is a series of stations, each examining a specific characteristic of the candidate. The station can be a mini-interview or performance of a focused task. Each station is standardised. Examiners at each station are faculty members, doctors, allied health professionals, and medical alumni. All examiners are carefully selected and trained before the selection exercise. The assessment will be conducted over 60 minutes.

• Situational Judgement Test, SJT (End of March/April):

The SJT is a 60-minute pen-and-paper MCQ test designed to assess judgement in medicine-relevant situations. All students who have been shortlisted for NUS Medicine must sit for the SJT.

• Recommendations: 2 referee reports
• Personal Statement: 500 words

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Singapore’s second medical school, NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine prides itself with its partnership with Imperial College London. Having been officially established in 2017, the NTU School of Medicine offers an innovative curriculum with plentiful practical and professional opportunities

• Grades: AAA in A Levels or 42+ in the IB.
• Standardized Testing: BMAT
• Multiple Mini Interview (April):

Candidates will undergo several one-to-one interviews with different interviewers, designed to assess a candidate’s aptitude and suitability for the MBBS programme. Applicants invited for the selection interviews will complete a series of eight mini interviews, each lasting approximately five minutes, conducted consecutively in eight separate interview rooms.

• Recommendations: 2 referee reports
• Personal Statement: 300 words