Medical student interviews at NUMed and Perdana University

I'm writing this post so that it might help future interviewees facing their interviews and because those universities never asked me to not do so. So, cheers!

If you're reading this post now, my best guess would be that you're going to be interviewed for a place as a medical student in one of the universities. So, all the best and I hope you'll get a spot there.

Now, for the interview process. First I was 'invited' for an interview at NUMed, Johor. I lived in Negeri Sembilan so the journey wasn't that long. It took us (my parents and I) about 2.5 hours to get there. The first impression for the Iskandar Malaysia was... hmmm.... quite disappointed. The area near the university was still under major constructions so all that I could see was lorries, half-finished buildings and lots of empty space but, BUT, Legoland was just 5-minute-drive so all was forgiven.

Arrived there at 10.30am (an hour early, pffttt) and waited(alone)at the reception area I guess. My parents waited for me at their cafeteria which I forgot to visit after the interview. They have an interview for every half an hour so before me, there was another interviewee. We didn't really speak because it's not long before he was called into the room(at a blocked area so I can't see the room). While waiting and staring and waiting for my turn, there was this lady, she went to the other side of the area and start yelling "Why is this not signed!!?? blah blah yadayada" . Can you imagine what's crossing on my mind that time. I was like all nervous, did she just yelled at the boy who've gone first, what did he do, and all sorts of questions. I didn't know what it's all about then and I still haven't got a clue now. Not long after that, that boy or guy(this is weird) came out of the room, smiling. Fuhhhh. I guess it's not him that were yelled at.

Then, I was called for the interview. There was a male lecturer and the admission officer. There were common questions asked like introduce yourself, why medic, hobby, etc. Then they start asking about what do you know about NUMed(thank god I read about them last night) and I said that their syllabus was quite interesting because they did not separate the clinical and pre-clinical phase but integrated both during all 5 years of studies. Then they asked "Why is that interesting?". I'm not writing my answer here, so start thinking! :) Then the must-have questions; ethical questions. If my memory serves me right, one of the questions was about an elderly man who had stage-4 cancer and based on past cases, he would have approximately 2 weeks to live. His family were waiting outside but the old man asked you (me) to keep it secret. Leaving his room, his son/daughter (can't remember) asked about his father's illness. What would you do? HINT: Read about doctor-patient confidentiality ethic. After a few follow up questions, they stopped and asked if I have any questions to ask. Usually I won't have any question but for NUMed, I wanted to know about their student support services. Then I was dismissed.

The interview was more like a relaxed conversation rather than just questions being thrown in your face. The interviewer was even making jokes, so relax and just do some digging about medicine which I suppose you've already done that when you made the decision to be a medical doctor.

And... for Perdana University, it would be in another post because this one is has been far too long of an essay.

To be continued...