Dental student. First semester. Mahsa University

Well, I thought maybe some STPM or A Level or foundation or any of it's equivalent students are still wondering what is it like to be a dental student, especially a dental student here in Malaysia's IPTS(Mahsa University). First of all, I might as well introduce my dental faculty. Right now, our faculty is located at Pusat Bandar Damansar(PBD) but we are going to move to Saujana Putra soon. Here, most of the dental lecturers are from other countries but nevertheless, qualified lecturers.

In my first semester, I have to take 4 subjects; Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry and Dental Anatomy but there are also other dental subjects such as Dental Public Health and Prosthodontics that were taught during our first year because the subjects are too broad to be covered in just one year.

The lectures are given quite as expected, almost similar to A level only with more students but the most significant difference is the amount of histo labs(anatomy and dental anatomy) and also all the exciting(except prostho) labs. I have done some wax carving classes(I'm an artisan! lol), some simulation lab for conservatives and impression making for prosthetics(not fun). Oh! Did I mention that I'm an artist too? (LOL) I've been drawing and colouring all those histo slides like there's no tomorrow.(Ok, a bit exeggeration there) For the medical part, physiology is the most exciting with ECG and blood pressure practicals. Anatomy as expected, lots of remembering weird names.

A tooth out of wax!

Draw and draw and draw and draw.

And after all these fun, of course, my sem one examination. Wish me luck!
Till then. :)

2015. A new year. A new life.

It might have been a little bit too late to update a post about the new year but as an analyst myself, 1/1/2015 is not that significant anymore. Saying so as I started my dental student life hmmm 4, no, 5 months ago, here in Mahsa University. Yep, proud to be a Mahsa student. :D

Honestly, this semester(yeah, semester not block like the medical students) has been too fast. It's near to the final semester examination. Fuhhh. Time does fly. I should start my readings now. Wouldn't want to lose my scholarship don't I?

Till then, Assalamualaikum.

The other half

Not so long ago, I posted my Track showing my rejected applications.

 

If you wonder,(I don't know why should you but whatever) this is how my other half of Track looks like. Let me tell you a little secret of mine; (I'm kind of tempted to just accept these offers and they are still open for me to accept them).

Now, why did I put biochemistry as my third and fourth choice? Your guess?? That's right! Because biochemistry have biology and chemistry in one single word. Two of my all-time favourite subjects in a course. Besides, at that time, doing experiments and understanding organic compound to the molecular level sounds exciting(for me, at least) but during that time and now, almost a year later, I've changed my mind and next my 1.5 best option. Dentistry!!

That's all for this post.
Till then, Assalamualaikum.

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...

My applications; REJECTED

You know it's a humbling process when you don't even get an interview and rejected.
It might be because of my not so-high-UKCAT score when compared to others or maybe it's because of my not so touching personal statement. Whichever it might be, I don't have any regrets. I chose A Level and now, I can continue my studies locally and I can say I've tried my best but there are others who are better than me to fill in those such competitive spots.

I got lots and lots of precious new experiences that have help shaped a more mature me.
I  have realized that my parents are awesome and they'll support me no matter what.
My aunts and uncles are also super cool, giving me advice and words of motivation.

For all those bursary students who have applied and going to apply for the critical courses according to the list provided by JPA, know this. You guys are awesome because you have the courage to try. Even if you(me) fail, it's never the end of the world. Maybe going overseas is not good for you and we have to try and work harder and make those who rejected us pay for it. MUAHAHA.

Right now, I'm working on my applications to local universities. I got an offer from MAHSA for BDS but unfortunately because I kinda didn't understand what a provisional offer is and waited for the early April to ask about the offer during their open day, they told me that all the places are full and the offer is withdrawn WTH! So, today I'm waiting whether I will be called for USM interview or not. If not, well... I guess I'll go for my second choice.(Medic)

p/s: don't ask me why there are only 3 choices for dentistry there when I can apply to four. And if you want to ask anything or share something. Feel free to email me :) mierashida@yahoo.com.my

Till then, Assalamualaikum.

KPM Bursary holder I am.

'For this year(2012), all SPM leavers that get 9A+ and above will automatically get Bursary by the government through KPM'

That's an awfully good news. But the downside of it is that there are no more JPA scholarship for SPM leavers, EXCEPT for engineering(I want to be a dentist, if you're curious).

Well, I am NOT saying that studying in public university is anything worse but the mentality of studying overseas for degree has been carved, painted, screwed, pasted in my childish mind from (I think) kindergarten so when there is an opportunity laying in front of me, NO way I'm going to lose it. Although that means I have to give up my offered place in AsasiPintar, UKM (my dream foundation programme for public university).

So, here I am in INTI International University taking 18 months CIE A level programme with subject combination of Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths. I purposely take the 18 months programme because, hey we will never know what will happen in the future so the faster the better.

Someone wise(not really) told me before A level is really just studying past years papers. Well, I kinda half agree with that. Just finished my AS (except for paper 1) and yes, past years do help (A LOT) but as my lecturers always said those CIE people are creative in preparing question(hell yes!) you still need to be aware of the techniques and some other secret ingredients to answer the questions.

About the bursary programme, we the lab-rat batch aka the 'pioneer batch' there are still lots of things that are not clear especially about the degree programme's scholarship by JPA and some other small(medium if i can say) things such as the IELTS fees, university application fees, and the list of universities provided by JPA(ridiculous list, I say).

Nonetheless, I am truly grateful for the Bursary as going to private universities only comes in my dreams but it is now my reality and I will have to struggle(insyaa Allah), for the upcoming degree programme, the same as my other colleagues  in the pre-university programme.

Till then, Assalamualaikum. :)