- Hi, my name is Tomasz Merta, I'm from Poland.
I'm a first year medical student at Duke NUS Medical School,
which is the only graduate entry
medical school in Singapore.
(mid-tempo music)
So today is quite special.
The school organized a breakfast for us,
and everyone can come and have some donuts and coffee.
(mid-tempo music)
I got my undergrad degree in neuroscience
at NY Shanghai in China.
Initially, I had planned to study in the States,
but as I was applying to colleges,
I came across New York University,
and I found out they're opening a new campus in Shanghai.
To me, it sounded like something exciting, something new.
So I decided to apply, and I got in.
Also later on, I was able to study abroad
in New York for one year as a part of NYU's Global Network,
so eventually, I was able to fulfill
my initial dream as well.
Back in primary and middle school,
my original goal was actually to become a soccer player.
Then I decided I'd like to do something
related to science, because I liked science.
Also something where I could use my skills and knowledge
to directly affect people's lives.
So medicine could fulfill both of these requirements.
The student body at Duke NUS is amazingly diverse.
In my batch only, we have
former engineers, nurses,
and even bankers or lawyers.
So you can come across many different personalities,
which is really exciting.
And I think it's one of the biggest advantages
of graduate entry medicine.
Also, all the students in the school
are divided into so-called colleges,
which basically serves the same purpose as houses
in Hogwarts from Harry Potter.
We also have our cold rooms, where we can connect
with our seniors and with our college masters,
which are usually faculty that serve as our mentors.
And because the college sizes are
smaller than a whole class, then we can establish a more
intimate relationship with them, and come to them
with any troubles or, either academic or personal,
anytime you want to.
This is the basketball court right outside our school.
We usually come here during lunch or right after school
to relax and play some basketball, or soccer or frisbee.
One of my most memorable moments so far at Duke NUS
is the fundamentals of clinical practice course,
which happens once a week.
And that is basically to prepare us
to see the patients later in our life.
So we start by interviewing standardized patients,
so people who are actually actors,
but we are supposed to act as if we're already doctors.
Then we also get to see real patients,
so we're actually thrown into the situation where
we actually, we already have to act as doctors,
which was a bit terrifying at first,
but then I got ritually got to enjoy it a lot.
Another part of the course is the physical examination,
which is just examination of different body systems,
learning how to use a stethoscope, et cetera.
At first, we practiced it on ourselves with our classmates,
which was a lot of fun.
And now, we also moved on to actually
examining real patients.
From an international student's perspective,
I think it is most important to show the
admissions cannady why you want to pursue medicine
specifically in Singapore, as it's not an obvious choice.
Even for me, having lived in Shanghai for four years
and coming to Singapore, I found it distinctly different
and so, I think it'll be best if you can come here
first and experience it firsthand.
You could come for a summer pre-health experiential program
that I took participation in, as well.
I would encourage everyone not to try to
fit a perfect profile, a perfect applicant profile,
but rather, follow your own interests.
And after all, you would like to be admitted
and evaluated for the person you truly are,
rather than someone you're pretending to be.
So
in short, just be genuine and trust the admissions cannady.
(gentle music)