howdy people,

ailin totally pin-pointed the biggest uncertainty that I'm also facing. Not doing a professional degree simply scares the hell out of me but there are times when I think what the heck, I should just go to SMU and do a double degree. However, the point is it's now still way too early to make up your mind or come to any decision until you actually receive all the different offers. Somehow life has an odd way of helping you narrow down your options by not letting you choose in the end as i'm starting to experience. Till then, i say go for all the interviews and tests and like your life depends on them. Prepare thoroughly and always wear that earnest look even if you really don't give a damn. Options are always good.

I guess we should try not to worry too much about knowing what to do with life. Have a rough idea but not a detailed plan cos something WILL definitely come and screw your whole plan up. A song by Bas Leurman goes " the most interesting people do not know what to do with their life even when they're 40"

On a sidenote, OCS is starting to get really xiong. I'm now having to dodge bullets everyday with so many extras flying overhead. Must try hard not to become ugly and selfish under such trying circumstances. 8 months to one bar.....8 months to one bar....8 months to one bar....8 months to one bar....

Sentosa on the Vesak weekend would be excellent.

Till then,
Relac jack and chill jill

Anthon

hey ailin.. i know how it sounds so great to be able to say that you're some professional.. tbut ultimately it doesn't matter what you're doing. so long as you're like one of the best at it. and of course, closin g the other doors behind you and wondering whether you did the right thing. you've just got to push on.

the holiday's been pretty long. though i've been schooling. and it kinda dawned on me that it's ending, even for me. there's just 2 months and a bit left of my course. and soon all of us, on the brink of a new life, will be writing a new chapter of our life's story.
sounds cheem right? that's only the case if we end up with some spectacular colourful start. i happened to chance upon the blog of this ex- st Nix girl. and her blog is full of pictures of clothes. she's doing some shipping and sale mini-business online. to buy and sell clothes. she's like our age, studying at the university of nevada in viva las vegas.
and it got me seriously thinking.. what am i doing?

yeah that's about all i have to say. whcih isn't much.
Man U lost to Chelsea! ahhh! why? and rooney's injured... how? what's England gonna do for World Cup with Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney both injured.. me is sad..

hey ailin, dun fret!! You are not the only one... I have no idea what I wanna do with my future either.. and I believe that's the case for a lot of people too. After all, we are only 18 and the Singapore education system exposed us to so little experiences. So how can we really determine what is the thing for us? And given how indecisive I am, it's already a miracle that I know what I want to study at uni! Okie.. I don't really know since I'm still keeping my options open for fass but hey! At least I know that fass is the only thing for me k! Tt's an achievement wo! wahaha! but still, not knowing exactly what i want to do is probably why i keep getting shot down at interviews lar.. =S

Anyway, I don't think uncertainty at this stage of our lives is necessarily bad because after all, isn't university supposed to be a stage for you to explore your options, challenge yourself and to find your true passion? I think it is better to make an informed choice than to narrow down on one sole option when you are ignorant of the boundless possiblities available. Moreover, 4 years in uni is a long time and who knows what might happen during these 4 years. I know of so many seniors who actually don't like what they are studying after they really got down to studying it. which is just sad...

As for courses of study, I personally think that it is most important to follow your heart. Actually, I struggled with the decision to study social science for a long time. Social science, being so general, can hardly assure me of employment in future. A psychology basic degree can hardly get me anywhere and till now, i still don't really know what i can do with an econs degree. I think saying that a general degree means that you can be employed anywhere is just optimistic. coz what it also means is that you might not be employed anywhere since you r not a professional. yar.. n seeing how so many people are doing medicine and how my family members keep telling me to consider medicine, i did wonder if i should go into medicine. or some other prof degree like accountancy. but it just happened that my colleague sent an e-mail to the school with an article about following your heart. Reading that article kinda enlightened me coz i realize that what is important is to follow your heart. Although we may not know clearly now why we favour some courses over others, i believe that subconsciously we do know why and that the reason just needs some time to surface. And like my Christian aunt who encouraged me to just do what I like, God have plans for us.

Dun fret! =)

hey everyone... how's life? guess this is the week for all the nus interviews yeah... the question i have will most probably strike a cord with only a very small minority of people who are reading this blog...

It all started wif me having to complete a portion of the application form which requires me to provide my "reasons for wanting to read Law". Okay, so Law is almost a professional degree, and for those of you pursuing a professional degree eg medicine, dentistry, accountancy etc, i guess you all know what you want to do with a significant portion of the rest of your life. Me? heh the reason why i ended up wif a Law interview is cause i applied for a Law and Econs double, and obviously we all know which one i'm truly interested in. okay i am prepared to be shot down by all the lawyer wannabes, cause frankly, i don't even know what i would do with a Law degree, if i make it through. Yes, being a kiasu singaporean and being urged on by kiasu singaporean parents, i will turn up for the interview and then we'll see how things go from there...

anywayz, wat i'm more concern about is that i have no SPECIFIC idea what i can do wif a degree in econs. okay yeah so a degree in econs is general, which means i can enter so many many professions, but i cannot say wif confidence, i'm going to be a doctor/dentist/accountant/lawyer etc etc... and this totally irks me!! guess i've been avoiding this question for a very long time, trying to bluff myself that i know what i want to do wif my future... having said that, heh i think i will continue bluffing myself for the next few years, mabbe even until i graduate...

this bout of uncertainty has even spread to me wondering why on earth i am doing econs. am i doing it because i really like it or because it was the subject that i had the least problems wif??

i hope this long long long vacation will end soon. i noe that once school starts and once things get busy busy busy, i will stop thinking so much. staying at home everyday is bad for ur physical and mental health! heh thanks for reading, and dun worry, i am alright! just needed to let off some steam.

take care everybody :)

Hey everyone...it's been quite some time since i blogged here so i shall take some time to do so now!

Anyway, i'm sure everyone is busy with university applications...tests...interviews as well as that for scholarships as well. It's been quite a hectic week for me as well...haha and a very problematic one as well! I'm sure the other NS guys know how rigid those regulars are, and they never really understand the importance of such uni and scholarship stuff...one guy in my course had to give up one of his scholarships cos " he got too many appointments" and must "make a decision now rather than after the application results!". It's so unbelievable...not as if our future career would be with the army or sthg...haha as for me, got lotsa rescheduling to do cos there are only certain days where they let you book out for stuff, and the fact that the psc and med interview( after rescheduling) falls on the same day is a real headache!ahh! Sometimes i really wonder why people do not work on saturdays, but of course if you ask me, i would rather book out on friday so...can understand lah.

Yupz regarding xiaoyan's post...i just recieved a letter from NTU stating that i'm accepted for the biomed science/TCM double degree. Quite happy lah, cos the intake is supposed to be 60 this yr...but it suddenly occured to me that, this "backup" of mine might not be what i really wanna do. I can picture myself as a doctor...but not a sinseh, and the fact that the annual intake is so little makes me feel so selfish...like im hogging a place which i might not accept in the end...well hopefully nus med accepts me!Saves me a lot of decision making...haha...btw anyone knows what the essay test tml will be like??

Oh glad to hear that Sentosa is already planned!Though hopefully this time round...it won't be like the last time we went!It was totally dreadful...probably the worst sentosa outing or sthg...haha some people even wanted it to be the final sentosa outing foreva...but certainly hope to cyall soon! =)

heyy people.

i'm certainly not in the position to be commenting since who knows how many times i have derailed in the course of my life.
but for those thinking of going for medicine, whether those who have made it or not.

just think really hard over the decision. we all know that the medicine drop-out rate is pretty high. and it's a lot of study and effort and time to be put in.
so sometimes, when you're a little lost and you're not seeing things too clearly, it'd be better to take a step back and to think it over.

maybe it's just a tad late. maybe we may think that we are too far in to turn back. but better now than later.
and also. once you're in for whatever course that you're up for. there's really no turning back.
life's got no space for regrets.

:)

okay, for this year's med admission, if you only have 2As, any gp grade below A1 will not give you a place on the shortlist.

in other words, yes, i'm not shortlisted.

that said, congratulations to those who made the shortlist! all the best for the personal statement, essay and interviews!




and if you feel like it... you might wish me luck with my appeal to nus for shortlisting, and failing that, a LOT of luck for my applications to monash, uwa and adelaide uni in australia. because this is most certainly not the end of the road for my dream.

i will be a doctor.

hey,

jus like to say kudos to lileng and ailin for organising the badminton session, it was great fun and really helped to break the monotony of life.... hope u ppl enjoyed it too or at least improved... haa
anyway, big thanks

till next time...

anthon

it's really amazing. the past 3 posts have been about NUS medicine related stuff. and like ger, i'm blogging here before update my own blog. i applied for medicine too at NUS and i haven't received anything too. so i guess we're all worrying a little prematurely.

about medicine in australia. we're kinda disadvantaged. coz they take more subjects than we do and they don't really have a system to equate our A level scores against their system. what i heard from my friend is every A gives you a few points and every B less points etc. different courses have different specs, ie. accounting needs 8 points for instance. so like in my case, severely disadvantaged since i take 3 subs.
and they apparently take in really few international students. so yeah.

a little update on life in SH. my mid-term exams are in a week's time. it's pretty sucky coz we just had a school field trip to one of 4 destinations. it ain't compulsary but i still participated nonetheless. i went to zhengzhou kaifeng and luoyang in Henan province. went to shaolin temple! those young kids have got six-pack! and all sorts of muscles that i probably didn't think existed.
and since i came back to singapore for a while and i'll be taking another 4-day holiday this week, i've officially missed so many lessons. me think about 30-40% of all school days. i'm quite quite behind in class now. *help*

okay that's all for now.

i'm updating this even before i update my own blog! =( my modem spluttered and died after one thunderstorm which resulted in the power at home tripping twice. zzzzz

anyway, has ANYONE who applied for medicine at nus received ANYTHING from them? this is getting slightly disturbing. (at least, to me) i for one havent got anything, and the paranoid me is starting to wonder if everyone else got and is keeping mum, or its for real; no one has received anything. the deadline for submission of portfolio is drawing closer! what is going on?!

actually i might have an idea. (but i added that for dramatic effect) acc to one of my colleagues who knows someone who knows nus med pple, all emails will be sent in may, and those which require interviews will be sent an email in late april. BUT BUT BUT doesnt it sound strange? as in, the letter of admission itself (to whichever faculty) will be sent in may, and most other faculties which normally dont have interviews will only send out letters notifying applicants of interviews if they are borderline cases in late april. if things are as what she said, then it seems as though med admission this year is based solely on a level results (erp!) and little else, isnt it? which shouldnt and isnt the case............. right?

argh the suspense is killing me. =( we can have a 71 network or something, the first person who receives any news abt med applications (interview, admission itself blah blah blah) can msg the rest, tag or blog! at least the rest of us will know if we're screwed or all's in the same boat...

anyway since huilin mentioned abt med applications overseas, i can add my 2 cents worth here. i applied to monash and uwa in australia (mbbs) and for anyone who's interested in doing the same, HURRY UP because you have to sit for the ISAT = international students admissions test and if i'm not wrong there's only one test date left for this year. i didnt bother to apply for unsw since they wont even give 2 hoots about my application as i dont have 3As but for those who are interested, it requires a different admission test, the UMAT (i have no idea what that is like). i might send in another application to university of adelaide (which requires another test, PQA = personal qualities assessment or something like that) if i get outright rejected by nus =(

studying med in australia requires abt S$6000 a month (i was told this is a comfortable estimate, taking into acct inflation, and assuming no currency crisis)

i know nuts abt uk or us since i cant really afford to go to aust already, let alone the 2 countries.

haiz.

haha! In view of the large numbers of aspiring doctors that we have in this class, i have decided to officially announce our class blog as the information exchange centre on all matters related to NUS medicine or medicine elsewhere. =p

The first matter on the agenda shall be the shortlisting of NUS medicine candidates! ookies.. everyone, pls be forthcoming... if you have been shortlisted to prepare for your portfolio, pls be courageous and post the news here. Though it will definitely depress some ppl who didn't get it (I hope not!!!), at least other aspiring doctors do not have to be kept in suspense! Maybe someone might want to call up NUS to check? so that you don't die of worry guessing the outcome... =S

Yupz! And another thing to aspiring doctors... Take heart! If you make it, jia you all the way! I'm looking to you for subsidized health care when I grow old and frail. If you didn't, don't be too devastated (yar.. i know.. shuo de rong yi >.<)... At least you know that you have given it a shot and that NUS medicine don't always choose the right ppl anyway.. So they might be missing this big talent that's you! =) N there are other options too....

Neway, so far junjia and suan seem interested in the india trip... any other takers? I don't think i can go le... my mom is like how insistent in not letting me go =(

Just to inject some life here. Haha.

I'm out for the night! I have to be back in camp in another 2 hours though. Haha.
But seriously, any form of freedom, no matter how short it is... matters alot. =p

To all those working... and at the few in the big green organisation... Hang in there!
Its a wonderfully short week, and guess what? Its already half over! Hoho!
Very soon, it'll be thursday night, and all of us would be at the start of a long weekend...

Hope to see you all on Friday.
I haven't really decided if I'm going honestly. But even if I go, I wouldn't be playing. Haha. (Lazy me.)
But yeah, maybe I'll just meet up with you all and stuff.

Sidenote: Like Geraldine, I'm quite worried and annoyed at NUS for not sending us the med short listings... so so long already. Anyway, anyone with news of when it will arrive, just tell me too kae? Then I can like check and see if I really got chance to get in or not. (And go one living life a bit more wholly and peacefully, and of course, be able to plan the next step. Haha.)

Seeya soon then! Have a great remaining two days of the week!

heyy huilin! i want to go! haha.
but that doesn't count of course.

ooei people. please amuse me.

Heyhey! Wondering if you all might be interested in this! ok.. at least the girls la.. since our guys will be diligently serving NS to protect us... wahaha! This project is jointly organized by the NUS Humanitarian Affairs club and the United Nations. Details of the proj are as follow:

Objective: To teach the students how to run a local library + teach them on AIDS awareness.
Date/Time: 1st week of June. 7-10 days
Venue: Bangalore, India
Price: $800- $850 (including transport, airfare n accomodation)... but actually my senior said tt this is a v safe estimate.. the actual price should be closer to $600...
Agenda: AIDS awareness through the usage of IT wares and building of computer labs for Kollegal village school.
Contact person: e-mail queries to nusha@nus.edu.sg or Janice at u0500714@nus.edu.sg (98229339) or Sangeetha at u0503952@nus.edu.sg (92741079).

The confirmation deadline is 15 April (next Saturday). It's coming real soon lar!! I'm quite interested in gg for this leh.. but will have to overcome my mommy tt round... =( Anyone else interested? Hehe! If a classmate is going, her presence can lend some weight for me to persuade my mommy to let me go... hee!

Get back to me soon k? =)

yeah jie-meis outing was nice! even though i didn't eat dinner with you guys. it still felt good to catch up and chat about all sorts of weird stuff. shall not forget how incredulous i felt after gilyn raised her ermm..interesting questions.

gonna miss seeing you guys!