#whynusdentistry
How I got into NUS Dentistry [1/3]
(Disclaimer: This is my story of how I got into dentistry. It is not representative of NUS or NUS Dentistry in any way. I am simply elaborating my experiences and this will not guarantee your entrance into the course.)
(Disclaimer: This is my story of how I got into dentistry. It is not representative of NUS or NUS Dentistry in any way. I am simply elaborating my experiences and this will not guarantee your entrance into the course.)
I promised myself that if I ever got into Dentistry, I would do my best to help others as well. 2 years have passed and I have been helping friends with their Dentistry applications. Although not everyone made it in, I decided to create this series of posts to help many more.
This will be a 3-part series some of my general tips on how to enter Dentistry.
- Why I chose Dentistry (the whys and why nots)
- Manual Dexterity Test (MDT)
- Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)
[1/3] #whydentistry
In JC, I was your average student and had no idea of what I wanted to do in life. My only focus was to do well for A levels first, then explore my options later. Consequently, I did not do any internships or clinical attachments before university. I am very thankful to have done well enough for my exams and to have entered this course.
The main reason I chose Dentistry can be summarised by ‘relationships’. I wanted to be able to build deep relationships with the people (patients, colleagues, etc) I work with and to have time for family and friends.
Dentistry has a small cohort. I like being part of a close knit community — attending classes with the same people, and getting to know everyone personally. I also like that the course has a greater hands-on aspect.
However, it’s not an easy course; every day is a full day of lessons and it requires a lot of discipline to juggle school with other commitments. It can also be quite draining at times, especially since failure is common, and the difficulty increases with every school year.
Picking Dental School also means that the things you look forward to in University — wearing your most comfortable outfit (think singlet, shorts and slippers) to school and going on those long overseas exchanges, are never going to happen.
Personally, I’d like to think all these will be worth it and pays off in the long run, and this keeps me going everyday.
These are just my humble thoughts for now, but do share this with anyone who may need an insider’s perspective (albeit early since I’ve only recently embarked on my dental school journey) to help them in making their big decision.
Originally published at https://bobbatov.com on April 24, 2019.
