Dear all,
In light of the recent content here, I want to add a few points for those who are applying to Duke-NUS to assist prospective students and their parents/family in making an educated decision when it comes to Duke-NUS.
Every medical school has its share of problems and simultaneously, every medical school has appealing features. Whether or not you choose to apply to and then study at Duke-NUS (or any other medical school for the matter) is a life-changing decision. Life-changing decisions like these require extensive thought process and critical judgment. Doing your due research for information on the school is the first and most important step in that direction. Your information should arise from varied sources- be it forums, the school website or word-of-mouth. Remember that your information also should not be limited to a single perspective; consider alternative narratives and weigh them against one another. When you come to appraising the quality of your information, you would then assess its source, look at whether it makes sense and corroborate it with other sources. Failure to do the above steps in gathering and assessing high-quality information can lead to a lapse in judgement and a bad decision made.
I hope you will agree with me that there is no better way to get accurate, personal and honest information other than from the horse’s mouth. Thus, here are some ways to increase the quality of information you get on Duke-NUS:
- Talk to the students. If you are in Singapore, drop by the campus on a weekday afternoon and chances are you’ll see students at the level 2 and level 3 library area. Talk to a number and variety of students of course. Also, you should clarify doubts or hearsay about the school with them too. If you are based overseas, touch base online with students (I think there’s a page on the Duke-NUS website which lists the email addresses of some students for the purpose of answering queries)
- Attend the open houses (as with all open houses, you will largely hear the positive narrative so do be aware of that limitation).
- Make clarifications with those people who posted complaints on this forum. They bring their side of the story which is important for your consideration as well.
This list is not exhaustive (there are only 3 points, mind you), but I hope you see that there are ways for you to get proper information. In the end, you hold the scales up and tally the scores. You may eventually decide to apply, or decide against it. It does not matter to me. It matters to me that you have arrived at that decision by condemning ignorance with investigation.
Additionally, on the topic of these kinds of forums. Online forums are useful for you to get a quick appraisal on the subject matter and pick out any red flags. However there are certain caveats I hope you are cognizant of. Some themes/elements of open forums in general are: anonymity, second/third- hand information, extreme perspectives, reporting bias, and the presence of trolls, hate-mongers, multiple account holders, etc. Taken together, these factors decrease the fidelity of the information you obtain and impair good decision making. Therefore, forums are by no means the one stop portal for wisdom.
To draw an example, you may have heard from a friend or read somewhere that Singapore hangs people publicly for petty offences, and vow never to step foot in this lush tropical country. Fair enough. Yet if you came, sat at a local hawker centre and asked ANY Singaporean about the so called weekly public hangings for trivial offences, you will likely hear, “Siao ah?! Where you hear got such thing one?” (Meaning “are you crazy?! What is your source, and I fervently question its fidelity!”). You may then find peace and decide to enjoy this food paradise of a country with relish. I hope you see the logic of this analogy; that obtaining primary, accurate and representative data eradicates misconceptions, and hence bad decisions.
Finally, the jousting may certainly continue, but I sincerely hope those who truly seek to make an informed decision will get there eventually. But then again, I’m yet another anonymous forum dweller. Do what resonates best with your logic and values. May peace be with you all.
P.S: To the rest of the students who used to post here to discuss their application status/ interview dates, I implore you to continue regular communication here; don’t be deterred by the high volume of back and forth in this thread, if you are/were.
