Current Uni: University of New South Wales, Sydney
Current Major: Medicine
Current year in Uni: 2nd Year
CCAs or similar: Singapore Medical Society of Australia and New Zealand (SMSANZ)
Other details (minors / accommodation): No minors, Off-Campus Accommodation
Telegram: @farisahhls
Background
Give a brief background about yourself and what you did in TJC!
I was an IP student in TJC, and during my JC years I was in CG 22/19 and took H2 BCME. My CCA was Students’ Council.
CG22/19
Students' Council
Why did you choose to study overseas?
I really wanted to pursue medicine although I had accepted my offer for NUS Pharmacy. I had also heard of the Singapore Medical Council (SMC)-registered universities which are accredited universities that allow you to return to Singapore to work right after your final medical year for provisional or conditional registration. I was certain of coming back to Singapore after university graduation, so I decided to apply for the SMC-recognised universities.
Why Australia?
Well, I had not taken the UKCAT for UK universities hence did not apply for them. Given the limited time to make a decision, and that most medical schools are 6-year programmes, I decided on choosing to further my studies in Australia.
Why did you choose University of New South Wales, Sydney?
To be honest, it was a little bit of a late decision I made… I really wanted to do medicine. However, by the time I decided to apply for Australia’s universities, other application windows e.g Monash and UWA had closed except for UNSW which accepts students on a rolling basis. I made it for the late June application window and my grades sufficed hence I applied for UNSW Medicine.
Applications
What was the application process like?
As a student applying for an overseas university, specifically UNSW Medicine, the main tasks to complete are:
(1) Engaging an education agent - IDP, AECC etc
(2) Completing a UNSW Medicine Application Form
(3) Completing the ISAT and interview
(4) Accepting Offer!
(5) Completing the VISA application, health checkup, SPF Certificate of Clearance (COC), and getting the Overseas Student Health Cover
(6) Attending pre-departure talk to know what to expect
(7) Applying for school accommodation
(8) Attending SMSANZ Freshman Orientation Camp
(9) Booking flight tickets!
(0) Definitely do your own research beforehand!!
Before I started on anything, I did extensive research (you can complete that within a day) on the medicine course fees, accommodation fees and living expenses - they sum up to ~S$0.5 million. I also wanted to know how friendly the area I would be studying is. Definitely search up food, sightseeing attractions, and things to do! For a Muslim like me, food and the Muslim community were especially important concerns for me!
(1) Engaging an education agent - IDP, AECC etc
I engaged an IDP education agent who provided me lots of guidance from making sure my grades were sufficient to ensuring my VISA was completed well. The service was free and the agent was extremely friendly, considering my anxiety as I lacked knowledge on how to navigate the entire application process and did not want to miss any key deadlines. As far as I recall, I engaged her from June to Dec 2021.
(2) Completing a UNSW Medicine Application Form
With the help of the IDP agent, I applied for UNSW Medicine by around early July 2021. The application form included a few short-answer questions limited by number of words. Given that it’s two years ago now, I can barely recall details about the questions asked, but I think they were general questions asked in every application form you have such as motivations to study medicine etc. I paid ~S$130 for the application fee.
(3) Completing the ISAT and interview
(3.1) I had to sit for the ISAT, also known as the International Student Admissions Test. ISAT is a 3-hour online test of 100 MCQs, assessing a candidate’s skills in Critical Reasoning (50 questions) and Quantitative Reasoning (50 questions). I registered by the end of June 2021 to sit for it in mid-August 2021. For revision, I bought softcopy practice papers on Carousell. But as I recall, the papers may have been a bit outdated or the questions were not similar to the ISAT ones, but I’m not very sure so take this with a pinch of salt hahaha. Cost-wise, about S$455.
(3.2) I had my interview early September 2021. Unlike Monash and UWA’s MMI, the UNSW interview was more of a general questionnaire to find out about yourself as a person and a future medical student.
(3.3) [EXTRA ASSESSMENT IF REQUIRED] Grades are important! Your IDP agent would request for your O level and A level results. Medicine is competitive, and if your A level grades fall short of a certain benchmark (the agent would be well aware of this), you may have to take the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) as an additional test. While I attained a grade B for H1 GP, I did not have to sit for the IELTS since the rest of my grades allowed my overall grade points to meet the cut.
(4) Accepting Offer!
I received my offer in mid-September 2021. From the UNSW Medicine website, your offer to study medicine is based on 3 scores - academic rank, ISAT score, and interview score. However, the breakdown of scores is not elaborated upon. Also, I’ve mentioned earlier that students get accepted on a rolling basis. This means that while I received mine in mid-September, I’ve heard of people being accepted in October/November. Time is something to factor in as the Australian medicine curriculum is Feb-Dec, and you need time to settle administrative matters such as VISA. Hence, the earlier you apply, the better!
(5) Completing the VISA application, health checkup, SPF Certificate of Clearance (COC), and getting the Overseas Student Health Cover
Following this, settling the Student VISA is just a long, tedious administrative process involving back and forth check-ins between you and your agent. Don’t worry too much about it, your agent will guide you through, together with the biometrics appointment and SPF Certificate of Clearance (COC). Cost-wise, the VISA health check-up was S$290, biometrics appointment was S$51, and SPF COC was S$55. The Medibank Comprehensive Overseas Student Health over (OSHC) is a healthcare insurance and a compulsory requirement of your student visa; cost ~S$3300.
(6) Attending pre-departure talk to know what to expect
Do look out for pre-departure talks from your agent! These sessions allow you to get to know what the campus is like, when orientation week is, what to expect upon landing - getting a bank account, getting a number, getting to university, etc. You can clarify any doubts as well.
(7) Applying for school accommodation
Applying for school accommodation: UNSW offers a range of student accommodations from studio to shared apartments, colleges to apartments and catered to non-catered meal options. I must say though that applications can be competitive. Strictly speaking, there is a housing crisis in Australia - almost every international student and students from interstate would want to stay in school accommodations in at least their first year in UNSW. So look out for the application window, apply early (best to not leave it till the deadline), look out for emails on offers and accept right away if possible. Past the deadline of offer acceptance, reapplication may not guarantee you a spot in some of the more popular yet cheaper options. In my first year, I stayed in New College Postgraduate Village - studio apartment, ensuite bathroom and non-catered. However, from second year, I’ve moved out to an off-campus accommodation.
(7.1) Choosing between accommodations? Depends on what you’re looking for! College life in UNSW is akin to the hall life in Singapore, where there are lots of college programmes for you to engage in. Apartments are more chill, where you can get to know people in your own time and possibly not be peer pressured into joining all social activities! I would highly recommend only moving off-campus after minimally a year living on-campus as the social support is what you would really need to get through the first year!
(7.2) Move-in dates: Generally most student accommodations in UNSW have fixed contract periods spanning either 52 weeks (mid-Jan to mid-Jan) or 44/48 weeks (mid-Jan to Dec). Flexible move-in dates may depend on different types of accommodations. Mine was flexible, hence I opted to move in right before my term started.
New College Postgraduate Village
(8) Attending SMSANZ Freshman Orientation Camp
Attend the freshman orientation camp organised by Singapore Medical Society of Australia and New Zealand (SMSANZ) where you get a chance to meet medical students enrolled in different Australian and New Zealand universities and especially get to know your batchmates whom you will be meeting with soon! Bonus points for meeting your seniors whom you can consult for general academic and non-academic advice to navigate the first year of your life overseas!
SMSANZ O’Camp 2022 - O’Camp during my year was online because it was still during the Covid era, but has moved to physical camp from 2023! Fortunately, I managed to attend O’Camp together with 2 of my friends going abroad as well.
(9) Booking flight tickets!
For personal reasons, I only managed to leave Singapore right before school began. But I highly recommend reaching Sydney at least 2 weeks before to attend O’week where you get to meet your other batchmates, both international and local, and especially to explore what the campus has to offer you throughout your schooling years there!
Provide a rough timeline of key events (admissions, application for accommodations, departure / moving in)!
Disclaimer: This is the timeline according to what I experienced, but I’ve also adjusted to make the timeline a more general and applicable one to what most students would experience if you apply as early as possible.
June 2021 (or early in the year is better): Engaged IDP agent
6 Jul 2021: UNSW Medicine application form submitted and fee paid.
9 Aug 2021: Sat for ISAT
10 Sept 2021: Interview
16 Sept 2021: Received my offer
23 Sept 2021: Received my Confirmation of Enrolment (COE)
28 Sept 2021: Began Student VISA application
Nov/Dec 2021: Apply for accommodation
16 Dec 2021: Student VISA offered
Early Jan 2021: Offer of accommodation
8-9 Jan 2022: SMSANZ Freshman O’Camp
1st week of Feb 2022: Flight to Sydney cum move-in day
First Impressions
How did it feel the first week you were there?
Well… my first week there was also my first school week… The Australians were very friendly. You’d get a little surprised by how accommodating and approachable the locals are… they love to engage in lotsss of chit-chat sessions!! I felt a little bit out of place at first, because most students (out of 12-13) were locals, with 5 international students, out of which 2 were Singaporeans. I had not gotten the opportunity to know anyone beforehand yet, so it felt a little awkward speaking in your own Singaporean accent to locals whom you didn’t know understood you or not. It didn’t help that we were wearing masks, because that meant we couldn’t lipread each other… I remembered having to repeat a few of my sentences because the teacher had a hard time understanding as well. Given the first exposure to locals’ accents, I also felt a little slow understanding what my peers were saying - or it took a little longer than usual to register. Nonetheless, the learning environment was very welcoming, and everyone was open to getting to know one another. The UNSW MedSoc was also very welcoming, hosting a range of activities for the first years to allow us to feel more comfortable assimilating in a new environment.
My first class in UNSW
What were some of the surprises / shocks you experienced?
First and foremost, as with other universities, there are quite a number of Singaporeans in UNSW medicine each year, ~40-50!
Secondly, there are really quite a lot of international students in UNSW AND UNSW Medicine! I had a very enjoyable time getting to know people from China, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India etc. It was truly enlightening exchanging knowledge on culture, language, and previous high school curriculums. Definitely snatch these opportunities to get to know people whenever you can!
Thirdly, UNSW Medicine school has a few campuses, 1 metro and 3 rural. All international students and most local metro students go to the metro one (Kensington). However, you’d be surprised to see rural students also coming to the metro campus, via the rural entry scheme! It’s quite cool to think about it, as this means offering students all the way from rural regions a chance to experience metro life whilst studying their dream course! This is also a chance to get to know what life in rural regions is like, and perhaps whether you want to explore your clinical or intern years there!
Self-care day! Something unique to UNSW (not sure about other Australian universities), but self-care day is an initiative to support the mental health of medical students here. Mental health is increasingly a concern to UNSW medicine, needless to say based on statistically high rates of mental health issues experienced by medical students and doctors alike. Over the years, the medicine faculty has launched 2 self-care days per term (4 terms in a year), where you can treat these days as “leave” for you to take a break from the hectic school term.
How I spent one of my self-care days - at Vivid Sydney!
Cost!!!!! Sydney is probably one of the most, if not the most, expensive cities in Australia! Public transport cost is going to be twice/thrice the cost in Singapore. Food costs more but generally has larger portions! Groceries vary, from costing the same or more expensive for some items!
Chicken Snack Pack which I ordered via Ubereats (Aussie’s version of Grabfood) - cost about $15.
There are PLENTY of Asian food and people! Easily half of our school population is made up of Asians and more than half of my class are Asians. The streets are also filled with Asian foods ranging from Chinese/ Japanese to Middle Eastern cuisines!
Time for Thai - a very popular restaurant among locals and students located near campus!
How did you make friends?
Just try! Hahaha! Start speaking up, don’t be afraid, be the proactive one to ask questions about the other person, very similar to how you would get to know anyone in school to be honest! The first time may be difficult, but subsequent times get easier! Understanding many different accents around you for the first time may be a little tough, but just try your best! Honestly, everyone I’ve met so far has been super friendly and welcoming, so that nerve-wrecking feeling of getting to know people who might not understand what you’re saying/ you feel might not be able to relate to you goes away very quickly! It’s also a good opportunity to get to know other people’s backgrounds and interests that may be very contrasting depending on their cultures, so be open-minded and interested to gain an understanding of what other people love and enjoy! It really takes time to find YOUR group of friends but fret not, you will eventually find them!
Roller skating at Darling Square
My batch of Muslim girls from different cultures breaking fast together!
What was the first week of school like?
My first week of school was pretty chill! My timetable looked like this:
There are usually online lectures Mondays to Thursdays and some occasional lectures but mostly practicals on Fridays. In your first week, these lectures are usually introductory, so they would not be content-heavy or extremely high-yield. Then there are also regular face-to-face classes either Mondays/Wednesdays or Tuesdays/Thursdays depending on when yours is allocated. These are where you get to know who your classmates will be for the first half of the year! You may even find some of your long-term close friends in these classes.
There will also be other activities such as meeting your peer mentors and seniors whom you can approach to clarify any doubts you have or any activities you can participate in your first year :”)
Experience
Is it lonely / scary being so far away from everything you’re familiar with in Singapore?
Needless to say, it is. I felt everything at once - excited but also homesick, worried, anxious, not knowing what to anticipate, and the list goes on. When you leave home to pursue your lifelong dream, it is another level of bravery and independence that you have to achieve. I had to get used to doing many things myself, such as cooking my meals, balancing finances, personally paying school fees, settling adult-like things like setting up bank accounts, all whilst exploring and adapting to school, friends and community. Even though I tried my best to know what to expect from friends who were already in Sydney before I arrived onshore and from seniors, it still felt like a learning curve when it comes down to doing everything yourself. Afterall, I was literally building a new life overseas.
How’s the community like there?
The medicine community is very approachable, outgoing, and wholesome! No one will hesitate to help you with anything you need! Information provided in the first week of school or even before is very useful in helping you to be aware of what to expect in your upcoming year. Seniors’ notes are really super helpful in getting you through your years in medicine!!!!!!
The community at accommodations is also very conscious of ensuring students adapt well to the living environments and regularly takes care of students by planning events unique to different accommodations! For mine, we had Tuesday suppers (at 9pm) where everyone comes down to the common room to have a short chit-chat whilst enjoying tidbits prepared by the deans of the accommodation. There are also multiple facilities within each accommodation for example, sports equipment, pool table etc where you can play with others and get to know them better too!
How’s the academics / curriculum like?
The UNSW medicine programme (BMed/MD) is a 6-year programme split into 3 phases, 2 years each. Phase 1 (1st and 2nd year) is preclinical, where you learn the foundation of every body system. In Phase 2, 3rd year is clinical year, where ⅗ days you have clinical postings to a specific hospital, alongside assignments throughout the year. The remaining days are designated for in-person classes. Exams are only at the end of the year. 4th year is research year, and it is where you have the most time to explore multiple things inside and outside of medicine. Phase 3 (5th and 6th years) is fully clinical.
There is definitely time to explore CCAs as well, so when you can, and if you can handle, definitely do explore these outside of your curriculum!
How are CCAs like overseas?
There is so much to explore! UNSW Medical Society is one of the main ones, where much like Students’ Council, events are hosted for our own students, inviting professionals from various specialities e.g., internal medicine, surgery, to conduct talks and hands-on workshops. They allow students to have a better understanding of what medicine is like in real life and explore their interests in these specialties. Besides medical events, there are also social events like picnics and barbecues organised to allow people to just relax and have fun together! Other societies include UNSW ARC, which has plenty of volunteering opportunities, and also more interstate organisations such as Asian Medical Students’ Association and Australian Medical Students’ Association.
I’m currently in the Singapore Medical Society of Australia and New Zealand (SMSANZ), where medical students from various universities in Australia and New Zealand plan events mostly based on Singapore, such as Networking events and Teddy Bear Hospital Volunteering opportunity. It is definitely a CCA you can look into if you are interested in giving back to the Singapore community!
There are also sports and arts CCAs if you are interested. Honestly there are just so many societies and opportunities out there, and you can explore each society in the first year, by attending their events, seeing how they benefit you and knowing where your interest eventually lies.
Is it safe? Are there strikes and protests?
Generally Australia is a very safe country. Guns are pretty much illegal in Australia, hence the number of shooting events is also very minimal. Most Sydney-based international students will be staying in Eastern and Central Sydney which are the more affluent but safer regions.
There are going to be strikes and protests. More prominent ones will be public transport strikes that take place a few times a year and where as a result you may get to travel anywhere for free. There are also strikes on workers’ pay, such as one that occurred in UNSW early this year. As a result of this protest, students were permitted to not turn up for lessons just for the day, though some still did turn up. However, I haven’t witnessed anything on a very large scale like large crowds protesting for some cause, or what you see on social media.
What are your weekly expenses like? How much do you spend on leisure and travel as well?
I used to live on-campus, hence travelling to school is essentially $0. You do have to travel to hospital fortnightly - that means you easily spend ~$8 on public transport on the weeks you have hospital sessions. On weekends, transport costs about $6/day or more if you’re travelling to more places or by car, and eating out costs ~$20-30 per meal or more if dining in more classy restaurants. Meals in school are about $15. Leisure-wise, it definitely depends on the activity! I’ll give some examples: Bowling ~$15/game, Escape Room ~$40-50, Luna Park ~$75.
Luna Park
Lakemba Ramadan Night Market
I’m generally a very frugal spender, hence I cook on most weeks and where there are cheat days or just inconvenient days to cook, I purchase meals in school, but that happens once every few weeks! Otherwise, I like to plan and cook beforehand. My grocery expenses are about $150 a month.
To give you a rough gauge of what my expenses are in a month, grocery = ~$150, transport = ~$50, leisure = ~$50-60.
Advice
Any advice that you would like to give to juniors who are interested in studying abroad?
Start researching early! Explore what kind of community and learning environment you would like whilst pursuing your studies overseas.
Start collating information about what requirements there are going to be to enrol in the course and university you’re aiming for e.g., referral letters, personal statements, admission tests, interviews, etc. Be aware of the deadlines of submitting these!
Consider the financial side of things - school fees, transport fees, leisure and entertainment costs, miscellaneous costs. Ensure that you/your family have/has is financially capable of affording all these, and if you're struggling, what help is available for you to seek!
Approach any senior you know who is pursuing the course and university you aim for and get tips from them! This is going to be extremely helpful if you’re looking for very personal anecdotes and opinions just to enrich the information you have a little more!
For my Muslim juniors out there who intend to pursue your studies overseas, if you’re a pretty strict Muslim like me, food is going to be a concern regardless of where you are! Definitely take time to research beforehand if the area you’re looking into is halal-friendly or not! There are going to be halal restaurants (may be minimal), there are going to be halal meats available in shopping centres (minimal) and there are going to be Muslim friends (but very minimal if from Singapore, more if from Middle Eastern countries). Research beforehand and stay optimistic! (And honestly, drop me a text anytime if you need!)
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