hey there tezuka and csrulez.. and any of the other people who want to know more about aimst or in particular about dentistry.

I think csrulez has pretty said all there is to say about studying in aimst..

Well, I'm a 2nd year dental student, and when you come in tezuka, hopefully, i'll be in my third year! Our finals are a few days' time..and ohmigod, it's 7am bedtime for me everyday. But if you have a better studying plan, then maybe you can work around that.

Just wanted to let you know that you can contact me if you want to know more about dentistry in aimst. or you can even visit my blog! (www.jayelleenelial.com). you can click on the category 'dentistry' to see what we get up to during simulation lab practicals and dental technology lab practicals.

In your first year, you won't be doing alot of dentistry related subjects. It's very similiar to first year medical students.. So you'll be having alot of funs with the cadavers and learning how to recognise teeth and stuff. Biochemistry is a killer. That goes out to you too csrulez! Biochem sucks...especially if Dr.Ong is your lecturer... make sure you say your prayers diligently. Well, he is a good lecturer with alot of experience.. i think he was previously with UM or UKM, can't remember which. When you enter 1st year, Prof. Somayagi would have gone back to India but he's a world famous anatomist and even when he closes his eyes he can identify the nerves, vessels and anatomical structures of the cadavers. It's a joke here at AIMST lah, but he's a god when it comes to anatomy.

What you learn in dentistry in your first year,... yeah, there's a subject called Dentistry.. it's more towards the history of dentistry. Like an introduction. history of toothbrushes was a cute topic... haha. Alot of public health stuff(but i think there's a subject on public health in 3/4/5th year. not sure..

In year 2, you suddenly realise, WTTFF..classes until 6pm? from 8.30am?
But usually it's 9.30am until 5pm lah, if you have practicals.

It's fun really. Doing dentures and stuff. manipulating wax models... sticking fake teeth into the wax. and the dental technologists(two very experienced technologists who were previously with USM Kelantan for about 5-7 years).

One of the more exciting parts is having to collect teeth from dental clinics in your hometown and bringing it back to uni. It will then be incorporated into plaster models for us to practice on. We attach the plaster models into a simulator(we call our simulators affectionately, "Ah Sim!") and carry out dental procedures.

So far we've learned how to do all the composite restorations and amalgam restorations. Scaling and stuff, extraction etc..not in the second year though.

The syllabus differ from Australia, not sure about singapore though. But it should be the same as UM. almost lah. Since the syllabus is taken from UM, University of Hong Kong(as our dean was previously the dean there) and Bristol University.

In our third year, which will start in Sept 07.. we will start having patients at the new dental hospital. But sigh, AIMST can be quite tardy with their promises. So we'll just have to play by ear, and we're used to that already. But yeah, definitely having patients because our dean is/was(not sure) the acting vice chancellor when the previous vice chancellor resigned. so he had alot of say. After he became acting vice chancellor, the move to the new campus was very swift and efficient.

Basically, by the end of 2nd year, you can understand more dental jargons At the end of 1st year, you might still be pretty happy that you're a dental student in this great big world of dentistry, but you won't know alot ..the most also probably how to identity teeth according to the various systems..etc. Like me like that last time, when i was reading all those dental blogs, I'd just nod even though i don't understand what's an MOD, DO, CPD.. etc.

The library is very functional because all the books you'll ever need can be found there. and if you're not too well to do, just photostat the books to keep it with you permanently.;P At least I do that for some of the books that are too expensive. One dental book cost RM700!! we rolled our eyes and just went to the library and photostated it. I know, we are horrible people.



About life in SP, well one word: get a car.
Second word: get a laptop.
third : stay out of campus if you want to have an internet connection(of course have to go kau tim yourself with streamyx registration and stuff).

with a car, you don't have to face those Indian food day in day out. If you want to lose weight, good for you lah;) But there're chinese restaurants in the area as well!

Laptop because you will be so so so bored. and most of your lectures come in the form of powerpoint. So even if it might be expensive to have a laptop...it will be of use to you.

but for first year dental students, maybe it's a good idea to stay on campus first to have a feel of campus life and it'll be more convenient for you as well:)

Hope that helped. if there's anything else, just email me at jolenelai@gmail.com

Sorry, i talked too much..;P

hehehe yay you replied! my efforts didn't go to waste:P

yeah man, real teeth:) or else how are you going to get familiarized with them? the lucky buggers are those who have dentists as parents. they'd bring one jam bottle full of teeth..and we'd be like, "can share ar?"

but so far i've got 50 over teeth in a bottle next to me now... Thinking of buying a clear bottle and putting it inside. can be decoration also!:)

skull ar...yeapppp... the bones of the face are of great importance to us dentists. you'll be doing that alot in your third module in your first year! that means about....february-april 08 you'll be learning those:)

hehehe yeah Prof. Smales. I didn't even know he was british.. i thought it was some middle eastern man.. u know..like ismail or shamal... or something.hahaha..worse than you ok. But alot of my classmates sleep in his classes one. but he's a really great guy,very approachable.. he always tells us the progress of the dental school and we'll flutter with excitement.. You'll feel it too when he talks to you his great big plans.

LOL I know.....my dad had to take money out of his EPF to pay the bills! but i'm also on PTPTN loan lar.. Rm105k will be available to you if you apply. upon graduation and getting a job, you'll have 20 years to pay back:)

There have been talks of subsidizing the PTPTN loan repayment from your future salaries.... but so far not heard of anything yet.

here's a nice juicy info....

I heard that, as of now, fresh graduates..working for the government(upon graduation must do three years with the government..you get to list three places that you'd like to work at..like how u apply for public uni.).. anyway upon employment... can get about RM3000+!! coz basic pay is 1000 something...then got transport allowance, housing allowance, critical allowance(this is for those who are serving in the health industry..because they are being very thankful of our services), and i'm not sure but got overtime allowance also...

Got this from a dentist in Johor and my two lab technology lecturers.

Hope that stimulated you more:)

hahaha yeah man! that's why forums are so fun, so exciting when someone replies..

For the past one year, i've gotten emails from alot of future dental students who want to know about aimst lah. So by blogging about my classes, i guess indirectly i've helped to do a little promotion for the uni..heheh:) If you ask anybody who's not interested to do dentistry or medicine, they probably won't know where AIMST is. it's that sad.

hehehe thank you thank you;P Do drop by more! but... actually, no use already..coz the next dentistry related post will only come when you're already in your first year. now no more classes for me until school reopens!

Well..about four people in my class.. one in Perak, Two in Penang and one in Negeri Sembilan.

eh nolah! those are teeth that have been extracted from live patients... so we just get them to practice filling and stuff lor. most of them are really horrific looking..should take a picture and send to you next time..

yeahhh but whatever it is.. you're still doing dentistry... wherever they send you to, at least you're still gaining experiences. can you believe it..my father actually suggested i go into the army and become a dentist for the soldiers. wtf. over my dead body. but he said i can get a Sgt title in front of my Dr. or something . don't know lah..

me? nooo.. i rent a house outside. one entire terrace house for rm450 a month with two of my other classmates. yeah of course you can set up a desktop:) just hope that they'll have the LAN cables ready in the hostels by the time you move in. according to my classmates who stay in hostel, there are already ports there..but no wire lah. the new campus hasn't got an internet connection at all.....but it'll come in a couple of weeks' time. ah well.

anyway, enjoy the rest of ur hols:) and feel free to ask me anything else yeah when you have your doubts and questions..
take care:)

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Added on June 28, 2007, 2:15 pmbtw, are you banana? you sound banana:D

This post has been edited by jayelleenelial: Jun 28 2007, 02:15 PM

heya csrulez! never seen u around uni..mm

I think the 1st batch will be graduating soon already as they are in their final year.....

Yeah....IMU's so old that's why.... i guess all we need is time to develope aimst's name.

I'm sure you being an AIMST student, sometimes the management can really make you vomit blood. Especially student affairs.... but then again, which uni in Malaysia doesn't make you angry at any one point rite??

hahaha csrulez/Shawn, you handle the promotion of medic while I spread the love for dentistry. hehehe.

here are some photos for those who are keen to see the interior of AIMST:




This was taken before my practical class - the new dental simulation lab. We carry out practical classes on tooth restorations, root canal therapies and etc. Work is mostly done on extracted teeth and plastic teeth on the simulator.



This is the study area which is located above the library.



A corner of the huggee Admin building.



This is the view that greets you as the doors of the elevator in the library centre open on the highest floor.



My coursemates(dentistry! woohoo!) enjoying themselves at the university's Olympic Sized Pool.



The examination hall that is located under the Admin building.




A view of the dental faculty(combined with engineering faculty) across the sprawling green lawn.




The great big park between the faculty buildings and the admin hall at night.




The badminton court at the sports complex where we spend most of our evenings.




This post has been edited by jayelleenelial: Apr 8 2008, 12:12 AM

why don't you contact aimst itself? since we're just students, we won't know exactly how many people have registered themselves, correct?

www.aimst.edu.my

is going to the website so difficult?

Why would you look stupid? I think boys in long sleeve shirts and tie look very smart.

it's the standard dress code for orientation day..so yeah, you have to.

Hey there!

Well, it's better if you wear something smart rather than t-shirt and jeans so soon.

LOL yeah people, live and learn. you kids need to go through the same things your seniors did: facing the wrath of Mr. Dhama. I don't know how many times I've been sent to the student affair department for the length of my skirt. . But in the new campus, attire seems to be less of an issue compared to when we were in the old campus. so count yourselves lucky.

Google is the oracle!

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Added on June 19, 2008, 11:42 amoh one more thing.. if you all need information ASAP, (provided there are people online to help you out): join the AIMST Facebook group at:

AIMST University's Facebook Group

This post has been edited by jayelleenelial: Jun 19 2008, 11:42 AM

About the LAN recognition for AIMST medical students as mentioned in that link that you provided.. well, if you read through the AIMST website and also some of the posts here, our first and second batch of medical students are currently doing their government service all over the country.

and about the intake.. Um.. i'm not sure! can any medical students answer hypermax? Shaun where are you!

I'm not sure about the MBBS programme and how they select their students, but I don't think it differs greatly from dentistry (again, not too sure about the other courses).

As we all know, medicine and dentistry and pharmacy are in high demand all over the country as limited universities in Malaysia offer it. Students who are keen to pursue the other courses like biotech, engineering and business have more doors opened to them as more universities in Malaysia have those courses.

I myself came into AIMST with my A-levels results and most of my classmates entered with their STPM results (more than a quarter of the students in my class are straight A STPM scorers, but i think they missed out on an A+ and wham! there goes your chances of getting into a local U).. so it's not really an issue. It can be done. There's even a government matriculation student in my class, she's on the dean's list on a constant basis.

Priority is given to the AIMST matriculation programme, which is true.

Think about it, if AIMST do not have their matriculation courses, the degree programmes would not be as readily affordable as it is today. Where else can you do an MBBS course in Malaysia (and above) for less than RM200k? The foundation programme is very affordable and even with that affordable amount, some funds would still have to be channeled into building more facilities for the degree courses.

I believe that if you think you can make it and do not want to waste any time, you get to go straight into your course with the results you know that you can get. With the matriculation programme, your sole purpose of going through with it is because of the priority given to you.

it's a gamble with other internationally recognised foundation programmes.

A lot of students who try to enter the degree courses with their foundation results have been rejected and therefore had to spend one year doing the matriculation programme. It's a long time, i agree.

But if you wish to come in with your a-levels, Sam, or even HSC, there's no harm trying. A lot of the degree students did their STPMs. the good ones got in, the mediocre ones had to sit for the matriculation programme and prove their worth.


If you wanted to apply to unis like Monash and IMU, in the first place, you would've gone straight to do your A-levels, STPM, SAM, CPU, MUFY etc etc.. I think it's rare that an AIMST matric student who didn't qualify for an AIMST degree programme would consider applying to monash and imu.

I won't comment on the comparison between the AIMST matriculation programme and the internationally recognised ones. So I'll leave this to one of the foundation students to clarify, if they wish.

Just my two cents!

Yeah most people want to do MBBS!

two intakes?! I've not heard of that. I shall clarify with my dean and get back to you.

haha what can I say? Welcome to AIMST!

Just bear it for awhile, but keep pushing the student affairs. Keep going. They will eventually give in. or get the warden and them connected.

but the moment you can...MOVE OUT!! with all your favourite friends.

So you're interested in dentistry too?

Stay out of campus! It's cheaper seriously, if you can manage your finances. I'm renting a whole terrace house with two classmates and all we pay a month(collectively) is Rm420.

Rental in BLM(housing area with tons of AIMST students) are from RM450 - Rm600. If you are lucky, some of them are furnished. Mine's not furnished...that's why so cheap.

If I'm not mistaken, if you stay one year then can move out alreayd.

*munches on popcorn*

wow..that's a little hard sell. Hehe.

lol agree with csrules. Take this as a preparation for the real world when you come across situations with the admin that makes you want to squish a kitten.

The english classes throughout your degree programme would be really useful too.

lol edge85, the finals must be getting to you.. this lowyat forum and the facebook group is good for procrastination!