you don't see that is a problem?...that money buys education?....

my stand on this has never changed.....while we accept the inevitability of commercialisation of education, the selection of students into critical courses should NEVER be based on money (or race/religion for that matter)....but on the best available candidates....

you are wrong.....

coping academically is NOT the same as being there on merit....

anyone in the top 5% of a cohort can cope with the academic demands of the course....many in the 90-95 percentile can also cope....that is why most imu students are successful in completing their phase 2 in these countries.....

but being in the top 5% does NOT mean you have the merit to enter....it just mean you have the academic ability to undertake the course....

only 0.3% of the cohort will be selected into medicine in uk...therefore careful selection is required from the top 5-10%.....no, it is NOT a game of chance....it appears so to you because you do not know the criteria they use....all you see is someone with 3a not getting in, but another with the same result offered....if you know enough about human nature, you will know there is always the right person for any job....

what makes a good doctor?....this has been studied extensively, and while it is not perfect, the present method of selection is as good as it gets in selecting the right candidates....

and no.....money is NOT a criteria at all.....

each university has their own philosophy on what kind of students they want.....thus they give different weightage to the different components of the selection process...(there are forums on this, to guide applicants to the 'right' panel of med schools to apply to)....

there are actually quite a lot of people who received multiple offers...personally, half the number of successful applicants i know had 2 or more offers....that is the reason why some first round candidate acceptance rate can be as low as only 70%....ie 30% had other offers which they preferred.....

if you only has one offer, it means you are a borderline applicant....there are so many other excellent candidates, academically and extra-curricularly.....and these stands out from the crowd, and will get multiple offers.....really the crème de la crème.....

This post has been edited by limeuu: Feb 25 2014, 11:05 AM

i should add that ucas only allow 4 choices.....and most people will use one of the 4 for an 'insurance' course.....so in reality, the maximum number of offers is 3....and there are people who got that....

the reason why many who got into oxbridge only get one offer is because of 2 reasons....

first, they need to do a different exam from the rest, the bmat....which is required by only 4 med schools....oxford, cambridge, imperial and ucl.....so many will just restrict themselves to these 4 top unis....unless they don't mind sitting for the ukcat as well....

the second is that oxford and cambridge has an agreement to NOT consider applicants who have first choiced one of them....so applicants apply either oxford or cambridge, but not both....that narrows down the choices further....

it is a game of chance only if you are delusional about your own ability and strengths and ignorant about the respective selection policies.....

that much describe many msians used to just buying a place in ipts or russia/indon/egypt with any result.....

This post has been edited by limeuu: Feb 26 2014, 08:02 AM

the reason for the imu-pms programme is because there is always extra capacity in clinical years....because there is always a drop out rate in the first 2 years.....this rate varies, but usually about 1-10% depending on uni and cohort...these cannot be replaced with new students obviously, due to the nature of the course....

hence imu's pms programme falls nicely into this situation, filling the clinicals years with ready made students!....

this does not factor in the international student quota initially....

it looks like they are now including the imu (and brunei) programme in this quota, hence the unis will now need to decide which is a better way of maximising income.....the logical move is to take them in from year 1, and only allocate places for imu if any international student drop out, as they cannot now use the local student quota to take in imu students....

while i said the programme was successful, the pms do face a problem with imu students...ie the standards are patchy.....in obvious reflection of their intake policy.....(ie based on money, not quality and taking in weaker students with money to 'give them a chance')....thus some pms impose strict criteria on who can match to them, eg some will NOT consider any student who has failed any eos exam....and while the majority successfully complete the programme, there is a significant failure and repeat rate as well....

if you read pagalavan's blog, some imu-pms graduates are lamenting the drop in standards in students matching to canada....

the patchy standards of imu students pales in comparison with the range of students in russian med schools....

1 sem fees..... In usd......

holy smoke!!....the fees has gone up to 50k a sem!!....just six years ago, it was 29k for phase 1.....

application fee was 300 just 3 years ago....and i don't remember any registration fees.....

i think liverpool's move may be a prelude to exiting from the imu-pms arrangement....

there is a lag period from withdrawal, as students entering 2 1/2 years earlier needs to know what's available when they reach phase 2....

the message to students in the pipeline now is likely 'don't come here'.....

it is NOT the responsibility of unis to arrange for jobs, or any mandatory internships, after graduation....it's the same whether for pharmacy, medicine or dentistry....

i think the question has been answered at pagalavan's blog, yaoni is haya there....

they will keep their promise, if you enter now, you will have the same list of pms to match to....

but this arrangement will not last forever, it will end at some stage....already, nz and half of oz and canadian med schools have withdrawn from the arrangement....it will not affect people entering the programme now....but will affect future cohorts.....

This post has been edited by limeuu: May 5 2014, 08:54 AM

no refund....

i presume you mean applying for sept 2015 entry....

because if you mean sept 2014 entry, it is too late.....

also if you did apply in time for sept 2014 entry (ie from last year) and have not got any conditional offer by now, you can safely assume you have failed.....

if i guess correctly, you are singaporean....

if you have no great need to decide where you go to in uk now, just accept imu-pms offer....you will not know where you end up in, but the chance of getting uk is very high.....

do note however, that some new uk med schools are not recognised in spore....so during matching, you need to rank the uk unis properly, to avoid getting into an unrecognised one....

the 'quality' will not differ much, and after 3 years in a uk clinical school, you will be like as if you went from year 1.....no difference...

Unfortunately, while the grading for Spore a levels is tougher than the uk/cie a levels, and there is no a*, there is no way for grade compensation....so your aab will be seen as equivalent to a levels aab....(even if it could have been a*a*a equivalent)....that would be enough for entry in recent past, but may not be enough now....

obviously it is easier to get into uk because they make up most of the places available....oz used to be very popular, but i understand it is now not so, partly because of the cost, and partly the current problem with inadequate intern places.....

there are no cadavers in imu.....there is no problem with imu phase 1 students fitting into clinicals in pms med schools in the past...although there has been recent complains of deteriorating standards of some students....

august intake attracts lots of a level students, and with grade inflation, there are thousands literally with aaa....hence more competitive....it is more difficult to get atar95, hence less students qualifying in the feb intake....

all ipts med schools unfortunately do not have a centralised system of application, which would have allowed them to select the BEST students....applications come trickling in all year long, and they select on a first come first offered basis, as long as you satisfy the basic criteria (currently 95/aaa)....so a better student may be rejected as places are filled, unless he doesn't mind waiting for the next intake.....

if the places get filled, yes.....

yes, it has been cheaper to go direct entry into most uk med schools than imu since the phase 1 fees (2 1/2 years) overtook uk pre-clinical fees (2 years) a few years ago....excluding living expenses of course....

there is a simple reason why people are willing to pay more through imu.....it's a easier back door entry....

the majority of imu students will NOT qualify, or if qualify, make through the selection process, for uk direct entry...

in the past, it was a cheaper back door....

now, it's a more expensive back door....but there is no shortage of parents able and willing to pay....hence the addition of new fees over annual increase.....

people may want to find put who actually owns imu.....

In your offer letter, it will be stated whether your fees are locked or it will increase yearly....

I don't think any uni lock their fees anymore.... And variable fees makes it difficult for international students to plan their fundings....