Please read my story and give me some advice. Thanks

[willnevergiveup]

Hi all, I am new to this website and would like to share my story - and get advice from anyone. Good or bad, I would be most grateful.

Ok, I am 24 yr old guy from Singapore and currently in my final year of undergraduate studies in a local university. I undertook a 4-yr engineering course and my grades are horrible - GPA of 2.8 over 5. Partly because my family is not rich ( both my parents have stopped working for about 5, 6 years now ) and I have a huge family ( 3 other siblings, 2 of which are still in secondary school ) and I had to find work during semesters and during holidays to try to earn money to cover my everyday university expenses. It is also because there are like 30% of China scholars in my course - they are really good... in getting grades. But ... no excuses. My grades are far from good. There are so many people out there who got excellent grades while taking part-time jobs.

I really wanted to be a doctor , I couldn't see myself doing any thing else. It is really depressing because I knew I had to get better grades ..

I would like to apply as an undergrad in a medical school in australia or UK, but since my university grades are average, and my "A" level results are BBC, no school will even consider me - they will just have a good laugh at what a loser I am with impossible dreams and chuck my application down the bin.

But, I do not want to give up my dreams and 50 years down the road when I am lying on my deathbed look back at my life and realize all I did was nothing. I will never give up my aim of studying medicine.

Is there anyone out there who are in a similar position as I was ? Or can anyone give me some advice on how can I get into a medical school ? I would really like to hear from you. Thanks.

[ristretto]

hi, glad to know that there's a fellow singaporean undergrad fighting for his dream like me too. and thanks for the friends request, from which i found my way to your story.

i understand the situation in singapore engineering schools. it's difficult to get good grades. and since the grades are scaled with respect to other students in your cohort, the grades does not reflect your absolute ability, but how well u did with respect to other students. so i understand that a GPA of 2.8 among all the Chinese scholars might not really mean that you've flunked everything. counting them out, you may get well above 3.5...

anyway, don't give up. i'm not sure how lenient UK is towards grades, but i know someone who went to australia to study medicine with a third class hons degree from singapore. it is possible.

you should research more into the different med school systems and how they select students. if in doubt, you should email the admissions officer and ask for help.

worst comes to worst, you can still do a Masters and aim to do very well in it. that should give you an edge when it comes to application. hope this helps! cheer up!