US and UK are very different in terms of their medical education. If I am not wrong, US medicine is a postgrad degree, whereas in UK, u can do it at undergrad level. MBBS degree isn't recognised in US. You have to take the USMLE exams and pass them if u want to work in US with a UK MBBS. It's difficult to fight for US med sch too (not as if UK's that easy either..haha), because I heard that you can do weird courses and still fight to go to med sch. It's gonna take a long time too. I suppose going to US to do a non-medical undergrad degree would be good for those who don't really know if Med sch's the right path for them, hence, giving them the 3 or 4 yrs to think through. If along the way, they feel that maybe med sch's not their type, then they still have their undergrad degree to fall back on.
i choose my med sch because of the curriculums they offer. i think patient contact is very important, but some med schs might beg to differ and concentrate more on knowledge and more knowledge. it depends on what qualities u hope to possess as a doc in future. i don't think im as knowledgeable as many med students from other med schs, but i think knowledge can always be built upon. u might not feel the same as me though. i came to this uni (when it wasn't recognised yet) because it was highly recommended by some doctors i know. pretty lucky for me as now it's finally recognised..so a bonus for me I would say. some of my friends were more concerned about their life in med sch when it came to making choices. they felt that life's not just abt studying, so some of them preferred going to med schs with a balance. my uni might not be the top in UK, but it's relatively good (top few at least..phew..) and it's got a pretty good balance, which i shouldn't complain much about already..ahaha. also, some ppl choose unis based on prestige. they r not wrong about doing so...i would think it's more abt personal preferences
as for experience...it's very different in uk. u're no longer spoonfed and they often throw u to do things yourself..like at times when u ask questions, instead of giving u the answer, they just tell u "go read abt it from a book". sounds damn insane, but tat's the way some of them are. i find the culture here a vast difference frm sg, and sometimes it can be quite tough to be used to it. i've been here for years, but i don't think im totally adapted to the 'angmo' style..*shrugs*
it's hard to say how many med students there r in the uk uni. if the uni is good for courses which sgporeans want to do, then naturally u find more sgporeans flocking there. some flock to certain unis for prestige, even though the uni might not be good for the course. personal preference once again. for med sch, again, it depends on whether that yr, the med sch happens to accept more sgporeans. u have interviews and stuff...so it's difficult to predict. if u're lucky, u get a few. if u're not, then u might just end up being alone for that year.
i did JC in sg. was frm TJC.
