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Guide to NUS Medicine, Chapter 2: Extracurriculars

  • Yap Wen Jayden
  • Mar 14, 2021
  • 5 min read

Updated: Mar 27, 2021


Additional Activities - Volunteer Projects

These are similar to CIPs (Community Involvement Programmes, now known as Values in Action [VIA] programme) back in RI, but this time people normally stick with them for a longer period of time (normally the first 2 years of medicine). I will give you an overview of these projects and what volunteering is beneficial for. As for the specifics of each programme, I don't think I’ll be that great of a source of information for them, so instead I’ve attached links to their pages where you can read more if you like!


Overview: This is a rather crucial part of your life in medicine, especially in Y1 and Y2. There’s a set of volunteer projects that you will be introduced to at the start of your medicine journey. At the start of Y1, you can then sign up to either be a Volunteer or a Committee member in any of the projects. While you can sign up for any number of projects, most people normally sign up to be a Volunteer for 1-2 projects, and a committee member for 1 project.


Projects

Local: These are projects that involve helping people living in Singapore. They can either be a one-off event or a long term project where you follow up with a group of patients over the course of a few years.

Overseas: These are projects that involve helping people living in other less fortunate areas of the world. Each CIP helps a different region, and there would be around 3 trips over the course of 2 years! (This is kind of a “main attraction” CIP, which a lot of people would be gunning to enter)

Benefits of CIP:

  • Helping the Community: Realistically, people join these programmes for a variety of reasons, and sometimes giving back may not be the only factor - and that’s okay! But I think for you to at least enjoy the CIPs that you are doing, wanting to help those in need should be one of the things driving you :D

  • Making Friends: This is one of the biggest upsides of CIPs. Apart from Clinical Groups, there aren’t many opportunities for medical students to find a tight-knit group of friends. CIPs are an excellent way to find your people, as you guys would be spending a lot of time together figuring out how best to run the project.

  • CV: While not the prettiest reason, CIPs are in fact something you can put in your CV. However, I think it’s important to note that doing a CIP is not going to be a contributing factor as to whether or not you enter a specialization. What will help you are the people skills you learn and the friends you make while doing these projects.



Additional Activities - Research

Overview: Research is one of the new types of things people do in University. While the things you do differ based on the specific project you join, the general concept of a Research Project is this: You are attached to a Professor, who will enlist your help in gathering and crunching data that he needs in a research project that he is heading.


How to Join One

  • WHBS: This is the Wong Hok Boon Society for research. Every few months or so, they will put up an advert in the weekly medicine newsletter, opening up sign-ups for a long list of research projects. Its fairly competitive, with each project only accepting about 1-2 students. Don’t be discouraged if you cant get one immediately, keep trying and soon or later you will get there!

  • Direct Contacts: If you know some doctors/professors/seniors who are looking for help for research projects, you can directly email them and ask them if you could join! University life is a LOT freer than JC life, so don’t be afraid to just email your professors and ask them for advice/help on anything!

Benefits of Research

  • CV/Learning: One of the biggest benefits of being a part of research projects is that it adds to your portfolio. Now when i say this, I don’t mean that you should just join as many research projects as possible to buff your CV. The main reason research is good for your portfolio is that it shows future doctors/employers that you have an interest and a deeper understanding of a specific topic. This means that they will be expecting you to know a lot more about these topics you research on - so actually the main benefit of research is to LEARN.

  • (NOTE: I think it’s very important for you to note that research is NOT a prerequisite to becoming a good doctor. What will get you far in your career are good fundamentals, a calm head and excellent people skills. So don’t fret if you cant find a research project early on in your medical school life.)



Additional Activities - For Fun

There are a slew of other activities that people can join in medicine that are simply for fun! Things like Playhouse (if you like theatre) or Medical Dance Crew (if you like, well, dance) are just some of the things you could join if you liked. I won’t list them all out here, mainly because there are quite a few and are in flux, so I won’t know what the big ones are by the time you guys enter! The main takeaway is that there are a lot more interest groups in Medicine outside just CIPs and research.


Also, do note that medicine students can (and often do) join the general NUS CCAs. So if you have a passion for something you cant find in medicine, don’t be afraid to sign up for the NUS CCAs/Interest Groups!



How Different People Spend their Time

The best part about university life is that it is a LOT freer than JC. There is essentially no attendance taking for any lecture or tutorial (okay there is, but no one really cares if you don’t show up for some, as long as you are passing your exams). As a result, there are many many different ways people live their lives in medicine, and they are each essentially a middle ground of 2 extremes: Either working very hard, or not. What most seniors suggest is to spend your Y1 and Y2 lives exploring things and making new friends, while spending your Y3-Y5 really grinding hard to be a good doctor. I would suggest finding a healthy balance of both throughout all 5 years, and to really take time and figure out how exactly you want to allocate your time for each year.


This is a three-part series on NUS Medicine. Links to all articles in this series:

Guide to NUS Medicine, Chapter 2: Extracurriculars (this article)

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