So You Are A Top Scorer?

There is always a stereotype saying ‘Medicine, dentistry and pharmacy are meant for the top scorers in examinations,', I do not deny the statement because you really need to be intelligent and hardworking to be in those so called critical courses or else you will not be able to survive through the tough years. And then, after the UPU results were announced, complaints arises on TV, in newspapers or on social networks with the same issue: 4.0 scorers did not get the offer for medicine, dentistry or pharmacy in so and so university (usually these three).

Before we argue about whether or not you should get it because you are a top scorer, everyone knows that there are very limited places in universities for critical courses. Why? Because our society cannot end up with over-flowing number of doctors or dentists or pharmacist who might not actually be needed. Just imagine half of the total number of university graduates are doctors, will there be enough hospitals and clinics to house them? What about other industries that require fresh graduates to keep going? Graduates from medical or dental schools usually can only work as doctors or dentists, it is quite impossible for them to work in agricultural or petroleum sectors. When a company is hiring someone to work for them, for sure the places are fixed and limited. They cannot hire employees more than they need. If you want to get hired, impress the interviewers. Everyone going for these courses is having the best results in their hand, and only certain number of them is going to grab the place after going through the interview (in University Malaya, for instance). Do not blame anyone if you do not get the place since every competitor is good, maybe you are just not as good as them.

When it comes to 'unfair' university intakes, people start to point out that it is the ''colour's' fault. I really do not want to talk about racism but this is kinda unavoidable. Top scorers do not consist of only one race of people, and skin colour does not influence how our brains work. Thinking ourselves as certain race is superior? You are absolutely wrong. There are a lot of top scorers who speak different languages and have different cultures as us. When you do not know the quality of students successfully enrolled in those courses, I suggest that you should just keep quiet before you see the names of the top scorers in the courses and feel ashamed afterwards.

The thing that really makes me furious is people's attitude towards non-critical courses. If a 4.0 scorer get the offer for some easily-overlooked courses such as pure sciences or forestry or biotechnology instead of medical or dental or pharmacy course that he or she wants, the world seems to collapse as if he or she should worth more than that. Excuse me, with such a flying-colour result you got in your pre-university, does that mean that you are in higher position and should look down on these 'ordinary' courses? So you said it is your dream to be a doctor (or dentist or pharmacist), why do you want to become a doctor? You want to help people? Then what's wrong with the nursing course? Nurses are the ones closest to the patients. They take care of the patients, encourage them and make sure that they are recovering well. To contribute something to the society, there are many ways and I am sure you know it.

Stop being a hypocrite.



[Disclaimer: I have no intention in offending anyone with this post which is quite emotional. The perspective towards this issue is about the stereotype where people worship critical courses thinking that top scorers will usually go for them (and are qualified to do so). I understand that there is an unfairness and lacking of transparency in the selection of students which can be a very important element in this issue but my opinion does not touch on this element. Hope you guys understand. Cheers!]