I am at the end of a most packed and tiring day. Today was the day of my NUS interview, which made it the day that I both looked forward to and dreaded. Incidently, this was the first time in my life attending an interview where the stakes were high, and the pressure to perform was just so real. I did not see anyone I knew today, which was in sharp contrast to sunday's essay test. I tried to arrive early today, but by the time I located the office, it was almost time to begin. The letter didn't give the exact venue, so I actually walked past it without knowing that I was at my destination. I was wondering what the attire should be, and for a moment, I was contemplating No. 3, but then I decided to play safe, and I'm so glad I did. Almost everyone there was formally dressed.
My first interview was in this board room, where the lights were set to a rather serious atmosphere. There were 3 profs across the table, and I was alone on the other side. Thankfully, they put me at ease by starting off with something that I was comfortable talking about, but they slowly went deeper into issues such as why I wanted to study medicine. One of them asked me about the bird flu epidemic, and whether Singapore was at risk. I was caught here, because I haven't had time to read since enlistment. There was only so much that I could discuss before I had to admit that I hadn't read much about it recently. I tried to go along the lines that Singapore was still at risk simply because it had birds, and it had people. The interviewer then asked whether there was any evidence to prove this, but I said that there wasn't any evidence to prove that SARS posed a risk to the entire population, either. I hope that I wasn't marked down too badly for that. By God's grace, they accepted my answers without much criticism or probing.
My second interview was in the next building, and was less intimidating than the first. The questions took a slant towards what had not been covered in the first interview, and more personal issues addressed here. For example, I was given the situation where 3 people arrived at emergency for treatment: A 70-year old lady who is almost breathless, a teenage girl who had just tried to take her own life and a man in his 50s who was suffering from a heart problem, and was asked who I would treat first if I were a doctor. In the end, I said that it is important to have meaning in life, and that someone who has no meaning has not really lived. The girl who tried to take her own life evidently had lost her meaning in life, and would be deprived of living a full life should she pass away, which is why I believed she needed the treatment most.
The same interviewer went on to describe a situation where doctors have their lives dominated by their careers, and have very little time left for their families. She gave me another scenario of a doctor who said that he cared for his family, but his wife gave him a talking to and told them that he had been absent in so many important occasions in their family, such as the children's birthdays, the children's graduations, PTM, their anniversary, and a long list of events... and ended by questioning whether he really cared for them or not. I tried to say that it is the little things that make a difference to show that the doctor cares for his/her family even though he can't be there all the time. I hope none of the interviewers are reading this now, but I have begun to wonder whether she actually had much more than a mere point in bringing this up today. This is something that I had not given serious consideration, and the realisation of it can be quite daunting.
My uni applications are all in God's hands now, and I can only trust that the Lord will provide, no matter what the outcome is.
Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord
Great is thy faithfulness.
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