In our series Big Dreams, Small Steps, we interviewed Goh Wei Sheng, Singapore Polytechnic Gold Medalist and Institutional Medalist Alumni who reached his dreams of being a doctor by taking the unconventional route.
While most medical students would have gone to Junior College to study after their O-Levels, he chose the Poly route.
After graduating with an excellent GPA score in the Diploma in Biomedical Science, he decided to apply for Medical School and got accepted subsequently.
In 2021, he graduated from the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and is now working as a House Officer for a year where he manages patients in the wards before moving to become a Medical Officer for the next five years.
To say that hard work and intellect are what it takes to become a doctor is only half true. It also takes passion to keep you going, to come home after a long shift and say, “It is all worth it.”
Hi Wei Sheng, why did you choose Poly even though you could have gotten into a Junior College?
My choice to enter Polytechnic wasn’t clear at the start. Initially, I wanted to go to a Junior College but I was undecided on where to apply to.
As my siblings and cousins went to Poly, my parents had the impression that studying in Poly was not as stressful as JC. They are not typical Asian parents where they only want you to go for the best. Instead, they just wanted me to enjoy what I am studying while having time for myself to experience life and gain experience.
I was (and still am) interested in science and I was looking at the various science courses the Polytechnics had to offer and was drawn to Biology and so I picked Biomedical Science in SP.
Where did you find your passion to become a doctor?
To be honest, when I first entered my course, I didn't immediately know that I wanted to be a doctor but I kept my options open and took up many opportunities in SP. I started my volunteering journey in SP with projects and events from my course’s student chapter and Red Cross, eventually moving on to pilot my own volunteering projects and joining an overseas community service team.
It was over my time in SP that I found my passion in serving the community and joy in interacting with people from different walks of life in the community. It was also when I decided that I would want to try for medical school to become a doctor to work in the frontlines of healthcare and serve the community and improve the lives of others.
Around my second year in Poly, my brother met with an unfortunate accident. He suffered a life-threatening traumatic brain injury and was warded in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for about a month. When it happened, we didn’t really know what to do and all we could do was hope he recovers. It was a huge blow to me and my family, but we stayed with him throughout.
During his time in the hospital, while being the only one in my family studying a field related to healthcare, I remained as one of his spokespeople to speak to the doctors and convey the information to my family. I kept myself up to date with medical terms, read up on his condition and provided further explanations to my family members.
Eventually, he recovered from the trauma and even managed to complete his University after. The doctors were both happy for us and surprised at the same time given the severity of his condition, where they kept him in ICU for a month with many complications and surgeries along his recovery process.
I was drawn toward being a part of the healthcare system in Singapore as I wanted to do as much as I could to contribute back to society.
After that incident, I was drawn toward being a part of the healthcare system in Singapore as I wanted to do as much as I could to contribute back to society. My brother recovered from something so serious and I was extremely grateful and appreciative of the healthcare team.
What were some of the challenges you faced and how did you get over them?
Consistency in Poly remains the greatest challenge in Poly because on one end I had to maintain my GPA to be good enough for University, on the other end I had to juggle my commitments in Poly, my part-time work and ensuring that I set aside time to contribute back to the society with my volunteer work.
I had a few commitments during my 3 years in SP. I joined the Red Cross Society where I planned blood donation drives in SP, was President of the Student Council for my course, organised a few community service events for my batchmates and did community service outside of school regularly as well. I found joy during the different community services I volunteered in, which kept me motivated to organise more of them.
On top of that, I worked part-time throughout my Poly to pay for my own school fees and support my day-to-day living. I worked at a supermarket, took up extra jobs such as working at an online grocery store (which I was promoted to a supervisor hahaha) and as a research assistant at Duke NUS. While some of these jobs were not related to the healthcare sector, they helped me gain many important organisational and interpersonal skills, which continues to be relevant in my current job.
Of course, with all that, I slept very little each day. I’m quite a workaholic as I kept working and working like it’s my routine in life. I wouldn’t say I was burnt out but was physically very tired. I wasn’t mentally drained as I have the end goal in mind to be able to pay for my school fees and build up my portfolio for Medical School. I also found joy in the community work that I was doing. It was something I looked forward to during weekends like it was a respite for me.
What was it like applying for Medical School?
Applying for Medical School was also challenging. There were many components in the application process, many documents to prepare just like most courses. While many of us wanted to apply to medical school, we know that the chances are slim but we still gave it a shot.
They don’t just look at your GPA as they also look for an all-rounded portfolio. Once they accept your application, there will be an interview that assesses you through different role-playing scenarios.
They don’t just look at your GPA as they also look for an all-rounded portfolio.
There is also a written test on medical ethics. You would also have to provide a list of documents such as CCA records or awards received in Poly, and a personal statement of why you want to study medicine.
I was worried about the school fees when applying for Medical School because it is very expensive—it’s $125K for a 5-year course. I was thinking to myself, “How can I afford that?” I think that’s why I went to do a lot of part-time jobs during and after Poly to support myself. Fortunately, I was able to tide through my university education with bursaries given by donors and the school, which I am very thankful for.
How was Medical School for you? Did you feel that coming from Poly was a disadvantage for you?
In the first and second years of Medical School, most of the content is theory-based, with a few topics relevant to clinical practice. The aim of the first two years is to provide us with a good foundation of medical knowledge before we transition into the wards from third year onwards.
The first year curriculum focuses mainly on anatomy, physiology and processes in a normal/healthy human body. In the second year, we focus on disease states and some procedural skills to apply in the wards. The modules are graded by ‘pass’ or ‘fail’. Without a GPA, it’s less stressful because as long as we are consistent, most of us will pass.
The last three years are graded and we spend most of our time in the wards following rounds, clinics, surgeries and interviewing patients. Our exams are a combination of theory papers and practical exams where we are supposed to interview and examine real or simulated patients at a given time. The robust and rigorous exam format prepares us for our future clinical practice.
For most of us, although grades are important, we still try to support each other along the way by tutoring each other, studying together, practising with one another and sharing notes. I always believe there’s this saying that goes “The last student in the cohort graduates as a doctor too”.
Coming from a Polytechnic background, I don’t feel disadvantaged as I have gained many life experiences during my time at SP. The modules taught in polytechnic (e.g. biochemistry and immunology) gave me a good foundation in my first year of medical school.
With my experience working in the clinical laboratory, it also helps to understand the backend processes for the laboratory tests I order as a doctor. My experience during my internship as a phlebotomist (as part of my Diploma Plus in SP) helped me in my day to day interaction with my patients and improved my blood taking skills in the ward.
What is it really like being a doctor?
Most people think that doctors have quite a good life but life is quite tough in the early years of our career as a junior doctors (it's tough with every job).
I reach work at 6 am and usually end around 6 pm or 7 pm, sometimes we end even later. I do have friends who come at 4:30 am every day and go home around 10 pm. But as we get more familiar with the workflow, we are able to finish our tasks earlier and end work slightly earlier!
There are also times where things are unpredictable such as our patients suddenly becoming very sick, which we will stay back to attend to them, update their families and transfer them to the Intensive Care Units/High Dependency Unit.
We have to work on the weekends too as usually, we only get one day off out of the seven days. However, there are times when there isn't enough manpower so we’ll have to work through the weekend. Weekends are usually half days (if you are not on call) so we do get rest before another long week ahead.
In the hospitals, we are scheduled to do about 4-6 calls a month depending on the hospital and department we are working under. We start our day attending to our primary team patients, start our call from 5 pm to 8 am the next day and continue to attend to our primary team patients for half a day before knocking off from work to rest.
Each call can span up to 30 hours, and the amount of sleep we get on-call depends on how sick the patients in the ward gets. Calls can be quite tiring but eventually, we got used to them and learnt how to prioritise and organise our time better on call.
Many people would think being a doctor is an honourable and glorious profession. I would say it’s partly true—people do look up to doctors—but on the ground, we face a lot of mental struggles.
Many people would think being a doctor is an honourable and glorious profession. I would say it’s partly true but on the ground, we face a lot of mental struggles.
As doctors, we have to face different types of patients every day and even their families. Sometimes we’d face difficult ones who would scold us over the phone or at the ward, but oftentimes we try to understand where they are coming from because caring for a loved one who is sick is stressful and draining. It is rewarding to witness the recovery process of patients from the time of admission to discharge
Other than that, we’ll also have to make sure that the patients are safe in the ward. Sometimes patients will start to deteriorate and we’ll have to rush there immediately and make sure the right treatment is administered and proper escalation of care is done. I still remember during my first few days in the ward, I was stunned when my patient desaturated (a drop in blood oxygen level) and I stood there for a moment not knowing what to do. Eventually, with more experience and support from seniors, I have gained relevant skills to handle emergencies in the ward.
Now, even though I finished Medical School, there are still quite a lot of things to read up as medical education never ends. . I’ll have to consistently keep up so that my knowledge is up to date with current practices, and that I broaden my scope of clinical knowledge to treat my patients better.
Despite the long and hectic hours, I find my job meaningful as I’m able to be there for my patients when they are ill.
What would you say to Poly juniors who are interested in becoming a doctor?
- Just try. Don’t be afraid to apply even if you feel your GPA isn’t high enough because GPA isn’t the only deciding factor. There are many other traits that the interviewers look for and you may possess those traits too! Although the application process is long, preparing for the application/interview will be a good reflection for you to think if you really want a career as a doctor.
- Have a backup plan. As mentioned previously, the hard truth is that only a handful will qualify to become a doctor. If you’ve tried multiple times but failed to enter into Medical School, there are many other healthcare-related disciplines to make an impact such as Nursing, Pharmacy, Allied Health and more. You can look into these to see if you’ll be interested. At the end of the day, we are one big family in Healthcare to serve our patients.
- Speak to doctors/Go for job shadowing. Before you apply to Medical School it’s good to make sure you know what you’re in for. Find out from someone who has been through it and can shed some light on what it’s really like. Apply for job shadowing programmes to see the life of a doctor in the wards and their day-to-day practice.
All the best! For those who are interested in taking this path or are looking for someone from this field to talk to, I’ll be glad to help!
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