Hey everyone! Let me introduce myself. My name is Mohamed Rashad, from the medical intake of ME119. Let me take you through my journey at IMU and Malaysia from an international student’s perspective!
I joined the university in February 2019. At first, I felt alone like most foreign students. Even though I felt alone and didn’t have any friends, there are people who are always help me, whether it’s my batchmates or the staff. I struggled at first with making friends but that was due to my shy nature.
Fast forward 5 years, everything has changed completely. I managed to make lots of friends from my batch and even with the staff too. I received a lot of love and they made me feel special, such is the nature of the Malaysian people and their kindness.
The university life was an interesting experience in itself. Social aspects aside, the learning aspect was something that was aligned with my views.
I don’t like to be pressured to study in a certain way. I liked to be free and study on my own terms which always worked to my benefit. So, IMU‘s self-study concept was something that I fell in love with.
The first 2.5 years are pre-clinical years. Besides lectures, it had Problem-Based Learning sessions, where we would be encouraged to discuss a problem and learn about it from each other. We also had the clinical classes which was our introduction and early preparation for the clinical years. Let me tell you that the knowledge and skills learnt at these classes are really handy later on.
We had clinical exposure since Day 1, it starts as a couple of days in the first year to just get an idea of what it is. Then it was a month at Jempol Hospital for a month. This was all just to prepare us for what’s to come.
The final 2.5 years were the clinical years, that’s the real deal. You have been exposed to the real world bit by bit; but now you are out there everyday in a hospital setting. That is the one thing I have always liked about IMU is the fact that we get a lot of clinical exposure. I have taken history and done physical examination a lot – it becomes natural to me. This will come in handy once you start housemanship.
Finally, I wish you all the best. It’s been an amazing experience for me. I will always cherish and remember all those moments I had together. From my batchmates to the nursing staff who have been extremely helpful, nice and patient with us and lastly our professors who guided us and taught us what real medicine looks like!
