UP Manila Student's Guide to Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH)

Application Requirements

The Admissions Committee of ASMPH have done a perfectly great job to pull in aspirants. They've set an atmosphere that will make you want to go to their school because you'll want to interact with them. I remember, when I submitted my app reqs, they also "required" us to get candy from a jar. I took a Mentos and sat down in front of them, when I noticed that there was a Chocnut at the bottom of the jar. Embarassingly enough, I reacted by impulse and said, "Oh noooo. May Chocnut pala. Sayang." They laughed and told me to take it, but I might look desperate for it so I politely declined. I expected them to give up on the endeavor, but they poured out the contents of the jar and gave me the Chocnut. This gave me an impression that I was welcome in their school regardless of my standing as an applicant. It made me feel at ease with them immediately.

Now, for our batch, the requirements were:

1. Accomplished Application Form with 2" by 2" photo (red background)*
2. Application Fee of Php. 3000.00
3. Official Transcript of Records (TOR) or True Copy of Grades (TCG)*
4. Certification of General Weighted Average (CGWA)*
5. Certificate of Class Ranking*
6. Official NMAT Result
7. 2 Recommendation letters from either of the following:
• Dean*
• College Secretary
• Senior Professor
• Department Chairman
8. Personal Essay: Topic and essay guidelines are indicated in the app form

(1) The application form is long, so don't cram it in one night. Although I crammed it in one night, it isn't recommended especially for those who want to apply for a scholarship. The scholarship form has a long list of requirements that need to be accomplished apart from the aforementioned, so make sure to print the forms early, if you really need that scholarship.

(3) Among the five schools I applied for, ASMPH had the earliest deadline: December 15, 2016. We immediately began panicking when we found out because the Transcript of Records (TOR) is usually really hard to procure especially in our school, University of the Philippines-Manila. They'll say it's 15-20 working days, but because of the large load of people asking for their TORs, it takes more than that. You'll want to constantly return to the Office of the University Registrar (OUR) for an update. I went to OUR everyday to follow up with my TOR, so I could catch up with the deadline. Even so, my TOR still didn't catch up on the given deadline. Don't worry though! This is normal. TORs are usually followed up during the application process and sometimes during your enrolment (if you pick the school), so long as you submit a True Copy of Grades (TCG) from Office of the College Secretary (OCS) before the beginning of interviews: January 9, 2017. TCGs can be received 3-5 days after request and payment.

(4) In UP Manila, CGWA is not given to undergraduates; however, you must ask for a Certificate of Senior Standing (CSS) from the OCS to fulfill this requirement. It will contain your name, a certification of your standing as a senior and, as well as, your most updated GWA. I also followed this up before the beginning of interviews because grades for 4th year-1st semester was not available at the time. 

(5) UP Manila also does not offer a Certificate of Class Ranking to undergraduates, but ASMPH requires that the College Secretary present a letter or certificate that attests to that truth. You may ask for one from the OCS, as well.

(7a) If you want a letter from the Dean in UP Manila, he/she requires your TCG, a Certificate of Good Moral Character (CGMC) from Office of Student Affairs (OSA) or Office of Student Services (OSS) and a draft of a recommendation letter. So, basically, you can praise yourself in this letter and the Dean won't mind because he'll just sign it as long as you provide him evidence of your good moral character and your standing. If you placed your organizations in the letter, certificate of memberships to those organizations are required for him to sign it, else you should remove that part in your letter. You'll need to send a soft copy and a hard copy of the letter, the TCG, the CGMC, and the certificate of memberships/awards (if you mentioned them in the letter) to the Dean's e-mail and the Dean's office, respectively. I won't put the Dean's e-mail here because it might be different for future aspirants and might mislead them. Note that this system may change in light of any change of administration. Better go to the Dean's office to ask on how to obtain a recommendation letter from the Dean.

(8) For the essay, I suggest that you read the mission-vision page of ASMPH to know what answer they are looking for.

Interview

An e-mail will be sent by ASMPH to call or e-mail them regarding your available schedules for interview and their available slots. If you haven't gotten yours yet, don't worry! These letters are sent by batch because interviews in ASMPH are usually really tight, so they make sure to spread the interviews out evenly across 2-3 weeks. Sometimes, because of the same reason, you have no choice but to say yes to the schedule assigned to you, despite your unavailability due to class. 

In my experience, I was already on my way home to my province when at around 5 p.m. of February 24, 2017 (my mom's golden birthday), "Jed of ASMPH" called me to say that my interview is scheduled the next day at 8:45 AM! I replied with a soft, "Oh noooooo. Help." I'm not sure if he heard me, but he was really kind and humble enough to apologize on the short notice. 

Given this chance, I would really like to commend ASMPH Admissions Team because they really set an atmosphere that made me feel comfortable talking to them. Despite the short notice, I didn't get scared because I felt like the people I'll be meeting are social butterflies, and this is all because they gave me Chocnut when I submitted my application requirements.

Before the interview, I suggest that you read again your essay and the mission-vision page. That's what I did right after buying clothes for my interview the next day. It helped me develop a direction with my answers. I read them both again minutes before my interview, then took my time to release the stress by talking to my seatmates in the waiting area. I channeled by nervous energy to excitement, so I wouldn't twitch inside the room if I ever had to smile for a long time.

My interview was about 30 minutes long and it was centerred primarily on the essay I submitted along with my app reqs and, secondarily on leadership.

So, what happened?

My name was called while I was talking to my seatmates Lora (?) from UST and Bryne (?) from ADMU. Not sure about their names anymore because I instantly blocked all information that I didn't need for what I was about to face, so I'm sorry if you guys ever read this! I stood up smiling and feeling excited, more than nervous, to a kind-faced woman with a long white coat. She lead me into a set of two heavy doors with my seatmates and then we were distributed to separate rooms inside. The set up was a panel interview where two interviewers were all the way on the other side of the room and I was seated around a meter near the door I entered. They began by introducing themselves and then asked me their first question, "Can you tell me more about <insert name of a person I mentioned in my essay>?" and it slowly led to "Why medicine?" then to "Which organization among those you've placed in your application are you most attached to?" then to specific situations like my recently headed projects, my position and my role as VP for Communications in The Hope Project (THP), how I deal with conflicts, disagreements, or members that do not follow my command and others. All these questions I've already been prepared for and have made answers in my mind pre-interview, so there was a really good flow between me and the interviewers. So, I suggest you do the same, given that you have an idea of the possible questions that may be given to you.

In the whole 30 minutes of my interview, I felt at ease because there were multiple comic reliefs in response to my answers. By the end of the interview, my interviewers asked me if I had any comments or questions regarding the application process. I told them, "It was so fun!" and they were surprised with my reaction and asked in what manner what is fun. I replied with, "Because it's like I'm talking to my friends. I feel comfortable," and it gave us a good laugh because they joked about being best friends. In response, I invited them to our incoming Benefit Concert event in THP on April 6, 2017 and they said that I should leave an invitation for them, and I said I should. Then, they congratulated me in finishing the process and I said goodbye and started opening the door. Then, just because I'm awkward, I went back to them and said, "Youtube said I should shake hands with my interviewers" and we laughed one last time.

ASMPH interview is fun, guys. Don't fuss too much. Be honest. Be yourself. They'll welcome you with open arms.

Result

I am ACCEPTED and the reservation fee deadline is on March 16, 2017. I'm still not sure about going to ASMPH because of the fee and their performance in the boards. The real advantage I see in Ateneo is their value for leadership, which is something I also value. The MD/MBA degree, for me, makes no attraction. I really a more interested in the comfort in their environment and the alignment of my interests with their mission-vision.