Medical school attracts the highest number of applicants

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Being a doctor is apparently a profession most high school graduates want to be despite many other interesting careers nowadays.

Medical schools always attract high numbers of applicants to sit entrance tests for state universities (SPMB). The trend, which has lasted for years, was revealed by the Jakarta SPMB committee on Friday.

As many as 47,215 students, out of some 465,000 applicants around the country, competed for 3,005 seats available at 14 medical schools in the country last year.

"This year the trend is continuing. At least 10 percent of applicants favor medical schools in their registration forms every year," said Ridla Bakri of the committee.

As of Thursday, the committee had registered 56,755 students in Jakarta. More than 5,000 students, Ridla said, choose medical schools in their application forms.

Other popular choices among students, who buy application forms for science studies, are for the schools of engineering, particularly information technology, computers or electronics.

On the other hand, schools offering pure sciences such as mathematics, biology or physics, are not favored by the students.

Students who opt for schools of social sciences favored schools of psychology, management and accountancy.

Last year, about 12,000 students competed for 500 places in schools of psychology, 2,000 places in management schools and some 10,000 students competed for around 1,800 seats in accountancy.

Teaching schools are those least favored by students.

There are three kinds of application forms for students. The first one is for a science studies package, the second is for social studies and the last is for both.

If the students buy the form for a science studies package, they could choose two schools he or she want. But if they buy the form for both science and social studies, they could choose three schools, one of which must be a school of science studies.

To get one seat at a state university, whatever the major is, is not an easy task. Last year, about 465,000 students took the test but only about 72,000 were accepted.

The PSMB, which still attracts students despite mushrooming private universities, offer relatively the same quality as the state universities.

"Studying at a state university is definitely cheaper than a private one. You can also rely on its quality," said Mutiara, 17, a graduate of a state high school in Central Jakarta.

The tuition fee for private universities could reach millions of rupiah, while at state universities it costs less than Rp 1 million per semester.

Rizki Kurniawan, 18, said that another reason to choose the state universities was that graduates would be more likely to be employed after graduation.

Mutiara, who comes from a middle-class family, said that she had worked hard for the exams. She had taken a private class preparing for the exams for the last nine months as well as joining several preparation tests managed by some course institutions.

Another student, Abdul, who is blind, will try his luck for the second time in the upcoming SPMB. Last year, he failed in the test.

"I will try again. Last year, I didn't make adequate preparations," said Abdul, who wants to be a teacher for the disabled.