Medical Student Overseas is probably either too emotional or too myopic to differentiate between fact and fiction. The fairness that he crusades for is unfortunately not reciprocated in his literary judgment.

His statement ' the International Baccalaureate (IB), which I am told is quite easy to pass ...' insinuates that sponsored government medical scholar have an easier exam option. This is utterly irresponsible and smacks of prejudice.

I qualified with the IB in 1977, from the United World College of the Atlantic (UWC). An international school of repute with over 60 different nationalities in St Donat's Castle, it only admits students who are top-notch academics, excel in the extracurricular and are rigorously selected by their respective national committees.

The successful students comprise both scholarship winners and those supported by their parents. Otherwise, the UWC would transform into yet another one of those pseudo-elite colleges mushrooming in Malaysia, catering for the filthy rich yet sub-standard in academic substance.

Medical Student Overseas tossed yet another myth that '... non-sponsored students will have to obtain better grades, a better interview to get into foreign medical courses'. This outrageous thesis is juvenile, most laughable and an insult to the time-honoured medical faculties in the UK and Eire.

The benchmarks of quality medical education in these medical institutions have not been the least swayed by the lure of the Malaysian ringgit. Even straights A students may not get one into a medical school in the UK and Eire.

Apart from the teacher's testimonial and forecast results, one's extracurricular record, leadership roles, service to the community, exposure to medical-related activities, flair at the interview and more recently an aptitude test, persuades the faculty whether the aspirant is a worthwhile investment and has what it takes.

A closing anecdote may assist to clarify the issue further. A sponsored student from my daughter's college was recently offered to study medicine in Cambridge with only 3Es. This would seem to reaffirm Medical Student Overseas' hypothesis that government-sponsored students only require mediocre grades to enter the likes of Cambridge.

On the contrary, Cambridge 'head-hunted' this un-meritorious (by Medical Student Overseas' standards) government-sponsored scholar. In the words of the Cambridge interviewers, this student had the makings of a potential Nobel laureate. I suppose Medical Student Overseas knows more about merit than the Cambridge medical faculty.