The Mount Elizabeth-Gleneagles Scholarship changed his life

Muhammad Fadhli Bin Mohamad Ikbal
MBBS Class of 2018
Mount Elizabeth-Gleneagles Scholarship AY2012/2013

“We lived by what my parents earn each day, not knowing whether it will be enough to pay the bills or put food on the table.”

Every day, Muhammad Fadhli’s family struggles to get by. “My parents work tirelessly every day, starting as early as 6 am, to feed my younger sister, my ailing grandmother and myself,” he says.

So when he qualified for medical school, he was faced with a daunting challenge in the form of the school fees that he had to pay. But he received the Mount Elizabeth-Gleneagles Scholarship and that made a world of difference. “A load has been lifted from my parents’ shoulders because they now do not have to worry as much about how I am coping financially in school,” he says.

The scholarship, which he calls a “godsend”, has also helped him to pay for books, a laptop, overseas school trips and accommodation in Tembusu Residential College.

To help out with the family finances, Fadhli initially wanted to work part time while studying. But his father made him promise not to. “He told me that even though our family is not so well-off financially, he and my mom will do everything in their power to make sure that everything will go smoothly, and that I should not worry about anything other than my studies.”

Fadhli says that the Mount Elizabeth-Gleneagles Scholarship was “life-changing” and wants donors to know that their giving will have a profound impact. “There will always be students like me who are unsure of going the distance in medical school with our financial concerns holding us back,” he says. Scholarships help these students “to achieve things they originally thought were impossible.”