Recently, a junior of mine called me to ask about staff in university. It reminds me of the anxiety and confusion I had about my future when I was in their present position. So I am thinking maybe I could help them by telling my last year’s experience.
I personally feel 2003 is probably the second most critical year in my life. (The most critical is 1998 when I came to Singapore). Most people know that Choosing the right university and major will have profound impact on one’s future, but few know how to make the right decision.
For me, my whole consideration is revolved around factors such as Scholarship, Employability\salaries and even housing these really practical issues. But when I look back now, I really wish I had placed my personal interests on top of all that. Because tell you the truth, university study is not going to be easy (like JC’s standard). There will be a lot of self-study and they require a lot of your own initiative. If you don’t have enough interest in the subject that you will be studying, you probably wouldn’t enjoy the courses and in worse case-- suffer a great deal. Let alone exploring the field on you own. So my point is Please really ask yourself if you want to live with the staff for at least 4 years. Also, don’t take the scholarship for granted even if you have 4A and B4 above for GP. (I have friends who choose their majors solely because of the scholarship and in the end didn’t get the scholarship). And had any of us ever anticipated the economy would be so bad this year that a significant number of eng/computing graduates couldn’t find decent paid jobs. On the other hand, I have a senior who really love Chinese and Philosophy, so she tried for the SPH scholarship and got herself bonded. Now she not only has scholarship, but also has secured a job. No matter what your major is, as long as you are good (and I am pretty sure you will be good at what you are interested in), you wouldn’t have problem of finding a job. Therefore, Do try to follow you dream if you have one. There are plenty of opportunities out there for you to explore. Sometimes I feel we should really follow our hearts rather than our minds.
So the next question you probably will ask is that “what if I don’t have a particularly strong interest in anything? Or I like all my A’level subjects.” Well, then I am quite sure that at least you should have a few options in mind right? So go and research on them. There is websites for all three UNIs and there are course descriptions as well. Look carefully at the details because sometimes they may seem very similar (such as computing engineering and programming). You can even come to attend a few lectures if you have the time. Even you don’t have much time, I still think going for a campus tour is really important because you can see many things that are not listed on the internet, such as the atmosphere and culture environment. For me, when deciding it is NUS or NTU, I think campus tour had played an important part. (By the way, NTU engineering is even stronger than NUS’s in some areas. And the selection process and specialization are not exactly the same.) After all, even if you really choose a wrong faculty, you still have chance to appeal for transfer in your first year.
I think there is a misconception that only those people who cannot get into NUS, go to the other two unis. That is not true. Though NUS probably have the best reputation which many people think is important, the other two unis have things that NUS cannot offer. For example, SMU has the only double degree program now in
It is when I needed to make the first major decision in my life in Sec 4 did I realize that Making Decision is probably the most difficult thing in life (that is why there are module taught particularly about the subject). And a professor told me once that “you can only make the best decision at the time when you make it.” So draw on all the resources available (Do listen to your parents’ opinion even if you don’t agree with them because life is about experience) and make informed decisions for yourself. But once you made it, live with it. Don’t ever regret or complain about you decisions because Nobody can predict the future.
As a final note, I wish all of you out there good luck in whatever you are doing. To those lucky ones who already have a clear idea, go ahead and realize it. If you don’t have all the necessary conditions (e.g. finance), try to 'create' them yourself. For those who are still not so clear, don’t worry. There is still plenty of time to make up your mind.
P.S. welcome all the other seniors to contribute ideas.
To the juniors, Choose those course that you like; you will be happy. Nobody can really predict what the jobs market is like in 3 to 4 years time. So why not follow your heart and interest, rather than the always changing jobs market
无名氏 @ 3/2/2004 7:13:58 PMI simply like my major. hope all will be lucky enough to get what he or she really likes. if one cannot do what he likes, he must learn to like what he has to do...
无名氏 @ 2/18/2004 5:58:37 PM完全CONFUSED。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
喵喵 @ 2/18/2004 5:21:13 PM“If you don’t have all the necessary conditions (e.g. finance), try to 'create' them yourself.”有这么容易么？
云淡风轻 @ 2/18/2004 11:58:20 AM“Don’t ever regret or complain about you decisions because Nobody can predict the future.”赞成。
云淡风轻 @ 2/18/2004 11:56:15 AMhehe soc so bad meh? no lah.. i learnt my 1104 first part by attending lectures.. hmm for other modules quite true though
katze @ 2/18/2004 9:33:15 AM“university study is not going to be easy (like JC’s standard). There will be a lot of self-study and they require a lot of your own initiative.”-- self-study + own initiative = difficulty?????????? One suggestion from my part: Never think of coming to SoC! Unless, you are confident that you could handle all your computing modules without attending any lectures...
Wuvist @ 2/18/2004 1:46:07 AMi wish to have a chance to choose my school again...
iamchaoyi @ 2/18/2004 1:07:26 AM请Please leave your comment here