a dip-degree route will win a Alvl-degree route..
Sounds exactly like what my lecturer said. Him having experience
as a teaching assistant in Uni mentions the noticeable difference
between Poly students and JC students during practicals (Life
Science). And the obvious maturity disparity between the two, but
that's irrelevant.
The point he tried to tell me is, Poly students can make it to
Uni and do better than the JC students. (something about them
having deadbrains)
I chose the poly route because I saw the JC curriculum and went
"Meh".
(and maybe partly due to the brainwash from the govt.)
I cannot say for life science.
But I can say for sure that in my graduating batch for
engineering, none of the poly pple got 1st class honours or are on
the path to getting one. In addition, none of them got the
innovation and research award for their final year projects. All
were from JCs. I'm pretty sure is because when the time they have
in uni is too tight. No matter how you plan your modules, it is
almost impossible for them to embark on programmes like what I have
done, just because I have 4 years and they have 3 years.
Personal experience is, yes, for projects that requires hands
on, for the hands on section, the poly students win hands down. But
these projects require analysis too, and in the end, for one of the
projects, the poly students built a very solid structure, but was
too big to do a figure 8 as required by the module. The programming
and the algorithms were also not done properly... At the uni level,
the analysis to make the structure to run is much more important.
In the workplace, it will be you who will be coming up with the
plan; you will then command those under you to build it, not
you.
There are also things that were taught in A levels, and retaught
in first year uni. For poly intake, they did not learn it in poly,
and being able to skip most of the modules in the first year, they
did not get to learn too. In the end, in the 4th year, they lose
out.
So, no matter a dip-degree route or a Alvl-degree route, just
think... The Alvl-degree route results in a 1st class honours or
2nd upper with enrichment programmes like industrial attachments
done (of course not every one la... too many A lvl students as
compared to poly students), compared to a dip-degree route, which
is harder to get a 1st class honours or 2nd upper mainly due to
lack of time.
Then again, a cert is mainly used for employment. If you are not
seeking one in the long term, but using it merely as a form of
education, a form of investing in yourself, a step/passport to the
working world, then it doesn't matter as much.