lets avoid sidetracking from the main topic......
case in point, a marketing student a local polytechnic with a
gpa of 3.8 couldn't make it to NUS, the student actually ranks
within the top percentile of all poly graduates with a merit
certificate.
now, this show that competition is much stiffer across all
courses and uni requirements are tougher to meet. further, one main
advantage which all JC students enjoy over poly students is they
are given priority seats in Tertiary institutions.
This can be pinned down on the government subsidy that all local
students are entitled to during the school registration process.
Under the government subsidy, a student can have his school fees
subsidized by more than half the actual course fees over 3
years.
The government subsidy kicks into action as soon as one is
admitted into a polytechnic or university, but it doesn't apply to
JC students. Thus, poly students would have enjoyed double the
government subsidy if they were to enter a local university. It
would not make economic sense to increase the proportion of poly
students eligible to enter university even if they achieve
excellent results.
3.8 depends also on the courses he applies for. If you apply for
business courses, they are alot harder to enter than trying for
engineering or science courses so that is not definitel.
A course that someone from poly with 3.8 cannot enter, A A's
student will also require AAA/B or so to enter since i got a friend
who from JC getting AABB tried 3 years and still could not get into
NTU accountancy even though he was long accepted by NUS.
Don't forget poly entry to uni looks at the O's as well. If you
did badly for your O's then even 4.0 might not get you into the
course when someone 3.8 got in just because the latter did alot
better in O's.