actually, that particular fact was only one-year old, when this
promoter from sp came to my school and told us about it. while it
is true that almost 70% of poly students went on to pursue a degree a year upon graduation, it
is unclear how many actually acquired a degree, or could even
enroll into a local university.
and i'm referring to universities like nus and ntu, which are
amongst the top 100.
sure, there is no percentage cap on the admission of poly
students, but there are certain academic requirements such pupils
must qualify to enter. in other words, what i'm saying is, only
about 15-20% of poly graduates can meet these requirements (usually
in the gpa form) and gain entry into a local university. if every
poly graduate is able to attain a gpa >3.8, then i have no doubt
about jcs going out of business.
top scorers who desert the jc route are able to attain stellar
results even in a poly, and hence serve as nothing more than
competitors to those who do not qualify for a jc in the first
place. then it's logical to assume that a large proportion of those
who make it into a uni from a poly is made up of students who are
able to choose between a poly and a jc.
so if the ts is one who did not qualify for an average jc, then his chances
would still remain slim, no?
There are alot of poly students who can get into local uni that
rather go overseas. With my dip, i can get a degree from Britain
uni in 1.5-2yrs, from Aust in 2 yrs since i attend all the overseas
uni talks with my results since i was well above their minimum
requirements for exemption and they even accept slightly weaker
poly students but without the 1-2 yrs exemptions. Some of those
unis have ranking even better than NUS/NTU during that time.
I have a large number of classmates who prefer that route since
you do pay alot more but the 1-2 yrs earlier graduation you get
gives you a much faster head start in the job market or further
studies and many feel that its a better route to go so don't think
all poly students just aim local uni. I went local uni and i have
to be stuck 4 yrs in the course. I would have graduated by now if i
were overseas.
There are a number of students who didn't do well for O's etc
but have very good results in poly. There are also ppl who did very
well for O's and do badly in poly. The education system, the
lifestyle etc is very different from the usual pri/sec/jc sort of
life and not everyone fares well in such an environment. A 6
pointer from O's going poly does not assure he or she will be top
student in poly as we have seen people with poor entry results top
their respective diplomas before.
Regardless you go poly or uni, your previous education may help
alittle but in general most starts on similar ground with not alot
of significant advantage which often is gone by year 1 so how you
fare in the future is alot more dependent on oneself and not
depending on their previous results.
I was from SP, i went into NTU, i know the situation in both
schools quite well since i have friends from other courses and how
many of my friends have went overseas and are graduating this year
while i am only doing my 3rd year in uni.