After 'O'

last SG · 2009-06-16T14:09:19+00:00

Oh…by the way, I also heard some ITEs are collaborating with overseas univ as well for joint diplomas…..perhaps in the very close future, the students could...

Tony.chang95 SG

Hi, after 'O' level and go over to Australia- taylor college to do a year and coming back to serve NS...after that going back to Australia to finish my education...that is my dream....All my friends said that doing JC in S'pore is very stressful...am worry that I cannot make it....but going to Australia is very expensive...

Anyone...going to Australia or have done their studies in Australia...care to share?

Rednano SG

now the SGD$ to Aus$ is not favourable to us, u noe...

1 SGD$ = 0.85 Aus$

ditzy SG

Agree, the exchange rate is like crap right now, unlike when the first spots of recession was coming, it was 1 to 1.

dkcx SG

TS still 14 only, still got more yrs to go

[email protected]_F3V3R SG

not lyke me.;..

now facing doom

dkcx SG

not lyke me.;..

now facing doom

Won't doom la, study hard and aim towards your choice of JC/poly. Still got 4 more months, can de la

Rednano SG

Anyone...going to Australia or have done their studies in Australia...care to share?

if jc too stress/not suitable for u, then why u no choose polytechnic?

is it u look down on polytechnic diploma holders huh?

polytechnics places r also hot and popular to fight for nowadays okay... cos many jc-eligible O level holders r also fighting to apply for poly diploma courses... thus because of this effect within these few years, it pushes the cut-off entry points for poly courses lower than previous years

[email protected]_F3V3R SG

i must agree...

Rednano SG

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/329830/1/.html

More top O-Level scorers choosing polytechnic route
By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 19 February 2008 2101 hrs

SINGAPORE: 19,800 of the 36,800 students who took part in the Joint Admissions Exercise in 2008, have got a place in a polytechnic.

Many of them are top students who said that they're aiming for an alternative route to university.

Joshua Loo scored an aggregate of 10 points (L1R5) in the O-Level examinations and that is more than enough for him to secure a place at a junior college.

But Joshua is looking for a different experience. The former student from Clementi Town Secondary has applied for a Business Studies and Accounting course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

He said: "They have to do research on their own, they have to depend not only on their lecturers but themselves too. There’s also more hands-on experiences, such as more project work."

Polytechnic places are in high demand and getting more competitive. In 2008, there were 25,000 places available, an increase of 2,000 from 2007.

Polytechnics have also lowered their cut-off points for those courses that tend to attract the brightest students. These include Business Studies and Aeronautical Engineering.

For example, the highest aggregate score among 2007 entrants into Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Banking and Financial Services diploma was 11, but in 2008, it was 10.

In the past two years, nearly one in three students offered a place in polytechnic was also eligible for a junior college. In 2006, it was 30 per cent and this went up to 32 per cent in 2007.

Lydia Liao was more than eligible to enter a junior college, with her aggregate score of seven points. But she is choosing the polytechnic route because she sees it as a faster way to reach her goal.

She said: "I decided that tourism was a big prospect in the future, because of the IRs, so I thought I'd join tourism at NTU. So I decided to take Tourism and Resort Management in poly now."

With top scorers opting for polytechnics, some applicants are worried about their chances of getting the course that they want.

Lydia continued: "Some of my friends had cut-off points that were able to make it for last year's batch, but they couldn't make it this year. So I think it's getting more competitive in the polys also."

However, despite a higher demand for some diploma programmes, polytechnics said there are enough places to go around, where other courses are concerned. - CNA/vm

Rednano SG

Anyone...going to Australia or have done their studies in Australia...care to share?

and do u know ur parents need to fork out at least $75,000 as a security bond to Mindef for u to study post-secondary education b4 NS enlistment...

go here for more info: http://www.sgforums.com/forums/1390/topics/325016

from:
www.ns.sg/publish/NSPORTAL/public/mindef_services/index/register_for_ns/faq/deferment_for_further.html

Register for NS - FAQ - Deferment for Overseas Studies

Q1. Can I apply for deferment to pursue an overseas course?

To be eligible for deferment to pursue an overseas course, you must be able to commence on your full-time overseas course before the age of 17 1/2 years. A bank guarantee of a minimum of S$75,000/- or 50% of the combined annual gross income of both parents for the preceding year, whichever is higher, is needed. No deferment will be granted for degree studies.

Q2. Is any monetary bond required by MINDEF for Overseas studies?

Yes. A bank guarantee of a minimum of $75,000/- or 50% of the combined annual gross income of both parents for the preceding year, whichever is higher, is required. You must also be able to commence on your overseas course before you are 17 1/2 years old.

However, if you are accompanying your parents on overseas employment, you are only required to be bonded by deed instead of providing a monetary bond.

OHSheet SG

HMM. if u want to go, id suggest u go BEFORE olevels. if im not wrong, 1 semester approx 10~15k. and based on what you are saying, after O's do 1 year, it would be a foundation course right??

BTW, why do you even consider taylor's college, cause it allows foreigners to sign up for a foundation course? If thats the only reason, I'd suggest u do the UNSW foundation studies.

NOTE: Taylors college foundation gains you entry into Monash Uni,

Trinity College( Melbourne) gains you an advantage for entry at Melbourne Uni.

Why UNSW foundation? -allows foreigners ALSO!

-yup UNSW has a better ranking compared to Monash. But.. Melb is still the best in Aus, along with ANU and Sydney.

IMPT NOTE!!! IF IF IF!!

you are applying for foundation at UNSW, they WILL NOT ALLOW you to take up a degree in medicine. only medicine they dont allow, the rest OK.

How do i know all these? ive asked all of it b4. im currently a student studying in Sydney. Yup. im currently 16 and, turning 17 this year and I will be completing my A levels equivilant.

Yup. hope that helped! :D

nightzip SG

Yup, JC is getting more and more irrelevant in Singapore’s context already.

Most polytechnics are now joined with overseas universities and can even offer joint degrees!

E.g. if you fail your A’s, then you cannot go to Univ, waste time join back poly.

Also, even if you got a good A level cert, it is useless, cuz if you go to work, people would prefer a polytechnic diploma cert than someone who studies Econs? Physics? Maths?

Your employers would prefer you study Mechanics, Electronics, Strength of Materials, Materials Science, Computing, Fluid Mechanics etc, then the subjects in JCs.

My personal take is that JCs are slowly going to be less preferred and phase out of competition. Their subjects are rigid, no electives to choose, less practical.

What do the rest think?

nightzip SG

For polytechnic alumni, I believe if you take 1 or 2 more years within same course you can get a degree if they offer, else MDIS and other institutes also offer.

Further, if you are top 20% of polytechnic graduates, you can easily get a position in local NUS or NTU, and start your honours degree as either yr2 or yr3 student. And often due to similar courses/modules you have taken previously in poly, you tend to perform well in yr3 or y4 modules in univ.

So, what does JC takes us….basical nothing.
There is also the Joint admission exercises where very good high schools like Hwa Chong etc can skill As to go directly to Univ.

JC becomes redundant and irrelevant.

Tony.chang95 SG

thanx...OHSheet...ya I will consider UNSW foundation....oh...now am in Sec 2...just dreaming...cause as at now my result is not gd...worry that I may not able to enter JC or poly here....cost is also a factor to consider too. As for going overseas...it can shorten the path to UNI...Is that so?

Why go now and not after 'O'? After 'O', I just do a year and hlf of foundation then come back to serve NS...after tt I can go straight to UNI. am i right?

since now u are already there...is it easier to study....not that stressful in s'pore? Are u allow to work part time?

dkcx SG

Why go now and not after 'O'? After 'O', I just do a year and hlf of foundation then come back to serve NS...after tt I can go straight to UNI. am i right?

since now u are already there...is it easier to study....not that stressful in s'pore? Are u allow to work part time?

If you need help with your work, either post in this forum or hire a tuition teacher. If you cannot study well, go overseas is also just wasting your money if you cannot get good results.

Foundation courses in Aust is 1 yr yes but if you cannot grasp all the content required in the 1 yr, go uni you still suffer. There is no point in graduating with a degree full of Cs and Ds because you cannot cope with the work even if you get it 1 or 2 yrs faster than your peers.

Lets not forget the amount of money you have to spent. My friend studying a degree in UNSW from poly just needs 2 yrs to finish his degree yet hes paying over 100k if i didn't remember wrongly and compare that to about 20k if he was to study 3 yrs in local uni due to 1st yr exemption from poly.

eagle SG

Despite news and info all over that more and more pple are choosing the poly route, I still maintain the view that JC route is better if you are ultimately aiming for uni.

I find that one will have an easier life at NUS EE if you go via the JC route, but a tougher and more fast paced life if you go via the poly route. Furthermore, a much much higher percentage of JC students score higher at uni at the end of the degree.

I see it in this mathematical way... Employers look more at your final degree. The easier first year uni courses are the base that you should score in and propel you towards a higher CPA. This is especially relevant for engineering for JC grads because the modules are mostly related to JC stuffs.

However, for poly grads, these modules were used for their poly GPA. Once they stepped into uni, they are thrown into 2nd year. The 2nd to 4th year modules are harder to score. For guys, this is made worse because the "first year" uni stuff learned at poly will have been forgotten during NS. Furthermore, a 3 yr course won't give as much time as the 4 yr course, hence harder to take extra modules, learn extra soft skills, or even go for Student Exchange Programmes or Industrial Attachments at uni levels.

As a fact, for my year, I don't think I saw anyone who made it to uni from poly scoring first class for EE.

That's personal observation and opinion.

Anyway, if you can't handle the stress at JC level, don't bother going to uni or expect to score well there. JC requires a lot of self-discipline, which is also highly applicable to uni life.

dkcx SG

Despite news and info all over that more and more pple are choosing the poly route, I still maintain the view that JC route is better if you are ultimately aiming for uni.

As a fact, for my year, I don't think I saw anyone who made it to uni from poly scoring first class for EE.

That's personal observation and opinion.

Anyway, if you can't handle the stress at JC level, don't bother going to uni or expect to score well there. JC requires a lot of self-discipline, which is also highly applicable to uni life.

Not sure when you grad but the quality of poly grads have been going up alot in recent yrs with quite a number of top students choosing the poly route over the JC route. This is quite clear when you compare how many students who qualify for JC chooses poly especially in the recent 5 yrs or so and most of such people have not graduated yet.

We also cannot deny the fact that many of the top students in uni could have been top students during O's etc and they remaining top is not just due to them being from A's or poly but more because they are more hardworking or intelligent than their peers.

Considering more top students still choose the JC route, its not a fair comparison about the ability of JC or poly students unless you have have a group of test subjects of similar calibre and have some of them going the JC and some the poly route and comparing their final results in uni.

OHSheet SG

Why go now and not after 'O'? After 'O', I just do a year and hlf of foundation then come back to serve NS...after tt I can go straight to UNI. am i right?

since now u are already there...is it easier to study....not that stressful in s'pore? Are u allow to work part time?

----------------------------------

Hehe.. yo tony. okok.. just to explain to you.

I left SG after my olevels. in dec 08. I am a SG citizen and an Aus PR.

Id reccomend that you rather go to a private school COMPARED TO FOUNDATION. trust me. you pay abt the same $$, but its better.

consider it like this. Private school .. you do your Alevels equivilant and you can choose ANY uni you like. But for foundation is only 1 uni, but you stand a better chance. Unless you DAMN sure you know what course you wan, from a specific uni, den take up foundation. YUP! :D

oh yup. your Olevels PRELIMS is freaaaaaking important. i did great in my O levels prelims thats why they allow me to skip year 11 and do y12( Alevels equivilant) straight away. oh yep-must sit entrance test also. but shud be ok la :D.

1 more impt note. if u wan to study in aus, leave in dec.. jan you will get your Olev results- but dont care abt it. just ask you fren/ neighbour or whoever post it to you. NOTE! CAUSE the second you receive the Olev cert, along with it comes the notice that you CANNOT LEAVE THE COUNTRY without an exit permit.

( I left without an exit permit)- thats why its impt to leave B4 you get your cert back!!!!

studies here diff. not spoonfed. gotta look up stuff by your own. hehe..

and yea, you're right. Olev---high school---NS---> uni. buut. well. it depends. hopefully by your time PAP no longer in rule and they'll abolish compulsary conscription! XD( pls la. im praying for this also)!!!

hahaha.. consider your options. 2 years more. pls choose your subjects wisely based on what your aspirations are. :D

OHSheet SG

If you need help with your work, either post in this forum or hire a tuition teacher. If you cannot study well, go overseas is also just wasting your money if you cannot get good results.

100k? how to? for a 2 year course? the most expensive course in UNSW for foreigners is MBBS. Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery. which is like

about $40k for 6 YEARS LEH.

dkcx SG

100k? how to? for a 2 year course? the most expensive course in UNSW for foreigners is MBBS. Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery. which is like

about $40k for 6 YEARS LEH.

I added in food, lodging etc. The rough cost for spending 2 yrs in Aust and is your 40k in Aust or S$? Local uni without govt grant is abt 20k a yr so i don't think that 40k is in S$ since that would make it alot cheaper than local uni but 40k for 6yrs is definietely cheap if there is no grant.

The 100k was counted when the exchange rate from S$ to A$ is about 1:1.3 so it would be lower now with the weak $A but still adding up all the expenses, its not going to be cheap.