My youngest brother has been accepted to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore. He is now awaiting the letter from the Nanyang Technological University to see if he is able to get into the course(s) of his choice there, otherwise he will just major in Economics and one more subject.
Considering this is the second time he took the examination, it is still pretty competitive indeed if he is still not able to enter the course(s) of his choice. It was already competitive ten years back, it is definitely much more competitive now! Quite a number of people I know rather send their children overseas to study, as they feel the local system is too rigid and competitive.
Rigid yes, but as for competitive, well, what makes anyone think the education system in other countries are any less competitive? Like in Australia, my cousins all had to struggle too in order to enter the university and course(s) of their choices. If they did not make the grade even by 0.1 point, they could not enter the course, no matter how much they appealed. So it is the same everywhere.
Going overseas to study is to see the world, to experience life living away from home and parents, to learn how to be independent, to learn how to take care of ourselves and to fend for ourselves being all alone there. It should not be a place to escape to just because the system here is too stressed and inflexible.
My brother put Economics as one of his choices, thus the Arts and Social Sciences. His other choices are Business, Accounting and Finance, Mathematics, but somehow could not get into any. At that age, it is hard to determine exactly what one wants to do and hopes to be. One may enter a course, but in the end end up doing something else totally different.
Many people have asked me why did I not choose Arts and Social Sciences back then? I did, but that was not my first choice. Besides, it would be a problem if I did enter the course, because one had to do two majors and one minor, but there were so many courses I was interested in that I could not make up my mind which one to take!
When I switched back to Arts after my law stint, it was better because on the basis of courses I had taken, there was not much of a choice which one to take. So I stuck to what I took because I was not able to take any of the other courses. Just as well, because at least I was able to take courses I am really interested in.
For now, I hope my brother can make up his mind on what he wants to do, at least for his tertiary education. Whatever comes next it will be a step at a time. As long as one graduates with decent grades, one will not be afraid of not finding anything to do next time.
Considering this is the second time he took the examination, it is still pretty competitive indeed if he is still not able to enter the course(s) of his choice. It was already competitive ten years back, it is definitely much more competitive now! Quite a number of people I know rather send their children overseas to study, as they feel the local system is too rigid and competitive.
Rigid yes, but as for competitive, well, what makes anyone think the education system in other countries are any less competitive? Like in Australia, my cousins all had to struggle too in order to enter the university and course(s) of their choices. If they did not make the grade even by 0.1 point, they could not enter the course, no matter how much they appealed. So it is the same everywhere.
Going overseas to study is to see the world, to experience life living away from home and parents, to learn how to be independent, to learn how to take care of ourselves and to fend for ourselves being all alone there. It should not be a place to escape to just because the system here is too stressed and inflexible.
My brother put Economics as one of his choices, thus the Arts and Social Sciences. His other choices are Business, Accounting and Finance, Mathematics, but somehow could not get into any. At that age, it is hard to determine exactly what one wants to do and hopes to be. One may enter a course, but in the end end up doing something else totally different.
Many people have asked me why did I not choose Arts and Social Sciences back then? I did, but that was not my first choice. Besides, it would be a problem if I did enter the course, because one had to do two majors and one minor, but there were so many courses I was interested in that I could not make up my mind which one to take!
When I switched back to Arts after my law stint, it was better because on the basis of courses I had taken, there was not much of a choice which one to take. So I stuck to what I took because I was not able to take any of the other courses. Just as well, because at least I was able to take courses I am really interested in.
For now, I hope my brother can make up his mind on what he wants to do, at least for his tertiary education. Whatever comes next it will be a step at a time. As long as one graduates with decent grades, one will not be afraid of not finding anything to do next time.
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