The reason for this title is because amidst the wonderful impression that everyone has been getting about our school, I want to raise some points so that you arent misled thinking that everything is nice and rosy if you are slack and merry.
Okay the post may sound as though I am attacking the school but I am not. I just want to paint a realistic picture for our juniors out there, in the midst of the wonderful stuff, there is some stuff that I feel you should know and again, this is my own opinion, not anyone else's, and I write this not with the mindset of criticizing our school (we are a new school after all) but to tell you of some potential pitfalls that can come about. These are just some points for you to think about.
5 things for our juniors to note:
1. Dont assume that it is easy to get into top universities just because our admission statistics seem to say so.
If you are wondering, yes the 2 people who got admitted into Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, etc were the same 2 people. So not many people from our school really got in - please remember that we have a small pool of people = small talent pool, compare to RJ/HC which have larger pool of people = larger talent pool. You are fighting against these people, so please try to stand out.
2. Do not underestimate the value of NUS modules.
I regretted not taking NUS modules. NUS modules can help in your college application and during college days, when you can transfer credit etc to fulfil the requirements of a major. This is especially valuable if you want to do > 1 major but despite maxing out the units of classes you can take in 1 quarter/semester you still cant fulfil the requirements.
3. READ THE NEWSPAPERS. YES PLEASE READ THE PAPERS THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
Often said, rarely followed. Dont throw your Time/Newsweek aside after they hand them around during English lessons. How would you like to be caught in a situation where they ask you about things out of academics and the only reply you can muster is "I dont know"? You will be surprised at the number of top students in my batch who have admitted they cant hold a conversation about current affairs.
4. Dont assume that just because people see us as an 'elite school', we are really up there.
Fact is that we are still a new school and yes, we will work our way to be up there, but we are not there yet. And getting up there depends on you! That's why it is important to be humble and work hard. Please dont assume the world revolves around you, go out there and interact with more people from other schools and you will find that you learn a lot more.
5. Languages are important.
Just because you think you can speak English doesnt mean that it shows. In top schools, 2200+ in SAT is the norm. Some juniors from our school (if you arent one of them, I am sorry) apparently think that if you get 2200+, you are crazily good. My response to that is that everything is relative and that you should compare yourself against the rest of the big fish in the big pond. If you think that the essays that you get now in school is tough (the revised 'GP' style essays), please remember that this is what others do on a regular basis.
Mother Tongue may not seem important (not in terms of submitting your applications etc), but I will tell you that it can be a sore thumb in the midst of a wonderful application, e.g scholarships, etc. If you are a person deciding whether or not to admit someone and you see that this person cant even speak/do well in his own native language, what is the impression you get?
5 things I wished a senior had told me before:
1. Science is not always the best policy.
While science is indeed very flexible and there is that argument that if you take science you can still go back to arts but not vice versa. But if you know that you dont want to pursue a career in research/medicine/engineering/whatever else, is a science major really better than an econs major? Personally, as someone who doesnt intend to go into research, I have yet to find more than 3 practical jobs that require a degree in chemistry. That said however, most jobs dont require you to use what you learnt in your degree anyway.
2. Being good at subject =/= passion
Important to make this distinction clear when you decide what kind of career and course you want to pursue in future. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life doing chemistry research even though you are good at it? More food for thought.
3. It is better to be a specialist in one area, than a jack of all trades and master of none.
Joining an activity for > a few years = committed
Jumping around from one activity to another = uncommitted
At least, that's how it is interpreted (not by me, but by the people deciding the status of your application).
4. Be proactive
If you see something that you are interested in, enquire about it. Asking about it doesnt just give you more information about how to achieve what you want, but also signals your interest in the event to the teacher i/c.
If that is not a good enough reason, think of it this way. I cant see how being quiet about what you want helps you in any way.
5. Be careful
Be careful. About what? Everything, from the things you write about to the type of opportunities you seek, to the work that you do.
Be careful about what you write in your blog and what you upload on facebook, because once uploaded, you can never be sure if you can ever erase it away permanently (many sites have the policy that once you upload stuff they get to keep a copy in their cache).
Be careful about the type of people that you work with outside too, especially for those doing internships and sourcing for your own. I had the unfortunate experience of working for a company that employed many morally questionable practices, and when things dont go right, you only have yourself to blame for not being more alert early on.
Be careful about the quality of work that you hand up, because every piece of work is reflective of your character. A teacher would probably be more pleased to write you a recommendation letter if you always hand up work that show that you have put in some effort.
Last but not least, to end off this post, be careful about what you tell your classmates, because you never know who are your friends and enemies. Word spreads quickly, and you dont know who it spreads to. Sounds political, sad but true in the competitive school environment of ours. I can only count myself lucky that I made a few true friends whom I can count on in our school, and I also count myself lucky that I learnt this lesson when I was in school than when I am not. I have heard of friends who tried to discredit me without me doing anything, friends who make accusations about me to teachers/etc, even some who tried to sabotage my college applications.
Of course I dont know if they are really true or not since they wont come and tell me and that's what I heard, but my point is please watch what you do and what you say and how you act.
Try to be genuine to everyone you meet, and remember the Chinese saying "真金不怕火". It translates literally to "real gold isn't afraid of fire".
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