Amid all the positive talk there has been about NUS High School, of course to many Primary 6 students, and some Secondary 2 students, NUS High is a very desirable school to go to. There are many benefits to going to NUS High, but if and only if you are actually interested in Math and Science – and maintain that interest at least throughout your secondary school and Junior College years here. I thought I was a good fit when I applied, and it worked out well for me, as it also did most of my classmates.
But think carefully before you decide to enroll, since the school is not for everyone. There have been cases of people withdrawing because they felt the school didn’t develop them in areas they were interested in, withdrawing because they disliked the curriculum, couldn’t cope with the workload, and were miserable. And I don’t think it’s easy to transfer out to a mainstream school once you are in here – most of the places have already been filled by the PSLE graduating batch, O Level students, or the IP students who went there already. And since you already have a place in an excellent school, why should these mainstream schools waste a coveted space on you, instead of giving it to a deserving O Level student with no place in a JC yet?
Why you should go to NUS High School
1. You like/ love Math and Science. This is definitely the place for you! The school is geared towards giving you a rounded education in Math and Science, and there are loads of opportunities to develop yourself here as long as you work hard and keep your eyes open.
2. You like research. Even better! One of the school’s definite plus points is the research.
3. The teachers are care a lot about you. NUS High is a relatively small school with a low student to teacher ratio. Naturally teachers and students will get to know each other better. Most of the teachers here will go beyond what is within their job scope to help students. They care about your well being, your results, and your university applications. And they show it in their actions. I’ve had teachers who entertained my very numerous questions on their subjects, even late at night after office hours. And they were still very patient and explained if I didn’t understand. And they welcomed me to ask some more if in future I had more questions, after taking up one hour of their free time!
Why you shouldn’t go to NUS High School
1. You want to do humanities in college. Of course the school tries to give the students a well balanced education, but the focus is on Math and Science, so you may not find too many opportunities to develop yourself in the humanities.To get admitted, you’ll probably have to work harder than your peers in mainstream schools to boost your applications. You don’t do GP or KI in NUS High, unlike hundreds of other A Level students who are also applying for the same courses. If you want to do something like literature in college – there are more suitable secondary schools to prepare you out there.
2. You don’t like Math and Science. Considering that about 80% of the curriculum time is math and science intensive... It’s possible to learn to love a subject, but do you really want to take the risk?
Some things to think about when choosing between NUS High or a mainstream school.
1. NUS High does give you stress – you learn things two years ahead of your peers in mainstream schools for math and science. No matter how much you love what you do, there will be the days when you have a test tomorrow and a project due the day after, and three assignments next week. But if you’re looking at stress alone when choosing, don’t let this stop you if you love science, for I believe that you will be stressed in any secondary school, JC, Polytechnic, or University you attend if you desire to do well. If you are bothered about how well you do, there’s just no way to run away from stress in life.
2. If you’re also interested in the humanities besides math and science, you can take courses in the humanities subject you like, do a major in it. There are very good programmes for these subjects here also.
3. If you can’t imagine doing anything other than science – JCs today require people to take one contrasting subject. Eg. (Math, Physics, Chemistry, Economics). NUS High on the other hand allows you to do triple science and math even in your JC equivalent years.
4. If you want to go to the US for University, NUS High might be an advantage as we take AP subjects, which the Americans are more familiar with. Also, the school system structured like the American High School system, so you will better know what to expect if you actually go to US to study. You also get your final results earlier than the JC students doing A Levels, which if nothing will give you less anxiety waiting for your A-Level results. And you can input all your results when you apply for universities, which gives them less guesswork about you. Even if NUS High eventually makes them optional, I would strongly advise anyone to take AP exams anyway. I'll say take as many of them as you can take, regardless of whether you can use them to skip courses in university. Most US colleges and UK universities consider them seriously, and if nothing else they show your diligence and commitment to education. As Srinath pointed out, some schools may even look upon them as the major reason on whether to admit you or not. Besides, if you already have the knowledge, why not just apply it? Past statistics have showed getting a 5 is not much of a problem for the vast majority of NUS High students.
5. On a related note, if you apply to the UK, they will know immediately what your results are and be less likely to give you conditional offers which you may or may not fulfill. For example, instead of saying get x.xxxx/5.0 for your final CAP, they may say get a grade of 7.0 on the IETLS instead. (The British version of the SAT, offered several times a year). There have been cases of people who got into some UK schools and in the end didn’t manage to fulfill the condition (usually to get a certain number of A-grades for A-Levels) – which is probably more heartbreaking than being outright rejected in the first place. However, do note that this is not the case if you apply to Oxbridge as they require you to apply far earlier than the January 15 deadline of the following year after your graduate.
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