Choosing a School - Part IV

Now I will talk about local schools. Aside from popular courses like medicine, dentistry or law, local universities are generally easier to get in than overseas universities. Aside from being a lot cheaper, you will also be at home, which is a very good perk for some who eventually decide not to go overseas for further studies.

I will cover only NUS, NTU and SMU as I dont think you will be interested in UniSim and other private universities. I am not an expert on NTU and SMU (I didnt apply) so I wont talk very much about them either. Please do correct me if I have any errors below.

In terms of culture:
NUS, well most of you have been there for research projects or field trips so I think you have had plenty of opportunities to soak in their culture and see if you like it or not. Personally I felt that it seemed more academically inclined than NTU or SMU, but I leave you to make your conclusions.

SMU projects the very 'cool' and 'fun' image, but some seniors from SMU have said that it's becoming more and more 'muggerish' due to the mix of students that they attract. Not sure what to make out of that because I didnt say it and I was never a student there, but again you make your judgments based on the feel you get when you go in etc.

In terms of academics:
If you are interested in doing medicine, NUS is the only local university thus far which has a medicine school. There has been talks lately about opening another one, but I dont think it will materialize within your time and so you got to fight for the 200-300 places in NUS medical school for undergraduate, or go to the Duke-NUS medical school for graduate studies. The NUS medical school is probably what you are looking at if you intend to practice after studying, from what I heard the Duke-NUS medical school trains you to be a researcher instead of a practicing doctor.

If you are interested in law, NUS and SMU have law programmes, however a friend doing law now tells me that NUS's programme is more established. Take it for what you will.

If you want to do sciences, SMU does not offer science, so your only choices are NUS and NTU. NUS science fac should be easy for most of you, ditto for NTU. I wont comment about which one is better because both schools have their strong and weak points, but you probably already know whether you want to go to NUS or NTU. If you dont know just apply to both.

If you want to do business, it seems like that is SMU's forte (accountancy and business)and it seems to be 1 of the more popular courses for NUS as well.

If you want to do arts and social sciences, I have no opinion other than doing psychology at any of our local universities is not as good as going to the US.

>> Choosing a School - Part IV

SMU open house and UCL.

A few things coming up:

There will be an exhibition with Imperial, King's College London, LSE and UCL on 7th and 8th March, 11am - 5pm at Conrad Centennial Singapore. Refer below for further info.

Well I know that UCL and Imperial are going to our school on Wednesday (which is tomorrow), but still if you are extremely interested in UCL you can let me know, this is because UCL will be giving all admits a talk on Thursday and we are allowed to bring guests, so if you are interested let me know and I will bring you along this Thursday. Drop me a mail (angyingzhen@gmail.com) or sms me.

This was the email I received, if you are wondering:
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Dear Prospective Students,

UCL Reception – Thursday 05 March 2009

Congratulations! According to our records you have received an offer to study at UCL. We are now writing to let you know that, continuing UCL’s strong links with Singapore, we will once again be holding an independent education exhibition with our London colleagues (Imperial College London, Kings College London and London School of Economics) under the “World Class Study in London” banner. The exhibition will be held at the Conrad Centennial Singapore between 11am and 5pm on 07 and 08 March 2009. Further details about the exhibition can be found in the attached flyer.

The UCL representatives at the exhibition will be Mrs Olga Thomas, Faculty and Departmental Tutor, Faculty of Laws, and Miss Penny Zorbas from the UCL International Office. We would be delighted to meet you and answer any queries that you may have about UCL and the degree programme for which you have applied.

Prior to the exhibition we shall be hosting a reception for UCL offer holders for this academic year, 2009/10. The reception, to which you and a guest are cordially invited, will be from 8pm on Thursday 05 March 2008 at The Arts House at the Old Parliament. The reception shall be hosted by Professor Derek Tocher, Pro Provost for East and South East Asia. The occasion will provide an opportunity for you to meet the parents of current UCL students, other prospective students, as well as representatives from UCL. We hope that some UCL alumni will also be able to attend. Directions to the The Arts House are included with this letter and parking is possible at The Parliament House for $2.06 after 5pm.

If you would like to attend the reception please complete the form and respond to this email by 25 February 2009. Also please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about the offer you are holding from UCL.

I hope I have the opportunity to meet with you at the exhibition and/or the reception next month.
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This was the flyer they attached.


In addition there is an SMU open house as well on 7th and 8th March, from 10am - 6pm. You can go to this website for more info: http://www.smu.edu.sg/openhouse/2009/index.html.