School Of The Arts, Singapore

[dasalo]

Jonathan Chung:

Hi my name is Jonathan, I'm 16 years old and I'm wondering if it's possible to transfer to SOTA at this age. Here's a bit of background...


So I was born in Singapore, though both my parents are from Taiwan(I'm PR). My parents don't really get along so well so my mother is staying in Singapore while my father is in Taiwan(he's retired). When I was in secondary 1, I acted in a children's TV show. It was the first time I ever acted so I got really excited and I was so interested in acting even though I've never received a lot of training. I wanted to transfer to SOTA, but for some reason I decided that it was best for me to just finish secondary school where I was. But when I finished sec 2, my parents wanted me to go to Taiwan to stay with my dad and study there. I was young and ignorant and didn't really know what I wanted, didn't dare to speak up, so here I am begging my parents to let me come back to Singapore. One reason why I would rather go to SOTA instead of going to a similar school in Taiwan is because even though I'm Taiwanese, I've spent my life living in Singapore, and I just can't adapt to the sudden change.

So here's the main point of this post:
Is it possible to get accepted by the school at this age?
Will I have to drop a level if I did get accepted?
Will i be accepted even if I don't have a lot of training?
How great is the pressure for the student's academic performance? Will it be similar to other secondary schools?

Should I really choose to transfer, or do as my parents want me to?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I would appreciate it if someone could help me with this.

Hi Jonathan,

Nice to meet you here. I used to frequent this thread until my 2 gals have graduated from SOTA so my admission procedures might not be accurate since there were a lot of changes ever since.

So, just to answer a few of your questions

So here's the main point of this post:
Is it possible to get accepted by the school at this age?

SOTA accepts deserving students from Sec 1 (Yr 1) to PreU1 (Yr5) but according to my observations, Yr 5 is a difficult level to be accepted due to the IB academic studies and culture. It's not easy to adapt.

Will I have to drop a level if I did get accepted?

May or may not be depending on your level of competency. In any case, you need to request for TA (Talent Academy = Audition) in order to get admitted.

Will i be accepted even if I don't have a lot of training?

If you are applying in Sec 1, I can safely say YES.

At age 16 which is their Yr 4 where they already had their IB curriculum in placed, you must be very competent in your studies and be trained in your specific artform in order for them to accept you. They will not take in students with no formal artform background. There's not enough time to train you in just 2 yrs.

How great is the pressure for the student's academic performance? Will it be similar to other secondary schools?


Academic pressure gets greater as the yrs get higher. For the first 2 yrs, it is quite similar to mainstream secondary school but from yr 3 onwards, it's a great jump in level of difficulty in both art-form and academics. At yr3, this is the year they start training you for IB.


Should I really choose to transfer, or do as my parents want me to?


This is a difficult question to answer. As a parent I will want my child to follow their passion and at the same time want them to listen to what I have to offer. It differs with each family, you will have to discern for yourself what you really want.

I can understand your plight of wanting to come back to SG because you grew up here. This is something you have to sit down to talk to your dad or your mum to work things out.

Check out these websites:

http://acs.sch.edu.sg/acs_indep/main.php

http://www.sota.edu.sg/

http://www.sji-international.com.sg/index.cfm

[Imp75]

To apply to SOTA via DSA (Ballet), website indicates that applicant should have minimum Grade 4 or 5 background training in RAD or CSTD syllabus. This is rather vague. If applicant is learning Grade 4 at application stage in June (G4 grading exam only in Nov), will the applicant be considered as only having Grade 3 certification and therefore not eligible?

[J and J]

Imp75:

To apply to SOTA via DSA (Ballet), website indicates that applicant should have minimum Grade 4 or 5 background training in RAD or CSTD syllabus. This is rather vague. If applicant is learning Grade 4 at application stage in June (G4 grading exam only in Nov), will the applicant be considered as only having Grade 3 certification and therefore not eligible?

Selection is also based on the videos of your child's performance submitted together with the application. They also look at the body build of the applicants too. That's why the applicant need to submit photo of full body. You may check it out with the dance faculty during their open house which is normally in March or April....

[midnightstars]

Imp75:

To apply to SOTA via DSA (Ballet), website indicates that applicant should have minimum Grade 4 or 5 background training in RAD or CSTD syllabus. This is rather vague. If applicant is learning Grade 4 at application stage in June (G4 grading exam only in Nov), will the applicant be considered as only having Grade 3 certification and therefore not eligible?

Hey there I'm a year 1 dance student and just to let you know, while it's recommended that the applicant is at least grade 4 or 5, it's not a must. It's only recommended as in the audition, many of the steps come from grades 4/5 so they would like for you to have a solid background so that you can keep up and stuff. It's not a must though, I have a friend who came in with grade 3 CSTD (she started when she was 10) hope this helps

[Imp75]

Thanks Midnightstars! Its really helpful!


btw, as you are a successful DSA applicant, can you tell us what contributed to your successful application? Did you win a lot of dance competitions/get good grading grades or did you do well in the cognitive/written tests or what matters most is the performance at TA?

[st999]

Hi all,


Can any parents or students of SOTA in music (piano or violin) share some thoughts with us?

Thank you very much in advance!

[midnightstars]

Imp75:

Thanks Midnightstars! Its really helpful!


btw, as you are a successful DSA applicant, can you tell us what contributed to your successful application? Did you win a lot of dance competitions/get good grading grades or did you do well in the cognitive/written tests or what matters most is the performance at TA?

I've never actually participated in a competition (apart from SYF with my primary school) and while I've almost always got Distinction in my RAD exams, I'm quite sure that doesn't really matter. They will take it into consideration, of course, but what really matters is the audition itself. I was actually really really nervous for the audition as I've been wanting to come to this school since I was in Primary 1, and ended up messing up lots of stuff in the TA. In the audition, I was far from being the strongest in technique, but my teacher said that I have other things that made up for it (willingness to learn, able to get steps quite quickly etc) So really, they do look for more than just your technique in the audition. Passion is really important. And as for the CE, I guess I did reasonably well for it as I'm on a scholarship that is awarded based on how well you did in the TA, and the CE was a huge factor in it. It can be tough managing your time here as some days you end really late and twice a week I only get back home at 8pm, but it's amazing here and I'm still so incredibly grateful I got in

[Imp75]

Could you remind me what is CE? Is it the cognitive tests? TA is the audition right?

[Ragamuffin shinobi]

@midnightstars, even the yr1 end so late? I always thought that was the honeymoon yr and they ended earlier.


So do you still continue with dance classes outside? My girl went for TA this yr and we are waiting for results. Hope she gets in coz she’s been wanting to go there since p2.

[midnightstars]

CE is the Cognitive Exercise and TA is the Talent Academy


Years 1 and 2 are the honeymoon years, but we still have dance until 6.30pm latest. There are days we end at 1+/2+ though so it's not that bad. And I still continue with dance classes outside since what we do in school isn't the RAD/CSTD syllabus, but I'm going to transfer dance schools soon because I don't feel like I'm improving much at my current school all the best to your daughter!!