JC or Poly?
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For some Secondary students aged around 16, from young they already know what they want to become when they grow up. So, they will head for the Polytechnic route, not the Junior college route.
Example
Some boys since very young, aspire to work with aeroplanes one day, because they have a natural flair and strong passion, in this field. So, after O level, they will head for the Polytechnic \"Aeronautical\" Engineering Diploma.
They won't choose Sec 1 IP (Integrated-programme) path, instead choose the traditional O-level path, & find out what's the Cut-off-point (COP) for \"Aeronautical\" Engineering Diploma way beforehand by attending various Polytechnic Open house(s) conducted in beginning first week of January each new Year, to gather information & feedback by speaking to faculty lectureres, way before they even sit for GCE \"O\" level exam, since they target to meet the COP (which they're aware of) of that specialized Diploma which they're interested in.
After completing the 3 years Diploma specialized field, then they'll continue to further their university studies, either locally or abroad.
If you are a student (aged around 16) belonging to this category, already sure of what u want to be to be, for your career path, then go Polytechnic is a wiser choice. In contrast, many of us at this age around 16 years old, who still don't know what we want to be when we grow up, chances are we tend to stick to the Junior College path, whose JC curriculum is much more general in nature, compared to the Poly specialized courses.
Unlike Polytechnic courses, where after graduation, one can straightaway join the work-force directly with the relevant skill-set equipped with from that Diploma, perhaps gather some working experience first, by working for one or two years to gather a feel of working experience in the industry and to confirm : is this really what u want to work in, for the rest of your career life-long journey ? After working for one or two years, some confirmed that they not interested in this field, then proceed to university to change course of study. While others after working one or two years, confirmed that Yes, this is still their interest, their passion, also proceed to university to continue pursue that similar field / course of study. -
my boy took the poly route as he is keen in engineering. he went to MI for a short period and couldn’t adjust to the syllabus. several of his classmates from secondary school went to the Aeronautical engineering at SP.
in fact majority of the boys are in the engineering courses while some of the girls went to NP for media course.
for those who do not know what field they want to enter, the JC path allows them to decide because they have 2 years and there are more avenues to enter. -
janet88:
I beg to differ. This argument about \"going poly if you know what you want to do\" is really outdated. Go to a school which allows you to score and do your best (i.e. which type of learning environment suits your child better).my boy took the poly route as he is keen in engineering. he went to MI for a short period and couldn't adjust to the syllabus. several of his classmates from secondary school went to the Aeronautical engineering at SP.
in fact majority of the boys are in the engineering courses while some of the girls went to NP for media course.
for those who do not know what field they want to enter, the JC path allows them to decide because they have 2 years and there are more avenues to enter.
There are many courses in university where the % placement for poly students is much lower. For example, chemical engineering. So, an O Level student who likes chemical engineering and thus decides to go to poly might just miss his/her chance if they do not have a near perfect poly GPA. -
JC
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i believe it all boils to the child…he/she is the one studying. as parents we can only advise but support the decision made.
when son ultimately decided on the poly, we gave him our full support…the condition i set is if he chooses poly which is 3 years long, he must get into the dean’s list and enter local U. -
My daughter is aiming to become a psychiatrist. We are exploring the options to 1) JC or 2) Polytechnic. I understand that she needs to go to medical school and complete her basic degree then she will proceed with her Master Doc degree.
I would like to find out if she opts for Poly route, which course should she take to apply for NUS/NTU Medical program or she should goes into JC to take her ‘A’ level?
TIA! -
bernice04:
I would say do her A levels in JC then proceed to medical school. It's a more direct route and the medicine intake for local unis is still mostly JC students. They have upped the number of students coming in from Poly but it's still very limited. Last year's intake from Poly was 11, according to the local newspapers. This is for both NUS and NTU. Most of the students studied biomedical sciences so that might be the course to take up should your daughter want to take the poly route.My daughter is aiming to become a psychiatrist. We are exploring the options to 1) JC or 2) Polytechnic. I understand that she needs to go to medical school and complete her basic degree then she will proceed with her Master Doc degree.
I would like to find out if she opts for Poly route, which course should she take to apply for NUS/NTU Medical program or she should goes into JC to take her 'A' level?
TIA! -
bernice04:
I applied to NUS YLLSoM during their application exercise and was given a placing in Life Science. To put things in perspective, I graduate from Polytechnic with a Diploma with merit in Biomedical Science. One senior of mine was accepted into YLL. My GPA was higher than hers and I was very much involved in research. If you look at the IGP of NUS Medicine, you'll notice that only a handful of Polytechnic students are accepted into the programme, compared to their JC counterparts. If she is really aiming to be a psychiatrist, she has a higher chance of being accepted to YLL by going through the JC route.My daughter is aiming to become a psychiatrist. We are exploring the options to 1) JC or 2) Polytechnic. I understand that she needs to go to medical school and complete her basic degree then she will proceed with her Master Doc degree.
I would like to find out if she opts for Poly route, which course should she take to apply for NUS/NTU Medical program or she should goes into JC to take her 'A' level?
TIA!
As for specialising in Psychiatry, there is a selection speciality during medical school (if I'm not wrong) and there are still more steps after. -
Hi! I am a Secondary 2 student who is stuck when it comes to choosing jc or poly because my school stresses the importance of planning post-secondary . My subject combination that I will be doing in Secondary 3 is triple science a math and combined humanities and basic subjects .
I want to go to jc after my olevels because from what i heard, it is an easier path to pursuing medicine, but i dont have any family members who are familiar with the jc route so they usually have no advice as to where i should go. Can anyone tell me how jc is like?
I would not mind going to poly but ive read some articles about the number of poly intakes into local universities or specifically medicine which is about 1 student!!
Please do help me weigh my options! TIA :idea: -
Jc is lecture-tutorial class format like uni. No more teachers monitoring whether you did your homework or … copy from friends. You gain more independence, … from long ago, not sure if it’s still the same… some kids lost their way from their new found freedom, and did badly in first year, but managed to catch up by A level, but some kids didn’t.
Jc teaches concept, more abstract. At least for 2 maths it was like that then. You may want to ask yourself, do you grab concept easily?
I was told it is more true now than before, the two, jc and poly, no longer differ by rate of success in life.
I note that those from poly and later join uni will be very savvy in their course of work in terms of application. But as they rep the top of their cohort, these are correlated. In some courses, some topics in their first year in uni is just refresher for them. However, by 1 year or so, many jc students will catch up.
To note: i m not from medicine course and no experience in poly.
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