University courses

[doodbug]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2056057\" time=\"1642490286\" user_id=\"2358:

During my short work stint in NUS, I have heard of utown, tembusu, Peter and Alice college but I thought these are liberal arts college and not really suitable for those studying hard sciences or finance/business so wasn't paying much attention now it seems like very popular with NUS undergrads.

Residential Colleges like Tembusu, College of Alice and Peter Tan etc are open to students of all degree programmes. Lots of students in Faculty of Engineering and School of Business are living in these residential colleges. Even if you are an Engineering or Business student, you will have to read some General Education modules, which are often read at the Residential College.

[doodbug]

starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2056062\" time=\"1642490466\" user_id=\"14025:

Students from Faculty of Science or Engineering do stay in these Colleges.

I dont know why dd chose Tembusu over the rest.

Each Residential College has its own character and appeal. CAPT for example, seems to be known for community service and volunteering work. Tembusu College seems to be strong in art and drama type of thing and seems t o be very welcoming and inclusive. In the same way, during our time, the different halls at NUS have their own reputation of sorts.

[Imp75]

zeemimi\" post_id=\"2056058\" time=\"1642490311\" user_id=\"15896:

Most kids are clueless, like a few of mine.
In the past, i used to tell them study what you like (at the end of Sec 2, JC combis, uni courses). Now I'm wondering if I should have asked them to study more \"marketable and popular\" majors.
Truth is I don't want to be blamed should they face difficulties along the way. So threw the ball into their court for them to take ownership. Along the way i just support by looking into their nutritional needs and mental wellbeing. No direct upfront monetary support after JCs though. :evil:

Thanks zee. So what uni course and why?

[sharonkhoo]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2056015\" time=\"1642485378\" user_id=\"2358:

Hi
My kids are fast approaching the end of the sec/jc journey and they are clueless about what uni courses to take (am sure there are many teenagers like this too). For ksp parents here who are very experienced and been through the same path, do you mind sharing the uni courses/which uni your kids have pursued and the thoughts process behind them. Appreciate kind sharing from parents thank you.

I was one of the kids who was told what to study simply because I could (the sciences). I rebelled at A level, which I am thoroughly glad I did, which I believe is about the right time to let a child decide where his interests lie. If not at A levels, definitely at university level! The worst thing that parents can do, I feel, speaking from the receiving end of this, is to look at the child's grades and try to fit them into the most pretigious/competitive courses that they can qualify for - you are good at science, so you should study Medicine; or you are good at reading/writing, so study Law. University studies are for training the mind. In the modern day, with things changing so fast, the specifics of what you learn in university are unlikely be very useful even 10 yrs later, let alone 40 yrs later at the end of your working life, so the specifics really don't matter except to show that you can actually learn and reason.

I don't want to go into specifics, but the big-picture questions are - what interests the child? What is his personality like? What kind of mind does he have?

Choosing a course and possible career need to take into account all these things. A child may love IT and computers, but is he the type who wants to code in a dark hole, or take computers apart and reassemble them, or sell IT solutions, or teach IT? Is he a researcher/thinker, or a fix-it type? Does he also have an interest in some other area which he can combine with it - medical technology, IT in media or music, IT in food?

This kind of questioning can be applied to any field. To give some examples: I love reading and writing, but was not creative enough to consider the more literary paths, also not extrovert enough to want to pursue journalism, or combative enough to want to practise law, or patient enough to teach. I have a strong desire to organise things and help people - so my first career choice (much to my parents' horror) was in librarianship! Later in life, I now work as an editor of non-fiction, at the other end of the book spectrum, still helping people and needing to be organised. Unfortunately, neither of these careers pays as well as law, which was their first choice...

For both my daughters, we looked at their interests and personalities, and just told them to study something that interested them enough to keep them going for 4 years (of course with an eye to eventual jobs), knowing that a lot of people end up doing jobs which have little to do with their university courses. One studied Econs and the other Linguistics. Are they going to be an economist and a linguist? Probably not, but there will always be jobs for those who are flexible and like what they studied enough to find jobs that involve it, more or less.

Hope this helps.

[zeemimi]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2056068\" time=\"1642491036\" user_id=\"2358:

Thanks zee. So what uni course and why?

FASS. Econs. Cos not interested in any other course. Grad already.

[starlight1968sg]

There is no right or wrong in the U courses, just whether suitable or not, like it or not.

[MrsKiasu]

To me, quite foggy in front. I have not much preference on what dd wants to become next time. To me is just go wherever she can go…occasionally she will tell me she wants to become this or that…I don’t know how much she knows or from where she got the idea from coz she has no one in the family to check with on those job/industry.

[sharonkhoo]

starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2056072\" time=\"1642491487\" user_id=\"14025:

There is no right or wrong in the U courses, just whether suitable or not, like it or not.

For most students, if they get to choose a general area, or they are fairly flexible, that's true. But for a few, they can flunk out within their first year, spiral into depression, etc. Not something that we would want for a young person.

[Imp75]

MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2056074\" time=\"1642492907\" user_id=\"43981:

To me, quite foggy in front. I have not much preference on what dd wants to become next time. To me is just go wherever she can go..occasionally she will tell me she wants to become this or that..I don't know how much she knows or from where she got the idea from coz she has no one in the family to check with on those job/industry.

At least your daughter has an idea. My girls are clueless and says \"we follow you and papa footsteps\" .....not smthg I am keen on Hahaha.....

[Olive3]

Left 100% to the child’s decision without any (bias) input from parents, I’ve personally come across a handful of kids who opted for Uni courses in a more applied learning environment and enrolled in SUTD & SIT, despite achieving RP of high 80s/90. Some parents have not heard of these 2 Universities or their courses in Singapore. NUS & NTU, and possibly SMU are more popular.