University courses

[sharonkhoo]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2056261\" time=\"1642565067\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2056261 time=1642565067 user_id=53606]
I’m curious as to whether our local Unis now have grades awarded to students based on their participation during tutorials?

I recall getting a bit of culture shock during my 1st year in Oz uni as I scored a big fat zero for class participation. Being a typical 乖 Asian student, I had no idea how to “chip in” to the ongoing discussions in class. I guess being in the SG education system for 12 years prior made me wait to be called upon, “trained” not to say anything without first raising hand and wait patiently for teacher to give permission to speak. I did push myself out of my comfort zone to “perform” better next semester.

Just wondering how things are at SG uni nowadays.[/quote]

Yes!- based on just 1 course, but I believe that it applies across the board. But only 10-15% (I think there was one that was 20%) of the total score, and I think they are fairly lenient in awarding the marks. As long as the student answers a few times and participates a bit. There's also at least 1 group project and a presentation for each course, each semester.

[sharonkhoo]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2056287\" time=\"1642574968\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2056287 time=1642574968 user_id=53606]
But my dad (who used to teach Bizad) always advised us never to choose Bizad as our first degree. He encouraged us to choose Science-related courses if we could. His rationale: a Science graduate can always pick up Business skills later on, whereas it’s way tougher for a Business grad to switch career to Engineer/Scientist later on in life (if they wanted).[/quote]

Depending on the student, I agree somewhat. If the child has the capacity to go deeper into something more specialised (doesn't have to be science-related, could be philosophy, or lit, or econs), I prefer a more subject-specific BA to \"stretch\" the brain. Brain development goes on into the early 20s. Breadth is easier to achieve later in life, while the converse is less easy. But some students are really \"broad\" by nature, and just not suited to specialising, in which case, then going broad at the BA level is still OK.

I'm going to be very blunt here, and probably offend some people: I'm not convinced by all the hype about \"inter-disciplinary\", \"cross-disciplinary\" etc. It works very well for the very bright who can go both deep and wide within 3-4 years. But for weaker students (and I fear this applies to more than half of the university students now that we are having nearly 50% going to university), it's just an excuse to let them dabble in lots of different courses without developing significant depth or expertise in any field, but still get a degree. Just my opinion!

[SG_KP1]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2056287\" time=\"1642574968\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2056287 time=1642574968 user_id=53606]
Just my opinion (not backed by facts): I think Business-related courses remain highly popular among the youths because it is less boring/traditional? The case studies are more up-to-date & relatable.

But my dad (who used to teach Bizad) always advised us never to choose Bizad as our first degree. He encouraged us to choose Science-related courses if we could. His rationale: a Science graduate can always pick up Business skills later on, whereas it’s way tougher for a Business grad to switch career to Engineer/Scientist later on in life (if they wanted).[/quote]

I tend to agree with the second paragraph's logic but at the same time I don't think it's a bad route. I am not sure on the recruiting practices here but I've always thought the MBB jobs (or other top corporates/MNCs) are one of the best ways a young adult can start his/her working career. In the West, I think these firms will hire both business grads (from many schools) and various majors (including humanities) from some of the top universities.

I think as you progress in your career, so much of the work or success shifts from technical knowledge/doing stuff to managing people, generic problem solving, continuing to learn and improve oneself, etc. The broad based job and early exposure to a lot of stuff is not bad in that regard. At the same time, there's a reason why MBA programmes teach basically the same stuff to people 10 years later (at 2x the cost) that have been in a more technical role earlier in their career (easy to move up this way too).

doodbug\" post_id=\"2056292\" time=\"1642576256\" user_id=\"13281:

Yes, NUS BizAd Grads enjoy a very strong reputation among employers. They a re definitely not pigeon-holed into audit functions or what - many will go on to business development, marketing....and some of them, after the Business course, kind of realize they don't really like working in corporate - they move to the public service instead.

There is a very good programme at NUS, called the NUS Overseas Colleges Programme, for budding entrepreneurs or for those who are interested in startup, iinnovation and what not.

+1 on the part in bold. I came across this a while ago and was impressed by some of the recent grads that had gone through it (risk taking is an underrated skill/characteristic). Continue to watch...

[sky minecrafter]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2056287\" time=\"1642574968\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2056287 time=1642574968 user_id=53606]...[/quote]

I agree with your dad, zacs mum
- especially compensation, opportunities wise

[sky minecrafter]

SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2056301\" time=\"1642579339\" user_id=\"188234:

...In the West, I think these firms will hire both business grads (from many schools) and various majors (including humanities) from some of the top universities...

This reminds me of a young lady (foreign talent) I had met in an mnc. Her self-introduction was that she had won a national marketing competition (of sorts), besides being armed with a biz degree - (might be reporting directly to the regional boss) amazing achievement at her age I guess

[Vevey]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2056287\" time=\"1642574968\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2056287 time=1642574968 user_id=53606]
Just my opinion (not backed by facts): I think Business-related courses remain highly popular among the youths because it is less boring/traditional? The case studies are more up-to-date & relatable.

But my dad (who used to teach Bizad) always advised us never to choose Bizad as our first degree. He encouraged us to choose Science-related courses if we could. His rationale: a Science graduate can always pick up Business skills later on, whereas it’s way tougher for a Business grad to switch career to Engineer/Scientist later on in life (if they wanted).[/quote]

Haha..could he be 1 of my lecturers before the millennia?
As a bizad student, I enjoyed most of my lessons and find them relevant and interesting. Not sure abt now but we used to choose our major only towards end of year 2 after we had a clearer pix of what we want to be. Personally, I benefited from this scheme after switching my major at the very last minute & enjoyed most of my working life as well.
The research & analysis for the thesis had a great impact on my career direction later on & made me love statistics.
The 4-day week and short days were bonus for breaks, trading and hobbies as some of us preferred to have a better balance of study life by then. Sort of taking things easy, enjoying uni life before working.
So I guess everyone has a different motivation & needs to find a course that suits oneself instead of following the herd.

[Grr_roxy]

Hi,

I will like to check about our uni engineering courses as I understand some of them no longer requires physics.
When the requirements states as such: Applicants without H1 or H2 Physics need to have an ‘O’-Level pass in Physics or its equivalent
Does IP student able to use their Y4 physics grades?

[phtthp]

Best that

u write in to ask the Dean of university (Engineering), to confirm / clarify. Within Engineering itself, there are several different type of Engineering courses available, thus admission requirements will differ.

Eg.

Chemical Engineering faculty admission requirements could be different, from that of Electrical / Electronic Engineering. Which specific course are u interested in ?

Moreover,
even within the IP curriculum itself, hard to say. Some IP students’ Year 4 results can be excellent, while others can be poor, almost failed, hardly meeting their Year 5 Promotional ( Pass ) year end exam requirements, asked by school to be retained, to repeat Year 4 IP. After all, IP is not suitable for all students. Yet, some parents "pushed" their P6 children, into IP. That’s why if u look around, there are still some IP Secondary schools that cannot do away with those "on-demand " O-level classes, opened. They still need these O-level classes to exist, because after trial out 2 years of IP, the school find them not suitable to continue with IP at end of Year 2, thus identified these students one by one, from each IP-Year 2 class in November, to sit for O-level instead, starting Sec 3.


Thus,

whether one can make use of own Year 4 IP results to gain admission or not, only the Dean of that unique Engineering faculty course which you are interested in applying to, can answer your question. None of us in this forum can answer u, since we are not the Dean.

[bbbay]

it is helpful if Spore students take a gap year, to see the real world outside classroom and to know themselves in relation to the real world more , before deciding what they want to study in U? Gap year are customary and I read, mandatory in some countries



[youtubeId]AD5oXPap570[/youtubeId]

[phtthp]

bbbay\" post_id=\"2057266\" time=\"1643541799\" user_id=\"175278:

it is helpful if Spore students take a gap year, to see the real world outside classroom and to know themselves in relation to the real world more , before deciding what they want to study in U? Gap year are customary and I read, mandatory in some countries


https://youtu.be/AD5oXPap570

actually u can take a gap year off yourself anytime, after A-level. Nobody going to stop u.


That means don't apply for any university course right immediately after your A-level, since u not sure what u want in life, until one year later. That means, u apply for uni courses together with the batch of students who are born one year after you, younger than u by one year. Your A-level results still applicable, still valid, not expired yet. Just delayed, by one year later only.