DSA 2022

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ainunnajib\" post_id=\"2067232\" time=\"1652320823\" user_id=\"166513:

Hi! Thank you for your kind advice & detailed response!

I do been wondering if \"less than Gold/Platinum/top\" in NMOS, SMOPS, and RIPMWC stands any chance for DSA Math into RI/HCI. There's probably higher chance for NUSH due to their 100% DSA policy with cohort size of ~180 students. So your \"prima facie\" reply nailed it.

I guess I'll go for full transparency here as we need as much advice as we can get, and we do not have any friends who'd been in this similar DSA Math journey. We do have friends who gotten into NUSH but via SIE (after PSLE), and into RI via Sec 1 posting. But we're not confident with PSLE either due to mother tongue & English.

So here's my son's full DSA awards/activities list, would love to have suggestions & comments please 🙏 to maximize his chance getting into NUSH or RI or HCI or SST or NJC via DSA Math/STEM/Infocomm route: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CGLhSDwH0ejd13owa1B3ulMcCcsonQz-tTSp29xxOaQ/edit?usp=sharing

Interesting list of awards / activities.

However, the ones that probably carry the most weight for DSA considerations in the first round are row 2 and row 4. The rest are nice to have, but matter very little, apart from giving the impression that this person likes math / science. A number of these activities and awards are external comps / activities which most schools don't take part (i.e. no basis for comparison), do not restrict participation (i.e. unable to assess level of participants / difficulty) and have a somewhat commercial angle (i.e. generally favour the well-off).

IMHO, the disclosure doesn't change the calculus:
1. Your best chance lies with SST.

2. NUSH is somewhat of a low probability iffy. Nevertheless, it should be included as one of the choices since DSA and SIE are the only options of entering the school.

3. You will probably struggle to stand out as an applicant in any of the IP schools, be it RI, HCI, NJC etc. Most, if not all applicants, will have a somewhat similar or better profile (especially, if you only compare row 2 and row 4). Hence, I will go with the \"die-die cannot let go otherwise you cannot forgive yourself\" option, whichever that may be. Do be realistic about your chances and don't be disappointed if you don't get a call up.

[Toomuchlaundry]

floppy\" post_id=\"2067316\" time=\"1652405937\" user_id=\"97579:

Interesting list of awards / activities.

However, the ones that probably carry the most weight for DSA considerations in the first round are row 2 and row 4. The rest are nice to have, but matter very little, apart from giving the impression that this person likes math / science. A number of these activities and awards are external comps / activities which most schools don't take part (i.e. no basis for comparison), do not restrict participation (i.e. fee payment) and have a somewhat commercial angle (i.e. generally favour the well-off).

IMHO, the disclosure doesn't change the calculus:
1. Your best chance lies with SST.

2. NUSH is somewhat of a low probability iffy. Nevertheless, it should be included as one of the choices since DSA and SIE are the only options of entering the school.

3. You will probably struggle to stand out as an applicant in any of the IP schools, be it RI, HCI, NJC etc. Most, if not all applicants, will have a somewhat similar or better profile (especially, if you only compare row 2 and row 4). Hence, I will go with the \"die-die cannot let go otherwise you cannot forgive yourself\" option, whichever that may be. Do be realistic about your chances and don't be disappointed if you don't get a call up.

Oof, honest but true.

My kid was in the top class of a popular SAP primary school 2 years ago, where almost the whole class applied for DSA. In the highly competitive academic domains, only one Olympiad Platinum winner (the only one in the school) made it.

My kid is herself really into Math and Science and spends a lot of time on them. But in the DSA interviews, including with NUSH, the schools were keen to separate real brilliance in the DSA domain vs. what I might have to call, for lack of a better term, parent-funded coaching.

Which may account for an odd statistic I've noticed in DSA admissions. The great SAP primary school my kid is from only saw 10 or so DSA admissions. But the two neighbourhood primary schools near our home actually saw about 20 DSA admissions, plus or minus 5 kids. I'm not sure if home address or parent-funded coaching is a factor in DSA admissions, or even that MOE will cop to it as a factor!

Similarly, I noticed Law faculty in NUS has widened admissions tests to all JCs and even Polys, excluding the middling ones in top JCs, and PSC scholarships are trying to diversify away from just Raffles and Hwa Chong. Worrying for me as my kid is headed to Hwa chong (hopefully)!

[Mima]

floppy\" post_id=\"2067316\" time=\"1652405937\" user_id=\"97579:

Interesting list of awards / activities.

However, the ones that probably carry the most weight for DSA considerations in the first round are row 2 and row 4. The rest are nice to have, but matter very little, apart from giving the impression that this person likes math / science. A number of these activities and awards are external comps / activities which most schools don't take part (i.e. no basis for comparison), do not restrict participation (i.e. unable to assess level of participants / difficulty) and have a somewhat commercial angle (i.e. generally favour the well-off).

IMHO, the disclosure doesn't change the calculus:
1. Your best chance lies with SST.

2. NUSH is somewhat of a low probability iffy. Nevertheless, it should be included as one of the choices since DSA and SIE are the only options of entering the school.

3. You will probably struggle to stand out as an applicant in any of the IP schools, be it RI, HCI, NJC etc. Most, if not all applicants, will have a somewhat similar or better profile (especially, if you only compare row 2 and row 4). Hence, I will go with the \"die-die cannot let go otherwise you cannot forgive yourself\" option, whichever that may be. Do be realistic about your chances and don't be disappointed if you don't get a call up.

Why is NUSH a low probability? This year they are inviting all the applicants for written test....want to know what kind of profile does NUSH look for?

[Shortribs]

Mima\" post_id=\"2067345\" time=\"1652415733\" user_id=\"194754:

Why is NUSH a low probability? This year they are inviting all the applicants for written test....want to know what kind of profile does NUSH look for?

Yes, there is a written test. But the sch has also already started its outreach months ago, selected p6 students have already been invited to attend classes there as part of their recruitment efforts. These include the following:

- IMSO maths and science national team members
- GEP math and science masterclass participants
- NMOS and SPSO gold recipients

That already takes up easily >100 of the slots in NUSH. Out of a cohort of 170-180 that's already more than half, so the odds are really not in your favour if you aren't in any of the above groups.

[zac's mum]

Shortribs\" post_id=\"2067352\" time=\"1652418469\" user_id=\"193978:

Yes, there is a written test. But the sch has also already started its outreach months ago, selected p6 students have already been invited to attend classes there as part of their recruitment efforts. These include the following:

- IMSO maths and science national team members
- GEP math and science masterclass participants
- NMOS and SPSO gold recipients

That already takes up easily >100 of the slots in NUSH. Out of a cohort of 170-180 that's already more than half, so the odds are really not in your favour if you aren't in any of the above groups.

…and I heard thru the grapevine (unverified) that they have already given out COs to the top handful even before the MOE portal opened.

So their seats are already confirmed and the written test is merely a formality.

[Shortribs]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2067353\" time=\"1652419193\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2067353 time=1652419193 user_id=53606]
…and I heard thru the grapevine (unverified) that they have already given out COs to the top handful even before the MOE portal opened.

So their seats are already confirmed and the written test is merely a formality.[/quote]

This is correct. The IMSO team (24 pax every year) will be the first to receive CO. This group is exempted from the test.

[zac's mum]

Shortribs\" post_id=\"2067356\" time=\"1652419295\" user_id=\"193978:

This is correct. The IMSO team (24 pax every year) will be the first to receive CO. This group is exempted from the test.

Thx for clarifying that they are exempted from the test.

Not all will take up the offer though. Basically everyone else just has to wait for the leftover seats. Odds not high is correct.

[bbbay]

Most of our leaders are humanities major, not STEM.


If your child aspire to lead, STEM may not be the best direction statistically

[Tookies]

ainunnajib\" post_id=\"2067232\" time=\"1652320823\" user_id=\"166513:

Hi! Thank you for your kind advice & detailed response!

I do been wondering if \"less than Gold/Platinum/top\" in NMOS, SMOPS, and RIPMWC stands any chance for DSA Math into RI/HCI. There's probably higher chance for NUSH due to their 100% DSA policy with cohort size of ~180 students. So your \"prima facie\" reply nailed it.

I guess I'll go for full transparency here as we need as much advice as we can get, and we do not have any friends who'd been in this similar DSA Math journey. We do have friends who gotten into NUSH but via SIE (after PSLE), and into RI via Sec 1 posting. But we're not confident with PSLE either due to mother tongue & English.

So here's my son's full DSA awards/activities list, would love to have suggestions & comments please 🙏 to maximize his chance getting into NUSH or RI or HCI or SST or NJC via DSA Math/STEM/Infocomm route: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CGLhSDwH0ejd13owa1B3ulMcCcsonQz-tTSp29xxOaQ/edit?usp=sharing

Impressive profile for No 6 & 7. I feel that you are on the right track in these 2 areas for informatics Olympian. And you stand a good chance for Stem DSA domain. Usually top performers for National Olympiad Informatics r from NUSH, RI and HCI, but I’m not sure if RI and HCI has stem domain or not.

[SG_KP1]

For those who are looking at NUSH but aren’t triple platinum award winner, my suggestion is just apply…


The bad news is that historically NUSH has had ~2,000 applicants for 170-180 spots. When you take out some of the groups mentioned above (i.e. kids with reasonably good odds), the odds for the remaining spots are even worse (could be 20:1 or so - hard to say the exact figure).

However, the conditional odds for any individual kid will be different than this range, and "you can’t win if you don’t play." Given that everyone will be able to sit for the selection test this year, using one choice (if dream school) is probably a better option than it was over the last two years where the applications were screened for interviews (probably 300-400 kids).

Additionally, I’d guess NUSH will take in a wider range of students than say RI (or RGS) math. The cohort has previously been made up of kids from 70+ primary schools, and I doubt all of these kids are Platinum award winners, etc. While there are definitely kids that get three COs across Raffles + NUSH + Something Else, there are also plenty of cases where got only NUSH or didn’t get NUSH but got something else (some "complainers" last year).

This is not to say the odds are "good" but if you are hoping for the school I’d say give it a try. At a minimum, you may have a chance at a few of the spots that open up during the SIE.