Let your child study overseas if you can afford it?
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Most kids do not really know what they want out of an under graduate education. Nowadays most respectable universities (including our local universities) provide similar academic and intellectually challenging education for most disciplines. Going overseas does not necessarily guarantee a good honoiurs degree and not all students can adapt well to life on his/her own physically, emotionally and spritually.
Here are some simple facts:
1. Having good A level results does not imply ability to obtain a good honours degree, that is, Second class upper division and above.
2. Prestigious universiies also have their share of mediocre students just like any other universities. Able to get in a prestigious university does not mean able to cope with the studies. With better universities comes the stress associated with competing with more or equally capable students.
3. Living in a different culture and environment without the comfort of home and having to deal with unfamiliar faces, unfamiliar places, unfamiliar customs and practices can be quite devastaing for some.
4. For some students, the stress of not being able to do well/ or maintain impressive performance can be overwhlemingly stressful and affect their mental health.
5. You can get an excellent undergrdauate education at the local universities, that is, if you know how to excel beyond the usual norm. After obtaining a good hons degree locally, it would be easy to go overseas for a post graduate degree on ones own with teaching assistantship, etc.
6. A first degree is considered a basic qualification. What you are capable of much depends on how you go about getting and studying for the degree.
For every success story, there are unsuccesful ones and sometimes very tragic and sad ones. There are suicide related stories.
Sending your son/daughter overseas for studies, is not just a simple case of affordability. He or she should do some homework as to why an overseas degree at a particular uni in a particular discipline is so desirable as oppose to a degree at a local university. An important consideration is if your child/daughter do know what his/her interest lies in pursuing the studies. At least you will know to some extent where their intellectual development is heading. If you are rich, of course, it does not matter, much of the problem with living abroad can be alleviated with a generous living allowance and if they survive the rigour of the courses they will bring home a degree. Even then, some will blame you why send them overseas to suffer when they could have gotten similar degree at home. Some may even tell you they are doing the degree for the parents and that they are not actually interested in the discipline they have studied in.
Taking a scholarship in Singaore, normally involves the whole family. with the sureties, bond and a hugh liability. In addition to the 6 points above for consideration, there is the bond and the sureties for liquidated damages in case of unsuccessful completion or non compliance with certain rules. The scholarship holder is normally bonded for five to six years after he or she has completed the degree course. Your son/daughter must take this into consideration, a period of eight or nine years commited to serving the organization that gave the scholarship. The decision should not be taken lightly. The consequences of failure to complete and compliance is grave and devastating.
Lastly, our local universities do have excellent and better than excellent passionate academic staff and do provide excellent, challenging and well balanced education. Root your son/daughter in Singapore before sending them overseas. -
I hv friend/neighcour who will b sending their 3 kids to australia next year. Youngest is p4 n can skip to p6 next year. They are planning for the kids to enter the uni there already.
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Insider,
What field does your daughter intend to pursue? And who does she hope the get the scholarship from?
In the same thread, you talked about Masters and PhD scholarships. That gives me the impression that your daughter is going into the hard sciences.
Is she set on getting a PhD? Which field? What does she see herself doing after her PhD?
All these are important questions or else it is hard to assess your situation.
My wifey and I are both Government scholars but we did the social sciences. Our career paths have been different. Things have gone well for me. But it became dreadful for wifey. We broke her bond after her Masters scholarship. -
Insider,
Ok, your daughter is going for biomedical sciences.
Bond-free overseas scholarships for undergrad in hard sciences are not easy to come by at all. I'm not sure what scholarship portal she is referring to. Perhaps she is talking about the Brightsparks portal, see:
http://www.brightsparks.com.sg/
If you are talking about bonded scholarships, and given your daughter's aspiration to be a scientist doing research, then the most appropriate Government agency would be A*Star.
You really need a PhD to even have a chance of being a scientist. Philip Yeo said that Bachelors degree holders can only wash test-tubes. Nowadays, even PhDs have to wash test-tubes. (My dear sister has PhD from NUS, not that she is washing test tubes but the life of a researcher isn't exactly very glam and easy, contrary to what some young people may perceive).
You can check out more details on the A*Star scholarship from their websites. http://www.a-star.edu.sg/ They have many different scholarships and schemes, and I don't profess to be an expert. All I know is that if you are an A*Star scholar, the pressure is quite high. You need to maintain a first-class honours equivalent GPA or else there will be significant consequences, including the possible downgrade of your scholarship. Thereafter, because you are bonded to A*Star, I'm not sure how much control you have over where you will be posted to and what research you will do. In gist, once you sign the dotted line, your fate is no longer in your own hands.
As for PhD scholarships, what your daughter is referring is not scholarship per se, but the fact that most PhD programs are fully funded. What typically happens in a good American Uni is that they have comprehensive PhD programs for outstanding graduates with first degrees. Assuming you are good enough, you will be doing your research while at the same time you'll be a teaching assistant and/or research assistant. Your fees will typically be covered and you will get a monthly stipend, which is enough for your subsistence.
The above fact is one major sore point for many A*Star scholars whom were unaware of this practice. So, after the A*Star scholars complete the undergrad and go on to PhD, they feel 'cheated' that they have to continue with A*Star when they could have, based on their undergrad achievements, possibly secured some of these prestigious places in the PhD programs.
To be continued..... -
The answers that your daughter gave you are very very vague.
From what your daughter told you, I don’t think she is aware that most Government scholarship providers are NOT looking to sponsor PhD students or students with PhD aspirations, other than A*Star.
Obviously institutions like PSC and virtually all Govt. Ministries and Stat Boards DO NOT want their scholars to do a PhD. They want the scholars to work in the respective organization, in a corporate role.
Maybe you want to dig a bit more from your daughter on exactly what scholarships she aspires to get. Ask her to identify the specific institution or agency that may offer a ‘bond-free’ scholarship in bio-medical sciences. This will force her to think through more deeply what the funding options are. Hopefully, she can find more institutions that I am not aware of.
And I come to a slightly more sensitive point but I think we are matured enough here to discuss.
Does your daughter even know what she wants to do? Why does she want to be a researcher in bio-medical sciences? Is it a fad or something? Is she trying to chase some dream, unrealistic or otherwise? Does she know what she is in for?
I ask all these questions because I sense that the answers that she has given you, based on your post, are terribly vague and naive. It appears, just from this one post, that she hasn’t done her homework and her research. Rather, she seems to be just ‘going with the flow’ and making huge and lofty assumptions of what scholarships are available.
At undergrad level, it is awfully hard (though not impossible) to find bond-free funding.
At PhD level, the game is completely different. If you have a solid set of results from undergrad, you may even be able to get into fully funded PhD programs. Just to share, many NUS/NTU students have managed to get into such PhD programs in prestigious US universities. At the very least, these students have First Class Honours.
Also, quiz your daughter on her backup plans if she can’t make it. Given that she is going for some attachment, it would be a good time for her to explore.
Coming back to the financial bond issue, my personal take is this. Go for whatever bond-free or financial help/assistance that your daughter can find, but don’t take up bonded scholarship in your daughter’s case. Reason is simple. She wants to be a researcher. Next time, if she really makes it BIG, she will want to go to the best Universities in the world and not be confined to Singapore.
If you have the finances, I would suggest you support her through her undergrad.
With very strong undergrad credentials, then she can fund her own way through PhD.
If she can’t get into a fully funded PhD program after her undergrad, it just means one thing. She isn’t good enough. So, activate Plan B, whatever that may be.
Hope this helps. -
Dear insider,
Just to be absolutely clear, your daughter is currently how old and pursuing what qualifications?
My impression was that she hasn’t started Uni but you mentioned GPA, so that got me a bit confused. -
insider:
Thanks for clarifying.noobparent:
Dear insider,
Just to be absolutely clear, your daughter is currently how old and pursuing what qualifications?
My impression was that she hasn't started Uni but you mentioned GPA, so that got me a bit confused.
Oops...she's currently in poly and now 18 years old...
All the best! -
insider:
Well, this is not necessarily a bad strategy to take as it would allow your child to really focus and push her hardest towards her desired goals.
hahaha...I ever asked her that and she told me, \"Mummy, I am sure I can make it. There's no doubt about that and there's no need to think of back-up plan coz I don't need one. I have full faith in my future.\"
But, the parent must be there to monitor and to give support if, along the way, there are roadblocks and minefields.
As you go up every level, it gets tougher and tougher, competition gets keener and keener. Take the analogy of sports. You start off as national Champion, then SEA Games, then ASIAN Games then Olympics. Every level is exponentially harder. It is not a linear thing.
My point to you as a parent is this. While our kids may have huge and lofty ambitions (which is good), sometimes it may come crashing to the floor when, along the way, we discover that no matter how hard we tried we weren't good enough. This takes a lot of maturity to deal with.
E.g. every year, many of the brightest students in Singapore apply for admission to Oxbridge and the Ivy League Unis. Only a handful make it. Those that didn't make it all had stellar grades and CCA achievements too! But that's life. We learn to deal with it. -
JWMorgan:
Most kids do not really know what they want out of an under graduate education. Nowadays most respectable universities (including our local universities) provide similar academic and intellectually challenging education for most disciplines. Going overseas does not necessarily guarantee a good honoiurs degree and not all students can adapt well to life on his/her own physically, emotionally and spritually.
Yes. I think any student who wants to study overseas must do his/her homework. Be very sure about why you want to study overseas. Some people, like my brother, would never do it they just don't like it. Others, like me, absolutely love it. Don't get swept into the craze because everyone around you seems to be doing it. Go for schools you think you will enjoy and not solely on the basis of prestige alone.JWMorgan:
I'm not sure whether the first statement is entirely true. Prestigious unis (I'm assuming HYPMS and Oxbridge) have very selective admissions procedures and all UK offers are contingent on A level grades. Miss the grades and you will get rejected. Mediocre students simply wouldn't make the cut, especially when you have multiple hoops like admission tests and academic interviews. Everyone who is admitted to such schools basically have a solid track record of academic excellence, from Sec 3/4 up to J2. The average offeree for LSE Economics has 7A*s for GCSE (vaguely equivalent to 7A1s), for example.2. Prestigious universiies also have their share of mediocre students just like any other universities. Able to get in a prestigious university does not mean able to cope with the studies. With better universities comes the stress associated with competing with more or equally capable students..
JWMorgan:
I don't dispute that our local schools are excellent, but they are just not in the same league as Oxbridge or HPYMS (I'd venture to add possibly even lower Ivies like Cornell, UPenn and good LACs like Amherst). It also depends on the subject you are taking - Law, Medicine and Dentistry are world-class, but probably not for Arts subjects like English. International prestige is also an issue - our local schools just aren't as well recognised overseas as opposed to the prestigious ones. May be an issue if the child would like to work overseas. Getting postgrad offers should be fine if you have a good undergrad degree though.Lastly, our local universities do have excellent and better than excellent passionate academic staff and do provide excellent, challenging and well balanced education. Root your son/daughter in Singapore before sending them overseas.
I am very grateful that my parents understand why I strongly prefer studying overseas (several reasons) and are supportive. Their only conditions are 1) I am responsible for finding out which schools I want and applying to them 2) Their offer only applies to schools which are higher ranked than NUS. -
noobparent:
Well, this is not necessarily a bad strategy to take as it would allow your child to really focus and push her hardest towards her desired goals.insider:
hahaha...I ever asked her that and she told me, \"Mummy, I am sure I can make it. There's no doubt about that and there's no need to think of back-up plan coz I don't need one. I have full faith in my future.\"
But, the parent must be there to monitor and to give support if, along the way, there are roadblocks and minefields.
As you go up every level, it gets tougher and tougher, competition gets keener and keener. Take the analogy of sports. You start off as national Champion, then SEA Games, then ASIAN Games then Olympics. Every level is exponentially harder. It is not a linear thing.
My point to you as a parent is this. While our kids may have huge and lofty ambitions (which is good), sometimes it may come crashing to the floor when, along the way, we discover that no matter how hard we tried we weren't good enough. This takes a lot of maturity to deal with.
E.g. every year, many of the brightest students in Singapore apply for admission to Oxbridge and the Ivy League Unis. Only a handful make it. Those that didn't make it all had stellar grades and CCA achievements too! But that's life. We learn to deal with it.
Like this kind of post-frank opinion coupled with interest at heart.
Both my kids are encountering stiff competitions in both academic arena and other competions against the nation's best. They begin to be more realistic in their expectations knowing there are others out there better than them.
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