Anonymous:
I went to Hwa Chong Institution and I am currently attending the University of Virginia (26.4%) acceptance rate. I also considered the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (61.5% acceptance rate), and UT Austin (36.5% acceptance rate).
I did apply to all of the Ivy League and other prestigious schools, but I was rejected (or waitlisted and then rejected) at every single one.
What’s interesting was that I had A’s in 5 H2 subjects including KI. I also had A’s in PW and GP.
The thing about elite university admissions in the US is if you’re a white-bread A-level student, there is a slim-to-nothing chance you will be admitted at a top university. I was a great student at Hwa Chong, but I paid no attention to my CCAs whatsoever. I believe there is one main reason why I was accepted at every single public university I applied to — I was international so I essentially pay “private” tuition.
I was in a uniform group in secondary school, where I became famous for playing hooky, and I did not join a CCA in JC. As for why I did not get in trouble, my parents had my back.
I’m sure I would’ve gotten nice offers at a top UK university (likely UCL) if I had applied. The thing is my parents were educated in the US and they categorically eliminated the UK because they believed UK universities do not offer a broad-based education and I will end up a very narrow-minded person. I don’t know how true this is because most of my friends who graduated from the UK seemed to turn out okay.
Charlottesville has been great so far. It has a small-town vibe without being overly rural. I certainly would’ve preferred going to a more prestigious school, especially one that more Singaporeans acknowledged, but I’m satisfied. I get to wear my school apparel without coming across as pretentious, yet get the occasional nod on the head by people in-the-know. It’s a good school, with few Singaporeans so I’m getting the full American experience. All in all I’ve learnt that it might be better to attend a more “American” school compared to a school so teeming with Singaporeans that you might as well have gone to NUS. I wouldn’t name them but those of us who study in the US pretty much know which schools Singaporeans love to go to.
Do I feel that the money is worth it? Personally I don’t think paying through your teeth for something as trivial as a university degree is worth it. In the long run, it doesn’t matter. But living in a new country, outside of your comfort zone, where you don’t have to face Singaporeans or the Singaporean way of life does enrich your life. I’ve gained more appreciation for Singapore (ironically) in the years I’ve been here than I would’ve gotten had I went at it logically. Singapore is a wonderful place to live and I wouldn’t give it up for the world. The standard of living, at least for me, is leaps and bounds greater than that of the US. Unfortunately I have to spend close to 100k a year for 4 years to realize that but I think it was worth it.
I am studying economics and political science and I hope to do a PhD in either field, preferably economics. One of the benefits of the American curriculum, and I think people understate this, is if you are looking to go to graduate school in economics, you have to load up on many courses in pure mathematics. I don’t know if you are allowed to do that at a local university, maybe you could, which brings me to my second point.
If you graduate from NUS, even if you’re at the top of your cohort, you will rarely be able to do a PhD at a school like Stanford or MIT. The connections of the faculty of our local universities to the frontiers of research are very weak. Graduate school is all about having the best recommendation letters, and to the world of academia, NUS is more obscure than many public schools in the US.
Some of us end up in second-tier universities places like the US not by choice but because there is a lack of coordination between our pre-university system and higher education in the US. If you want to start school in the fall after you graduate from J2 (if you have no NS obligations), you had to apply in J2, and you would not have known your A-level results by the time you had to submit your applications.
I had friends from HCJC who took the Cambridge A-levels at the British Council in June just so they can get their results by the time December comes. Sure, you could use your promo grades, but everyone knows how bad our promo grades all are. There’s no way you’re getting into Princeton with those grades.
I applied in J2, which in hindsight, might have been a mistake because most of the guys were applying during NS, so I had to use my promo grades and predicted grades. I did not do very well for my promos so that must have been a problem. Singaporeans who apply in J2 to US universities even from top JCs don’t seem to do that well.
I think the more accurate way to look at this is not that I wanted to attend a low-ranked university overseas (UVA is far from “low-ranked“), it’s that I don’t want to attend a local university. Now there’s a difference. As much as I like living in Singapore, I think our education system and many of our students miss the point of learning completely. The environment is cut-throat and toxic, if JC were to be any indication. I did not get the sense that I was attending school so much as I was going to war. Every day was a pain in the ass and I did not want to spend another 4 years of my life living the same nightmare.
I do feel that Singaporeans lack perspective and most of us have a wrong idea of what life is supposed to be about. It’s not about rankings. It’s about growth. You can’t grow as a person if you’re constantly at each other’s throats. That being said I still love Singapore with all my heart, it’s just the people have to learn to be a little less self-important, a little less judgmental, a little less suspicious, a little less combative…
There are better things in life than to spend time quibbling about unimportant things on the internet. It’s better here on Quora as there are only a few people doing it. On Reddit, some people claim to be “top NUS students” with “PhDs” and yet they are spending so much time arguing about trivial nonsense like they are running for parliament. Help la.
