career options for a level grad

[purplesky]

Hi all,
I have just completed my A levels and I am thinking of either studying business, law, accounting or real estate. My grades weren't fantastic and I believe i can only study business (smu) and real estate(nus) locally.
Hence, if i were to pursue a law degree, i would have to undertake a foundation year at bellerby's college and then proceed to do a law degree. As for accounting, it would be bachelor of commerce at uni melb.

I have a few questions and i hope you guys can enlighten me.
1. If i were to do a business degree in SMU, and would like to be an accountant in the future, would a SMU business degree + ACCA suffice? Or would i be at a disadvantage compared to the accountancy students?
2. Would a SMU degree be adequate if I would like to go into investment banking or be a relationship manager? Or would further studies be required? what if i would like to work overseas? would a SMU degree be well recognised? I understand that the market for relationship managers may be saturated in the future as seen from the upward trend.
3. I am interested in tax so perhaps if i do accountancy, i would choose to work in the tax field later. Or if i do law, I'd probably choose corporate law, specifically tax law, or real estate. What are the career prospects for such specialisations in Singapore?
4. How is the employment rate for such degrees in Singapore like? Whenever i google ' law employment rate singapore', i never fail to come across articles mentioning the poor law employment rates in countries around the world.
5. Can anyone suggest which offers the work life balance too? I wouldn't mind working OT, but not to the extent whereby i work 7 days a week and not be able to see light (as heard of from others)
6. If i choose to do a real estate degree at NUS what prospects would it hold? I know i can still work in the bank, but i dont come across jobs in that particular field and i would like a better idea if anyone in this field could advice me.
7. If i have to choose from law and finance related study, which one should i pick? To be honest, I am interested to know about the pay as I would like to lead a comfortable lifestyle. Assuming i would not be the top few outliers in the respective degree, which one pays more, or which one provides more work life balance?
8. What do you all suggest i read to see which career would suit me the most? I have been reading some introductory accounting books and i find it ok, not as dry as i expected it to be. Wrt law, I have been reading up on cases on singapore law watch and I find it ok as well. Are these accurate representations of what one would face in a degree?

Thank you for your comments and advice, i really appreciate them

I was like you once.... Not knowing what you want....

From law, to finance to accountancy to even real estate.

I would advise you to take a step back, and ask discover who you are.

What do you like to do?
What do you spend your spare time on?
What interests you?
Do you like a desk bound job?
What are you strong at?
Are you an introvert to extrovert?

Life is a journey, find your passion (at least have a rough idea), excel in it and the money will come to you accordingly. It doesn't matter if it is accountancy, real estate, banking, sales, relationship management, or even the arts.

Drop me an email at [email protected], i won't mind giving you some guidance and insight on careers over lunch at raffles (i'll buy).

I've been in this forum long enough to see this.

You are just undecided. Look at all your options! accounting, business, real estate, tax, law. There are five fundamentally disciplines in your thread! But they do have one thing in common, money.

In parallel universe, if accountants are overworked and underpaid and art can pay you good salary, you will be opening a thread and asking if you should go to art, design or media.

I find that there's no point in helping people who can't even decide on their life, and their only passion is money. I couldn't even be bother to read beyond four sentence of your thread.

And in that meantime, i've scanned through and many of your queries are answered many times in this forum.

You know what you should do? You should take a gap year and find out what you want to do.

Thanks for reading the most honest response one can ever give.

Originally Posted by purplesky

Hi all,
I have just completed my A levels and I am thinking of either studying business, law, accounting or real estate. My grades weren't fantastic and I believe i can only study business (smu) and real estate(nus) locally.
Hence, if i were to pursue a law degree, i would have to undertake a foundation year at bellerby's college and then proceed to do a law degree. As for accounting, it would be bachelor of commerce at uni melb.

I have a few questions and i hope you guys can enlighten me.
1. If i were to do a business degree in SMU, and would like to be an accountant in the future, would a SMU business degree + ACCA suffice? Or would i be at a disadvantage compared to the accountancy students?
2. Would a SMU degree be adequate if I would like to go into investment banking or be a relationship manager? Or would further studies be required? what if i would like to work overseas? would a SMU degree be well recognised? I understand that the market for relationship managers may be saturated in the future as seen from the upward trend.
3. I am interested in tax so perhaps if i do accountancy, i would choose to work in the tax field later. Or if i do law, I'd probably choose corporate law, specifically tax law, or real estate. What are the career prospects for such specialisations in Singapore?
4. How is the employment rate for such degrees in Singapore like? Whenever i google ' law employment rate singapore', i never fail to come across articles mentioning the poor law employment rates in countries around the world.
5. Can anyone suggest which offers the work life balance too? I wouldn't mind working OT, but not to the extent whereby i work 7 days a week and not be able to see light (as heard of from others)
6. If i choose to do a real estate degree at NUS what prospects would it hold? I know i can still work in the bank, but i dont come across jobs in that particular field and i would like a better idea if anyone in this field could advice me.
7. If i have to choose from law and finance related study, which one should i pick? To be honest, I am interested to know about the pay as I would like to lead a comfortable lifestyle. Assuming i would not be the top few outliers in the respective degree, which one pays more, or which one provides more work life balance?
8. What do you all suggest i read to see which career would suit me the most? I have been reading some introductory accounting books and i find it ok, not as dry as i expected it to be. Wrt law, I have been reading up on cases on singapore law watch and I find it ok as well. Are these accurate representations of what one would face in a degree?

Thank you for your comments and advice, i really appreciate them

its not abut what u do ,but how you do... do something where you can get a 1st class hons, anything else u can learn on the job

u also do not decide what u wan to do before u grad...

only after you grad

[purplesky]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I've been in this forum long enough to see this.

You are just undecided. Look at all your options! accounting, business, real estate, tax, law. There are five fundamentally disciplines in your thread! But they do have one thing in common, money.

In parallel universe, if accountants are overworked and underpaid and art can pay you good salary, you will be opening a thread and asking if you should go to art, design or media.

I find that there's no point in helping people who can't even decide on their life, and their only passion is money. I couldn't even be bother to read beyond four sentence of your thread.

And in that meantime, i've scanned through and many of your queries are answered many times in this forum.

You know what you should do? You should take a gap year and find out what you want to do.

Thanks for reading the most honest response one can ever give.

Hi thanks for your honest response. I am honestly very confused as to what to choose because people have given me so many careers for me to choose such, and hence I am seeking for advice. Perhaps taking a gap year and trying the jobs would be a good idea as I don't think it's possible to make a good decision in just a span of a few weeks. Will be heading out to read up more about the above mentioned careers above. Once again, thanks.

[purplesky]

Thanks to the 2 unregistered guests as well

Originally Posted by purplesky

Hi all,
I have just completed my A levels and I am thinking of either studying business, law, accounting or real estate. My grades weren't fantastic and I believe i can only study business (smu) and real estate(nus) locally.
Hence, if i were to pursue a law degree, i would have to undertake a foundation year at bellerby's college and then proceed to do a law degree. As for accounting, it would be bachelor of commerce at uni melb.

I have a few questions and i hope you guys can enlighten me.
1. If i were to do a business degree in SMU, and would like to be an accountant in the future, would a SMU business degree + ACCA suffice? Or would i be at a disadvantage compared to the accountancy students?
2. Would a SMU degree be adequate if I would like to go into investment banking or be a relationship manager? Or would further studies be required? what if i would like to work overseas? would a SMU degree be well recognised? I understand that the market for relationship managers may be saturated in the future as seen from the upward trend.
3. I am interested in tax so perhaps if i do accountancy, i would choose to work in the tax field later. Or if i do law, I'd probably choose corporate law, specifically tax law, or real estate. What are the career prospects for such specialisations in Singapore?
4. How is the employment rate for such degrees in Singapore like? Whenever i google ' law employment rate singapore', i never fail to come across articles mentioning the poor law employment rates in countries around the world.
5. Can anyone suggest which offers the work life balance too? I wouldn't mind working OT, but not to the extent whereby i work 7 days a week and not be able to see light (as heard of from others)
6. If i choose to do a real estate degree at NUS what prospects would it hold? I know i can still work in the bank, but i dont come across jobs in that particular field and i would like a better idea if anyone in this field could advice me.
7. If i have to choose from law and finance related study, which one should i pick? To be honest, I am interested to know about the pay as I would like to lead a comfortable lifestyle. Assuming i would not be the top few outliers in the respective degree, which one pays more, or which one provides more work life balance?
8. What do you all suggest i read to see which career would suit me the most? I have been reading some introductory accounting books and i find it ok, not as dry as i expected it to be. Wrt law, I have been reading up on cases on singapore law watch and I find it ok as well. Are these accurate representations of what one would face in a degree?

Thank you for your comments and advice, i really appreciate them

1. Should be okay, but that's alot of work compared to doing a pure accountancy degree straight.

2. Investment banking hires mostly from the ivies + those with connections + with the handful of top local grads. For normal RMs, SMU should be okay. For overseas, definitely NUS name > SMU.

3. Singapore is a financial hub. Plenty of tax related jobs here.

4. Not enough lawyers at current in Singapore. However, with SMU and the loosening of requirements for foreign educated lawyers, may not be in the case in 4-5 years time. The problem with lawyers in UK/US/OZ is that there are too many of them being wannabes and studying at shitty law schools when law is inherently an elitist profession. Those who go to the top law schools have no problems finding jobs.

5. Work-life balance in law and accountancy generally sucks. But all high paying jobs generally have shitty WLB.

6. Civil Service and real estate consultancy/management, pretty much.

7. Do accountancy. The market is far bigger and the subject is easier to study than law, which is notoriously a pain in the ass and requires strong language skills.

Forgot to add, as law is a very elitist profession, if you aren't going to graduate from ANU or UMel, it isn't going to be that easy to find a legal job in singapore. THe singapore legal market is dominated by NUS (and soon SMU) grads with a good number of Oxbridge/LSE/UCL grads plus a number from more reputable UK schs (e.g. Durham, Nottingham). If you come from outside this circle, it is definitely going to be harder.

Accountancy should be less elitist.

[purplesky]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

1. Should be okay, but that's alot of work compared to doing a pure accountancy degree straight.

2. Investment banking hires mostly from the ivies + those with connections + with the handful of top local grads. For normal RMs, SMU should be okay. For overseas, definitely NUS name > SMU.

3. Singapore is a financial hub. Plenty of tax related jobs here.

4. Not enough lawyers at current in Singapore. However, with SMU and the loosening of requirements for foreign educated lawyers, may not be in the case in 4-5 years time. The problem with lawyers in UK/US/OZ is that there are too many of them being wannabes and studying at shitty law schools when law is inherently an elitist profession. Those who go to the top law schools have no problems finding jobs.

5. Work-life balance in law and accountancy generally sucks. But all high paying jobs generally have shitty WLB.

6. Civil Service and real estate consultancy/management, pretty much.

7. Do accountancy. The market is far bigger and the subject is easier to study than law, which is notoriously a pain in the ass and requires strong language skills.

Thanks a lot for your reply, it really helped me with my thoughts is it right to say that law schools in uk are generally better than those in Australia? What if I choose to attend second tier law schools like Manchester or sheffield? Would that be ok for employment in Singapore? It's like when you practice would anyone really go about checking your credentials, other than when a firm wants to hire you?
In your opinion, is uni melb accounting good? Thanks so much!