Advise Needed for Bioengineering grad

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hey, so did you manage to get a dream job after posting this tread? I am going into Bioengineering NUS in 2013... If anyone has any advice or stories to share about the course, it will be kindly appreciated. Thanks!

It's a scam!!! Just ask the lecturers which course of study are they sending their kids into... Most will say finance or economics... Even the people who are teaching it doesn't believe that there's a future in the course in Singapore... Go figure... Good luck...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It's a scam!!! Just ask the lecturers which course of study are they sending their kids into... Most will say finance or economics... Even the people who are teaching it doesn't believe that there's a future in the course in Singapore... Go figure... Good luck...

Just like ministers sending their children overseas despite us having 3 world class universities that are ranked consistently well in the world.

The main reason you have so much difficulty landing a job is because the professors are not imparting the necessary skills that employers want from you. To understand this problem, you will have to look at the professors themselves.

A lot of professors in the university live in their ivory towers and are either
a)ignorant of the needs of the industry or,
b)promulgating lies for their own selfish benefit.

For type a professors (theoretician), they themselves have not worked a single day in the industry to really know real demands of their industry. I consider this class of professor the clueless. They are talk about theories but have no clue about the practicality of the subjects that they are teaching.

The type b are the evil type, they know that the industry industry is saturated but they still go around touting that you are in the best course ever. They love to spin tales about employers will be lining up for your signature after you graduate. These evildoers conduct themselves in this manner to so as to populate their course with more students. With the increase in student numbers comes more grants for research, which in turn, leads to increase publication of research papers and finally promotion. They do not care if whether the degree is useful or not, they just want do the above mentioned to get promoted and all these is done at the expense of sacrificing the future of their poor students. I personally know of quite a few full ex-NUS and current chemistry NTU professors who can be classified in this category.

In our increasing interconnected world, manufacturing jobs for engineers are being outsourced to countries which can provide skill workforce at the cheapest price. Singapore with the increasing wages of the labour force, is losing out to China for pharmaceutical bio-engineering sector.

My advice to those with bio-engineering degree is to use your engineering training to switch field.

As for those who tout about joining finance sector, the hey days of massive hiring in the industry is over. After the 2008 financial crisis, the industry in undergoing a paradigm change and a lot of the banks freezing headcounts. With a potential recession looming on the horizon, I don't really think the banks will be increasing their overheads by blatantly hiring everyone on sight.

5 months without a job is a worrying situation indeed. In addition to the interest payments on your student loans, you have to also take into account the potential income loss for the 5 months that you are jobless. You might have better luck during this period (early part of the year) when people job hop after getting their bonuses. If you don't secure a job by April, you will be competing against 2012 fresh graduates by May. Another alternative for you is to apply to read a post graduate degree in a non-bioengineering discipline. Our government is very generous in providing post graduate scholarship to applicants with 2nd upper honours degree. I would recommend to all those who are qualified to go into water or energy related research. With your bio-engineering background, you can probably do a post graduate research in bio-based water purification process or study means to harvest the low molecular weight hydrocarbons from algae. Although the above mentioned examples may soud a bit outrageous, but in order to survive, you definitely step out your comfort zone into uncharted territories.

[Splinter]

hi all.. i'm currently in bioengineering and i didn't to well for my sem 1. in fact i really hate the things i'm doing now and can't imagine life if i stay on this track. i'm seriously thinking of dropping out but i just can't stand the fact that there are students who can actually excel in this field. should i go back to life science or stay on miserably to get this "prestigious" degree??? obviously i'm really on the verge of quitting, but is there any motivation where i should stay on?

Originally Posted by Splinter

hi all.. i'm currently in bioengineering and i didn't to well for my sem 1. in fact i really hate the things i'm doing now and can't imagine life if i stay on this track. i'm seriously thinking of dropping out but i just can't stand the fact that there are students who can actually excel in this field. should i go back to life science or stay on miserably to get this "prestigious" degree??? obviously i'm really on the verge of quitting, but is there any motivation where i should stay on?

Isn't life science worse than bioengineering?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Isn't life science worse than bioengineering?

Both degrees mean the same thing... A over-priced piece of toilet paper... Will bring you very far in life...

Originally Posted by Splinter

hi all.. i'm currently in bioengineering and i didn't to well for my sem 1. in fact i really hate the things i'm doing now and can't imagine life if i stay on this track. i'm seriously thinking of dropping out but i just can't stand the fact that there are students who can actually excel in this field. should i go back to life science or stay on miserably to get this "prestigious" degree??? obviously i'm really on the verge of quitting, but is there any motivation where i should stay on?

Hi, ex BIE grad here.

Depends on your career aspirations. Do u want to be a researcher?
Switching back to life science and if you also believe u can do better, by all means.

if you want to carry on a engineering career with more mathematical analysis, calculation and lesser on those factual stuffs to memorise. Please stay on with BIE.

Of cos in BIE , there are also scientific stuffs to memorise but it is comparatively much lesser than in life science.

[Splinter]

Originally Posted by arigatoast

Hi, ex BIE grad here.

Depends on your career aspirations. Do u want to be a researcher?
Switching back to life science and if you also believe u can do better, by all means.

if you want to carry on a engineering career with more mathematical analysis, calculation and lesser on those factual stuffs to memorise. Please stay on with BIE.

Of cos in BIE , there are also scientific stuffs to memorise but it is comparatively much lesser than in life science.

thanks arigatoast, yeah i understand where u're coming from, i tink im better off memorising stuff...

Originally Posted by Gan_Do

Hi, I have just graduated with a 2nd Class Upper in Bioengineering in NTU and till date I still cant land myself a job for 5 mths already.

Initially I wanted to apply for Medicine in NUS-DUKE but after calculations, the monetary returns might not even be sufficient for me to buy a flat in the future. It was quite a painful decision to delay and then abandon the idea.




Anyone with any fair advise? thanks

frankly, i will go for the NUS-DUKE program if I were you. I know there are practical issues and I went through the same problem many years back. don't forsake a good program for the wrong reason. I got married pretty late, because I was saving up for a MBA program in Stanford. Post program, I was dead broke but opportunities were plenty. I still don't own a flat, but I have two properties now (one in shanghai, one in beijng). My point is, pick something that has a long term sustainable value to your career. As long as you are willing to think out of the box and don't focus only on singapore, there are plenty of opportunities.

[Hermit]

Originally Posted by Splinter

hi all.. i'm currently in bioengineering and i didn't to well for my sem 1. in fact i really hate the things i'm doing now and can't imagine life if i stay on this track. i'm seriously thinking of dropping out but i just can't stand the fact that there are students who can actually excel in this field. should i go back to life science or stay on miserably to get this "prestigious" degree??? obviously i'm really on the verge of quitting, but is there any motivation where i should stay on?

If I were you, I would cut and run. Ignore the naysayers and rethink your whole life. Trust your guts.