[warning]

Very useful read...

4) Don’t be afraid to ask for favours

A lot of Singaporeans fear failure and rejection but my advice is, don’t be afraid to ask. I achieved a few things because I was willing to ask.

When a tutorial I wanted was full, I would register myself in name for another but ask for permission if I could turn up for the one which had a more suitable timing for me.

When the public policy faculty started their new major “Public Policy and Global Affairs”, the minor name remained unchanged. I wrote in to the dean to ask if he could and explained the ways the name change will be advantageous to both the school and students. It was approved and now I have a more marketable sounding minor than “Minor in Public Administration”

I realized that American universities would allow students to claim extra credit for internships. So I asked the school if I could do so. I knew that those who were up there within my faculty were either educated in USA or from the USA so they would be very familiar with this and accepting towards this new idea. As a result, I managed to clear 8 UE from my summer internships in Year 1 and Year 2. This did not count towards my S/U and enabled me to freeze my gpa and build up my portfolio at the same time.

Bottom line is: don't be afraid to ask, at most you would get a "No" and life goes on!

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7) Don’t take double majors.

I strongly advise against double majors because they require a lot of work and have very little returns on investment. I simply don’t understand why people would want to delay their graduation or overload each semester for a double major.

A lot of students have this misguided formula for being impressive: Difficult Course/Activity Load ==> Impressiveness ==> Interesting Job and Grad School Opportunities ==> Enjoyable Life

However, the truth is people are more impressed by your ability to be a star at something than they are by your ability to juggle lots of hard things. Ability rules. No one cares about your diligence. Everyone is hardworking in Singapore. It is nothing special and a basic requirement.

Taking a double major comes at an immense opportunity cost. You can use this time to write a book, start a business, launch a project, do a part time internship at a good firm etc and all these will be more impressive than a student with double majors.


8) This brings me to my next point that School activities are overrated.

If you are passionate about what you are doing and looking to receive intrinsic rewards, school CCA is unimportant.

Many undergraduates are still having the jc mentality that taking more than one CCA is good for them in university. They take up multiple roles in hall, within their school and organize this and that. The point of extracurriculars are to DIFFERENTIATE yourself from the competition.

However, school-based extra-curriculars do not really differentiate you much. Every club has a business manager, a vice president and a sports secretary. For instance, if the school has 50 clubs, there will be 50 people with the same post as you. Since Singapore has six universities (including private), there will be 300 people with the same position as you in a mini school club. Besides, school-based extra-curriculars are very very time consuming and you will have little control over your time. Events are often held every year, it is nothing special to put on CV.

I would advise students to tap on the opportunities available outside school with real world organizations or start your own projects. These things have lesser barriers to entry, take up less time but appear much more impressive on your CV than a mere time consuming inefficient school club would.

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Good grades and cca would get you a scholarship in JC but not the best job after college.

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