SMU Accountancy vs SUTD ISTD

[peacepenguin]

Hi all,

I have been offered a placing in SUTD and Accountancy in SMU. For SUTD, you only declare your major in second year with ISTD being the most popular as it is more or less computer science/engineering.

Personally, I would like a stable career and a healthy amount of work-life balance. I heard that accountants are going to be replaced by AI and there is a hype for the computing field now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance

[smiletutor.sg]

Originally Posted by peacepenguin

Hi all,

I have been offered a placing in SUTD and Accountancy in SMU. For SUTD, you only declare your major in second year with ISTD being the most popular as it is more or less computer science/engineering.

Personally, I would like a stable career and a healthy amount of work-life balance. I heard that accountants are going to be replaced by AI and there is a hype for the computing field now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance

Congrats on your offers to 2 local universities! Hope I'm not too late. Cannot really share about experiences in SUTD but I know of many account graduates.

Some advice:
1. Consider your interests and the fields you would like to enter eventually.
Computer science and accountancy are really different. Talk to some grads to ensure you have the right understanding of what it means to be in those courses. I've heard both are pretty rigourous.
2. Stability = Accountancy; Up and coming = Computer science
But do note that not all aspects of accountancy are growing, i've heard that only audit is doing well. Also, consider the need to get into a big 4 accounting firm by the time you end university, in order to pave your path to better positions

Some articles on being a fresh grad in SG:
https://smiletutor.sg/do-you-want-to...-in-singapore/
https://smiletutor.sg/best-paying-jo...-in-singapore/

First of all, don't believe the hype that accountants, doctors and other white collar professionals are going to get replaced by AI. Those are largely unfounded overarching statements - think about it, do you want to enter an operating theatre devoid of human presence and touch? Would you leave you bank accounts solely in the hands of software robots that can go rogue? When people say automation, they meant taking away laborious, repetitive and time consuming trivialities, freeing up people to do other critical work which cannot be left solely at the "hands" or software agents.

Secondly, while late to reply, I believe this is still applicable to anyone. If you can't pick something based on your interests, then do a cost benefit analysis at least. Weigh the good points versus the shortcomings. For example, accountancy is stable, and you can switch to finance later. The bad points are, if you are in the auditing business, the long hours and lack of work-life balance.

Is computer science/engineering any better? You need to keep learning new things everyday. When you are young, that might not be difficult, but as we get older, it gets mentally taxing and you'll feel the effects of burn out early in your career.

Do more research or talk to anyone who are in these fields to verify first hand accounts for yourself and then decide. Don't get taken in by the tide of the moment which will fade almost as quickly as it came.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

First of all, don't believe the hype that accountants, doctors and other white collar professionals are going to get replaced by AI. Those are largely unfounded overarching statements - think about it, do you want to enter an operating theatre devoid of human presence and touch? Would you leave you bank accounts solely in the hands of software robots that can go rogue? When people say automation, they meant taking away laborious, repetitive and time consuming trivialities, freeing up people to do other critical work which cannot be left solely at the "hands" or software agents.

Secondly, while late to reply, I believe this is still applicable to anyone. If you can't pick something based on your interests, then do a cost benefit analysis at least. Weigh the good points versus the shortcomings. For example, accountancy is stable, and you can switch to finance later. The bad points are, if you are in the auditing business, the long hours and lack of work-life balance.

Is computer science/engineering any better? You need to keep learning new things everyday. When you are young, that might not be difficult, but as we get older, it gets mentally taxing and you'll feel the effects of burn out early in your career.

Do more research or talk to anyone who are in these fields to verify first hand accounts for yourself and then decide. Don't get taken in by the tide of the moment which will fade almost as quickly as it came.

Go SMU ..... only NUS, NTU, SMU are well recognised. SUTD is created to take in second class students that cannot make it to the 3 uni.

Scientific calculators are used widely in situations that require quick access to certain mathematical functions, especially those that were once looked up in mathematical tables, such as trigonometric functions or logarithms. They are also used for calculations of very large or very small numbers, as in some aspects of vist here : s://bestscientificcalculator.com/

SUTD ISTD median pay last batch was 4.4k

[theandb]

Data science professionals stand to gain the most from the current job market outlook, while those entering the industry with little or no experience should temper their expectations. Entry level and junior data professionals can expect a monthly pay of under S$5,000. Statistics is required for the data science careers, and good calculators to help study the statistics: https://www.thebestdegree.com/calcul...or-statistics/. The career also have healthy amount of work-life balance!