tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post4859376918477258118..comments2024-03-27T20:17:30.597+08:00Comments on Growing your tree of prosperity: Why i told my friend to get his son into JC instead of Poly.Christopher Ng Wai Chunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15534057160494859977noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-54541593825320900842019-03-03T21:20:08.507+08:002019-03-03T21:20:08.507+08:00WeiBeng,
Did your son get a seat in University ? ...WeiBeng,<br /><br />Did your son get a seat in University ? He sounds like someone who can enter Medical school in NUS !Christopher Ng Wai Chunghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15534057160494859977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-50021676832404933802019-03-03T09:21:00.220+08:002019-03-03T09:21:00.220+08:00My son scored 8 points for his O level last year a...My son scored 8 points for his O level last year and decided to do molecular biotechnology in a polytechnic because he is certain of his interest. I went through the A level route but nevertheless gave him my blessing as I felt it is important to pursue a course that he is genuinely passionate about. Wbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18124143003915321896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-86736858968279471332019-02-26T21:27:52.550+08:002019-02-26T21:27:52.550+08:00Thank you so much for your input.
The response h...Thank you so much for your input. <br /><br />The response has been so good, I will dedicate another article to this topic by the end of this week !Christopher Ng Wai Chunghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15534057160494859977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-1188611126425482382019-02-25T00:12:24.414+08:002019-02-25T00:12:24.414+08:00Hi Chris,
To make the decision largely on statist...Hi Chris,<br /><br />To make the decision largely on statistics would only make sense if that friend have many children having to choose between JC and poly :)<br /><br />After all, it is a deeply personal choice. And it depends heavily on the strength and weakness of individual and the course they want to study/learn.<br /><br />Two anecdotes (though they might be a bit extreme)<br /><br /><br /><br />1) I personally had the option to either go YJC or JJC (They were both ranked close to the bottom back then) vs going to Poly. I even did my first 3 months in YJC.<br /><br />It was clear to me during that 3 months that I will not survive in the JC environment. I am bad with human languages like English and Chinese (as you can tell from this writeup) I also hated the non-stop mugging and endless homework given (solving theoretical problems again and again).<br /><br />After poly, I entered NUS and actually could complete it in 3 years instead of 4 as poly students have many modules exempted. There were several poly friends who did so. Hence the extra year in Poly can be "earned" back.<br /><br />Although I spent 4 years because I took it easy as I loved Uni life. I loved Uni life so much that I went on to do a PhD - whether that is worthwhile is for discussion another day :)<br /><br />All in all, I never regretted attending Poly. It was so much fun and more importantly allowed me to basically ignore English & Chinese and just focus on Computers. <br /><br /><br /><br />2) Although the rate of going to Uni from JC is 80-90%, my aunt unfortunately was the 10-20% that did not made it and had to go Poly after 2 years of JC to learn skills/knowledge that are employable.<br /><br />I believe we have all heard similar stories like that.<br /><br /><br />All in all, I believe that whether JC or Poly is better depends heavily on the individual's strength, weakness and desire.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />EvanEvan Kohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02199998865721157948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-61344984361334546042019-02-24T23:30:09.043+08:002019-02-24T23:30:09.043+08:00Hi Chris,
Though only about 20% of the polytechni...Hi Chris,<br /><br />Though only about 20% of the polytechnic graduates make it to local university, with 12 points at O Level, your friend's son should be good enough to be among the 20% if he maintains the same standard in his polytechnic studies. I am speaking from personal experience as I obtained around the same result as him in O Level and chose the polytechnic route. I made it to NTU without any working experience after NS.<br /><br />Do remember that in a poly, your peers are mostly those from neighbourhood schools Express stream and some from Normal (Academic), Normal (Technical) and ITE graduates. It is not as competitive as in JC. As long as you are consistent in your efforts, you should be able to do reasonably well. ghchuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09475913934410840352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-44531220264801245472019-02-24T22:57:31.512+08:002019-02-24T22:57:31.512+08:00i have come to learn of a group of people who qual...i have come to learn of a group of people who qualify for both jc and poly but end up choosing the poly route cos they feel that if they are unable to progress to uni after jc, they would end up with nothing. Whereas a diploma, no matter how bad it is, is still comparatively better than "nothing". This is akin to hedging their downside rather than going for broke with the jc route.<br /><br />I do know someone who did just that for the same reasons and went on to qualify for NUS after poly. He basically took an extra 2 years more than his peers who chose the jc route but seem to have no qualms about it.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08137656088772695702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-67406050476995739882019-02-24T22:31:40.002+08:002019-02-24T22:31:40.002+08:00Hi Chris,
This is hard and true fact in which a p...Hi Chris,<br /><br />This is hard and true fact in which a polytechnic graduate will find it hard to excel in the work. They are given a handicap in the start of the employment. The success will be harder to attain for the polytechnic graduates in the current context. It is not possible to achieve success. However, it will be exceptionally difficult to do so. I will say that one possible area is to go into the banking sector in which the reward will come for those who put in the sheer determination and hard effort. To each of their own.<br /><br />BenWTKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11459028978258841179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-89798183923742251822019-02-24T21:11:54.122+08:002019-02-24T21:11:54.122+08:00Yes, maybe. I clarification would really help.
P...Yes, maybe. I clarification would really help. <br /><br />Poly grads are like canaries in a gold mine. If the middle class is threatened by economic forces, we will see this in poly grad metrics.Christopher Ng Wai Chunghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15534057160494859977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17478547.post-54027055367859473352019-02-24T20:39:46.741+08:002019-02-24T20:39:46.741+08:00Maybe 40% of poly grads are pursuing Uni ... eithe...Maybe 40% of poly grads are pursuing Uni ... either in govt-supported, or overseas, or private full-time, or private part-time.<br /><br />Unlike 20 years ago, many poly students these days want to jump straight into Uni education if their circumstances permit it.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02938450718690565242noreply@blogger.com