serf-

SMU is a breath of fresh air; though really, making claims that any one of the local universities is better than the others is a meaningless fight for a hollow title.

But how does SMU offer anything close to a liberal arts education?

You are streamed into specific majors from the day you matriculate, those majors are predominantly professional/pre-professional, the RANGE of subjects you can take is by far the lowest of unis in Singapore, (work experience aside) there's almost no emphasis on activities outside the classroom, according to their website... the low student-teacher ratio you acclaim translates into "small-class sizes of about 45 to 50 students (wth?!?!) in a class", etc.

Yes, the school was modelled on Wharton; but simply developing yourself after an American institution does not a liberal arts experience make.

lOngbOWmeN

^ i must submit that liberal arts education is not a very accurate description of SMU's system since the crux of a liberal arts system is exposure to a wide range of arts and sciences....i think the more accurate word to use would be broad-based participatory education as opposed to the spoon-feeding traditional system of NUS/NTU

activities wise, i think (u have to check it out with a student there) they have many community service projects, wide range of student organisations ranging from sports, arts, publication etc.

i agree with serf that SMU is a breath of fresh air compared to the traditional stifling approach of the other local unis....but in almost all of the courses that SMU offer, they are indeed regarded as better than the other 2 locals, at least from an employer's point of view =)

one thing to note is that U education outside of the US is very much major-inclined/vocational-based, so its never completely accurate to compare the diff systems and any attempts to model after the US will still result in significant differences

ucaughtmyeye

I had posted this in the NUS thread but it drew no responses there. Seems people out here may have some idea about these stuffs.


@ EVERYONE!!!

How much would be the approximate cost for an international student to major in business at NUS?

Does applying for financial aid has any influence upon one's chances of admissions? Or it has no bearing upon the final outcome? (at NUS)

Thank you everyone in advance.

preciouspurple11

"i agree with serf that SMU is a breath of fresh air compared to the traditional stifling approach of the other local unis....but in almost all of the courses that SMU offer, they are indeed regarded as better than the other 2 locals, at least from an employer's point of view =)"

hmmmm..... I'm not so sure about this.....

lOngbOWmeN

^ how do you explain the much higher employability, the higher average starting pay of graduates and the comments they've received from employers then?

preciouspurple11

^ Good marketing?

A lot of employers also know SMU grads as a lot of fluff and just good at talking --> Not that I agree with what they say but I'm just stating comments that I've heard hiring managers made SMU grads are great for some jobs but not all.

lOngbOWmeN

^ lol fair enough my sources are at best hearsay also

btw pp11 where u from? u're pretty knowledgable bout NUS/SMU

loathed

just a question...i know US colleges/universities consider junior colleges as high school (A levels = high school).

however, does anyone know what do they consider polytechnics as? is it already college to them? or is it just still high school? because having O levels then entering poly means you only have 10 years on education then + 3 years of poly. if poly grads apply for US colleges/universities, should they state that they have attended a foreign college, or attended no college before?

Nadash

So anyone got into the States this year?

bigb

hey .. regargin the financial aid ... umm there s this thing called the tuition grant.. ur fee is subsidized GREATLY ..however on completion of your course you must serve a three year bond here in singapore ... otherwise fees range from 16 to 20 US dollars per year (thousand)... umm no applying for the TG has no bearing whatsoever on your application

1234d

yeah anyone know about singapore's success rate? so far I know 4 stanford, 3 caltech, 3 MIT, 1 Yale, a few Berkeley...

purplepig

yeah i know 2 stanford, 1 harvard, 2 cornell, 1 berkeley...

anyway i got accepted to rice, emory, tufts, vassar and BU. which of these universities have a better name-recognition in singapore? i've been testing it out on my friends and the response varies greatly.

YOU

^I'm not a Sporean.. but I actually thought that BU is the most popular tho I think you won't get the best education there.. Choose Rice.. Just my 2 cents

limitedvocab

i know someone who got accepted to both harvard and yale, and another one into princeton. both of them not singaporeans though.

HULLO PURPLEPIG name recognition.. i think it's BU for sure. followed by maybe tufts. singaporeans might go "eh" at the name Rice, but they don't know better, do they. vassar.. not so sure, but i think it's gaining popularity among LAC applicants.

1234d

I think Rice will be the best choice... it's a very very very reputable school is US at least...