<p>okaynow im really confuse :S
some say singaporeis good, others dont…</p>
<p>tell me, if i have a choice between Indian universities and NUS/NTU. which do u think is better.</p>
<p>US is not an option for me to consider</p>
<p>Put it this way… i live in singapore… and in my school there are 300 people and out of that 4 people applied to singpore uni… </p>
<p>and many of my indian friends living here are choosing to go to universities in India rather than attending one in singapore… </p>
<p>singapore is good in some ways… like… well… it has a low crime rate and pollution… but dont expect a good social environment…many of my friends here at school are on prozac… almost every1 i’ve met here tell me they have attempted suicide atleast once</p>
<p>and in terms of education… there is no focus on undergraduates like imentioned before… come here for grad school… NUS is better for grad school… professors pay a lot of attention to graduates here… the world rankings are based on grad school and its ranked highly</p>
<p>oh and 1 more thing thats really hillarious… NUS rarely employs its own alumni to teach…</p>
<p>Same for NTU… my friend Kasha’s dad works at NTU… and also Malini’s dad and Malini is going to the US and Kasha to UK…</p>
<p>For me…chances of me getting into a good indian university is next to impossible cos indians in india are so freakin smart… </p>
<p>maybe try to get into a good uni in india… if you dont then apply to singapore… NUS is fairly easy to get into unless you are doing medicine… and NTU is easier…</p>
<p>oh and another positive point: no drugs in singapore… if you are caught with drugs you are sentenced to death…</p>
<p>Well in my school there are 2000 people and I can safely say that at least 90% of them have applied and will be applying to singapore unis. my school is in the top 5 in singapore and very few if none are on prozac. I don’t know of a single person who has attempted suicide.
unless you have a place at Oxbridge or HYPS, you are better off in NUS/NTU. Law and Medicine at NUS are top-notch.</p>
<p>I only know of 5 people from my school who are applying to universities in India and they are Indian SIA scholars. They have applied to NTU & NUS as well.</p>
<p>My cousins from Bombay have been trying relentlessly to gain admission to NTU/NUS, which is highly regarded in India.</p>
<p>Furthermore, postgrad opportunities might be better if you have a degree from NUS/NTU. You will have to check this will a more qualified person but I believe this is true.</p>
<p>Skin colour only matters if you make it matter. One of the Indian scholars in my school was really dark but yet, he was one of the most popular kids. He could mix well with the locals, foreigners and even the teachers. If you’re going to let minor things like this get in the way of obtaining a good education then clearly you have issues.</p>
<p>If you just put in the effort to be accepted, people will respond favourably. I’m an Indian Singaporean and for a long time my best friends have been Chinese and Malay. I recently have had Indian best friends. But to me, it is not race that matters. People accept you as you are, without looking at skin colour. </p>
<p>I would say if there is any racial discrimination at all, it would be at the lowest levels of society (and I truly do not mean to offend anyone). The uneducated people would be wary of people who look different from them because they don’t know any better on how to judge people. It just takes a little bit of understanding and analysis to put yourself in their shoes and observe the reasons behind this.</p>
<p>Most people in Singapore are educated & would “judge” (to use a rather harsh word, for lack of a milder one) you based on your personality and morals. So being dark-skinned or being Indian really does not stand in the way of making friends and being a part of Singapore. Indians are held in high regard, as are all the other races.</p>
<p>You have the power to shape your own experiences and destiny. Have the right attitude and things will be okay.</p>
<p>*and then still only a small percentage of uneducated people would discriminate.</p>
<p>I think it would be naive to say that there is only “racial acceptance” in the US and not Singapore as an earlier poster implied. There is a certain extent of racial discrimination everywhere. Sometimes, you just have to bear with it.</p>
<p>I’m not in a position to comment on the state of racial acceptance in different parts of the world. What I can say is that I’m happy to a Singaporean and happy that I have experienced very little, if any, racial discrimination in Singapore.</p>
<p>unless you have a place at Oxbridge or HYPS, you are better off in NUS/NTU. Law and Medicine at NUS are top-notch. <— errr… no.</p>
<p>well i come from the top school in singapore and our tertiary advisers adviced us against applying to singapore… didn’t you guys hear about the famous american journalist of indian origin… and his blog about how he found people in singapore to be racist… and this is coming from an NUS professor i know… there is something called “racial quotas” at NUS… how is that not racist?</p>
<p>hoeman, some people just conveniently leave out the LACs.</p>
<p>I suppose you are entitled to your opinion. I respect that. However, I feel Law and Medicine at NUS are indeed some of the best in Asia.</p>
<p>I also acknowledge that there are other overseas universities besides Oxbridge and HYPS which are better than NUS & NTU. However, this does not discredit the quality and standard of courses in NUS & NTU.
Honestly, I do have some friends who feel that NUS & NTU would be best for them should they not be given a place at Oxbridge or HYPS. Was just echoing an opinion of quite a number of my friends. To some extent, I believe in this too, in the case of Law at least. Oxbridge Law, then NUS Law then Law anywhere else (UK or Aus)-- that’s the ranking I choose to follow.</p>
<p>I don’t expect everyone to agree with this though. You are rightfully entitled to your opinion. =)</p>
<p>C’est Moi-- yes, I have heard of the racial quotas, sadly. But I didn’t hear it direct from NUS though, so that leaves it’s credibility in question (to some extent). I have heard it from some people who have graduated from NUS-- they might be pretty credible. The quotas are mainly for Law and Medicine from what I know.</p>
<p>Then again, it is widely believed that it is harder to gain entry to the Ivies if you’re Asian too…what more an international student.</p>
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<p>do you think the US is not racist too? they have this thing called “URM treatment” which is basically giving preferential treatment to minorities such as blacks, hispanics, and native indians. Most elite schools like HYPSM have this. In fact UCB used to have racial quotas too until it’s rescinded by the state gov recently. </p>
<p>Better NUS racism than going abroad as international student because international student quota is much much lower in many schools (MIT only takes around 100 int’l from what I heard)</p>
<p>but being more racially selective in admissions (which i acknowledge might be of dubious merit) doesn’t necessarily translate to racism in the academic and social realms once you’re already in the institution. they don’t judge and predetermine your choices just because you’re of a particular race. also, selectivity in admissions doesn’t impinge on the quality of education provided by the institution.</p>
<p>C’est Moi - Don’t take this in an offensive way, but what school are you from? </p>
<p>I came from the “top school” in Singapore and we were never once told NOT to apply to the local universities (that’s stupid and suicidal unless you are so sure that you will have the financial backing to go overseas, nevermind admissions). In fact, more than half of the people in NUS medicine are from my school. How is that so if people are discouraged from applying to NUS? </p>
<p>I have never heard of the racial quota thing (although there used to be gender quotas), but if there’s one thing that’s certain, they don’t overexalt the diversity requirement as much as the US universities do. If that is so, every university in the world is racist.</p>
<p>acidten - I would consider picking UCL, KCL and LSE Law over NUS Law, financial issues aside. NUS Law is definitely top-notch, but the people teaching you in some UK universities are the finest in Law academia. It’s a wholly different perspective.</p>
<p>I’m an Indian student studying in the UAE planning to do engineering at college …
I’ve gotten into a couple of good US universities, the University of Michigan being at the top of my list …
Moreover, I think I stand a good chance of getting admission into NUS!!!</p>
<p>Do you think it would make sense for me to choose NUS over Michigan???
Note: Finance is not a major problem!</p>
<p>Well, NUS is a pretty solid school. Its just that some Singaporeans emphatically do not like the environment, teaching style and culture at NUS. And there’s not much choice to choose from -> NUS, NTU SMU …</p>
<p>Also, do take note that NUS operates more like a large state school than a elite private university. It caters to a wide range of Singaporeans. Hence do not expect to go to NUS and be blown away by the “quality” of the student body. Especially at FASS (no offence, just a empirical and biased observation). I can say this in full confidence of even the best courses such as Medicine (of which I have been accepted and declined) because I have sneaked in for classes there. The lecturers are insipid, and my friends who are there complain about the stifling system.</p>
<p>Now, I have personally been accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Brown and Michigan. Even if I were rejected from every one except Michigan, I would still have chosen Michigan in an instant over NUS medicine.</p>
<p>For foreign students, I know it is incredibly competitive, hence the prestige of NUS seem high. However, to me, I feel that the high regard it receives is overinflated.</p>
<p>umich, hands down. blammo! nus? forget it.</p>
<p>Definitely UMich.</p>
<p>UMich over NUS any day.</p>
<p>hey listen i would like to know how life in NUS is coz i m not the kind of guy hu can just sit and study for hours on end. i play sports and would like a good extra curricular and fun life . btw i just got 96 % in my 12 th grade boards ( ISC India ) so i can study :P:P:P</p>
<p>This thread is amusing.</p>
<p>HAHAHA YOU’RE BETTER OFF IN NUS/NTU IF YOU CAN’T GET INTO HYPMS, OR CAMBRIDGE/OXFORD!!! BWAHAHAHAHA</p>
<p>Oh man, oh man, alrighty guys…</p>
<p>NUS Medicine is a solid school. Seriously, the students and the professors distinguish themselves abroad, be it in international competitions, tenure or the like. But uh, as for social life, it will be there, albeit on a pretty limited scale. I have tons of friends in NUS Med and well they STUDY AND MUG VERY HARD. And I’ve known ppl (like Army scholars) who, at the time of this posting, have repeated years already (this is a disaster if they were aspiring to be specialists) If you like that, as many do, by all means apply. But it’s all about the fit.</p>
<p>Ok, now for Law, I don’t know (can anyone substantiate this?) but it appears that the Law school has declined a little. The entry requirements are no longer as stringent (3 As minimum now, in the past, 4 As was like the bare minimum) and as for the rest, I don’t know. I’m clueless when it comes to Law, although I have friends there as well, I’ve never asked them about uh…these sensitive issues.</p>
<p>For FASS, one word: YUCKS. The school itself is not just made up of course offerings, internships, possiblity of global competitions, exceptional students which are exceptions, and the like. The standard is just not there. Someone whom I did National Service with was complaining bitterly about the abysmal entry requirements of NUS FASS. Apparently, this guy who had er CCDO from A levels got in. And well, as an English professor from NUS pointed out, he’s kind of gotten tired of teaching hordes who aren’t really interested in doing more than the bare minimum, and uh, he mentioned that many are those who got in FASS with grades in the region of CCCC. This is not where NUS FASS wants to go if it genuinely wants to better itself. </p>
<p>But does the fault lie with NUS? Absolutely not. They need students, they need diversity, and they need recognition. The problem I have is with the paper chase in Singapore, as so many in this thread rightly pointed out. The polytechnics in Singapore offer awesome courses now, I mean, there’s nursing, chemical pharmacy, robotics and GOSH SO MANY course offerings, and the standard of students there is rising because more are recognizing that the relic of the A level system just doesn’t work in preparing ppl for the job market anymore. The poly’s have changed and adapted their educational offerings in response to changing conditions, and well the JC (Junior College) have lagged behind somewhat. But now, it’s also good that they are offering IB, US Diplomas, and other augmentations to the A Level. I think for many ppl, a polytechnic diploma will do wonders for them instead of trying desperately to get a degree for the sake of getting it. My cousin got a Econ degree from NUS and she couldn’t find a job after that for almost 1 year. Employers rather see honors from highly regarded and admittedly, highly recognized (in the objective sense, please) UK (LSE, UCL, OX, CAM, Warwick) or US (Michigan, Berkeley, HYPMS, CMU, U Penn, and other Ivies) or China (Bei Da, Nan Da etc) universities.</p>
<p>Am I blaming the students? Am I looking down on them? No. I just think they’d be happier and a lot more successful elsewhere. Heck, I think that many can become more successful than me in the future! But NUS is an academic institution. Most in Singapore have already forgotten that. The really victimized people of this dash for paper are the myriad of really good students who are really serious about getting a liberal arts education in NUS (and the unfortunate ones who just couldn’t get a government scholarship to go overseas) but arrive at campus to see a largely academic disinterested student body who prefer to go to Cafe Del Mar or Zouk rather than spend time discussing more about their major. The environment counts, and it is a fact that the school is largely a function of its students (think: Harvard, think: Oxford, heck think: RJC), even if the teachers and professors are at times downright disappointing.</p>
<p>The computer science and the engineering schools are ok. Nothing more to say (sorry OP)</p>
<p>Life in NUS, to answer bigb, really depends on which school you go to. Chances are, if you go to FASS, you’ll party and do sports a lot more. If you go to Medicine, you’ll study like mad all year. If you go to Law, you’ll have loads of free time when they are no exams, but uh, prepare to exorcise exercise, hangin’ out, beach, computer games, whatever, because the only things you’ll be “hanging” with are mountains of law books. Again, Engin and Computer Science - I’m not aware. Great if someone from Engin or CS could comment.</p>
<p>As for prestige, please don’t believe the Times Higher Education Supplement.
They base their rankings on international diversity (no doubt augmented by very good students from places like India coming over) and China and other places. This methodology is questionable at best. And as for how frequently professors publish papers, it is a reflection of the graduate school most of the time and not the quality of teaching. And library volumes as a criteria? Give me a break. </p>
<p>So, if you want to go to NUS, by all means go ahead, if you think it fits you well. But don’t count on its supposed prestige, or its vaunted…rankings (or is it ranking?), or its ludicrous publicity stunts like the NUS Business School advert (Singaporeans you’ll know what I mean…NUS Biz OVER WHARTON!!! BWAHAHAHAHA).</p>
<p>Hopefully I’ve provided some help. </p>
<p>P.S. Kudos to those who know the LACs!!! =)</p>
<p>CBSE is hard if you lack a capacity to blindly memorize text, facts, tables and diagrams under the guidance of non-educational private and commerical tutors and spit it out in a three hour exam the next day.</p>