<p>true la… but seriously, almost everyone i know in RJ takes a H3 - even the decidedly average ones - so i don’t think it’s such a big deal. and with all the confusion about the H3 syllabus (school prelims, moe/external etc)…</p>
<p>i think 4 H2’s would be enough? im J1, but i’ve got family friends whose children got accepted into Ivies like princeton…compare it to the american education system and you can have a good laugh…i think and from what im told, its all about taking the initative to do things that will make you unique although academics its definetely the most important factor…</p>
<p>Well the standards are different for domestic (i.e. US citizens) and international admissions.</p>
<p>^^ which is why it is such a pain in the ass…</p>
<p>the application i mean, taking all the heavy courseloads when even the basic H2 is already equivalent to the AP’s…</p>
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<p>If you think the American system is so bad, then it’s simple: don’t even apply there.</p>
<p>Don’t waste the federal government’s time and money with your visa application.</p>
<p>@galoisen: Err, saying the high school education is bad doesn’t equate to trash-talking the college/higher education system. AFAIK, nobody in this thread is applying to an US high school so you don’t have to worry about them wasting the govt’s money.</p>
<p>For all, FWIW i took 3H2+2H1+PW+1H3 and nobody seems to care much. I kinda regret taking H3 because of the dismal grade, but it does show my passion for the topic (which is like a focal point in my application) and they didn’t mind my grade.</p>
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<p>The universities are fantastic. The high schools, not so much.</p>
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<p>On the contrary, the two are interlinked.</p>
<p>It’s impossible to have a good tertiary education system without a good secondary education system.</p>
<p>The US system consists of more than 4000 institutions of higher learning, from LACs to CCs to universities. The top universities in the US are undoubtedly excellent, but really, there is so much diversity it would be callous to label all of them ‘excellent’ or ‘trash’.</p>
<p>having actually attended college,
the american education system seems to do well enough to fill my school with enough smart, all-rounded individuals, so i don’t see what the problem actually is</p>
<p>Now, I wonder where all the neighbourhood secondary schools send their kids to…
Oh that’s right, only the top 10% of the entire secondary cohort get a shot at doing anything decent.</p>
<p>Social mobility is possible in America. Not Singapore.</p>
<p>Disagree with you that there is no social mobility in Singapore. The Singapore government provides you with all manners of financial assistance and scholarships so long as you work hard and get good results - and don’t imagine only kids from rich families get good results.</p>
<p>Because a 300 dollar/year Edusave scholarship so saved my family’s ass during the recession. Man, look at all the tutors I hired because of it!</p>
<p>I am referring to things like A*STAR or PSC scholarships or even NUS scholarships for that matter. For that matter, the guys I know who got those scholarships etc almost never hire any sort of tutors - they do well enough on their own.</p>
<p>Disagree with you that there is no social mobility in Singapore. The Singapore government provides you with all manners of financial assistance and scholarships so long as you work hard and get good results - and don’t imagine only kids from rich families get good results.</p>
<p>I’ll just sit here and watch. Hey galoisien, are you into auto-eroticism? Or just older men? <– crap. is that too offensive?</p>
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<p>“Well enough” won’t do anything in today’s society. You have to run forwards to maintain your position. I’m talking about tutors teaching you stuff that the education system won’t teach yet for years – it would have been nice, you know, if I had been introduced to linear algebra at 13 and not 17.</p>
<p>Everyone knows that the people who do well in the PSLE, O-levels, A-levels, etc. generally solve the problems using techniques that weren’t covered in the syllabus.</p>
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<p>At the end of the road of secondary education?</p>
<p>What about those 12 years when financial assistance was actually needed?</p>
<p>Singapore doesn’t even have a private scholarship system and everything is at the whim of the government. In the United States at least, towns and local businesses clamour to send their students off with enough financial assistance.</p>
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. YEAH RIGHT.</p>
<p>Who wants to send Galoisien to coventry? Frank and Screwy and Serf- whose name I dunno, Imma talking to you.</p>
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<p>Then clearly you don’t know the US education system.</p>
<p>My working-class town (of 26,000) awards over 250,000 / yr (for 4 years) to HS graduates … per year. (Our HS senior class had around 213 students.) So that’s in effect, handing out a million per year. (Okay, take away a little after present value calculations.) Businesses are happy to award this because they know reinvesting in the community pays off. </p>
<p>That’s social mobility. Private sponsorship is more robust than inefficient public sponsorship, based on the state. </p>
<p>And unlike Singapore, they don’t merely allocate to within the top 1% or even just the top 10%; they support everything from vocational and CC education to college education at top private schools.</p>