<p>after your first year at NUS you either convince yourself that the heavy subsidies make it worth staying and will finance your grad school overseas, that the Times rankings are real and actually matter to your undergrad major, and that US colleges are way overpriced. all three are partly true to some extent. </p>
<p>or you will realize that you hate the state-run administration and its artificial rank boosting tricks and stupid policies like the dual campus. or that only the professional schools like med/law are respected locally. you'll fight your peers for the limited spots for subsidized years abroad anywhere - the taste of the outside world you crave. and when you return you'll believe that the single semester spent overseas in a reputable place (assuming you managed to get one) gave you so much more - and wonder why you couldn't have spent 1/3/5/7 more there. </p>
<p>or you won't. who knows?</p>