<p>
[quote]
rather than the oft-professed rigorous journey of academic pursuit, dominated by serious intellectual discourse and 24/7 labwork which ultimately climaxes in the pinnacle of academic achievement and the holy grail in the form of a nobel prize
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What's wrong with that?</p>
<p>
[quote]
What's AWS??
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Amherst Williams Swarthmore</p>
<p>
[quote]
What's wrong with that?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>please relax and don't make another mountain out of a molehill. it's just bridgehead's personal opinion.</p>
<p>I don't really get "tier". I loathe the UNSWR, but I think its separation of LACs and "national universities" is a mistake. Swarthmore, for its eccentricity and despite its smallness, is comparable to other US national universities, or at least schools within them.</p>
<p>There's a tier difference between say, ASU and JHU. Swarthmore to me is on the same tier as UChicago.</p>
<p>
[quote]
it's just bridgehead's personal opinion.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well yes, but it seem to me that a research career is a necessity for any young professional looking for success in this century.</p>
<p>Now, academia once appealled to me unconditionally when I wasn't as wary of being stuck in the ivory tower. But to me,</p>
<p>a lack of research => failure at life (or at least failure to fulfill life, the status that most students fall into and attend college for the purpose of resolving this)</p>
<p>**Well yes, but it seem to me that a research career is a necessity for any young professional looking for success in this century.</p>
<p>Now, academia once appealled to me unconditionally when I wasn't as wary of being stuck in the ivory tower. But to me,</p>
<p>a lack of research => failure at life (or at least failure to fulfill life, the status that most students fall into and attend college for the purpose of resolving this)**</p>
<p>i don't understand this statement.</p>
<p>also, have never implied that swarthmore != chicago, though i do feel that ANY attempt at comparison is dicey, to say the least. i agree in principle with the separation of rankings, but do think students from schools caught in the middle (e.g. caltech, dartmouth, brown) have justification in sometimes crying foul.</p>
<p>this entire amherst-williams debate is ridiculous. personally, i think A's the better school; for some reason i can't remember, i prepared to applied there but not williams if i didn't get accepted ED, though of course that's a completely worthless perspective.</p>
<p>williams may or may not get better recognition on the street, even factoring GCT. i've especially noticed widespread coverage of amherst this admissions cycle, including every time they've lifted content from AP; less so for williams. at the end of the day though, who cares? if you're applying for a job worth your degree, the persons interviewing you WILL know of your college, while the average taxi driver's opinion is, well, rather meaningless.</p>
<p>really though, does the singapore thread have to be turned to another harvard-vs.-yale type shouting match?</p>
<p>
<p>Now, academia once appealled to me unconditionally when I wasn't as wary of being stuck in the ivory tower. But to me,</p>
<p>a lack of research => failure at life (or at least failure to fulfill life, the status that most students fall into and attend college for the purpose of resolving this)
</p>
<p>no offence but could u explain this? LOL....correct me if i'm wrong, but i would think that a career in academia is one of the most boring, least fulfilling financially and socially, and would probably come the furthest from any contemporary or common definition of success</p>
<p>buried in books or stuck in the lab for half your life = reason to commit suicide</p>
<p>Actually AFAIK a lot of your time is spent writing requests for research grants.</p>
<p>I'm wary of the Ivory Tower of course. But someone's gotta advance the world. -_-</p>
<p>stick with your noblesse oblige then....i'm off to college to have fun =)</p>
<p>215k to have fun for four years sounds pretty expensive. Surely there are options with better MB/MC ratios than that. ;)</p>
<p>HIYA all</p>
<p>it really amazes me to see so many young, passionate Singaporeans bound for USA. God knows how many Singaporeans there are in the States, and how many actually stay there after graduation with no intention of coming back.</p>
<p>Anyway its my first post.im an NSF ord-ing come december (finally! getting out of this cursed place) and will be entering a local uni next year. Just curious: why arent you guys considering a local uni? For those wihout a government scholarship, how does a liberal arts education or a degree in the humanities fare prospects-wise? Will you guys intend to come back to Singapore even after you graduate? I seriously hope so!</p>
<p>Why come back to a country that does not value its citizens' civil liberties, or gives (Caucasian) expat foreigners more rights and privileges than its own citizens? Why come back to a country that still actively and consciously practices racial discrimination (racial quotas, stratified treatment of the races) under the guise of "racial harmony"? Why come back to a country where there is no civilian oversight over the burgeoning military-industrial complex, or to a country whose foreign policy effectively consists of a sort of international Social Darwinism? Whose founder is known to hold active contempt for the "Heartlanders"?</p>
<p>Is there more to being Singaporean than good food, cheesy local drama television, and efficient public transport? Is the recalled fraternity shared by an HDB estate more than mere childhood romanticism?</p>
<p>Perhaps, perhaps if you're part of the landed gentry, whose ancestors were rich merchants who were in high standing with the colonial authorities, then you see no problem. The privileged among here, I assume, have never thought of voting for any party other than the PAP. The funny thing is, Singapore's problems are so much easier to fix than America's. But at least Americans see a problem.</p>
<p>galoisien</p>
<p>I would love to see you quantify or at least qualify your criticisms above.</p>
<p>galoisien, it'd be nice if your posts about Singapore stop turning into protracted diatribes and pompous rants about its lack of civil liberties, and about how much more enlightened you are than the rest of us to have left Singapore for America so that you could come back and belittle us through the safety of online discussion forums. It's getting really, really old, whether or not you're right. Learn some tact.</p>
<p>Tuna Tunin' Back Again! :)
Yo All, Another question! (when is it not a question! :D)!
Which is the last SAT I can sit for if I'm applying for the coming session i.e. in 2009? Is it the December or January Test?
Am reallllly worried cuz I want to re-do my SATs in January! Awaiting a prompt reply! Thanks a lot to ya'll in advance! :)</p>
<p>Yours worriedly,
100%Tuna! :P</p>
<p>galoisien,</p>
<p>Why go to a country that values your civil liberties by wiretapping you, or gives Caucasians more rights and privileges than you? Why go to a country that still actively and consciously practices racial discrimination (racial quotas, stratified treatment of the races even in college admission) under the guise of "racial equality"? Why go to a country where there is no civilian oversight over the burgeoning military expansion or unsustainable external debt, or to a country whose foreign policy effectively consists of screwing other countries which gets in its way? Whose current president is known to hold active contempt for the "middle class"?</p>
<p>To answer donovan's questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Why are you not considering going to a local uni?
I'm sorry dude, but I'm not going spend 3 more years of my education in a system which is basically A levels on crack. Mug mug mug. Memorize. Get the grade, get honors, learn little, not a whole lot of personal development, (but who cares, as long as get honors, get good job, ho say right?) If you are really interested in what I think, look at my remarks on a thread on NUS, widely considered the premium school in Singapore.</p></li>
<li><p>Job prospects?
Nadash summed it up pretty well.
Big MNCs, especially if they hail from the States, will recognize the quality of graduates from top tier liberal arts colleges and other non HYPSMDukeMichiganBerkerleyPenn private schools (like Vanderbilt, Northwestern etc). I've already posted my views on this earlier in this thread. Basically, it's still a better bet to stay in the States, but it's more than possible to find desirable employment in S'pore with a LAC degree.
And as for majoring in the humanities, it depends on what you are looking for. If you want the quintessential 21st century 'it' job (like IB), if you major in the "humanities" like econ, you have a great chance on those. History? English? You'd be surprised at the number of these grads who go on to law school or IB.</p></li>
<li><p>Will I come back to Singapore after I graduate?
Sure! As my summer home.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>err... bump?</p>
<p>Unless you're school has a Feb/Mar dateline for Regular Decisions, and you rush your scores over there, I would not recommend taking the Jan SAT.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you have to wait 2 -3 weeks (am I right?) for your scores, and once they come, it will take about a week to send them electronically to your universities and colleges. You could rush scores, but not all universities accept rushed scores. Seeing that the Jan SAT is going to be in 24 Jan, I'm not sure that is a good idea.</p>
<p>The best way to make sure is to email the college/university you are applying to and ask them explicitly whether Jan SAT scores will be accepted. They will give you the most accurate response.</p>
<p>for tuna here it goes... most colleges/uni will take the Jan SAT results, at least most that I know of, such as harvard yale princeton mit etc etc... Some of the exceptions ask for latest december sats, I know for one that Amherst takes december. Go to their website, it's all written there.</p>
<p>Amherst v.s. williams... hmmm indeed not worth considering if it's normal application since anyway chances are that they'll select us not the other way around. Though for ED I'd have to make a decision, thus it's sitting in my brain for the time being to sort itself out somehow...</p>
<p>From the looks of it, Raffles do work on admissions more than HC. HC is mostly passive, not to mention that from the beginning of this year, I've only spotted the career guidance room open in two occasions, despite walking pass the place everyday, as late as 11pm and as early as 4pm...it's consistently not open and there's no notice of when it's open. Things are pretty much inaccessible, and application procedure briefing is one talk [gladly there's a talk] by external people [whoever the school manage to grab], and happens quite late in the year. So most people who are looking out for US/UK application mostly started on preparing already by the time the school gets us that talk. And that reputation works a lot. Though well, I've run into HC seniors at the scholarship & school fair over at suntec today, not as many as rafflesians, and VJ people.</p>