<p>It's a scholarship the forms have to reach there BY 30 Oct. I don't think its postmark deadline.</p>
<p>Oh hmmm. For some reason Singapore is really lacking in local scholarships, it's such a pity. They're pretty prevalent in the United States, even in small towns. I guess the Singaporeans who go on to be wealthy and successful don't feel any sense of gratitude or obligation to give back to the community they grew up in? (Maybe because they felt the community never really gave anything to them, what with "no one owes you a living" as one of our core values printed at the back of every exercise book?) </p>
<p>I rushed in my scholarship essays lol, 3 minutes before the deadline .... just in time for the scholarship people who lived in the same town to pick them up from the guidance office. I got 2000 USD / yr from local scholarships alone, on top of existing financial aid, but one of my friends got a 10,000 USD local athletic scholarship, two others got 16,000 USD over four years from local sources, etc. And my high school was located in a blue collar town! (i.e. our demographic is generally much less wealthy than all you Raffles and Hwachong people. :p) On top of that, a lot of the regional/national scholarship apps generally have postmark deadlines.</p>
<p>^ It's true that Singapore is generally a very transactional society - in that you have to give something to get something back in return. There are local bond-free scholarships from the universities and other foundations/companies, but they are usually restricted to the local universities (with the exception of a select few like Jardine or the LCK Foundation scholarship).</p>
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It's true that Singapore is generally a very transactional society - in that you have to give something to get something back in return.
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<p>No "credit" I suppose ... but I find that privately funded local scholarships (something I had not at all envisioned as a student in Singapore) create a forward-looking cycle of economic progress within communities, not to mention the goodwill/loyalty effect. It even occurs in hiring -- in Maine, the paper industry (being in the forested state that we are) has heavy demand for engineers, but they are willing to fund non-bonded engineering scholarships in general as long as they attend the flagship public (engineering) school in Maine and consider the offers of the paper industry. In fact, I don't think I've personally heard of any bonded scholarships here in the United States (that would reach this student's ears). Well, there's your employer paying for you to attend grad school, of course, but that's not really a "bond" -- you were with the company before you attended the school being paid for.</p>
<p>One of the effects of the vicious cycle in poorer inner-city communities that shows up in education is the continued lack of private civic funding; industrial, blue-collar and working-class as we may be, our school quality remains comparatively decent. (Definitely much better than many inner-city schools.) Local businesses don't need to bond students to know their generosity will eventually generate large returns with time.</p>
<p>^ True, but for Singaporean companies they might not be able afford sending top students overseas at a cost of US$200k+ per student or make the economic case to its accountants or auditors - since many of these students will be actively headhunted in Ivy League universities while overseas and the chances of them returning are slimmer. That doesn't mean local bond-free scholarships (either originating from the university or private ones from companies like OCBC) are not unheard of or even uncommon though.</p>
<p>In fact, I believe the situation in Singapore is similar to that in Maine, in that the paper industry offers a scholarship to the flagship public for instate students, which would cost much less than offering to send students on a bond-free scholarship to MIT or Stanford. Same thing with Singapore.</p>
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(i.e. our demographic is generally much less wealthy than all you Raffles and Hwachong people.
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<p>wow. I didn't know I was wealthy. how come I got 45k USD in aid? I feel like I must give some back then.</p>
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In fact, I believe the situation in Singapore is similar to that in Maine, in that the paper industry offers a scholarship to the <em>flagship public</em>, which would cost much less than offering to send students on a bond-free scholarship to MIT or Stanford.
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<p>Well, scholarships don't have to be full rides. My private scholarships are going to cover anywhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of my loans (depending on how my loan cap plays out). This is a significant amount, nevertheless.</p>
<p>In the scholarship applications you are asked to put the cost of attendance of the school you got enrolled in, to ensure that scholarships don't overpay. In fact, usually the scholarship committee of the high school will help advise the private scholarship boards on how to best allocate the awards, in an attempt to meet both merit and need (EFC).</p>
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in that the paper industry offers a scholarship to the flagship public for instate students, which would cost much less than offering to send students on a bond-free scholarship to MIT or Stanford.
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<p>For students going out of state (to whom many awards go to, such as myself), the difference between an out-of-state public and and out-of-state private like MIT or Stanford isn't actually that great, assuming federal and institutional aid. That is, it might be significant to affect an enrollment decision ("is this school cost-effective?") but often the question is more of how much debt you want to take on after graduation. Generally, the idea is to apply to as many scholarships as possible, and win a series of small victories that add up to a significant amount of defrayed cost. $500 scholarship from the local library, $1,000 from the local charity, $750 from the booster scholarships held for your CCA, $2,500 from the elementary school you attended, along with the big ones renewable annually. And when you actually get into college, the process might continue (as I anticipate), as you come into contact with more firms (internships or otherwise) and more award opportunities. </p>
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and the chances of them returning are slimmer.
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Yes, perhaps because they never felt any strong loyalty to the community they grew up in the first place. Along with the good PR, one of the goals is to try to stimulate a good business environment for your firm ... by fostering a good community. Private support can prevent urban decay and blight, and the effects can multiply (more prosperous customer base, more educated/skilled employee base ... ). Even if your original scholarship winner isn't coming back, he/she still has ties (e.g. parents, friends) who will be affected by his/her success. Did I mention the idea of that winner eventually gaining a position where he or she later in life might feel compelled to give back to his or her own community? A rising tide floats all boats. </p>
<p>With Singaporean students especially, there are many expenses that can still be defrayed. Due to cost, meritable students (poor / middle-class alike) may not even consider other schools (not necessarily Oxbridge / Ivy). There seems to be the general impression that other than President's Scholars, students going overseas don't need aid ... but of course, the lack of aid in the first place also means that unsurprisingly, most students who would consider going overseas are mostly students who don't need aid. This applies even more for local schools, due to the increased demographic and the chance of defraying a bigger amount of the EFC. A large part of the existing defrayment of course comes from the pre-existing bonded scholarship, and that may not be always the most economically efficient plan either (there are several ways in which it could backfire).</p>
<p>You go to Princeton lah. Even relatively well-off Princeton students (e.g. more than 100k USD / yr) would get near full-ride scholarships. 17 billion endowment for 5000 undergrad and 2500 grad students? That's more than $2.27 million / student, you realise. Of course, the annual income from that endowment is likely to be 5-10% that amount (as most incomes of large/prestigious endowments are), so let me correct myself: 113k to 227k USD per student, per year. I haven't even multiplied by four yet...</p>
<p>And oh, I was making a jest at general demographic facts. ;) Out of my graduating class of 213 students (67 dropped out -- we started with 280 freshman year), I believe only 30-40 would be considered to be any higher than "lower middle class". I do not think I am wrong when I believe that the ratio of amount of people above the lower middle-class mark to the amount of people below that mark would be much higher in HCI/Raffles/etc.</p>
<p>Annual tuition for NUS (Singapore citizen, excluding dentistry, medicine) = 6360 SGD = 4200 USD
Annual hostel fees = 1750 SGD = 1150 USD</p>
<p>Annual tuition for University of Maine (instate resident) = 9100 USD
Annual room and board = 8000 USD</p>
<p>I rest my case.</p>
<p>er... you realise that Princeton doesn't throw money at people. it's based on need too.</p>
<p>yeah i guess, sometimes when things dun turn out right you're just making a jest haha</p>
<p>But the need bar can be set as high as they want. You could have a family making 150k / yr and they would still get need-based aid.</p>
<p>45k a year?</p>
<p>anyway, forget it. you're never gonna believe that HC and RJ are not private schools charging fees that only the rich can afford anyway. you just like to assume a lot about stuff you have had no encounter with.</p>
<p>Um, I know for a fact that Harvard and MIT can offer substantial amount of need-based aid to a lot of families who otherwise wouldn't make the cut.</p>
<p>Granted, the amount of aid you receive approaches zero asymptotically as family EFC increases. </p>
<p>But even families making just below 75k / yr get full rides to MIT. If I remember correctly.</p>
<p>I am not just pulling facts out of my ass. I'm just too lazy to Google a source and cite it.</p>
<p>screwitlah:
you should just concede that ppl at rj and hwachong are rich, elitist, spoilt brats who prob bribed the schs to get in ;)</p>
<p>Of course, if you can actually get into HYPM as an international, then you probably either are a) rich enough to pay for it yourself, b) will get enough to aid to pull you through. So you won't really want a scholarship either way.</p>
<p>Scholarships aren't necessarily full rides you know. </p>
<p>Financial aid also frequently comes in the form of a loan -- scholarships effectively convert those to grants.</p>
<p>Someone directed me to post in this section so I'm kinda just pasting:
US university application help
Just joined the forum here: I'm from Singapore and graduated from Junior College some time back in 2007 and went to serve National Service which will be till next year feb. Problem is after searching and requesting for information from a few unis, i got the answer that I needed a secondary school report on top of the Junior College requirement. Since I'd graduated from sec sch 5 years ago, my teachers have either retired or been posted out. So I'm kinda stuck with the common application. I'm going to list my problems and some basic info to aid those who can help answer some of my questions:</p>
<p>1) Secondary school reports (do i REALLY need them??) --> do they mean JC reports? and how do i go about submitting them online?
2) I'm sitting for my SATI in dec this year and it seems that I've got to sit for SATII too. (is it ok for me to submit my application with just an SATI?)
3) The common app requires me to have a high school counselor's report (those from s'pore would understand that we do not have such a program/counselor, at least not in my school)
4) All the transcripts to be submitted by me or my teachers? (the CA did not have an option to upload scans of my result slips)
5) How much do experiences count in the application process? (are they looking more for book bound nerds or people with a decent brain and great personality?)
additional question: i just started my application. am i like damn screwed for a 'late' application?</p>
<p>Some info about me:
- Stuck in NS till 2009 Feb
- finished my A levels in 2007 with As for Chem, Econs, Math and a B for General Paper
- got a decent Co-curricular activity report (swim for school and got some bronze thingy for division group award, 80+ hours of com service) and academic reports (went to do an AP program at SMU during my JC2 and got an A- in the International Econs mod, merit for national econs quiz, top in my school a few times for various subjects, etc)
- Plan to take up a financial aid assistance grant (I'm kinda broke)
- planning to take up Environmental Chemistry in either one of these unis (which I'm obviously applying to): Cornell, Chicago, Northwestern</p>
<p>any help would be greatly appreciated thanks</p>
<p>1) No, the Secondary School Report for the Common Application doesn't mean you have to get it from your secondary school. We usually ask our JC Civics Tutors to fill that in.</p>
<p>2) Most top schools need (or strongly recommend, which I believe is saying the same thing) SAT II results, unfortunately.</p>
<p>3) Your JC's civics tutor will act as your high school counselor.</p>
<p>4) Photocopied and certified true by your school admin office, then given to your CT to be included in the envelope along with her recommendation and the SSR.</p>
<p>5) HYPSM either wants students who excelled in one particular area (think international Olympiads, ISEF, RSI and the like) or students who display all-rounded-ness. Having a niche talent which they need for that year also helps. Of course, the requirement becomes more relaxed the less selective the school is.</p>
<p>6) No. Deadlines for regular decision is December 31st for most schools.</p>
<p>thanks loads. regarding the certs to be photocopied and passed to my CT, isnt it supposed to be submitted online? most unis require either a full paper version or a full online submission and not a combi of both. so do i scan the reports and email them to my CT for inclusion?</p>
<p>oh my god. after reading all the posts and the extremely high results being posted, i feel kinda screwed and morose and delusional thinking that someone of my standard can even hope to compete with ivy league machines........prob a stupid question but: is there any chance that a non rjc/hci/top school student also lacking the billions of As and distinctions will ever get into either of the 3 unis listed above?</p>
<p>one more question: can i submit the application form and then submit the supplements (and transcripts) or do i have to throw in the whole bunch together?</p>