<p>Everything else. The coerced corporate culture, with our compulsory resume/interview/etiquette classes; the narrow ideas of success. You cant sit down anywhere in SMU without hearing have you applied for the Citigroup job, how much is Merrill offering you, what theyre offering you JUST FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. You cant sit down anywhere in SMU without having SMU tell you 100% of our students got jobs before graduation! x% of them have a starting salary of $5000! y% of them have a starting salary of $10 000! Big, hairy deal. If you dont like it, I hear you say, why dont you just ignore it? You cant: its shoved down your throat every chance they have. Even if you hardly go to school, and go with blinders on and ears closed (as you would, after all that listening to inane, pointless class participation. side note: one year in etiquette class, somebody said, prof, whats the maximum number of peas I can put on my fork?) theres no escaping.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>The tragic part is, as most of the seniors would agree, the school never used to be like this. Something changed dramatically, around the same time (1) we moved to the city campus (2) we drastically expanded the intake. The SMU I knew once was enough to make me voluntarily become a SMU Advocate when I was asked to (dont laugh); I now feel sorry I put countless people through this, this ridiculously competitive Im doing so badly at school, my GPA is only 3.9, Im so different because I come from SMU environment.</p>
<p>Ive been in this institution three years now � it was a decision I chose of my own accord, instead of going away, instead of going to law school, instead of everything I saw for myself � I chose you. Youve been alright to me, and so far my highest praise is: Id rather be here, than any other institution in this bloody country. Which is not very high praise at all, and youd be right.</p>
<p>I am not interested in working for Merrill Lynch. Nor JP Morgan. Nor Goldman Sachs. Not a bank either. I dont think Ill be working in anything involving Excel spreadsheets, so count me out from 99.8% of the jobs you think I should be doing.</p>
<p>So when you stick me in this stupid conference room threatening not to recognize my internship until youve put me through a thorough brainwashing session full of business school jargon; like: pedagogy and elevator speech and being different and value-added. Like profit-maximizing and corporate innovation, your corporate spiel takes us nowhere.</p>
<p>**** you for all the days you stuck me in a suit and heels (every presentation, and sometimes every other day), **** you for all the times you tell me Im going to be stuck in a low-end job because Im studying something that wont make very much money. Its not that I dont like money. I like money very much. I just happen to think I have a better way to make it, and no, I wont tell you how. Because Im already making that money, and/or on my way there, doing the things I love, doing things I give a damn about. And you know what? The 3 out of 1000 people who get in to (namedrop another MNC) isnt that impressive a statistic. There are harder battles to fight, and win at.</p>
<p>Because Im doing so much more with my life than you can imagine: and no, a persons degree at university is not the be all and end all, but a mere tool. And you wonder why Im in such a hurry to get out before you stick me in another suit.</p>
<p>in some weird way. i kinda agree with pp11. yet, smu's basic pedagogy is still the same: small classroom sizes that promote learning. i went to smu for a brief AP mod and was thrown into a class of 'scholars' so to speak. yes, there were the "speak/talk for the sake of getting CP marks" ppl and the peeps who use superfluous lingo to put their point across. basically the normal s'porean i-must-top-the-class and im-smart-so-let-me-show-off attitude. however, it soon became clear that the prof wasnt interested in these show-offs. what he wanted were students who really wanted to understand what was being taught. mayb the prof allocated to the class was not the norm, but he did point out several times that there was no point speaking up for the sake of bombastisity (a new word i created. hahaha) nor CP. instead, he gave alot of credit to those who clarified terms and stuff during his class instead of those who pretend to know it all and sneer at the 'losers' who asked these 'simple' questions. so yea, class was pretty fun once ppl actually mature and ask sensible questions (ignoring the perpetual show-offers) and we did alot of fun project work (it was a year 2 biz mod btw). </p>
<p>and about smu only wanting those with grades; nah, i dont really think so. i've had many friends who didnt get stellar results NOR cca records getting in. the interviewers look at the passion and teachers tesitimonials abt the kiddo. in fact, one of their top students was a jc student with abysmal results and was initially rejected until he took a private biz course while serving ns. den he applied thru the 'back door' so to speak and they saw his passion/etc for the course he intended to pursue. and later appeared in the newspaper being the leader of a project group that won some award and was offered a 5K salary by a chinese coy. so yea, results arent always that important when applying to the uni. granted that the uni had to 'shoo in' brilliant students to gain recognition in its early days, i guess its now more widely accepted (in my circle that is) that smu is the only uni that really treats appeals seriously. </p>
<p>regarding the mugging part. nah, i didnt really mug on course. nor read anything out of the ordinary. my fren who did mug for the tests did worse. even his much longer/detailed essays received a lower score (i only wrote 2 short paragraphs man) and the prof said that it was the idea in the essay that counted not the long unnecessary details that counted. (well, this could partly explain why the acc/biz students mentioned above didnt understand the formulas as they were more interested in something else i guess). i love smu. wee! hahahaha...too bad they dont offer sciences..........T.T</p>
<p>-----disclaimer: only was in ONE mod so yea, prob is a biased point of view----------------
and if anyone really needed to know, i got an A- (there wasn any A+ in the class) for the mod so being normal is really more important.</p>
<p>just went to the blog to check out the posts. is everyone from smu of this same thought? or are those who disagree yet dare not speak up (which shld be rather unlikely)...</p>
<p>oceanwave: looking at the comments on the blogs and from what I hear on the streets, it doesn't seem to be just a vocal minority.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to say SMU isn't a good school... I just thought that the people on this thread seems too easily taken in by their fabulous marketing (not surprising since when I was 18, I felt the same way about SMU too) and that they should really think about what they want out of a university education before making the commitment. SMU is a great school for some, but not for everyone.</p>
<p>US University Information Session
Date: 16 Nov 08
Time: 02:30 PM
Venue: Orchard Hotel - Lavender Room</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University, Emory University and New York University will be hosting an information session to talk about the admissions processes, academic offerings and campus life programs.</p>
<p>Mr. Jason Nevinger, Associate Director of Admission, Carnegie Mellon University
Ms. Jean Jordan, Dean of Admission, Emory University
Ms. Vivian Cipolla, Director of International Admission</p>
<p>pp11: yea, ive heard ppl who are working (aka NSmen who came back for reservist) hinting that smu grads are just hyped up/better marketed grads. kinda like the all talk no action kind. the guy who said that was a biz student from nus. so yea. well it *could[i/] be just normal rivalry/stress when working together with others..or not...anyways the post by me was just my own mini personal <em>pls note</em> ONE mod experience which most probably could count for nothing. but if it really was that insignificant then the Office of Admissions would then not be bothered with all the details listed earlier would they? (i.e. checking up ECs, teacher's recommendations, etc). OR they really could be just using us newbies to sell the sch to our sch mates...u decide =)</p>
<p>^ Local graduates (whether they are from NUS, NTU or SMU) are usually disadvantaged in applying for front-office jobs - i.e. the actual analyst or associate positions involved in deal-making. They will usually have an easier time getting back or mid-office jobs.</p>
<p>not say they are less desirable, but if you have applicants from top target schools obviously the latter wld have the advantage. actually there are quite a few local grads though.</p>
<p>I took math ii and phy in june of j2. No biggie. Think of it this way: our A-levels are considerably more detailed than their APs (like their S-papers). Their SAT IIs are normal college tests. That's difficulty only of course. Physics had a few odd questions. There was one regarding the period of different discoveries. More history than physics. Go do their practice booklets. It's more about making time to practice than finishing your A-level syllabus.</p>