All About Polytechnics
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Option\" post_id=\"2051067\" time=\"1638973539\" user_id=\"185249:
Sorry to say, these courses are all over the place. You have probably quoted every possible options except Business and Design :siam:
Hi, I am asking around for my daughter who has just finished Sec 3 this year and contemplating of a Poly course after her OP. She is thinking of TP, NP, or SP.
At the same time, the courses she has in mind are :
(a) Maritime studies
(b) Life science
(c) Applied science
(d) Chinese media and communications
(e) Chemical engineering
(f) Psychology
The Polys and courses are not in order of priority.
Are there parents or children who have taken any of these courses or studied in any of these Polys ?
Thanks for your advice in advance.
It's probably better to start off with narrowing down the options... what are the fields / specialisation she is interested in, what are her strengths (academically), etc. -
floppy\" post_id=\"2051088\" time=\"1639010469\" user_id=\"97579:
1, any responses provided do not have to include all courses or Polys mentioned above. Even 1-2 insights will allow us to shed light.
Sorry to say, these courses are all over the place. You have probably quoted every possible options except Business and Design :siam:
It's probably better to start off with narrowing down the options... what are the fields / specialisation she is interested in, what are her strengths (academically), etc.
2, the Poly discussions compared to those for IP, JCs even PSLEs are not a lot on this site. This makes it more difficult for anyone to understand what Polys have. We are not after the general differences already mentioned on the site but details. Unless someone has deep insights to answer various areas now, any knowledgebase will have to be built up progressively over time (and for the benefit of others too).
3, based on course outlines, there is nothing wrong with a child having multiple exploratory paths. Of course when it comes to choosing a Poly environment, narrowing down becomes important but not till details are known. If we start narrowing down without enough details, the risks are always about omitting a suitable course/ Poly and accepting an unsuitable course/ Poly.
4, Poly's have more courses than those you mentioned that I left out.
To be sure we have the same understanding, Business and Design themselves are umbrellas to a range of courses, and these were already omitted earlier in the query.
Also, the range of Engineering courses were not included in what I asked for (Chemical Engineering is classified under Applied Science).
For Humanities, only Psychology and Chinese (2 out of 6 within the umbrella) were raised.
There are other umbrellas of courses in Polys that I have excluded in the query : Built Environment, IT, Health Sciences. -
Forgot to add, her interests are diverse from young and wider than the options I listed. Her interests in hands on work are not lower than academic work too. I can understand why some people pick JCs, especially when they have not "made up their minds" on what to do for further studies. Actually, after JCs, they will still have to "make up their minds" for U courses. Considering the Poly route just brings forward that decision timeline though U courses are not lesser than Poly courses.
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:salute:
20-year-old top student found calling in nursing:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l8ajOCPgZY] -
Option\" post_id=\"2051098\" time=\"1639018669\" user_id=\"185249:
My son choose to go to poly instead of JC. He EAE-ed into Ngee Ann for IT during Sec4. Now he’s finishing his cybersecurity course and will be doing internship with a Big4. On hindsight it was a great choice, he is really happy, doing & studying what he loves, even though he chose the path less travelled. At one stage while still in sec4, he felt so lousy and really bad and started questioning if he should go to JC instead / the trigger was that all his classmates were talking about JCs. Going to poly was like as if ‘you are second grade’ and not good enough for JC.
Forgot to add, her interests are diverse from young and wider than the options I listed. Her interests in hands on work are not lower than academic work too. I can understand why some people pick JCs, especially when they have not \"made up their minds\" on what to do for further studies. Actually, after JCs, they will still have to \"make up their minds\" for U courses. Considering the Poly route just brings forward that decision timeline though U courses are not lesser than Poly courses.
As parents we had our fair share of “advice” , snickering, the look from neighbours and older folks on why we let him choose poly and not JC. Frankly, his aptitude and genuine motivation matters , not what others think or say coz these people are not living his life. As parents, we were steadfast and happy that we stayed focus above all the noise to support him -
staypositive\" post_id=\"2078247\" time=\"1660384246\" user_id=\"1713:
Other people legs are not in our shoes, our sons know what they want and have their plans for the future, why need to care how others 三姑六婆 look or say about us?
My son choose to go to poly instead of JC. He EAE-ed into Ngee Ann for IT during Sec4. Now he’s finishing his cybersecurity course and will be doing internship with a Big4. On hindsight it was a great choice, he is really happy, doing & studying what he loves, even though he chose the path less travelled. At one stage while still in sec4, he felt so lousy and really bad and started questioning if he should go to JC instead / the trigger was that all his classmates were talking about JCs. Going to poly was like as if ‘you are second grade’ and not good enough for JC.
As parents we had our fair share of “advice” , snickering, the look from neighbours and older folks on why we let him choose poly and not JC. Frankly, his aptitude and genuine motivation matters , not what others think or say coz these people are not living his life. As parents, we were steadfast and happy that we stayed focus above all the noise to support him -
staypositive\" post_id=\"2078247\" time=\"1660384246\" user_id=\"1713:
Ok, we are on the same page. DD's friends are also thinking about JCs while she is thinking about Poly. Why did your son consider EAE ? Is it because he has already found out about other Polys and made up his mind ? Why Ngee Ann and another Poly ? Did he join any CCA in Poly ?
My son choose to go to poly instead of JC. He EAE-ed into Ngee Ann for IT during Sec4. Now he’s finishing his cybersecurity course and will be doing internship with a Big4. On hindsight it was a great choice, he is really happy, doing & studying what he loves, even though he chose the path less travelled. At one stage while still in sec4, he felt so lousy and really bad and started questioning if he should go to JC instead / the trigger was that all his classmates were talking about JCs. Going to poly was like as if ‘you are second grade’ and not good enough for JC.
As parents we had our fair share of “advice” , snickering, the look from neighbours and older folks on why we let him choose poly and not JC. Frankly, his aptitude and genuine motivation matters , not what others think or say coz these people are not living his life. As parents, we were steadfast and happy that we stayed focus above all the noise to support him -
Why EAE –> His interest and he enjoys creating apps etc. In fact, he was not successful in getting into Computing class for GCE O level, so he self-learn several programming languages to create messaging app, calculator, all sorts of games - cheese, minefield, etc. To us, that was a clear-cut interest and aptitude and motivation. At one time he changed the coding on Toto web-screen to reflect my Toto ticket number. I really thought I had the winning numbers. Luckily, I have a strong heart.
All 3 polys were great - Ngee Ann, SP and Nanyang. SP and Ngee Ann’s aptitude test for EAE were conducted on same morning. Not allowed to change or defer. So, had to self-select and forced to choose one.
In the end, he chose Ngee Ann was purely due to distance and easy access from home and an acquaintance studying there - which sort of provided more insights into the course he was keen on.
I guess the more information available and you can get, the more comforting as you will be able to make a more informed decision. Do attend the open houses, ask a lot of questions…
CCA - yes, plenty - mainly related to IT and also in organising committees… I do know that he and his classmates also entered some public hackathons - to gain good and fun learning experience -
Thanks. What languages does he learn ? Does he have computing projects with hardware ? Yes, we have attended 2 poly open houses so far. As in all open houses, we cannot be sure if the schools only showcase what look ‘great’. This is why we are asking around too.
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C++, phyton, Unix, etc… you are asking me, a parent that know nuts about IT!
It’s helpful - i mean those languages. All software/applications. No fanciful hardware. All he used were two laptops - one super old one, and his secondary school laptop. Many parents send their kids for classes. Actually not necessary as youtube etc has tons of good materials for self-learning. But self-learn only works if the kid is personally motivated to do so
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