kaisuism\" post_id=\"2087591\" time=\"1667289921\" user_id=\"199574:

What about medical checkup? Need to be up to date right?

This will just follow their usual cycle. So my helper is only due next year post renewal.

I just renewed my helper’s work permit. It was fairly easy to DIY.


* purchase a insurance - personally I shop around to make sure the coverage is good (just in case). So it is not going for just a policy to fulfill the criteria.

* within 2-3 working days, this is updated in mom and I went ahead to renew the permit. It took me 5-10mins. Very easy and definitely can DIY.

* no agreement required. But I was thinking of drawing up 1 to say we will follow the terms and conditions of previous. But compensation etc have been adjusted.

* my helper’s passport is due in 2023, we will renew her passport next year.

Does anyone has any recent experience in renewing Indo maid passport? I’ve made the online appointment, printed the forms and all but unsure if there are any watch outs. Such as can employer tag along or only they are allowed to enter due to covid? Also photo taking and any other special things to take note of ?


My helper’s passport is expiring in Nov 2022. Agency said there is no hurry to renew till she is going back. I just renewed her WP for 2 years and passport renewal is not a criteria.

Terrydad\" post_id=\"2064586\" time=\"1650248486\" user_id=\"193857:

Are there parents with direct experience of sending their kids to overseas universities? Re costs and ROI.

The Oxbridge med schools are killers in terms of costs and you may never recover the costs, with inflation and the fact that junior doctors earn a pittance. However, has anyone looked into overseas colleges less expensive?

I would love to send my kids overseas but it may mean working forever.

No offence and maybe just a different school of thought. When my dd got her perfect A level score, a colleague cum a good friend who is rather senior in the organization asked if we are sending her overseas. She had sent her dd (same age as a my dd) to a ivy league university in US as her dd was interested in those artsy stuff.

To be honest, sending them overseas never cross our mind. Yes, she could have gotten a scholarship, yes we could have afford it but... if she can do it locally in our local universities why not??? Also with her scholarships and uni tie up these days, she will be getting exposure for those overseas immersion, etc... and I think they can be away for up to 6 months. Most of dd's JC friend ended up overseas as they cannot get their desired course locally eg. dentistry, building sustainable environment, etc..

So yes... I am happy if they can just get their degrees locally and yes to someone's point... the cost benefit analysis sometimes just doesn't make sense but there might be other qualitative factors to consider. Also gaining overseas exposure through job relocation (eg. being mobile to move across different countries within the same company) is another way to do it if they are so hungry for overseas exposure (not just through education..).

starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2064581\" time=\"1650246535\" user_id=\"14025:

When comes to job application, would most employers consider 1st class Hons of an overseas U a higher priority as compared with 2nd class Hons or lower of a local U?

To be honest, we never really look at the ranking of someone's degree. I know I've come across colleagues who are 1st class honors from local uni in their announcement but that's about it. For my co's management trainee program, they do have go through diverse interviews - case study, presentation, interviews by different directors on different scope to make it. Hence more importantly is the ability to apply, present and be well articulated/ confident and in our case, technical knowledge. We don't go round harping that just because someone one has a 1st class, he/she must be the best candidate. It's the overall package these days.

So in my team, I've someone who passed the mgt trainee program. He came from less known JC and only did a single degree (unlike his peers) and was not a scholar too. But guess what.... he is one of our highly sought top talents today as he is diligent, street smart and has the EQ too. So yes, we should not narrowly define how success should look like these days - like what the millennials will say

iRabbit\" post_id=\"2064468\" time=\"1650122362\" user_id=\"51587:

Parents, what are your tots on SUTD?

ds has a friend who got in to SUTD (unsure what subjects) but was offered scholarship though his JC results was lower than ds.

ds was contemplating switching to SUTD for scholarship but I thot their subject/ brand name for business related subjects is not there and told him not to blindly chase after scholarship. It is kind of out of the way for us too...

Imp75\" post_id=\"2064351\" time=\"1649935268\" user_id=\"2358:

Thanks ladies for your advice.
Will an introvert child survive in SMU?

In the past 2 years with pandemic, i felt that it's difficult for them to make friends with the virtual learning setting. While they are put into project teams but it's hard to form friendship with the modular and course bidding system. My dd made friends mostly through CCA. She stayed at the prinsep st hostel for a year and it wasn't really interactive with the pandemic (quite a waste of experience i felt)....

I think anyone can survive depending on one's mindset. At their age, I think we should encourage our kids to be open to different challenges. Sometimes, when put in certain environment, one will get the opportunity to develop themselves differently. I find myself telling this to the young talents in my organization all the time. They are young and nothing should limit them.

Same as my dd2 who just started poly... She came home lamenting that she has no friends in her class... she doesn't want to go to school anymore (hopefully jokingly).... I reminded her about her first day at secondary school and wait... does that mean she should stay at home for good??? Well... she just have to learn and adapt which is so important for their generation.

Imp75\" post_id=\"2064319\" time=\"1649915568\" user_id=\"2358:

Thanks MMM. My situation is very similar to yours . Both me and hubs were from NTU accountancy (I minor in finance too back then) so I do know the type of modules being offered in NTU biz sch....precisely i had been through the shxx of going to big 6 (i was from the 'top' firm back then) and I do not wish the same kind of life on my kids now. I hesitated to consider accounting degree if the aim is not to go big 4 now. Hubs worried that if my girl accepts biz ad, will.she be able to read Finance as a major from year 2 onwards (does it depend on Yr1 results). The worse thing could happen is that she gets assigned to some specialisations that has no market value, so going to a specialised degree should be the consideration.
Back to double degree, the girl needs to spend at least 5y in university. Is this time spent worth it bc doesn't work experience play a bigger importance in the buildup of the career? I actually also prefer the jam-packed 3y NTU course which is fast-paced (my girl should get used to that pace by now) and content-heavy but then there is that concern about vocality of the students as well.....

Personally, I don't think a accounting degree lead one to Big 4 only. There are alot of MNCs or local corporations that take in accountancy graduate in their management trainee programs. While one may not become rich working in the profession, one can probably have a \"comfortable\" lifestyle a recent term i learnt from the millennials... Personally I've interviewed many who wants to join MNC finance after 2-3 years of audit. In fact, I recently recruited someone with 3 years in audit. Vs our ex-intern who is a recent SMU graduate who has joined a local corporate mgt trainee program, she was actually paid more than the person from audit.... So yes there are many options these days.

I share the same sentiments on general biz degree. Like what's next???? dd has alot of friends who are doing business degree in SMU whom she met through CCAs. Her JC BFF is also doing a general degree in SMU and she is currently interning at a regional supply chain dept in MNC. So I feel that maybe it's not that limiting these days so long as you seek experiences during those internships.

It's common for one to take Leave of Absence for 6 months to go for 6 months full time internship these days. I had a NTU accountancy intern who did that with us for 1 year and her specialization is on data analytics. She eventually joined us as full time employee. My dd is going to take her LOA in 2nd half of this year and still target to graduate within 4 years. At the same time, she is currently interning full time for another company for 6 months. But her modules are versatile enough to let her opt for evening classes this semester. Again... it can be taxing but it's her choice to want to gain the different exposure.

The double degree program for my kids in SMU is 4 years due to overlapping modules. I heard it can be longer if the combination is like IT/ business/ accountancy that can run up to 5 years. BTW, my dd does have JC friend who is currently doing NTU accountancy. I think the key concern for her was the internship part. If she can't find a decent internship, it's hard to squeeze that along the way as the program is 3 years only. Internship can be competitive too as i heard her friend only managed to find internship at 2nd tier audit firm. So yes... pros and cons especially when the kids themselves are not clear.

Imp75\" post_id=\"2064310\" time=\"1649911405\" user_id=\"2358:

Hi MMM

Do you mind sharing the thought process into selecting SMU over NTU/NUS and the type of course? I am tearing my hair out over what uni, what course, double degree or major or USP....there are just too many options/info overload.

Sharing some of our thought process :
* SMU makes the most sense logistically. We are in north east area. DH graduated from NTU accountancy and we imagine that he would love to send the kids to NTU every weekend to tour the campus, etc... but in the end, SMU does seems more appealing.

* I've team members from NUS/ NTU and SMU. So I am assured that whichever they go to, they will turn out fine and equally sought after. So i never had a concern on which of the 3 universities to be honest.

* SMU is focus on business subjects so their ranking should never be compared to NUS/ NTU. It's like comparing apples to oranges. But NUS to us was clear that the business subjects is kind of awkward with the duration, etc... NTU came across as too compact as their courses is 3 years. While it's good to graduate faster (from parent's pov) but it becomes challenging for internship, etc... and heard they have switched to driving class participation to encourage students to be more vocal vs just gaining technical knowledge. SMU on the other hand has been driving this critical vocal piece much earlier and visible so far in those that i met at work. It's an important corporate skillset. In fact I was talking to some young grads from NTU and they felt that their SMU peers tend to be more vocal than themselves.

* Both my dh and myself are in accounting profession hence we are probably more familiar with this area.

* dd scored 90RP for A levels so she could basically choose anything. She did BCME in JC so I thought she would eventually go into science profession. However, she was clear that she is not keen to be a scientist or a doctor or a lawyer. IT is also not her cup of tea so yes business/ accountancy sounds versatile enough. She is offered double degree in accountancy/ business and scholarships from the NTU and SMU as she didn't apply for NUS as their business subject combination/ duration is not as desirable.

Over the past 1-2 years, there was thoughts of doing her masters (part of scholarship) etc.... many variations along the way. At this point, she has other thoughts. She wanted to focus on industry experience (hence the internships) and wants to only do accountancy degree and drop her business degree as she wonders at the value add based on feedback from seniors. Ok... they have reached a stage of a mind of their own. Even the profession is still exploratory. She started with consulting and things just kept on evolving. To be honest... I am at the stage of whatever as I assumed she is sensible enough to know what she wants. But she is driven and actively seek out different opportunities on her own. Looking at her CV currently, she does stand out from a exposure perspective vs those who are about to graduate.

* My ds on the other hand did 82.5 RP and wanted to do economics but we thought that is kind of niche. He is not the tech type so naturally IT related is out. So business/ accountancy then became the next best choice. The interesting thing is while in army now, through peer influence he is keen in investment and will research on it. Initially he was thinking of changing his double degree to IT and accountancy, etc... as IT is demand now but we felt that while skillset can be build, it's better to do it with a passion. He wanted to reapply this year but after much consideration, we told him that it's ok to continue with business/ accountancy and for all he know, maybe he can join banking/ investment in the future (if that is his interest area) with his business/ accountancy degree.

Industry experience is kind of desirable vs just the degree to stand out from a candidate perspective. dd's BFF's sister did her accountancy degree at SMU within 3 years odd. No internship as the focus was on chasing modules. Now that she has graduated, her options are limited. Heard she has offers from big 4 but not her interest area. So yes, something to think about too to strike that balance.

Hope that helps!

Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=\"2064309\" time=\"1649910982\" user_id=\"195250:[quote=\"Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=2064309 time=1649910982 user_id=195250]
Is your DD also major in business/accountancy subjects of SMU 02nd year now?[/quote]

Yes she is Is your dc too?