Topic 1: Education Pathway

Why did you choose to study at Singapore Polytechnic (SP)?

The nearest polytechnic to where I live is Republic Poly, and they didn’t offer the course I wanted. For other polytechnics like Ngee Ann and Nanyang, the travelling distance is about the same – close to an hour’s travelling time. Since I made the cut for SP and there’s not much difference in travelling time, I decided to study in SP.

My brother is also at SP, so he recommended me to study there, saying the school facilities and environment are quite good.

I didn’t choose JC because I don’t really like to follow a very strict timetable. I like my time to be quite free, so I don’t have to wake up early in the morning. Some classes in polytechnic are in the afternoon, so the timing is quite flexible, and helps me to better balance my studies with training as well.

Why did you choose to study Bioengineering?

Back in secondary school, I liked Physics and Mathematics a lot. For my O-Levels, I actually did quite well for these two subjects. I wanted to do something related to engineering, but most of the engineering courses are like aerospace and electrical engineering. I wanted something with a bit of Biology which makes it more interesting. SP offers a course called Bioengineering, so I decided to go for Bioengineering.

Back then, when I was looking at the modules we’ll be taking, there were quite a few interesting modules. For example, this semester, I’m doing a module called Lab Skills and Techniques. In the lab, we get to experience what mutating DNA are like. We also learn Biomechanics and Biochemistry. Some modules I like also include Advanced Mathematics and Engineering Mathematics because I just like Mathematics quite a lot. So these modules make studying my course enjoyable.

How is your school environment and culture like?

I’m studying in the School of Engineering. The environment is quite fun, because there are a lot of boys in the school. When boys get together, we do very funny things in class. For example, sometimes when I fall asleep in class, my friends have a compilation of me sleeping in class. They like to take photos of me and post it in the group chat. So it’s quite fun to be studying in this environment, because I can relate to them and we have a lot of common topics to talk about. Sometimes we play games together during our breaks.

For my course and in SP in general, I think my lecturers are quite helpful. They make sure that students do well and do not fall behind. They actually take time off for students to consult them if we need help.

What challenges did you face transitioning from secondary school to polytechnic?

In secondary school, we had to follow a strict timetable and we were not allowed to skip classes. Before I started my journey in poly, I already had the mind-set that in poly, I can relax, and if I feel that this lecture is useless, I can just skip it. Or I can go out with my friends to have a longer lunch break before the next lesson. Homework doesn’t have to be submitted the next day, lecturers don’t even care whether or not you do your tutorials.

For me, I feel that I actually entered poly with the wrong mind-set, which resulted in me not doing so well for my Year 1 Semester 1. Then I realised that in poly, you have to be self-disciplined because not one is going to tell you what you should do, it’s more like what you think you should be doing in order to achieve a good result or GPA. So it was quite hard for me to realise that it was quite different from secondary school, where if you don’t do your homework, your teachers would actually call you out.

Another difficulty for me was making friends. Year 1 is usually the most slack period, because modules are actually not that tough. Every time after school, my friends would stay back to play basketball and frisbee. As a class, that’s how we got together – through activities after school. But most of the time, I’m not able to join them and I’ll tell them, “You guys play, I can join you but I’ll just sit one side because I don’t want to waste my energy before training, because I don’t want to make myself more tired.” Or I’ll just tell them, “I don’t have an extra attire to change out if I sweat, because I only brought along my training t-shirt.”

Most of the time, I’ll rush off for training, or I just don’t really take part in the activities they’re doing. So it was quite hard for me to make friends with them because they felt like I was the odd one out. They would play games after school, and after finishing that session, they would go for dinner together. But I’m not able to join them because I have training. So it was actually quite hard for me to make friends that understand my schedule.

Did anyone tell you to go to poly so that you can better balance school and trainings?

I wouldn’t say that people advised me to go to poly, but they said that going to poly is a good thing because my schedule would be more flexible and I can attend training every day. But even if nobody advised me, I’ll probably still go to poly (laughs).

What would you tell someone who is considering to go to a polytechnic?

Don’t have the mind-set that going to poly is quite slack. Because some of the modules are actually quite comparable to what JC students are doing. It’s not as easy as what you think it is.

I think the major difference between JC and poly isn’t really the toughness of the education level. It’s more about the timetable. In poly, your timing is more flexible, so you’ll have to plan your time well. But in JC, you’ll just report to school every day at the same time, and end around the same time as well. If you have CCA, you go for CCA, if not you can just head home to study.

For my juniors who are not sure whether they want to go to poly or JC, I just tell them, “It depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to have. Do you want to have a more systematic lifestyle like JC students or have slightly more freedom in poly?” But that doesn’t mean you can slack off in your studies because attaining a good GPA in poly is not something everyone can do, and it’s not very easy.