Finally after grueling 2 and 0.5 years of National Service (NS), I pretty much looked forward to further my studies overseas. Almost every Singaporean guy would whine about how slow time passed while serving the mere 2.5 years of NS compared to 3 years in the polytechnic or the 4 or 5 years in secondary school. Due to the fact that NS is mandatory and is certainly not something which most enlistees desired, getting that yellow ticket of leave means getting back all the freedom we previously had. In fact, all my friends whom I met during NS envied me for having the chance to study overseas especially after being cooped up by NS for a relatively long period of time.
A few months before my NS Operational Ready Date (ORD), the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic was wreaking havoc around the globe. The local economy was in a bad shape as Singapore was one of the worst hit countries. As many of my friends who completed NS slightly earlier than me were unable to secure any employment, further studies was certainly the best option at that point in time considering that there were rumors that a typical local university graduate earns a monthly salary of miserable SGD 1400 when the norm should be SGD 2000 or above based on the market rate during that time. Due to this reason, many youths around my age chose to further their studies while waiting for the economy to recover. However, during that era, there were limited options for tertiary education in Singapore. The 3 public universities offered limited full time courses to polytechnic graduates which resulted in high competition in securing the courses. Although there were private universities that offered similar part time courses, I preferred studying full time and enjoy campus life as much as possible because I missed polytechnic life so much. I was aware that there were private universities that also offers full time courses. However, these full time courses were offered in collaboration with overseas universities which I felt would not provide me a more comprehensive learning experience and an enjoyable campus life.
Having decided to further my studies, I applied for degree courses in local public tertiary institutions. At that time, local polytechnic graduates were only allowed to apply for degree courses in public universities which were related to their course of study in the polytechnic. Hence, the choices were extremely limited given the fact that the variety of degree courses in Singapore public universities were already so limited compared to overseas universities which offered exotic courses such as Digital Animation, Agriculture, Mining or Marine Biology. Surprisingly, I chose Bachelor of Science in Education - BSc (Edu) offered by the National Institute of Education (NIE) as one of my choices. It was a 4 years degree course followed by serving a 4 years teaching bond in a primary or secondary school. In order to pursue this course, the prospective student would need to attend an interview at the Ministry of Education (MOE) headquarter and be successfully employed as a General Education Officer aka teacher. The reasons why I chose this course as one of my choices were firstly because of the high starting salary and stable employment, followed by the opportunity to work in a school environment which I enjoyed the most. Shortly after I submitted my application, I received an invitation letter for an interview at MOE HQ. The letter also stated that my other choices were still being considered.
Although I was still undecided about accepting this career option if I was accepted, I did my due diligence to research on the job and prepared myself to answer questions which I expected them to ask. On the day of interview, I donned a white long sleeve shirt and black long pants which is the standard formal attire for interview. The interview panel consisted of 3 ladies with a label indicating their name and designation in front of them. The lady on the leftmost was a school principal, followed by an NIE lecturer and a MOE HR executive. The school principal appeared stern and asked mostly aptitude questions while the NIE lecturer maintained a gentle smile throughout and asked me about my understanding of the subjects taught in NIE. In one of the questions she asked me regarding a subject, I replied that the particular subject seems intimidating as it requires students to write tons of essays. Surprisingly, the 3 ladies burst into laughter upon hearing my answer which really made me wonder what was so hilarious about it. Towards the end of the interview, the HR executive commented that I did pretty well for my polytechnic diploma and asked whether I would feel that it would be a waste if I did not pursue a career in Information Technology (IT) which is my field of study. I replied saying that it wouldn't be a waste as my IT background would help in situations like teaching computing related subjects such as programming in schools or to be involved in IT projects for MOE. Overall, I was glad that the interview went pretty well and they seemed to have good impression of me. True enough, I received a letter about a fortnight later informing me that I was being offered the job (and also the Bachelor of Science course as well).
After much consideration and discussion with my parents, I decided that having an IT (technical) degree would be more appropriate for me as it would provide me with more career options in future rather than a degree which solely prepares me to be a teacher. Since there were no news about my other choices, I had to consider the option of studying overseas. In the meanwhile, I attended several overseas universities fairs held in Singapore together with my father and a few friends I met in polytechnic who were also interested in furthering their studies overseas. Initially, my father chose a university in Melbourne for me which was prestigious but course fees were high, not to mention that this city probably had the highest cost of living in Australia. He had even contacted his friend who owned a house near this university to ask him whether I could rent the house. After more research, I decided to enroll for another university in Brisbane which was also quite prestigious and a popular choice among Singaporean students including friends I met in polytechnic. In the first place, the reason why we chose Australia as a country to study in because of its close proximity and lower cost compared to the United Kingdom which was much further and costly. In terms of cost, studying in the United States was slightly more expensive than Australia but my parents were concerned about safety there. Australia was deemed more friendly to me as it was the first country I visited outside home (i.e. Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia) region when I was 13 years old which I enjoyed a lot. Another advantage of Brisbane is the sub-tropical climate which is closer to ours compared to the cold harsh climate of the UK and USA.
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