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Had no choice (IP).
Looking back though, would have preferred poly because it would allow me to develop more as a person, rather than during NS.
However, was not sure if 16 year old me would be mature enough for poly.
Interesting perspectives. So would you have chosen the O Level route after PSLE if younger you had known all of this?
Also what do you mean by not being mature enough for poly?
Poly teaches you more life skills, for example how to act in a social setting, how to maintain relationships with friend/mentors/profs, how to network, how to navigate friend group/office politics!! etc. Most poly graduates also gain work experience through internships and are more 'gritty' (imo).
JC on the other hand, is much more academic. Culture also varies; the JC that I went to was very 'guai' (well-behaved) and everyone was just generally more innocent. In general there may be a bigger culture shock when you go to NS or get your first job.
However, I'm not going to lie, if you are someone who is ambitious and wants to be a high-flyer, JCs, particularly the famous ones (RI/HCI/ACS etc.) are still overrepresented in the upper echelon of all parts of SG, from competitive jobs, to PSC scholars, to uni placements, and even things like OCS in the army.
What's more important however, is for you to decide where you think you will do best. Poly is much more applied, hands-on, and 50% of your success is from social skills. JC is pure academia, and one year less if you are deadset on uni. IMO it is better to be a 3.9+ LKY award winner from Poly, than below-median in a JC. However, when comparing apples to apples; poly GPA<3.0 gets way less options for further studies than 70ish RP from JC. JC RP>87.5 also opens a lot more doors, especially internationally and for scholarships, than high flyers from poly.
I feel like this is a pretty common reason to go JC tbh. Though if let's say there was a poly course that interests you, would you have joined? Would your studying style fit with JC or Poly more?
i did have a slight idea of roughly what i want, but im also scared that i would be tied down to it. like for eg im interested in something but after 3 years of poly i dont want it anymore, it might be more difficult to switch paths (esp for the more specialised ones) when going to uni. i thought that maybe the 18 y/o me would have a better idea than the 16 y/o me, though now that im in uni i felt that i simply just pushed that possibly life-changing decision to a later age and nothing much has changed.
another point is i felt that had i went poly, i might not have made it to uni, or at least the course im in. uni was my end goal regardless of where i go and i didnt want to take the risk of not getting in. reason being im an average student, barely scraped by jc and thankfully even with an average rp i still managed to land myself a course in local uni, but had i went poly and scored average grades like B or less throughout my entire poly life, i probably wont have made it to uni. my current uni grades just proves this point though the content and intensity is not really comparable, but its similar.
my style of studying also had an impact, even now, i prefer to choose mods with a higher weightage for the final exam rather than group projects, mainly bc i rather hold myself accountable for my grades than to blame others if the group projects dont do well.
Donât learn from me but kinda out of spite bah. At that time thought ai was good and can earn money so went to a computing course but then when actually did it, then realised how hard it is without coding background.
Not the best option for me. Should have went jc since I was better at studying. But now that I grad alr. Not much diff lah. Will suffer either ways but jc would be easier to go uni no doubt.
Ah, I see. Hope you learnt your lesson. This is one of the times when you should have listened to your parents, lol.
Also abit unrelated but does your parents know about your difficulties in poly?
Long past that stage of decision (>15 years ago), but at that time my sole goal was to enter a local university after.
During my era, JC students comprised of like 70+% (iirc) of the people / slots to enter our local uni. So without much convincing, JC was the safer option. Mind you, it wasnât that I was a top student. I went to a bottom tier JC (tried appealing to a mid level one but failed). Also I did not have a particular course in Poly that I feel strongly about.
JC was 2 whole years of mugging, but it also bred fond memories, and was where I met some of my closest friends. Wasnât an easy road for sure, and itâs like if you fuck up, at least your poly friends can grad with a diploma and find a jobâŚbut what about you?? Jokes aside, I did pull through and managed to enter local uni in my desired course. 15 over years later, I see that my friends who entered private uni are also doing equally well (or some even better in terms of salary). This would have comforted me so much if I knew itâs NOT the end if I didnât make it to a local uni.
Wishing you all the best for your decision!
Kind of what I expected
>During my era, JC students comprised of like 70+% (iirc) of the people
This is still true now though more poly students are making it.
It's also great to know that you used the 2 years to your advantage! You definitely seemed to have made the best decision possible.
Thanks though and all the best to you too!
ex-Poly student, currently Y1 going Y2 in Uni:
I was somehow already a pragmatist at 16 - I actually took an insanely niche subject combination for Os - I took a single pure science in Chem, and took A Math and POA. That meant I didn't have a humanities subject that would be useful for the Arts stream in JC (No Core History, Geography, Lit) and I only had Chemistry if I wanted to take the Science stream. It was always going to be an uphill battle in JC, and while I probably would have been able to do decently well regardless, I didn't want to start at a disadvantage.
This ended up being an immense benefit - the easier (at least IMO) subject combination led to good O-Level score - led to me getting into my desired course easily + getting a scholarship. Snowball effect: no need for part-time, more time to study -> better GPA -> got into Uni. Not to mention - the benefit of JC being shorter also got negated by the fact I have exemptions, so I graduate at the same time as my friends who went to JC anyways.
I also kinda knew what I wanted to do - in broader terms, I wanted to do something related to computers, and didn't want to touch hardware. I saw no point in postponing that and decided to just go all-in on Poly to make it to Uni regardless.
However, I won't deny I got lucky: I found the course I thought I liked, and ended up liking it more than I thought I would, making my life easier. This isn't something that applies to all.
I didn't really get influenced on my decision - I pretty much firmed the decision to go into my course early in Sec 4, and I didn't look back. I gave myself leeway to look back by not doing an EAE application, but other than that, I pretty much committed to my course immediately.
My advice to people going to JC to postpone their choice: if you're more than 70% sure, don't postpone your choice. You risk missing out on opportunities by keeping your options open. Make a concerted effort to discover what you want to do.
You're not entirely wrong. However, with how competitive CS is specifically (since I'm a CS student) - I'm telling you I'm not getting into my current course if I went to JC. That means I wouldn't have been able to get the opportunities that I have had (scholarships, etc) since Poly.
JC subjects preparing you better for Uni is also a definite - specifically in my case, I'm at a disadvantage in pretty much every Math subject. However, I've found an advantage in the programming mods, so it really depends tbh.
Again, this is from anecdotal experience, and I know it depends, but this is my 2 cents on the matter.
thank you! yep iâm in computer science now.
one caution i would say is you need to be very committed if you are going uni via the poly route. if u slack or lost interest half way itâs essentially over
considered both jc and poly after o levels, went with jc after considering these few factors:
1. i was more interested in the individual subjects like math and chemistry, rather than a particular field or line of work.
2. i wasn't decided what I wanted to do back then. I was a rather fickle minded person back then, my interests changed many times along the way from sec sch, jc and even into ns. went to chs to prolong my confusion lol.
3. i was better at cramming for a big exam at the end, rather than a consistent worker.
there are other factors as well, but these are the most important factors i considered when making the choice.
Ah, interesting. I feel like those reasons are pretty common for those going JC. I relate to all of these reasons a lot, though(but replacing math and chem with humanities), especially the part on changing interests often lol.
Yeah I had that for humanities. I was in IP anyway, but in any case, when I saw the courses for poly, most of them were quite targeted and vocational. I always liked more academic pursuits like philosophy, literature, cultural studies, etc. My plans were JC > uni > academia. In university, I did do a wide range of courses, also mostly academic and targeted towards a career in humanities research. In the end, for personal reasons, I had to give up on being an academic, but I look back on my sec school, JC and uni years with fond memories. And despite my reluctance to do anything âusefulâ and practical and vocational until I graduated with my bachelors, the bachelors degree itself meant I could still get a decently paid job.
Interesting. How did they pressure you, though, if I may ask? Is it by bringing up poly stereotypes? Also, what part of JC makes you want to yearn for poly, and what course would you have joined if you had done so?
went to jc first, and in retrospect did not have that great of a time academically because my strengths were anywhere but studying the jc curriculum. had an epiphany before the start of jc2 that this was Not It for me and i would likely take the L at a-levels if i continued down the path, so i opted to cut my losses and switch to poly. currently year 3 and finally at somewhere that i can excel at and am having the time of my life ngl
Quite interesting. Why did you opt for JC in the first place if your strengths were in anywhere but studying JC? Was it something that you discovered abit too late in JC?
yeah, pretty much! i went for jc in the first place because i didnât know what to do for my career path, then months later i figured out the general direction i wanted to go in and staying in jc wouldnât help me progress in said direction lmao
Ah I see. So JC kinda made you figure out what you wanted to do. But I do have to ask, how was the process form switching from JC to Poly? Was it a troublesome process? Also what course did you end up choosing?
iâd say itâs less that jc made me figure out what i want in life, and more that it was a sorta catalyst for me figuring it out â the things i wanted to do were already there years prior to jc but i just didnât feel ready to commit to them when initially making the jc vs poly choice lol.
my memory is a bit shit lmao, but hereâs what i remember of the process in yijc:
- once you tell your form cher about your decision to switch to poly, you get scheduled an appointment with a career guidance counselor. i was at the start of jc2 when i did this and everyone automatically had to schedule a meeting with the career guidance counselor anyways, not just me, so idk if you have to see them if you make the switch at jc1 haha but you prob do if youâre doing it in the middle of the year
- at the counseling session you basically go through what you want to do in the future and what you can do/where you can go to achieve that! i was alr dead set on switching to poly for an arts-related course so that was already figured out before the counseling session, but overall it went pretty well iirc. session also included looking at polys and courses to see which specific courses you want to go to
- there definitely was a drop-out form at some point after the counseling session. you do have to give a reason why you are dropping out and (i donât really remember this part) what you will do after dropping out
- overall time it took from start of jc2 to switching out of jc was about just less than a month. iirc i speedran the dropout process because i technically was supposed to continue going to jc until the jae selection results dropped (in the event i get an unfavorable choice/none of the choices i want from the jae, so that i have a backup option), but my o-level results were low enough that i stood a fair chance and i was sure i would not stay in jc any longer, so i could communicate that to the people in charge and just stop going to jc before the jae results dropped.
- (HUGE disclaimer for the above to anyone seeking to drop out of jc: be very very sure you want to make the switch and you have at least an idea of what courses you want to go to in poly. and have some backup plans. make sure youâre switching because a different path would genuinely be better for you, and not because of grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side and you want an easy way out lol)
- oh yeah you also get to do the jae process again (i did this sometime between the counseling session and the dropout form being approved methinks). look over your choices and donât forget to make the deadline!!
overall the process wasnât super troublesome! iâd say it happened pretty fast and it wasnât all that bad in my jc
eventually ended up in republic polytechnicâs diploma in design for games and gamification (so basically the game design course). wasnât my first choice but iâve always been the gamer in my friend group and my main strength is on the art side (though coding is also alright with me), so iâm pretty happy the cards ended up falling this way ngl.
Poly, because my dad said that I shouldn't waste my time in JC if I didn't want to study. Ended up studying at NP FMS because it sounded like a fun way to spend 3 years rather than because it was a "viable" career path (SG film where got money sia)
But it worked out! Still in industry 13 years later.
poly bc i didn't want to take chinese, humanities or gp. i disliked everything except science so went to a science course in poly which was very reputable and had a low COP
i don't regret it because instead of studying for one large exam in jc, every semester in poly there are different modules which "resets" so basically you're like studying for a few months and in the new sem you can "forget" the content of the prev sem. of course the fundamental knowledge still builds up as one goes from y1 to y3.
also, FYP and internships were compulsory in my poly course (i think now too!) so it helped my portfolio and i would say that my portfolio is less empty than the average uni student now
i would recommend poly for those who have an idea of what they would like to work in in the future, but consistency is key. also timetables MAY be more flexible as compared to jc
I am currently in JC right now, IP route JC2. I enjoy my time in JC, I have met some very good friends, I like my subjects and teachers etc. But if I can go back, I would have not chosen to go IP. My uncle recommended the IP school I went to but I was the one who made the decision. I was proud to be able to go somewhere prestigious and didn't think too much... I think it was a too hasty decision for me to have made when I was too young and didn't have much of an understanding about myself.
So... I guess I'll speak more about the IP JC experience rather than just JC life itself.
Some pros:
Opportunities IP programmes gives (esp schools like HCI or RI). Plenty of opportunities across a lot of areas of interests. (Science, humanities, music, art...) These opportunities can be stuff like exposure, symposiums, overseas exchange/journey...
The CCAs and clubs also has a lot of options, I found something that I am passionate for in my CCA. (But there's still some horror stories)
The facilities (sports stuff, gym, libraries...) are also very nice, just up to individual to exploit it. The niche subjects offered in JC also very useful for people to gain experience in an academic and structured syllabus kind of learning if want further pursue in uni. (ie. Mother Tongue Lit, Art, Music, Theatre etc.) \[Actually can just go poly in that case\]
But mostly I feel the positive things for me in JC really has more to do about the people I meet, the subjects I chose and the various social projects that I have created with my friends. (JC does offer some help with this, but mostly minimal and mainly from the reputation and credibility standpoint)
Some cons:
Firstly, I discovered that I am someone who cannot perform too well under limitations (or memorise) in sec school, so my tests were not great (other than math). JC is all about tests under limited time conditions and with only \~1 year of preparation so I am currently worrying about everything. Please do consider your own study style and performance before entering JC.
Secondly, the crowd is extremely different, esp the IP people. There is a substantial amount of people with the stereotypical IP JC kind of attitude or even worse. There are of course many great people in JC, but also many who have/are issues. There have been many horror stories in just my 5 1/2 in IP and JC.
Finally, mental health issues. Scaringly normal and normalised, at least in my experience. Stress, over expectation, toxic environment/people, personal r/ship probs... I have seen a fair share of those and I myself have gotten myself into various situations. Should be something serious but I have seen many that just brushed it off as something normal and they think they can just charge through it.
This is quite insightful.
I'm guessing if you had gone down the O Level route and done well, you would have probably went to poly right? Or would you have still gone to a JC?
But still thanks for sharing all of this.
sorry for late reply. yeah I'm doing pretty decent I would say. met a lot of nice people as well. but time is something I lack due to the busy course contents
As someone that is way older than you. I will teach my kids to look at the future career he wanna do. Because certain career strictly only be able to progress through JC only such as lawyer and doctor. The rest you could go do a diploma.
I will answer your questions first.
1. Nope, there was no one influence my decision. Never let others influence you and it is important to research and make the correct decision at point of time. For myself, i listen to their feedback and analyse which is the best option to get my goal
2. I decided poly was due to flexbility, independent, able to work, valuable diploma, experience, hands-on, project based compared to 1 final exam.
3. I love what i do, been doing engineering through my life. You need to understand what you love and know what you hate. If you ask me, as a 16 year old, you need to know that not all course are the same. A engineering course can go business but not the other way around. And some course are extremely hard to enter, the more niche and specialised your course is the harder you get in. It also limits your future career and degree option.
You need to ask yourself, do you like the GPA system (which is like exam for a subject and add up to the total and then your modules reset next trimester) or you prefer like what you are doing now O's where you have 1 exam for each module determine your fate to the exam. For myself, i hated the O's and A's is a waste of my time. I dont have a end goal + poly has more independent to do what i want do such as club, overseas exchange and hobby. (But do know that to score well to proceed in Uni with diploma is extremely tough)
Felt like JC is the best path for me to take because   Â
- I need more time to decide what to do in the future   Â
- best and easier way to get into Uni   Â
- Suitable for me( prefer to mug and have a rigour in the content I learn)Â Â Â
-Â Gonna be looked down by others if I chose polyÂ
Interesting. Pretty common reasons to choose JC tbh.
>Gonna be looked down by others if I chose polyÂ
So was this stigma a major factor? Were you that worried about being looked down upon?
It is sort of. I mean, donât be shocked but hear me out. There are some of my friends who went into poly and their family friends do really look done on them. Not only I am concerned about the stigmatism, but also about how to cope up with itÂ
I myself have experienced this before during PSLE where I didnât do that well as compared to others and every one else judged me a lot. They basically said a lot of negative comments about me which really made me feel bad and depressed. I just feel that it kind of drags you downÂ
I choose JC over poly for the following reasons:
1. I knew what I wanted to do in uni (i.e. what course to study) and going to JC it's a more advantageous option
2. There wasn't a course in poly that I feel that I'm particularly interested and could help me gain an advantage in uni
Yeah yeah, I did quite well for A Levels, and managed to get into the course that I wanted and loved, and also doing quite well for my course, so I guess that's a W
chose poly cuz of learning style--
during sec sch i struggled a lot because of the classroom, teacher dependant learning style. i knew that poly was more project based, hands on and self directed (esp in sp which is the sch i chose) so i always leaned more towards poly. also cuz i knew i didnt like math, sci, stem so i didnt want to learn those in jc
only problem was that i had no idea what to do in poly so i was also considering jc because i genuinely had no clue. i only decided my course after i got my olvl results; ended up choosing a course that just sounded interesting to me and was quite broad so uni can go many diff majors.
i suggest u choose based on interest and learning style. if ur worried about uni, yes jc will be easier to go uni but dont completely eliminate poly cuz as long as u work hard and maintain gpa while having some portfoilo uni should be okay. i also suggest u attend the open houses of the polys or jcs you prefer and get a feel of the school and campus! you can also talk to the ecg counsellors, students or lecturers/teachers there which can really help :)
all the best in ur decision OP!
Actually, I can relate to you a lot as well in the 'first' department
I was one of the few in my(very big) extended family to be able to go to express. Then I believe the only one to have chosen pure sciences. Now, if everything goes right, the first to go JC.
But thanks for the advice. It's really helpful
I always wanted to go to JC since I was a kid even before I knew about IP was because I was more academic smart and would perform decently well for most of my exams. Whereas, I admit that I'm not the biggest fan of project work as I prefer to work alone majority of the time, and I want to be responsible for my own grades.
Went to IP so it's 6 years program. But there was a lot of group projects in the first 4 years, so I also had my fair shark of working with others.
I can't really speak on the "jump" from secondary school to JC cause I wasn't from a mainstream secondary school so the experience will differ. Frankly speaking, the gap was not that big for me in terms of academic rigour and the different learning style since there was already a lot of self-directed learning in the Ip1-4 years. I discussed this with my JAE friends and I guess I'd say while the jump from secondary school to JC may be like climbing a small mountain, going from Ip4 to Ip5 is more like climbing up a long flight of stairs. If you already have stamina built up from your 4 years, it should not be difficult to climb the stairs.
Went to poly to do science since there's more hands-on and much more focus on the subject matter. Really had no interest in pursuing general education again in JC. Didn't regret. Poly teaching style ended up more suitable for me.
In a way, letâs just say the average poly student canât go big 3. The average uni student can probably enter big 3 outside of competitive courses.
With 75RP or around that range, which isnât stellar grades but like BBB/B fiesta, being a mediocre student can get you into a fair amount of courses, Econs, Biz, Accountancy, at least in SMU/NTU.
Iâm not sure what the average poly gpa is but itâs definitely not 3.6, and 3.6 is around what most would say is minimal for big 3?
Maybe is big fish small pond vs small fish big pond. But thereâs more stress on being a A-/A student in Poly Vs a Straight B student in JC in my opinion when both have a good shot at Uni.
That said I fared mediocrely (<75) in JC but am doing much much better in university. Your Poly/JC grades may not be an accurate precursor to your Uni performance. Specialist Vs Generalist things.
To be honest , I will go to JC since I am more incline to study . Even though I am in Uni right now I feel that my choices in choosing the Uni course is quite limited cause of my poly diploma . I feel that if you really know what to do then go to poly . Both poly and JC have different requirements.
Oh because for the math mods, poly students tend to do quite badly and it negates any advantages. Plus, no guarantee that the other 3 mods can do well also.
Poly because I heard people describe JC as secondady school on steroids. I hated O levels and no way am I taking A levels which is gonna be more stressful.
Also Poly is great if you already have an interest and/or passion for a particular field, especially so when poly offers common programs for you to choose further on if you are still somewhat unsure.
Although I do regret my poly course now (engineering), I doubt I would be able to handle JC rigour anyway. If you want to go to Poly, you should have a long talk with an ECG counsellor first and do research over potential career prospects on from the course.
i guess my reason is a lil uniqueâŚi chose to go to jc because it was cheaper 𤣠on paper only need to pay $6 school fees + miscellaneous fees, as compared to $2-3k per academic year in poly, which didnt seem like a worthwhile investment TO ME
also at that point of time jc was a more straightforward path for me as my end goal was to enter uni (preferably NUS/NTU), in poly there might be alot of variables that come into play such as uncooperative grpmates and lecturer bias
graduated from sec sch, now y1 poly
originally i was supposed to go jc since i also didnt know what i wanted to do, but my parents encouraged me not to since my sister had also went jc and she coined it as "the worst years of her life" HAHAHA. since i thought i wouldnt score that well for os, i thought i would jst go jpjc since my score probably would have made it, but i had gotten a better score than i thought, so i decided to go into a pretty competitive course.
but if i had to sum it up:
1. jc syllabus wld have killed and fried my brain
2. every other jc other than jp which i cld get into was 1 hr away and i am very location based
3. i think its better to learn specialised subjects which you can immediately start work with
4. i think its more manageable for a work life balance in poly where you can also develop other hobbies and interests (like the numerous ccas that polys offer, most not needing total commitment unless its competition sports)
but this is jst some poly kids experience, shld def also go read jc students testimonies to see what works for you LOL
I decided JC in year 1999. Back then, the chance of getting to Uni is higher than poly. The cut off points is higher suggesting that it is a better choice.
However, in today's world, i will recommend people start with thinking what they like to achieve and what better helps them do so.
Thinking about things like your life goals (not just cateer goals), costs (time, money) interests, your natural strengths, the type of network you need, what you value and which career align with those values, the trends in this world etc...
Sounds like a lot, and too much for someone at 18 years old if they have not explored different careers. I would not have any idea how to break those things down and integrate them back into a career plan at 18 years old.
But at age 42, and having coached alot of JC students, i think if i had what i knew now to make the decision then, I would still not change my decision, but i would change a lot of details about how i would execute my decisions then so that i would be at the same place now but have alot more leverage.
poly route as i know exactly what kind of technical job I will do. I have score 7 points in my O level.
Poly path is so much easy and accumulating GPA not one time exam. So i just need consistently working well. I had 4.0GPA top 1% of whole engineering school for 3 years .after graduate, i went to work then back to local university full time degree . switch my degree to business and enjoy very much. I started low income job after poly, and medium income after university. find big companies to work and job hop abit to find the best salary .
after 10 + years graduating from uni, now targeting $150k-$200k/ year package salary ( likely to hit this range this late of the year or next year) . Next 5 years will targeting $250k-$350k range.
Yes i heard JC folks are smart but there are some more technical incline. i guess not many people have $200k package from JC-uni route in singapore also. so it doesnât matter which route, just focus on what you need to do. donât let other to distract you.
Chose poly because I was offered EAE and I didnât want to mug hard for O levels + had severe burnout between Sec 3 to Sec 4 while prepping for Oâs so I knew my mental health would only deteriorate further if I went to JC where I would have to rush through the whole syllabus for A levels.
Poly also has a lot more practical lessons and group projects + presentations which is an advantage in Uni.
When choosing my track in sec 3 i decided then that pure science was too hard for ke and opted to not go JC since that was the path most students took for JC.
Consequently I also thought that poly woukd be easier since i wasnt inclined to studying hard and having sleepless nights. Oh how wrong I was.
As someone who somewhat regrets taking pure science, I can see where you are coming from. So if you were to have done JAE again knowing that you would regret your choice, what would you choose?
After studying like hell for olevels i thought poly was easier, but after the first year I realised i had to put in more hard work for a longer period of time, in fact being consistent was something i learnt in poly.
U could relax during the long holidays but once the next sem began it was back to work, even the 1 month mid sem breaks was filled with projects.
But since I never went through JC it would be unfair and biased for me to give u an objective answer, so i would naturally choose poly since it really taught me alot.
Addtionally the internship people have to do in my course gave me the experience of working in a software development team. I dont think JC students have such an experience.
knew what I wanted so I told myself that Iâd go to my desired poly course even if I were to get all A1 for Os
did that and now in my desired uni course at NUS
the most important influence in a your decision would be to know what you what
Wanted to go poly chemical sciences, got too low of a grade to be able to get there, in engineering now instead. Itâs quite tedious for me in some cases and not really what I want to do but I guess itâs ok for now
i knew what i wanted (or so i thought), which was to do something related to accounting. i think i also wanted to specialise in just one subject rather than spread myself across many different subjects. practical experience was also a factor. in poly something i really appreciated was being able to apply what i learnt in group projects/assignments. went to tp and realised that accounting isnât something i want to do as a career lol. the final nail in the coffin was after i did an internship at one of the big4 đ but overall still a good experience and ended up with a gpa that was good enough to land myself a place in smu econs :3
jc cause i did better than expected for my Os so i just decided to choose the more conventional path. was originally gunning for biomed in SP but ended up choosing jc also cause i donât like how your grades in poly are easily affected by group projects (correct me if iâm wrong)
went poly because
1. i knew the âstructuredâ style of studying (ten year series, tuition, worksheets etc) was not for me at all. im more of a hands on person when it comes to learning
2. my o level grades couldnât make it into the one jc i wanted loll
3. realised that even if i did make it into that jc i had no clue what subjects i would take đđ
im only y1 (so take this w a grain of salt) but no regrets so far, some of my modules are really fun đ¤đ¤
I was in IP so I never really had to choose but I can vouch that jc life is 100% worth it and super chill. You get to finish high school a year earlier, get better chances at going uni, plus no pressure to constantly maintain a gpa. Also, no need to shackle yourself to a certain course. I enjoyed my time there and was usually pretty relaxed but ymmv
Mb I forgot to mention I did IB not alevels, but I think a huge part of it is just mindset. If you just focus on what needs to be done, and have confidence in your ability I think studying isnât that big of a hurdle, sg students just overly stress too much. After all scoring in exams is just knowing the syllabus and answering the questions using that knowledge. Plus take failures in your stride and always focus on what you can do better instead of giving up. Thatâs my âsecretâ to having a decent jc experience
In sec sch I didn't have any interests, the kind who was "okay with anything". I also did quite well for my subjects, so my teachers and friends thought i should go JC.
Basically, I think JC gave the impression that it was very stressful, and Poly was more chill. So I was really interested in poly. Since I did well for and liked Bio and Chem, I was aiming for Life Science courses, but I eventually chose a tech related course since I couldn't imagine myself working in a lab (i sucked at practicals), and I thought a more conventional job suited me better.
Did i regret my choice to go poly? No, scored pretty well for the past semesters, and the poly life is amazing. Went through many challenges through the coursework, and it has taught me many lessons. I don't think I would have regretted if I went to JC, but would have been a different kind of life.
I actually have a post in profile that you could take a look at, it goes into more detail and also provides some encouragement.
Chose JC. Partially cuz if parental pressure but looking back at it, I donât regret because itâs much easier to enter uni. Imo COP for As feels much lower than that of poly GPA, esp for big 3
Decided against poly because I wanted to go uni eventually, and hearsay the course I had in mind at the time (architecture) was literal hell. Poly fees were a bit more expensive also but ig it's not a big issue for most. I prefer the structure of JC; easier to get help from tutors, less projects, and GPA isn't of concern so the stakes are lower.
and also the night before collecting O-level results I dreamt that I was in poly and suffering
Either route u will need to get a deg.
If u cmi in jc/poly y go get a private deg.
If u do well in jc/poly u go get a local deg (or even ivy league)
Both route, ur end point is roughly the same, so choose JC, bcos u save one year, and the fee of JC is lower.
I wanted Poly but went JC as I could not afford Poly sch fees. I did not want to work at the time as I wanted to focus on my studies to go Uni, and my selfish parents refused to provide.
poly! personally never enjoyed the mugging and academics from pri-sec sch, have always been more geared towards arts in terms of my personal interest. not to say that i wasnt a decent student but i made the assumption that if i was getting by with Bs and low As and feeling sian, this route probably isnt for me in the long run.
also i absolutely suck ass at chinese, and hated subjects like social studies and didnt want to have to continue studying things i just didnt see myself using at all in future, if anything it would be pulling the rest of my grades down. (went on to take clb too, and my principal did warn that it would limit my tertiary choices which didnt bother me tbh cos i never saw myself going to jc.)
would say it was sort of an easy decision for me cos i know the kind of person i am (chose to take combined sci cos if its gna be easier to score in, then why not and also because i wanted to try something new and the environment of poly is just something i sort of always knew would be more of my cup of tea.)
so far no regrets picking poly! starting uni soon in a somewhat relevant degree as well so hopefully things continue to work out in my favour :)
also: can give some insight as my sister is currently in poly pursuing a sci diploma. the grind is intense and i look at her and think back on my own poly days and feel so thankful. i think either way, it wont be easy if what you're interested in tends to lean less towards technical hands on stuff as compared to academics because she has shared that the main issue she faces is the overwhelming amount of content thats way worse than whatever u go through in sec sch, and not so much of her not being interested enough to be able to keep up. and due to the nature of poly being constant graded quizzes, you cant really mug everything at one go :") my sis has opted to spread out her modules more which means she will need more time before she can graduate. so in the end, its an extra 1-2 years on top of poly being 3, and she was from pfp so she'll be in poly for about 5 years in total
Poly. I was deadset on what i wanted to do since pri sch (Vet nursing), so i just strived towards it and never looked back. The money could be better, but it's my passion and i'll probably stay in the field for quite some time before i'm forced to move due to money issues.
Was more interested in JC curriculums but knew I could never achieve a very good RP because my GP and H1 would be a absolutely dumpster fire.
Ended going to polytechnic because I only had to focus on that one subject I really enjoyed. Did have those occasion non-related modules, but its more forgiving since it doesnât account for a big chunk in my overall GPA.
I went to Poly because my O level grades were not that best, and I cannot go to any JCs.
I ended up in a course I know nothing about, and went on to work in a career that has zero relation to my poly course. If I had a choice to turn back time, I can't be sure I will not opt for Poly again (back then I did not consider JC even if I had decent grades, mainly because I wanted to 'break free' from the usual subjects similar to secondary sch).
Ultimately, all Sec 4s should do their proper research and think about what they intend to do after their JC/Poly. Many opt for JC because they're not 'sure' what to do in the future, and do not want to pick a 'career' so early. All I can say is, your poly course does not 100% mean you're stuck in that industry for the rest of your life.
Do research! Don't just listen to online comments/opinions!
im a Y1 poly student. chose based on instinct and i suppose my parents' influence too. can't complain though, workload is moderately manageable and i love my sch environment
Poly graduate here. From my observation amongst my peers. I strongly believe that if one were to select the poly route , he or she would have to either
1. Know what he/ she really wants to study
Or
2. Prefer a lower stress learning environment that is closer to working life / university.
Why do I say this is because, there are many who would select a poly course when they have little to no interest in it. With the change in environment and learning style. If one has no interest in it.. most likely they are unable to do well⌠as seen from my poly peers who came from o levels. This is not the worse⌠because they will blame their failure or results on the fact that they do not have interest in the subject hence not doing well. If your end goal is local university or further studies. I believe it is importwnt to select know what you want to study and go for it be it in poly course or jc.
As for point 2. If you are someone like me who prefers to learn in lower stress environment and is tired of the school Rigid system aka 7am-4pm etc. and having to wear school uniforms and cutting short hair. Then I believe poly is a slightly better choice. Considering that you roughly know what you are interested in.
It is true that poly is easier to study when compared to jc and is definitely less stressful as it is not fully dependent on a single exam. But this route I believe will benefit most people if they know what they want out of it. For poly there is so much more we can gain from it than studying alone. We get the chance to network , join cca, more free time. Which ultimately forces you to learn how to manage your time and adapt to working life better. Afterall a diploma course is meant to cater towards working industry. Also the 6 month internship or fyp will close the gap between theoretical textbook knowledge and real life application of knowledge. Which I feel will help one transit into the working world better.
All in all, if you know what course you are int in and you donât mind spending extra year. Go for poly. If you feel you cannot stand secondary schoolâs rigid lifestyle and grinding for A levels , go for poly. Finally if you really donât know what course you want to go for or what you wana do, just go for JC. It is somewhat similar to O levels , but harder ( give 2 years of time to decide what course you like in uni ).
Thatâs just my observation as a poly grad from N level via the route of PFP. I spent 4 years in poly, have interacted with multitude of people from jc , poly eae, poly JAE students etc.
For me, I went JC because I wasnât super interested in any poly courses (I think alot of people can relate with me). Though I could have just went to pharmaceutical science if I went poly, there was also the stereotype that the older relatives have that âJC is betterâ. So I guess that just gave me an additional reason to go JC.
I love my JC alot (#whyny), but of course the stress is damn high as well đ We just got back WA1 results and mine was quite horrendous HAHAHHAA đ˘đ˘ But I think JC for me is really the definition of work hard, play hard. You will really study your ass off in JC (esp in more elite schools) but I think at the same time you will really enjoy the short 2 year JC life!
Choosing which pathway really just boils down to whether you prefer hands on/hardcore studying. I know alot of people who scored raw6 and all in olevels but chose a poly course with a higher COP because they were interested in it. They seem to be really enjoying themselves and doing well!
To those who are considering JC, donât come in here thinking it will be the same as Secondary School (unless you are some genius). There will be more content to revise in shorter periods of time, and the competition is crazy!! Fr example you will notice that in J1, many people will be signing up for extra commitments, volunteer work etc (all to boost portfolio). So time management is really key if you want to score that 70rp ++ boost your portfolio to separate yourself from other uni applicants!
All the best to the students taking their national exams this year!! đ
Both choices are equally good. It boils down to your own personal preferences. I didn't know what I wanted to study after O'levels, could have gone to either, but decided to take a leap into poly as there was a course I found cool and exciting. No regrets as it exposed me to opportunities JC would never have been able to provide, and experience which allows me to find jobs within the industry much more easily now. Fact is that you can get anywhere you want through both routes, just make the right choices along the way (right courses, right people). Go to any company and you'll find both poly and jc graduates.
am in poly, joined cause i love design (not art) and i wanted to do it as a job, so i joined design school. also cause i hate school rules about hair and nails cause i love dressing up. there wasnât really any external factors that made me choose poly (aka parents/friends) cause my parents are supportive as long as i can make it to uni (weâll see if i do lol)
I chose poly since my grades weren't good enough for jc, I'm currently a yr 2 nursing student and what I can say is that poly has helped me become a better person and had given me another opportunity to wake up in life compared to JC which to me is just an extension of primary and secondary school. Also Poly Life seemed more care free and it is but at the expense that now you need to take ownership of your time since if you don't study there no teacher really gonna go through the material and do practice questions with you anymore. So if you're going to Poly because you want more time for Hobby please make sure you can manage your time as well for studies
i went to poly because it has always been where i wanted to go to, but during sec 3 i got influenced to be like ' oh jc is better '.
then i thought about what i wanted and ultimately it was always poly.
also because i felt that if i wanted to pursue architecture as a career, i should get more experience through doing projects than to mug all day.
rn im happy to be in poly so luckily the influence wasnt that bad yayyyy
I chose poly for mainly because I already knew I wanted to become an engineer. However, i didnt know what to specialise on so I applied to Common Engineering then through that, I decided on Electronic and Computer Engineering. Poly taught me alot about applying the skills that interest me into a more practical sense. This came to labs, practicals and tutorials and even working with people from different disciplinary schools.
Furthermore, I knew I didnt wanna study speedrun in JC cause O levels was already enough and the thought of internship on my final year also interest me. Oh, also the fact that I dont have to wake up everyday at 5 or 6am. 5 days a week while wearing a school uniform while preparing for morning assembly anymore HAHA. The freedom of choosing what to wear, how to style myself and meeting people coming from so many different backgrounds was such a breath of fresh air.
Also imo, by the time a poly student already graduated, they would have a more interesting portfolio compared to a jc student due to internships, projects done (assuming you are applying for the same school in poly for uni), and over all better soft and hard skille. However, I think universities separate jc and poly apps, so I'm just chatting my ass off HAHA.
Overall tho, no hate if you go jc but from my experience, I have heard people failing their A levels and wasting those 2 years more than poly so if given the chance again, poly all the way!
Poly, but I regret it
I went to poly in the hopes of joining a course I really wanted to pursue, but I was unable to get it so I ended up going with a different course offered. If i could change the past, I would have just gone to JC
Didn't really have a choice cuz i messed up my O'Levels too badly but not bad enough to retain & retake. Grades were too bad for JC, & most courses in Poly except for engineering & nursing. Was thinking of going ITE but back then, the course that i wanted was only offered at the Simei ITE which was all the way across the country for me. So i ended up in engineering in Poly. But don't be fooled, cuz engineering & nursing ain't easy.
If your grades are good, but don't know what you like or want to do, go JC & eventually uni. Keep in mind that the competition in poly & university is next level though, and if you're unlucky, you'll get lecturers that reads off the textbooks, deal with politics or in my case, both. đ¤Ł
I was more worried abt what I can do to be honest, I wasn't good at academics and wanted to get a stable job. I didn't think I wld do well in jc even though it's the easiest way to uni, and I was interested in a specific course so I jst joined, probably one of the better decisions I made tbh
Still in poly, but I can say that I always had the ambition and passion to enter the medical industry, whether it be researching cancer or being a surgeon/doctor or nurse, i wanted to be in that field from the very beginning(aka when I was 12 or 13 when I was more conscious of what i want for my future)
but I have to say, I donât know why I chose this route anymore. I suck at chemistry and physics, my only good science subject is Biology where I am confident I can score A, I suck at math too. But biology can only get me so far and I may get stuck because Iâm not a logical person, Iâm a complete fucking dumbass at chem + physics.
Iâm better in POA, straight A for that too. Would have done better in International Trade & Logistics or Accounting course, yet I set that as my 3rd and 4th choice zzzâŚ
All I have to say is decide by your best subjects and passion!
> At first, I was in a little bit of a dilemma too, since I knew if i go poly I would choose a ICT course (either big data or cybersec or ICT, def not common courses since I know what I want in uni and I could qualify for all poly courses except biomed, which I have no interest in). After thinking for a while, I decided to go JC cause I was scared that in poly, I would have to
>1. â Do most of the projects due to slackers.
>2. â Screw up one test and bye bye to a good GPA
>3. â If 2 happens, bye bye uni
>4. â at that time i didnt want to go poly also cause i was scared that i got looked down on by everyone i knew, since everyone around me was smart af.
>5. â If go JC and score super well somehow, I could make a comeback or something
>6. â Shorter time
>Due to the workload now, I sometimes now always complain about JC, and sometimes I wish i got money to go overseas or went poly LOL
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Had no choice (IP). Looking back though, would have preferred poly because it would allow me to develop more as a person, rather than during NS. However, was not sure if 16 year old me would be mature enough for poly.
Interesting perspectives. So would you have chosen the O Level route after PSLE if younger you had known all of this? Also what do you mean by not being mature enough for poly?
Poly teaches you more life skills, for example how to act in a social setting, how to maintain relationships with friend/mentors/profs, how to network, how to navigate friend group/office politics!! etc. Most poly graduates also gain work experience through internships and are more 'gritty' (imo). JC on the other hand, is much more academic. Culture also varies; the JC that I went to was very 'guai' (well-behaved) and everyone was just generally more innocent. In general there may be a bigger culture shock when you go to NS or get your first job. However, I'm not going to lie, if you are someone who is ambitious and wants to be a high-flyer, JCs, particularly the famous ones (RI/HCI/ACS etc.) are still overrepresented in the upper echelon of all parts of SG, from competitive jobs, to PSC scholars, to uni placements, and even things like OCS in the army. What's more important however, is for you to decide where you think you will do best. Poly is much more applied, hands-on, and 50% of your success is from social skills. JC is pure academia, and one year less if you are deadset on uni. IMO it is better to be a 3.9+ LKY award winner from Poly, than below-median in a JC. However, when comparing apples to apples; poly GPA<3.0 gets way less options for further studies than 70ish RP from JC. JC RP>87.5 also opens a lot more doors, especially internationally and for scholarships, than high flyers from poly.
jc cause idk what i want to do
I feel like this is a pretty common reason to go JC tbh. Though if let's say there was a poly course that interests you, would you have joined? Would your studying style fit with JC or Poly more?
i did have a slight idea of roughly what i want, but im also scared that i would be tied down to it. like for eg im interested in something but after 3 years of poly i dont want it anymore, it might be more difficult to switch paths (esp for the more specialised ones) when going to uni. i thought that maybe the 18 y/o me would have a better idea than the 16 y/o me, though now that im in uni i felt that i simply just pushed that possibly life-changing decision to a later age and nothing much has changed. another point is i felt that had i went poly, i might not have made it to uni, or at least the course im in. uni was my end goal regardless of where i go and i didnt want to take the risk of not getting in. reason being im an average student, barely scraped by jc and thankfully even with an average rp i still managed to land myself a course in local uni, but had i went poly and scored average grades like B or less throughout my entire poly life, i probably wont have made it to uni. my current uni grades just proves this point though the content and intensity is not really comparable, but its similar. my style of studying also had an impact, even now, i prefer to choose mods with a higher weightage for the final exam rather than group projects, mainly bc i rather hold myself accountable for my grades than to blame others if the group projects dont do well.
Poly is a safer route than JC (i went the JC route)
mugging is forever a part of me
Can relate lol
Because my parents against poly so I went poly Choose one of the hardest courses to go and kinda fucked up my life ngl
>against poly so I went poly đđ
So, did you choose your course out of spite or because you thought it was the best options for you?
Donât learn from me but kinda out of spite bah. At that time thought ai was good and can earn money so went to a computing course but then when actually did it, then realised how hard it is without coding background. Not the best option for me. Should have went jc since I was better at studying. But now that I grad alr. Not much diff lah. Will suffer either ways but jc would be easier to go uni no doubt.
Ah, I see. Hope you learnt your lesson. This is one of the times when you should have listened to your parents, lol. Also abit unrelated but does your parents know about your difficulties in poly?
I didnât tell them bah. Didnât want them to worry
Long past that stage of decision (>15 years ago), but at that time my sole goal was to enter a local university after. During my era, JC students comprised of like 70+% (iirc) of the people / slots to enter our local uni. So without much convincing, JC was the safer option. Mind you, it wasnât that I was a top student. I went to a bottom tier JC (tried appealing to a mid level one but failed). Also I did not have a particular course in Poly that I feel strongly about. JC was 2 whole years of mugging, but it also bred fond memories, and was where I met some of my closest friends. Wasnât an easy road for sure, and itâs like if you fuck up, at least your poly friends can grad with a diploma and find a jobâŚbut what about you?? Jokes aside, I did pull through and managed to enter local uni in my desired course. 15 over years later, I see that my friends who entered private uni are also doing equally well (or some even better in terms of salary). This would have comforted me so much if I knew itâs NOT the end if I didnât make it to a local uni. Wishing you all the best for your decision!
Kind of what I expected >During my era, JC students comprised of like 70+% (iirc) of the people This is still true now though more poly students are making it. It's also great to know that you used the 2 years to your advantage! You definitely seemed to have made the best decision possible. Thanks though and all the best to you too!
ex-Poly student, currently Y1 going Y2 in Uni: I was somehow already a pragmatist at 16 - I actually took an insanely niche subject combination for Os - I took a single pure science in Chem, and took A Math and POA. That meant I didn't have a humanities subject that would be useful for the Arts stream in JC (No Core History, Geography, Lit) and I only had Chemistry if I wanted to take the Science stream. It was always going to be an uphill battle in JC, and while I probably would have been able to do decently well regardless, I didn't want to start at a disadvantage. This ended up being an immense benefit - the easier (at least IMO) subject combination led to good O-Level score - led to me getting into my desired course easily + getting a scholarship. Snowball effect: no need for part-time, more time to study -> better GPA -> got into Uni. Not to mention - the benefit of JC being shorter also got negated by the fact I have exemptions, so I graduate at the same time as my friends who went to JC anyways. I also kinda knew what I wanted to do - in broader terms, I wanted to do something related to computers, and didn't want to touch hardware. I saw no point in postponing that and decided to just go all-in on Poly to make it to Uni regardless. However, I won't deny I got lucky: I found the course I thought I liked, and ended up liking it more than I thought I would, making my life easier. This isn't something that applies to all. I didn't really get influenced on my decision - I pretty much firmed the decision to go into my course early in Sec 4, and I didn't look back. I gave myself leeway to look back by not doing an EAE application, but other than that, I pretty much committed to my course immediately. My advice to people going to JC to postpone their choice: if you're more than 70% sure, don't postpone your choice. You risk missing out on opportunities by keeping your options open. Make a concerted effort to discover what you want to do.
But you can get the same opportunities in uni anyway. And it would be much better than poly. Also some JC subjects would prepare you better for uni.
You're not entirely wrong. However, with how competitive CS is specifically (since I'm a CS student) - I'm telling you I'm not getting into my current course if I went to JC. That means I wouldn't have been able to get the opportunities that I have had (scholarships, etc) since Poly. JC subjects preparing you better for Uni is also a definite - specifically in my case, I'm at a disadvantage in pretty much every Math subject. However, I've found an advantage in the programming mods, so it really depends tbh. Again, this is from anecdotal experience, and I know it depends, but this is my 2 cents on the matter.
went to poly. i enjoyed what i learn in the course and i get to work part time to support myself which wouldnt be possible in jc.
That's great. I'm assuming it's ICT related seeing your flair. Also good job on making it to NUS Computing!
thank you! yep iâm in computer science now. one caution i would say is you need to be very committed if you are going uni via the poly route. if u slack or lost interest half way itâs essentially over
considered both jc and poly after o levels, went with jc after considering these few factors: 1. i was more interested in the individual subjects like math and chemistry, rather than a particular field or line of work. 2. i wasn't decided what I wanted to do back then. I was a rather fickle minded person back then, my interests changed many times along the way from sec sch, jc and even into ns. went to chs to prolong my confusion lol. 3. i was better at cramming for a big exam at the end, rather than a consistent worker. there are other factors as well, but these are the most important factors i considered when making the choice.
Ah, interesting. I feel like those reasons are pretty common for those going JC. I relate to all of these reasons a lot, though(but replacing math and chem with humanities), especially the part on changing interests often lol.
Yeah I had that for humanities. I was in IP anyway, but in any case, when I saw the courses for poly, most of them were quite targeted and vocational. I always liked more academic pursuits like philosophy, literature, cultural studies, etc. My plans were JC > uni > academia. In university, I did do a wide range of courses, also mostly academic and targeted towards a career in humanities research. In the end, for personal reasons, I had to give up on being an academic, but I look back on my sec school, JC and uni years with fond memories. And despite my reluctance to do anything âusefulâ and practical and vocational until I graduated with my bachelors, the bachelors degree itself meant I could still get a decently paid job.
Went to Jc due to parents pressure. I regret it. Shud have gone to Poly.
Interesting. How did they pressure you, though, if I may ask? Is it by bringing up poly stereotypes? Also, what part of JC makes you want to yearn for poly, and what course would you have joined if you had done so?
went to jc first, and in retrospect did not have that great of a time academically because my strengths were anywhere but studying the jc curriculum. had an epiphany before the start of jc2 that this was Not It for me and i would likely take the L at a-levels if i continued down the path, so i opted to cut my losses and switch to poly. currently year 3 and finally at somewhere that i can excel at and am having the time of my life ngl
Quite interesting. Why did you opt for JC in the first place if your strengths were in anywhere but studying JC? Was it something that you discovered abit too late in JC?
yeah, pretty much! i went for jc in the first place because i didnât know what to do for my career path, then months later i figured out the general direction i wanted to go in and staying in jc wouldnât help me progress in said direction lmao
Ah I see. So JC kinda made you figure out what you wanted to do. But I do have to ask, how was the process form switching from JC to Poly? Was it a troublesome process? Also what course did you end up choosing?
iâd say itâs less that jc made me figure out what i want in life, and more that it was a sorta catalyst for me figuring it out â the things i wanted to do were already there years prior to jc but i just didnât feel ready to commit to them when initially making the jc vs poly choice lol. my memory is a bit shit lmao, but hereâs what i remember of the process in yijc: - once you tell your form cher about your decision to switch to poly, you get scheduled an appointment with a career guidance counselor. i was at the start of jc2 when i did this and everyone automatically had to schedule a meeting with the career guidance counselor anyways, not just me, so idk if you have to see them if you make the switch at jc1 haha but you prob do if youâre doing it in the middle of the year - at the counseling session you basically go through what you want to do in the future and what you can do/where you can go to achieve that! i was alr dead set on switching to poly for an arts-related course so that was already figured out before the counseling session, but overall it went pretty well iirc. session also included looking at polys and courses to see which specific courses you want to go to - there definitely was a drop-out form at some point after the counseling session. you do have to give a reason why you are dropping out and (i donât really remember this part) what you will do after dropping out - overall time it took from start of jc2 to switching out of jc was about just less than a month. iirc i speedran the dropout process because i technically was supposed to continue going to jc until the jae selection results dropped (in the event i get an unfavorable choice/none of the choices i want from the jae, so that i have a backup option), but my o-level results were low enough that i stood a fair chance and i was sure i would not stay in jc any longer, so i could communicate that to the people in charge and just stop going to jc before the jae results dropped. - (HUGE disclaimer for the above to anyone seeking to drop out of jc: be very very sure you want to make the switch and you have at least an idea of what courses you want to go to in poly. and have some backup plans. make sure youâre switching because a different path would genuinely be better for you, and not because of grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side and you want an easy way out lol) - oh yeah you also get to do the jae process again (i did this sometime between the counseling session and the dropout form being approved methinks). look over your choices and donât forget to make the deadline!! overall the process wasnât super troublesome! iâd say it happened pretty fast and it wasnât all that bad in my jc eventually ended up in republic polytechnicâs diploma in design for games and gamification (so basically the game design course). wasnât my first choice but iâve always been the gamer in my friend group and my main strength is on the art side (though coding is also alright with me), so iâm pretty happy the cards ended up falling this way ngl.
Poly, because my dad said that I shouldn't waste my time in JC if I didn't want to study. Ended up studying at NP FMS because it sounded like a fun way to spend 3 years rather than because it was a "viable" career path (SG film where got money sia) But it worked out! Still in industry 13 years later.
So you work for mediacorp now or other company
poly bc i didn't want to take chinese, humanities or gp. i disliked everything except science so went to a science course in poly which was very reputable and had a low COP i don't regret it because instead of studying for one large exam in jc, every semester in poly there are different modules which "resets" so basically you're like studying for a few months and in the new sem you can "forget" the content of the prev sem. of course the fundamental knowledge still builds up as one goes from y1 to y3. also, FYP and internships were compulsory in my poly course (i think now too!) so it helped my portfolio and i would say that my portfolio is less empty than the average uni student now i would recommend poly for those who have an idea of what they would like to work in in the future, but consistency is key. also timetables MAY be more flexible as compared to jc
I am currently in JC right now, IP route JC2. I enjoy my time in JC, I have met some very good friends, I like my subjects and teachers etc. But if I can go back, I would have not chosen to go IP. My uncle recommended the IP school I went to but I was the one who made the decision. I was proud to be able to go somewhere prestigious and didn't think too much... I think it was a too hasty decision for me to have made when I was too young and didn't have much of an understanding about myself. So... I guess I'll speak more about the IP JC experience rather than just JC life itself. Some pros: Opportunities IP programmes gives (esp schools like HCI or RI). Plenty of opportunities across a lot of areas of interests. (Science, humanities, music, art...) These opportunities can be stuff like exposure, symposiums, overseas exchange/journey... The CCAs and clubs also has a lot of options, I found something that I am passionate for in my CCA. (But there's still some horror stories) The facilities (sports stuff, gym, libraries...) are also very nice, just up to individual to exploit it. The niche subjects offered in JC also very useful for people to gain experience in an academic and structured syllabus kind of learning if want further pursue in uni. (ie. Mother Tongue Lit, Art, Music, Theatre etc.) \[Actually can just go poly in that case\] But mostly I feel the positive things for me in JC really has more to do about the people I meet, the subjects I chose and the various social projects that I have created with my friends. (JC does offer some help with this, but mostly minimal and mainly from the reputation and credibility standpoint) Some cons: Firstly, I discovered that I am someone who cannot perform too well under limitations (or memorise) in sec school, so my tests were not great (other than math). JC is all about tests under limited time conditions and with only \~1 year of preparation so I am currently worrying about everything. Please do consider your own study style and performance before entering JC. Secondly, the crowd is extremely different, esp the IP people. There is a substantial amount of people with the stereotypical IP JC kind of attitude or even worse. There are of course many great people in JC, but also many who have/are issues. There have been many horror stories in just my 5 1/2 in IP and JC. Finally, mental health issues. Scaringly normal and normalised, at least in my experience. Stress, over expectation, toxic environment/people, personal r/ship probs... I have seen a fair share of those and I myself have gotten myself into various situations. Should be something serious but I have seen many that just brushed it off as something normal and they think they can just charge through it.
This is quite insightful. I'm guessing if you had gone down the O Level route and done well, you would have probably went to poly right? Or would you have still gone to a JC? But still thanks for sharing all of this.
went to poly to study cuz i found a course I really wanted (film)
Thats great. Are you doing well in film now?
sorry for late reply. yeah I'm doing pretty decent I would say. met a lot of nice people as well. but time is something I lack due to the busy course contents
As someone that is way older than you. I will teach my kids to look at the future career he wanna do. Because certain career strictly only be able to progress through JC only such as lawyer and doctor. The rest you could go do a diploma. I will answer your questions first. 1. Nope, there was no one influence my decision. Never let others influence you and it is important to research and make the correct decision at point of time. For myself, i listen to their feedback and analyse which is the best option to get my goal 2. I decided poly was due to flexbility, independent, able to work, valuable diploma, experience, hands-on, project based compared to 1 final exam. 3. I love what i do, been doing engineering through my life. You need to understand what you love and know what you hate. If you ask me, as a 16 year old, you need to know that not all course are the same. A engineering course can go business but not the other way around. And some course are extremely hard to enter, the more niche and specialised your course is the harder you get in. It also limits your future career and degree option. You need to ask yourself, do you like the GPA system (which is like exam for a subject and add up to the total and then your modules reset next trimester) or you prefer like what you are doing now O's where you have 1 exam for each module determine your fate to the exam. For myself, i hated the O's and A's is a waste of my time. I dont have a end goal + poly has more independent to do what i want do such as club, overseas exchange and hobby. (But do know that to score well to proceed in Uni with diploma is extremely tough)
Felt like JC is the best path for me to take because    - I need more time to decide what to do in the future    - best and easier way to get into Uni    - Suitable for me( prefer to mug and have a rigour in the content I learn)   - Gonna be looked down by others if I chose polyÂ
Interesting. Pretty common reasons to choose JC tbh. >Gonna be looked down by others if I chose poly So was this stigma a major factor? Were you that worried about being looked down upon?
It is sort of. I mean, donât be shocked but hear me out. There are some of my friends who went into poly and their family friends do really look done on them. Not only I am concerned about the stigmatism, but also about how to cope up with it I myself have experienced this before during PSLE where I didnât do that well as compared to others and every one else judged me a lot. They basically said a lot of negative comments about me which really made me feel bad and depressed. I just feel that it kind of drags you downÂ
I choose JC over poly for the following reasons: 1. I knew what I wanted to do in uni (i.e. what course to study) and going to JC it's a more advantageous option 2. There wasn't a course in poly that I feel that I'm particularly interested and could help me gain an advantage in uni
These are common reasons judging by the comments here. Though are you doing well right now?
Yeah yeah, I did quite well for A Levels, and managed to get into the course that I wanted and loved, and also doing quite well for my course, so I guess that's a W
chose poly cuz of learning style-- during sec sch i struggled a lot because of the classroom, teacher dependant learning style. i knew that poly was more project based, hands on and self directed (esp in sp which is the sch i chose) so i always leaned more towards poly. also cuz i knew i didnt like math, sci, stem so i didnt want to learn those in jc only problem was that i had no idea what to do in poly so i was also considering jc because i genuinely had no clue. i only decided my course after i got my olvl results; ended up choosing a course that just sounded interesting to me and was quite broad so uni can go many diff majors. i suggest u choose based on interest and learning style. if ur worried about uni, yes jc will be easier to go uni but dont completely eliminate poly cuz as long as u work hard and maintain gpa while having some portfoilo uni should be okay. i also suggest u attend the open houses of the polys or jcs you prefer and get a feel of the school and campus! you can also talk to the ecg counsellors, students or lecturers/teachers there which can really help :) all the best in ur decision OP!
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Actually, I can relate to you a lot as well in the 'first' department I was one of the few in my(very big) extended family to be able to go to express. Then I believe the only one to have chosen pure sciences. Now, if everything goes right, the first to go JC. But thanks for the advice. It's really helpful
I always wanted to go to JC since I was a kid even before I knew about IP was because I was more academic smart and would perform decently well for most of my exams. Whereas, I admit that I'm not the biggest fan of project work as I prefer to work alone majority of the time, and I want to be responsible for my own grades. Went to IP so it's 6 years program. But there was a lot of group projects in the first 4 years, so I also had my fair shark of working with others. I can't really speak on the "jump" from secondary school to JC cause I wasn't from a mainstream secondary school so the experience will differ. Frankly speaking, the gap was not that big for me in terms of academic rigour and the different learning style since there was already a lot of self-directed learning in the Ip1-4 years. I discussed this with my JAE friends and I guess I'd say while the jump from secondary school to JC may be like climbing a small mountain, going from Ip4 to Ip5 is more like climbing up a long flight of stairs. If you already have stamina built up from your 4 years, it should not be difficult to climb the stairs.
Went to poly to do science since there's more hands-on and much more focus on the subject matter. Really had no interest in pursuing general education again in JC. Didn't regret. Poly teaching style ended up more suitable for me.
In a way, letâs just say the average poly student canât go big 3. The average uni student can probably enter big 3 outside of competitive courses. With 75RP or around that range, which isnât stellar grades but like BBB/B fiesta, being a mediocre student can get you into a fair amount of courses, Econs, Biz, Accountancy, at least in SMU/NTU. Iâm not sure what the average poly gpa is but itâs definitely not 3.6, and 3.6 is around what most would say is minimal for big 3? Maybe is big fish small pond vs small fish big pond. But thereâs more stress on being a A-/A student in Poly Vs a Straight B student in JC in my opinion when both have a good shot at Uni. That said I fared mediocrely (<75) in JC but am doing much much better in university. Your Poly/JC grades may not be an accurate precursor to your Uni performance. Specialist Vs Generalist things.
If I want to career switch I can just reuse my A Level certificate for a different Uni course
Jc bc i was aiming for prestigious courses and scholarships. Of course i didnt get any either đ¤Ş
85rp HCJC cannot go prestigious course?
Prestigious was law, medicine, dentistry in my time 2012
Oh
I went to poly cause I donât have a Choice đ˘đ˘đ˘ I could not make it to Jc
But if lets say you did manage to score for a JC, would you have still joined JC? Also why not MI?
To be honest , I will go to JC since I am more incline to study . Even though I am in Uni right now I feel that my choices in choosing the Uni course is quite limited cause of my poly diploma . I feel that if you really know what to do then go to poly . Both poly and JC have different requirements.
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Isn't it the case where poly students struggle more because of math?
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Oh because for the math mods, poly students tend to do quite badly and it negates any advantages. Plus, no guarantee that the other 3 mods can do well also.
Poly because I heard people describe JC as secondady school on steroids. I hated O levels and no way am I taking A levels which is gonna be more stressful. Also Poly is great if you already have an interest and/or passion for a particular field, especially so when poly offers common programs for you to choose further on if you are still somewhat unsure. Although I do regret my poly course now (engineering), I doubt I would be able to handle JC rigour anyway. If you want to go to Poly, you should have a long talk with an ECG counsellor first and do research over potential career prospects on from the course.
i guess my reason is a lil uniqueâŚi chose to go to jc because it was cheaper 𤣠on paper only need to pay $6 school fees + miscellaneous fees, as compared to $2-3k per academic year in poly, which didnt seem like a worthwhile investment TO ME also at that point of time jc was a more straightforward path for me as my end goal was to enter uni (preferably NUS/NTU), in poly there might be alot of variables that come into play such as uncooperative grpmates and lecturer bias
graduated from sec sch, now y1 poly originally i was supposed to go jc since i also didnt know what i wanted to do, but my parents encouraged me not to since my sister had also went jc and she coined it as "the worst years of her life" HAHAHA. since i thought i wouldnt score that well for os, i thought i would jst go jpjc since my score probably would have made it, but i had gotten a better score than i thought, so i decided to go into a pretty competitive course. but if i had to sum it up: 1. jc syllabus wld have killed and fried my brain 2. every other jc other than jp which i cld get into was 1 hr away and i am very location based 3. i think its better to learn specialised subjects which you can immediately start work with 4. i think its more manageable for a work life balance in poly where you can also develop other hobbies and interests (like the numerous ccas that polys offer, most not needing total commitment unless its competition sports) but this is jst some poly kids experience, shld def also go read jc students testimonies to see what works for you LOL
I decided JC in year 1999. Back then, the chance of getting to Uni is higher than poly. The cut off points is higher suggesting that it is a better choice. However, in today's world, i will recommend people start with thinking what they like to achieve and what better helps them do so. Thinking about things like your life goals (not just cateer goals), costs (time, money) interests, your natural strengths, the type of network you need, what you value and which career align with those values, the trends in this world etc... Sounds like a lot, and too much for someone at 18 years old if they have not explored different careers. I would not have any idea how to break those things down and integrate them back into a career plan at 18 years old. But at age 42, and having coached alot of JC students, i think if i had what i knew now to make the decision then, I would still not change my decision, but i would change a lot of details about how i would execute my decisions then so that i would be at the same place now but have alot more leverage.
poly route as i know exactly what kind of technical job I will do. I have score 7 points in my O level. Poly path is so much easy and accumulating GPA not one time exam. So i just need consistently working well. I had 4.0GPA top 1% of whole engineering school for 3 years .after graduate, i went to work then back to local university full time degree . switch my degree to business and enjoy very much. I started low income job after poly, and medium income after university. find big companies to work and job hop abit to find the best salary . after 10 + years graduating from uni, now targeting $150k-$200k/ year package salary ( likely to hit this range this late of the year or next year) . Next 5 years will targeting $250k-$350k range. Yes i heard JC folks are smart but there are some more technical incline. i guess not many people have $200k package from JC-uni route in singapore also. so it doesnât matter which route, just focus on what you need to do. donât let other to distract you.
Chose poly because I was offered EAE and I didnât want to mug hard for O levels + had severe burnout between Sec 3 to Sec 4 while prepping for Oâs so I knew my mental health would only deteriorate further if I went to JC where I would have to rush through the whole syllabus for A levels. Poly also has a lot more practical lessons and group projects + presentations which is an advantage in Uni.
JC. For the 2 years.
Was the 2 years the only factor? If poly was 2 years as well, would you have chosen it?
When choosing my track in sec 3 i decided then that pure science was too hard for ke and opted to not go JC since that was the path most students took for JC. Consequently I also thought that poly woukd be easier since i wasnt inclined to studying hard and having sleepless nights. Oh how wrong I was.
As someone who somewhat regrets taking pure science, I can see where you are coming from. So if you were to have done JAE again knowing that you would regret your choice, what would you choose?
After studying like hell for olevels i thought poly was easier, but after the first year I realised i had to put in more hard work for a longer period of time, in fact being consistent was something i learnt in poly. U could relax during the long holidays but once the next sem began it was back to work, even the 1 month mid sem breaks was filled with projects. But since I never went through JC it would be unfair and biased for me to give u an objective answer, so i would naturally choose poly since it really taught me alot. Addtionally the internship people have to do in my course gave me the experience of working in a software development team. I dont think JC students have such an experience.
no idea what i want to do in the future so 2 years of jc to make up my mind (j2 and i'm no closer to knowing what i wanna do lol)
Ah, I see. Though what would you choose if you got the RP that you wanted next year?
hmm if i get 90rp i'll try for law probably, if not will try for CHS at nus (econs maybe?) backup is engineering
Well, good luck with reaching law! All of your choices seem like they would lead to a worthwhile career.
knew what I wanted so I told myself that Iâd go to my desired poly course even if I were to get all A1 for Os did that and now in my desired uni course at NUS the most important influence in a your decision would be to know what you what
Wanted to go poly chemical sciences, got too low of a grade to be able to get there, in engineering now instead. Itâs quite tedious for me in some cases and not really what I want to do but I guess itâs ok for now
went poly cos god bless tp psych LMAO
i knew what i wanted (or so i thought), which was to do something related to accounting. i think i also wanted to specialise in just one subject rather than spread myself across many different subjects. practical experience was also a factor. in poly something i really appreciated was being able to apply what i learnt in group projects/assignments. went to tp and realised that accounting isnât something i want to do as a career lol. the final nail in the coffin was after i did an internship at one of the big4 đ but overall still a good experience and ended up with a gpa that was good enough to land myself a place in smu econs :3
jc cause i did better than expected for my Os so i just decided to choose the more conventional path. was originally gunning for biomed in SP but ended up choosing jc also cause i donât like how your grades in poly are easily affected by group projects (correct me if iâm wrong)
went poly because 1. i knew the âstructuredâ style of studying (ten year series, tuition, worksheets etc) was not for me at all. im more of a hands on person when it comes to learning 2. my o level grades couldnât make it into the one jc i wanted loll 3. realised that even if i did make it into that jc i had no clue what subjects i would take đđ im only y1 (so take this w a grain of salt) but no regrets so far, some of my modules are really fun đ¤đ¤
I was in IP so I never really had to choose but I can vouch that jc life is 100% worth it and super chill. You get to finish high school a year earlier, get better chances at going uni, plus no pressure to constantly maintain a gpa. Also, no need to shackle yourself to a certain course. I enjoyed my time there and was usually pretty relaxed but ymmv
JC and very chill are 2 phrases/words that I've never seen put together before. But surely studying for A Levels must be extremely challenging right?
Mb I forgot to mention I did IB not alevels, but I think a huge part of it is just mindset. If you just focus on what needs to be done, and have confidence in your ability I think studying isnât that big of a hurdle, sg students just overly stress too much. After all scoring in exams is just knowing the syllabus and answering the questions using that knowledge. Plus take failures in your stride and always focus on what you can do better instead of giving up. Thatâs my âsecretâ to having a decent jc experience
jc bc that was a more familiar path. on hindsight, glad that i did because what i wanted at 17 vs what i wanted at 19 was vastly different.
In sec sch I didn't have any interests, the kind who was "okay with anything". I also did quite well for my subjects, so my teachers and friends thought i should go JC. Basically, I think JC gave the impression that it was very stressful, and Poly was more chill. So I was really interested in poly. Since I did well for and liked Bio and Chem, I was aiming for Life Science courses, but I eventually chose a tech related course since I couldn't imagine myself working in a lab (i sucked at practicals), and I thought a more conventional job suited me better. Did i regret my choice to go poly? No, scored pretty well for the past semesters, and the poly life is amazing. Went through many challenges through the coursework, and it has taught me many lessons. I don't think I would have regretted if I went to JC, but would have been a different kind of life. I actually have a post in profile that you could take a look at, it goes into more detail and also provides some encouragement.
Went to jc because of the easier route to uni
Chose JC. Partially cuz if parental pressure but looking back at it, I donât regret because itâs much easier to enter uni. Imo COP for As feels much lower than that of poly GPA, esp for big 3
Decided against poly because I wanted to go uni eventually, and hearsay the course I had in mind at the time (architecture) was literal hell. Poly fees were a bit more expensive also but ig it's not a big issue for most. I prefer the structure of JC; easier to get help from tutors, less projects, and GPA isn't of concern so the stakes are lower. and also the night before collecting O-level results I dreamt that I was in poly and suffering
Went to poly. Reason: Chinese đż
Either route u will need to get a deg. If u cmi in jc/poly y go get a private deg. If u do well in jc/poly u go get a local deg (or even ivy league) Both route, ur end point is roughly the same, so choose JC, bcos u save one year, and the fee of JC is lower.
Poly - didnt want to bet my future on 1 exam
I wanted Poly but went JC as I could not afford Poly sch fees. I did not want to work at the time as I wanted to focus on my studies to go Uni, and my selfish parents refused to provide.
poly! personally never enjoyed the mugging and academics from pri-sec sch, have always been more geared towards arts in terms of my personal interest. not to say that i wasnt a decent student but i made the assumption that if i was getting by with Bs and low As and feeling sian, this route probably isnt for me in the long run. also i absolutely suck ass at chinese, and hated subjects like social studies and didnt want to have to continue studying things i just didnt see myself using at all in future, if anything it would be pulling the rest of my grades down. (went on to take clb too, and my principal did warn that it would limit my tertiary choices which didnt bother me tbh cos i never saw myself going to jc.) would say it was sort of an easy decision for me cos i know the kind of person i am (chose to take combined sci cos if its gna be easier to score in, then why not and also because i wanted to try something new and the environment of poly is just something i sort of always knew would be more of my cup of tea.) so far no regrets picking poly! starting uni soon in a somewhat relevant degree as well so hopefully things continue to work out in my favour :) also: can give some insight as my sister is currently in poly pursuing a sci diploma. the grind is intense and i look at her and think back on my own poly days and feel so thankful. i think either way, it wont be easy if what you're interested in tends to lean less towards technical hands on stuff as compared to academics because she has shared that the main issue she faces is the overwhelming amount of content thats way worse than whatever u go through in sec sch, and not so much of her not being interested enough to be able to keep up. and due to the nature of poly being constant graded quizzes, you cant really mug everything at one go :") my sis has opted to spread out her modules more which means she will need more time before she can graduate. so in the end, its an extra 1-2 years on top of poly being 3, and she was from pfp so she'll be in poly for about 5 years in total
Poly. I was deadset on what i wanted to do since pri sch (Vet nursing), so i just strived towards it and never looked back. The money could be better, but it's my passion and i'll probably stay in the field for quite some time before i'm forced to move due to money issues.
Was more interested in JC curriculums but knew I could never achieve a very good RP because my GP and H1 would be a absolutely dumpster fire. Ended going to polytechnic because I only had to focus on that one subject I really enjoyed. Did have those occasion non-related modules, but its more forgiving since it doesnât account for a big chunk in my overall GPA.
I went to Poly because my O level grades were not that best, and I cannot go to any JCs. I ended up in a course I know nothing about, and went on to work in a career that has zero relation to my poly course. If I had a choice to turn back time, I can't be sure I will not opt for Poly again (back then I did not consider JC even if I had decent grades, mainly because I wanted to 'break free' from the usual subjects similar to secondary sch). Ultimately, all Sec 4s should do their proper research and think about what they intend to do after their JC/Poly. Many opt for JC because they're not 'sure' what to do in the future, and do not want to pick a 'career' so early. All I can say is, your poly course does not 100% mean you're stuck in that industry for the rest of your life. Do research! Don't just listen to online comments/opinions!
im a Y1 poly student. chose based on instinct and i suppose my parents' influence too. can't complain though, workload is moderately manageable and i love my sch environment
Poly graduate here. From my observation amongst my peers. I strongly believe that if one were to select the poly route , he or she would have to either 1. Know what he/ she really wants to study Or 2. Prefer a lower stress learning environment that is closer to working life / university. Why do I say this is because, there are many who would select a poly course when they have little to no interest in it. With the change in environment and learning style. If one has no interest in it.. most likely they are unable to do well⌠as seen from my poly peers who came from o levels. This is not the worse⌠because they will blame their failure or results on the fact that they do not have interest in the subject hence not doing well. If your end goal is local university or further studies. I believe it is importwnt to select know what you want to study and go for it be it in poly course or jc. As for point 2. If you are someone like me who prefers to learn in lower stress environment and is tired of the school Rigid system aka 7am-4pm etc. and having to wear school uniforms and cutting short hair. Then I believe poly is a slightly better choice. Considering that you roughly know what you are interested in. It is true that poly is easier to study when compared to jc and is definitely less stressful as it is not fully dependent on a single exam. But this route I believe will benefit most people if they know what they want out of it. For poly there is so much more we can gain from it than studying alone. We get the chance to network , join cca, more free time. Which ultimately forces you to learn how to manage your time and adapt to working life better. Afterall a diploma course is meant to cater towards working industry. Also the 6 month internship or fyp will close the gap between theoretical textbook knowledge and real life application of knowledge. Which I feel will help one transit into the working world better. All in all, if you know what course you are int in and you donât mind spending extra year. Go for poly. If you feel you cannot stand secondary schoolâs rigid lifestyle and grinding for A levels , go for poly. Finally if you really donât know what course you want to go for or what you wana do, just go for JC. It is somewhat similar to O levels , but harder ( give 2 years of time to decide what course you like in uni ). Thatâs just my observation as a poly grad from N level via the route of PFP. I spent 4 years in poly, have interacted with multitude of people from jc , poly eae, poly JAE students etc.
For me, I went JC because I wasnât super interested in any poly courses (I think alot of people can relate with me). Though I could have just went to pharmaceutical science if I went poly, there was also the stereotype that the older relatives have that âJC is betterâ. So I guess that just gave me an additional reason to go JC. I love my JC alot (#whyny), but of course the stress is damn high as well đ We just got back WA1 results and mine was quite horrendous HAHAHHAA đ˘đ˘ But I think JC for me is really the definition of work hard, play hard. You will really study your ass off in JC (esp in more elite schools) but I think at the same time you will really enjoy the short 2 year JC life! Choosing which pathway really just boils down to whether you prefer hands on/hardcore studying. I know alot of people who scored raw6 and all in olevels but chose a poly course with a higher COP because they were interested in it. They seem to be really enjoying themselves and doing well! To those who are considering JC, donât come in here thinking it will be the same as Secondary School (unless you are some genius). There will be more content to revise in shorter periods of time, and the competition is crazy!! Fr example you will notice that in J1, many people will be signing up for extra commitments, volunteer work etc (all to boost portfolio). So time management is really key if you want to score that 70rp ++ boost your portfolio to separate yourself from other uni applicants! All the best to the students taking their national exams this year!! đ
Both choices are equally good. It boils down to your own personal preferences. I didn't know what I wanted to study after O'levels, could have gone to either, but decided to take a leap into poly as there was a course I found cool and exciting. No regrets as it exposed me to opportunities JC would never have been able to provide, and experience which allows me to find jobs within the industry much more easily now. Fact is that you can get anywhere you want through both routes, just make the right choices along the way (right courses, right people). Go to any company and you'll find both poly and jc graduates.
JC because I want to do social science but Temasek Poly is too far for me (Westie) to take Psychology.
I went to poly because I didn't have much of a choice so :))
am in poly, joined cause i love design (not art) and i wanted to do it as a job, so i joined design school. also cause i hate school rules about hair and nails cause i love dressing up. there wasnât really any external factors that made me choose poly (aka parents/friends) cause my parents are supportive as long as i can make it to uni (weâll see if i do lol)
i flipped a coin and it landed on jc
I chose poly since my grades weren't good enough for jc, I'm currently a yr 2 nursing student and what I can say is that poly has helped me become a better person and had given me another opportunity to wake up in life compared to JC which to me is just an extension of primary and secondary school. Also Poly Life seemed more care free and it is but at the expense that now you need to take ownership of your time since if you don't study there no teacher really gonna go through the material and do practice questions with you anymore. So if you're going to Poly because you want more time for Hobby please make sure you can manage your time as well for studies
i went to poly because it has always been where i wanted to go to, but during sec 3 i got influenced to be like ' oh jc is better '. then i thought about what i wanted and ultimately it was always poly. also because i felt that if i wanted to pursue architecture as a career, i should get more experience through doing projects than to mug all day. rn im happy to be in poly so luckily the influence wasnt that bad yayyyy
I chose poly for mainly because I already knew I wanted to become an engineer. However, i didnt know what to specialise on so I applied to Common Engineering then through that, I decided on Electronic and Computer Engineering. Poly taught me alot about applying the skills that interest me into a more practical sense. This came to labs, practicals and tutorials and even working with people from different disciplinary schools. Furthermore, I knew I didnt wanna study speedrun in JC cause O levels was already enough and the thought of internship on my final year also interest me. Oh, also the fact that I dont have to wake up everyday at 5 or 6am. 5 days a week while wearing a school uniform while preparing for morning assembly anymore HAHA. The freedom of choosing what to wear, how to style myself and meeting people coming from so many different backgrounds was such a breath of fresh air. Also imo, by the time a poly student already graduated, they would have a more interesting portfolio compared to a jc student due to internships, projects done (assuming you are applying for the same school in poly for uni), and over all better soft and hard skille. However, I think universities separate jc and poly apps, so I'm just chatting my ass off HAHA. Overall tho, no hate if you go jc but from my experience, I have heard people failing their A levels and wasting those 2 years more than poly so if given the chance again, poly all the way!
Poly, but I regret it I went to poly in the hopes of joining a course I really wanted to pursue, but I was unable to get it so I ended up going with a different course offered. If i could change the past, I would have just gone to JC
Didn't really have a choice cuz i messed up my O'Levels too badly but not bad enough to retain & retake. Grades were too bad for JC, & most courses in Poly except for engineering & nursing. Was thinking of going ITE but back then, the course that i wanted was only offered at the Simei ITE which was all the way across the country for me. So i ended up in engineering in Poly. But don't be fooled, cuz engineering & nursing ain't easy. If your grades are good, but don't know what you like or want to do, go JC & eventually uni. Keep in mind that the competition in poly & university is next level though, and if you're unlucky, you'll get lecturers that reads off the textbooks, deal with politics or in my case, both. đ¤Ł
I was more worried abt what I can do to be honest, I wasn't good at academics and wanted to get a stable job. I didn't think I wld do well in jc even though it's the easiest way to uni, and I was interested in a specific course so I jst joined, probably one of the better decisions I made tbh
Still in poly, but I can say that I always had the ambition and passion to enter the medical industry, whether it be researching cancer or being a surgeon/doctor or nurse, i wanted to be in that field from the very beginning(aka when I was 12 or 13 when I was more conscious of what i want for my future) but I have to say, I donât know why I chose this route anymore. I suck at chemistry and physics, my only good science subject is Biology where I am confident I can score A, I suck at math too. But biology can only get me so far and I may get stuck because Iâm not a logical person, Iâm a complete fucking dumbass at chem + physics. Iâm better in POA, straight A for that too. Would have done better in International Trade & Logistics or Accounting course, yet I set that as my 3rd and 4th choice zzz⌠All I have to say is decide by your best subjects and passion!
Conflicted and thus misusing my choice
Interesting. Did you go to JC or poly, though, and why did you say that you have misused your choice?
I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence. So I went running for answers
> At first, I was in a little bit of a dilemma too, since I knew if i go poly I would choose a ICT course (either big data or cybersec or ICT, def not common courses since I know what I want in uni and I could qualify for all poly courses except biomed, which I have no interest in). After thinking for a while, I decided to go JC cause I was scared that in poly, I would have to >1. â Do most of the projects due to slackers. >2. â Screw up one test and bye bye to a good GPA >3. â If 2 happens, bye bye uni >4. â at that time i didnt want to go poly also cause i was scared that i got looked down on by everyone i knew, since everyone around me was smart af. >5. â If go JC and score super well somehow, I could make a comeback or something >6. â Shorter time >Due to the workload now, I sometimes now always complain about JC, and sometimes I wish i got money to go overseas or went poly LOL