Boys and girls, once again, its THAT time of the year! The joint admission exercises, commonly referred to as "a parent's nightmare" has come to Singapore Polytechnic.

Being the usual KPO, I have once again "volunteered" my services at the JAE. Its here that you get to meet people from all walks of life, all subjected to the merciless jurisdiction of the education system. Thats right, I have met them all. From the shy to the snobbish, from the insecure to the elites. Chaperoned by their parents, aunties, brothers and sisters, these candidates come from far and wide, all with the common goal of selected the right course to continue their torturous education career.

In Singapore, education is a BIG deal. At least to parents. Often, I see a worried parent approaching me for enquiries while her child follows behind her like a zombie. Sometimes I wonder if the parents are more interested in the course than the child.

Looking back at my year 1 days, my parents weren't that kanjiong about my polytechnic education. In fact, even now, they haven't even asked if I have applied to University or what course am I even applying to. The choice to study and learn has always been mine and I guess I am thankful for that. It would suck terribly to choose a course in which you have no passion in. Parents, cut them some slack! If they are artists, don't tell them to choose engineering just because there are better prospects! Even if they get sucky results, they will end up with no prospects, so might as well respect their wishes and let them live their dreams.

As it is every year, the HOT HOT HOT diploma of choice is the Bio related field - Biotechnology and Biomedical Science. With a cutoff point and intake of 11/100 and 9/65 respectively, it definitely ranks as one of the hardest to get in course ever. Still, I am constantly fascinated by people with a L1R4 of >18, asking me about biotech and biomed. I mean, its like you will NEVER be considered, so why don't you set your sights lower? Passion is one thing, but being realistic is another. What makes you think that without the proper basics of mathematics and science, you can succeed in that course, just based on passion alone? Sure, you may be able to learn and excel if you can get into the course but honestly, you should have done so already when you sat for O levels.

On the other hand, I'm quite glad that the people asking about Chemical Engineering seem quite normal and hardworking. On the other hand, it would be hard to tell, just based on how they act and look. Hopefully they keep the standard high. *smiles* Like what one of my lecturer was wondering, just how much prospects are there in the biotech field? Biotech is a very specialized course. Its mostly R&D and seriously, biopolis does not have the capacity to take in that many diploma holders. It would be saturated soon at the rate they keep churning out students and they would soon find themselves jobless after graduation. The bottomline for me is whether they can sustain the interest to motivate them to work hard and achieve good results for 3 whole years. Since it is a specialized course, they have to continue being interested in it even after graduation and throughout their working life. If they can truthfully say that they can, then I am definitely 100% behind you. If not, following a trend is useless and would only end in tears.

;I CREATED A SHEEP!
4:18 PM