All About Universities

[doodbug]

I would say though, most courses in the US, will take 4 years of study. It is not easy to get exemptions or acceleration even with APs and A levels or IBs. They wlll simply require you to take more advanced modules, as the number of credits needed for graduation typically do not change. Well, the universities need to earn your tuition fees Most degree programmes in Singapore are 4 years too. The UK is more of a mixed model - there are a good number of programmes requiring 3 years of study; there are also some requiring 4 years of study.

My pockets are unfortunately not unlimited. It is a huge financial sacrifice to finance university studies overseas. I have told my kids that unfortunately, US universities are beyond what we can afford.

If you are lower/middle income, the wonderful thing about a small select group of US universities (Harvard, Princeton, MIT etc) is that they offer need blind admissions with up to full financial aid even for international students. I don't think the equivalent exists in the UK.

[doodbug]

Given the astronomical costs of studying in the US, if you are on a scholarship, you really get your bond's worth studying in the US ahhahahahaha.

[SG_KP1]

I would say though, most courses in the US, will take 4 years of study. It is not easy to get exemptions or acceleration even with APs and A levels or IBs. They wlll simply require you to take more advanced modules, as the number of credits needed for graduation typically do not change. Well, the universities need to earn your tuition fees Most degree programmes in Singapore are 4 years too. The UK is more of a mixed model - there are a good number of programmes requiring 3 years of study; there are also some requiring 4 years of study.

My pockets are unfortunately not unlimited. It is a huge financial sacrifice to finance university studies overseas. I have told my kids that unfortunately, US universities are beyond what we can afford.

If you are lower/middle income, the wonderful thing about a small select group of US universities (Harvard, Princeton, MIT etc) is that they offer need blind admissions with up to full financial aid even for international students. I don't think the equivalent exists in the UK.

Likely, many of the smaller departments cannot survive unless you make classes complusory for all. Ie not just total fees collected but need to keep some people in business.

I think at some public schools strong students may be able to get done in three years if a) take classes during summer after year 1 and b) take a slightly higher load the remaining years (and assuming you get credit for A Level or IB HL classes and can place into higher level courses). A) is not free as you still need to pay fees and living expenses but at least in my time the opportunity for meaningful employment wasn't so great after year 1. B) may still be a challenge now, as I'd assume recruiting has become more competitive, everyone looking for grades and other attributes. So spending more time on campus doing other stuff may be a net positive vs rushing through things just to get done.

[ChiefKiasu]

Hello Chief. I didn't realize UICU was ranked so high for CS . Was always aware of its general standing but I guess didn't know of the specialties.

Well, it was one of the top schools for CS during my time, but that was like 40 years ago and much has changed. I don't know what is its status now. I was blessed to have the privilege to go there. Staying there was fun, but it does have its own challenges. Most Americans are open and friendly, but some weird ones can be pretty racial. I do get some rare cat-calls sometimes as I'm walking down the street and cars go by with some drunk kids, but otherwise, things are pretty quiet there.
The lower level classes (freshmen and sophomore) were pretty well conducted and regimented. Classes are ok, but some can be really boring. Fortunately, the professors will make their lecture notes available to "Kinkos", a photo copy shop, where we can buy it before the lecture. So sometimes, I would buy the notes and then go home Easier to self-study.
The senior classes are really mostly electives, and I still remember taking one, but I can't remember what the course was about at all! At the start of the classes, the professor came in a wheel chair, and told us (through a throat microphone) that this was the last time we will see him and that the course will be taught mostly by his teaching assistants (TAs), and promptly made his way out.
We were stunned, but kind of grateful, as we could hardly understand him with his throat microphone. Then the TAs jumped up and told us how fun the class is going to be, because we are all going to select a project and then take turns to present it to the class! So the next time I went for the lesson was when I had to present my project . I was only present in that class twice.
I guess that course was bad... but it showed me the "good" side of things. Apparently, the professor was a major contributor to the university during his earlier years, wrote several valuable papers and is well known in his field. So the university kept him on his tenure even though he could hardly talk right now.
Besides that experience, everything else was right on the dot. The only negative thing is that the Americans think poorly of us Asians being able to speak English, and we had to take some basic rhetoric classes, which we, of course aced. But I did enjoy taking a theatre class where we watched some plays and then wrote our thoughts on them.

[myteapot]

Thank you, Chief for your sharing on UIUC. I will share them with my girl. She has an offer from UIUC but is leaning towards not taking up at this point.

[Liew Nga Wing]

She has an offer from UIUC but is leaning towards not taking up at this point.

Why is she not taking up the offer?

[myteapot]

One reason is the bond which she is not ready to take up at this point.

[ChiefKiasu]

One reason is the bond which she is not ready to take up at this point.

What scholarship is she considering? EDB?

[lee_yl]

UK was more popular in the past because of our colonial ties, but the PSC started sending more students to the US around the early-80s, initially for IT-related courses and then expanding to more subjects.

I think NCB was the first to send scholars to the US. LKY also pushed PSC to send scholars to the US. Currently, GovTech also sends scholars to US for technology-related areas (Comp Sc, AI, Big data).

Thinking aloud, looking at how toxic the cultural and political environment in US has become, it may be prudent for PSC to diversify the countries where the scholars are sent to. Time to revive scholarships to France, Germany or Japan and start new initiatives to India? If vast majority of grads here are from US, we may see culture wars erupting in our midst or more anon conspiracies circulating?

[phtthp]

Yes, in the past, during pre covid days, USA is a great country to go to, for overseas university studies. But these past 2 years, so many things have changed inside America !