Planning for your Tertiary Education
Introduction
It is never too early to start planning for your tertiary education. Even before you sit for your GCE 'A' level examinations, you should start thinking about where you would like to further your education. There are the four local universities (NUS, NTU, SMU and SUTD) and many overseas universities. Aside from obvious financial considerations, there are a whole host of other considerations such as whether you will able to adapt to the different cultures and lifestyles, and perhaps even language barriers, should you decide to study overseas.
As to which course or degree programme to read, you will need to have an idea of the sort of career(s) you are interested in after graduation. The course you read in the university should preferably be related to what you intend to do in future, though it may not. This is especially true for professions which require specialized knowledge and expertise, e.g. doctors, lawyers, accountants etc.
If you are planning to apply for a scholarship from a local organization, you will also need to consider the needs of the organization as you will be working for the organization after graduation. Your interest in the course should also be a factor to be considered. Therefore, you should start to plan for your tertiary education as early as possible.
Choice of University
Choosing a university is sometimes not easy because there are so many options available. It is your prerogative to do your own research to find a university that offers a course that is suitable for you. Factors to consider include the courses offered at the university, admission requirements, the general culture of the university (or country), prestige of the university, recognition of the degree by the Singapore government etc.
Most, if not all, governments do not rank the universities in their countries. Therefore all rankings that you come across will be subjective to a certain extent because the agencies that come up with the rankings would have used slightly different criteria. In other words, you can and should refer to university rankings but you should not take everything at face value. It is advisable to refer to several rankings from different sources instead of just one. Furthermore, the rank of a university should not be your sole deciding factor in choosing a university.
Local Universities
Singapore has four universities - the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the newly established Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in collaboration with MIT which will receive their first batch of matriculated students in 2012.
Overseas Universities
Applying for admission to overseas universities is not as straightforward as applying to the local universities. For more information on overseas universities, please click on the links below.
-US Universities
-UK Universities
-Other Universities
(Australian, Canadian, German, French, Japanese & Chinese Universities)
University Visits
Over the course of the year, representatives from many universities visit Hwa Chong. They set up information booths outside the Education & Career Guidance room to answer queries about their universities or general enquiries about studying in their countries. You should make an effort to visit these booths and talk to these visitors as they are usually the admissions officers from the universities and will therefore be the best source of information on university admissions criteria, and will also be able to address your queries on financial aid.
For information on the following, pls click the links below:
Schools that visited Hwa Chong in 2008 | 
