Staring at the fork in the road after graduation? Can't decide on which path to take? Parlaying your diploma for a degree is plausibly your best bet.

By Eugene Lim

Currently in her final year of studies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Yammie Chin graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Media and Communications. However, her true interest, since her adolescent days, was in Psychology. She muses, “I've always wanted to study Psychology since secondary school. However, I did not like the junior college curriculum and, at that time, polytechnics did not offer courses in Psychology.”

While parents around the globe might blame the television for their child's lackadaisical performance in school, Yammie's parents may well attribute their daughter's academic drive to the same source. “I watched a Hong Kong drama which featured a psychologist who counselled policemen, negotiated with people on the verge of committing suicide, and interviewed child witnesses. I thought her job was quite cool,” she recalls, speaking of the spark that ignited her passion for psychology.

Education without borders
Yammie chose NTU over other local universities because of the direct entry to its Psychology programme, which she felt was an advantage as she had already ascertained her major. Despite the rigours of her academic pursuits, she managed to utilise the wide spectrum of opportunities available to her at NTU.

For a start, the Dean's List student was invited to join the Undergraduate Research Experience on Campus programme. She accepted the invitation and was conferred the title of NTU President Research Scholar for a study on the motivation behind betterment. She also participated in a semester-long overseas exchange programme at the University of Washington (UW).

Yammie ranks her experience as an exchange student in UW as the most memorable episode of her undergraduate life. She reminisces, “I spent 192 days as a tourist. It was very fun because I went with another 23 NTU students. Ten of us were living together, so we took turns to cook dinner every weekday. In the US, there are a lot of holidays so we went on many weekend trips. I also got to know the locals there.”

Fun aside, she also worked at UW's Childhood Cognition Laboratory as a research assistant, where she conducted visual habituation tasks on infants.

With so many things happening simultaneously for Yammie, time management is crucial to ensure the fulfillment of her commitments. She says, “Sometimes, the more you have going on, the better you manage your time, hence the more productive you become. I believe it's not the amount of time you spend doing something but rather the effort that you put in to doing something.”

The unexpected insights gained from the interactions with her fellow schoolmates and colleagues have been the biggest take-away for Yammie. She reveals, “It's the people you meet in school and those because of school. There are a lot of things we cannot learn by ourselves or from our own lives. Sometimes, you can get the answers you are searching for from others.”

Changing tracks
For Kerry Ge, the epiphany he sought came from the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’.

The book inspired Kerry to abandon the engineering roots he had cultivated at Ngee Ann Polytechnic to read Accountancy at NTU instead. He recounts, “I studied Computer Engineering back in polytechnic. At the end of it, I realised that engineering was not my calling. Incidentally, I bumped into a book, 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad'. Because of the book, I felt that accounting knowledge was very important. That was actually the trigger for me to study Accountancy.”

Among the many choices laid out for Kerry, NTU stood out for its three-year direct honours programme, a year less than those offered at other local universities. As a polytechnic graduate, he felt that the cost – both monetary and opportunity cost – of spending another year in school would be too much. As such, NTU was a “natural choice” for him.

Of the many perquisites he enjoyed as an undergraduate at NTU, Kerry considers the internship he snagged in his second year of studies to be the most beneficial. He interned at Credit Suisse, Hong Kong, where he rubbed shoulders with Ivy Leaguers on the trading floor. He affirms, “Without the help from the career services office, my classmates, and my professors, the internship would have never happened.”

On his internship experience, he elaborates, “I was doing equity derivatives which was what I was interested in. Also, I met a lot of high-profile bankers during the 10 weeks there. The experience definitely helped me to secure my current job at Standard Chartered Bank.”

Kerry, a first-class honours student, shares his formula for success. “Set a clear goal and develop a plan to achieve that goal. And do not give up when the going gets tough.”

From his years at NTU, Kerry has gained more than just knowledge from the books – he has discovered himself. “Throughout these three years in NTU, I've figured out what my strengths and weaknesses are and I've identified what I want to do in the future.”

Seamless segue
If you are worried about whether you would have a hard time adapting to university life, you have no reason to. Yammie explains, “I think it's easier for polytechnic students to transit to university. We are used to taking modules per semester. So, we have mastered the art of studying very hard for a subject for a semester. We are also used to the flexible timetable. Also, I think the interaction between professors and students are quite similar.”

Besides augmenting knowledge, the undergraduate journey also prepares you for the next phase of your life. As Kerry puts it, “The academic training and the attachment experience you gain at NTU will help you to find an ideal job when you graduate.”