Accepting a scholarship is a life-changing milestone, and the ability to make an informed decision is essential. Here, we provide a holistic overview of all you should know, condensed into 26 bite-sized nuggets of information...

By Charlene Tan

Application process
The contents of your application should be honest and accurate. Check your application multiple times to avoid having grammatical or typographical errors. If necessary, ask someone to help with the proofreading. The scholarship application process is straightforward. You can apply directly through the organisation’s website, BrightSparks, or any other channel specified by the organisation.

Bond
Regardless of its duration, the bond is a significant factor to consider. Be sure that you can commit to the organisation for as long as the bond requires, as breaking it will cost far more than funding your education independently.

Crème de la crème
Although most organisations look beyond academic grades, being one of the top students among your cohort is a basic prerequisite for getting shortlisted for the first round of interviews. Ultimately, scholarships are awarded to outstanding individuals who also possess superb communication skills and leadership qualities, amongst other things.

The process of applying for scholarships can be a complicated one. But with a few good road signs to point the way, it can also be a breeze.

By Tan Yan Shuo

A scholarship can be your ticket to a dream career and an otherwise elusive overseas education. Being awarded one can easily be the defining point of your life. It is disappointing, therefore, that so many students take the application process so lightly.

In the days following the release of the ‘A’ level results in March 2009, hundreds of students flooded the BrightSparks Forum with questions such as, “What scholarships should I apply for?”, “How do I improve my chances?” and even “What should I know about scholarships?”

Having never considered these questions before, they were confused, disoriented and distressed. Given that the closing date for most scholarship applications was merely two weeks away, it was also too little too late. They were neither able to make the best decisions nor submit the best applications that they were capable of.

You might be brimming with excitement at the prospect of higher education, and rightly so. A whole new world awaits as you enter the next phase of life as a university undergraduate!

By Charlene Tan

Apart from piling you with readings, assignments and tests, university is also the place where many life-long friendships will be forged. With the receipt of your ‘A’ level results, life as a junior college student is officially over. And whether your grades were up to par or not, it is time to move on and realise your potential in the next vibrant phase of your life. Here’s what’s in store for you...

Freedom
You will enjoy way more freedom as a university undergraduate. You get to pick modules that interest you (apart from compulsory core modules), and if you plan your timetable well enough, you may even get to enjoy a four-day week!

If you decide to study overseas or live on-campus, you will also experience independence away from home. Your campus becomes your home away from home, and your peers will be akin to family. And you can finally express yourself through your dressing as you bid goodbye to school ties and dull uniforms.

Before you can answer that question, you’ll first need to know how studying overseas differs from doing so locally.

By Tan Yan Shuo

An overseas university education in Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States of America (US) can easily set you back by several hundred thousand dollars. In comparison, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) all charge an annual tuition fee of less than S$10,000. Yet, every year, thousands of Singaporean students flock to universities in these countries.

You may be considering studying overseas too. However, before you jump on the bandwagon, it is important to examine your motivations for wanting to do so, and to ask yourself if they are justified. And most of all, to make a better, informed decision, you need to be elucidated on the major differences between studying overseas and locally.

Prestige and Career Opportunities
It is a myth that our local universities are less well-perceived by employers than their foreign counterparts. In a recent survey conducted by The Straits Times, three out of four public-listed companies said they had no preference with regard to employing local or overseas graduates, with the rest preferring candidates who studied in Singapore. Furthermore, both NUS and NTU have been ranked highly by The Times Higher Education, coming in 30th and 77th respectively in the 2008 World University Rankings.

…whichever is most appropriate for you. But how do you decide that? Here, we tell you how.

By Tan Yan Shuo

Scholarships come in all colours, shapes and sizes. To choose what’s right for you, you must understand how they differ from each other. In other words, you must first have a basis for comparison. While some of these dimensions are obvious (e.g., approved universities and courses, monetary benefits, bond duration), there are other more subtle differences relating to the nature of work in the sponsor organisation.

Choosing a scholarship is akin to choosing a job, which requires some jobseeker knowhow. As a junior college student, you are unlikely to have experienced working life before and may baulk at this reality. Although the amount of useful information regarding making career choices is enormous, it is impossible to equip yourself with sufficient knowledge to find your bearings and attain that dream scholarship.

Sector and industry
Sponsor organisations in Singapore can be broadly categorised according to the public and private sectors. The public sector is usually concerned with some aspect of Singapore’s advancement and offering services to Singaporeans. On the other hand, organisations within the private sector are almost entirely profit-driven and focus on increasing competitiveness. Therefore, while both sectors may share equivalent job positions with similar day-to-day work, the work done in each is of different significance.

As the voice of the government, MICA’s Information Officers stand at the frontline dealing with both the media and public.

By Azhar Jalil

“As communicators, the challenge is not just communicating policies, but also getting the public to appreciate the reasons behind the policies, the trade-offs that have to be made, and the greater good that we hope to achieve,” says Soffy Hariyanti about her role as an Information Officer.

As the lead agency for the Singapore Government Information Service, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) and its Information Officers play a critical role in the chain of governance. This process begins with obtaining public feedback on planned policies, communicating their deliveries to the public, and finally managing the issues arising from their implementation.

The job has been made all the more challenging in this current day and age, where technology has changed the way people communicate and obtain information. Public expectations of the government are also higher, thus calling for having Information Officers who are not only adept at managing the myriad of communication issues in an increasingly complex environment, but are also passionate about what they do.

Sport a healthy lifestyle and join SSC in shaping the culture of sports in Singapore.

By Charlene Tan

“The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) scholarship is testament of a new era for sport in Singapore. It is a mark that says sports is turning professional and Singapore wants to groom talent into sporting specialists. To be the first to start the ball rolling for something great which is going to happen is very exciting,” says 23-year-old Ruth Ng.

Ruth is Singapore’s top female fencer and the first recipient of the SSC scholarship. In July 2009, she will officially join SSC as part of the High Performance Group within the Sports Science Department.

“I will focus on promoting sporting development towards excellent results, and help to improve infrastructure and the (sporting) system. Sports science is based heavily on research and concepts. It is the core of where you get sporting success,” she explains.

Raising sports champions
Formed in 1973, SSC is Singapore’s lead agency tasked with developing sports in Singapore. The statutory board has come a long way in transforming the way Singaporeans view and participate in sports.

So you are an aspiring engineer whose interests extend beyond the field of engineering? ST Engineering's extensive global network of over 100 subsidiaries and associated companies in 24 countries and 42 cities ensures that there will always be something for you.

By Eugene Lim

Algorithms for Success
When Joel Chan's parents first brought a computer home, little did they know that it would have such a profound impact on their young son. “I was about five years old at that time and was very intrigued by the computer. I was especially fascinated by Microsoft BASIC and MS-DOS. Later on, when the computer died, I had the opportunity to dismantle it and look inside. It was all very interesting and exciting to me,” he reminisces.

What started off as the innocuous tinkering and dissecting of computer parts eventually transpired into an inexorable zest in the field of computer science. Although he was sure of his passion for engineering when he was scouring for scholarships after the 'A' levels, Joel was also aware that this passion could wane or even change as he grows older and becomes exposed to new experiences. With this in mind, he applied for the ST Engineering scholarship.

“ST Engineering is a very large company. Not only are there many fields of engineering that I can go into, there are also many opportunities available outside engineering like business, accounting and management,” explains Joel.

A career at SPRING is the ideal platform for introducing you to the world of business and entrepreneurism.

By Tan Yan Shuo

Imagine you are taking a walk at midnight, and you spot two people playing tennis in the dark. What is the first thought that creeps into your mind?

“It immediately struck me as a business opportunity!” shares SPRING scholar Chew San Lee. “I went back to research on whether there is a market for glow-in-the-dark tennis balls, and I realised that there are a lot of people who want such a product.”

Palpably, San Lee lives and breathes business, and admits that her dreams were sparked by the business endeavours of her father.

Shaping dreams
“My father works in a biscuit company. Biscuits don’t seem like something creative, but I saw how my father innovated to create biscuits nobody else could think of. That was really inspirational to me,” San Lee recounts.

Fellow scholar Ng Wee Leong shares similar sentiments. “My dad runs his own renovation contracting business, helping HDB and private houses do renovation work. However, he wasn’t very successful in the later years, because he didn’t move up the value chain in time after HDB started pushing out premium flats, and there was very little need for renovation contractors. This made me have a keen interest in business development, how businesses work, how different types of businesses run, why some succeed, and why some don’t.”