Engineering in Singapore?

[Herlene]

Which is better ? NUS or NTU? Fellow recomers, please share your experience so that I can make the right decisions.:)

[wawa]

I'm major in Electrical Eng and minor in Materials Science & Eng in NUS. It depends on what you want out of your engineering training. And, having done two engineering disciplines, the system and culture for different engineering disciplines are very very different.

[Herlene]

How different? Actually.. I was thinking of electrical engineering.

[Caprio]

Hey wawa, since you are studying in NUS, may I ask you a few questions?

1) For the NUS financial aid, can we apply after the we get the admission offer?
During the education exhibition, I talked to the representative and they told me I can do so. However, on the website, it is listed the opposite. Hence, I sent them an email and asked for clarification but until now there is no result.

2) What is your monthly expense? I heard that not only the tuition fees for international students is increased, but also the hostel fees, is it true?

Hope that you can help clarify my doubts here.

Thank you.

[Herlene]

Hey wawa, since you are studying in NUS, may I ask you a few questions?

1) For the NUS financial aid, can we apply after the we get the admission offer?
During the education exhibition, I talked to the representative and they told me I can do so. However, on the website, it is listed the opposite. Hence, I sent them an email and asked for clarification but until now there is no result.

2) What is your monthly expense? I heard that not only the tuition fees for international students is increased, but also the hostel fees, is it true?

Hope that you can help clarify my doubts here.

Thank you.



Also, when can I apply for loan? Is it true that the loan are interest free?
Please clarify. Thank you in advance.:)

[wawa]

Anybody in NUS who knows I'm on the wrong please correct me. (I'm an MFA scholar, I confess I don't know too much about the financial side).

The NUS financial aid runs in cycles. I've seen emails from the school every now and then asking students who need financial aid to apply. So, if you were denied aid initially, you should be able to still apply. (They set up a new bursary just to help students too!).

The loan is interest free while you study. Once you start working, the interest starts kicking in. People usually pay it off pretty quickly; my brother did it in less than a year.

Yes, the tuition fees for international students and hostel fees have increased. The full fee MFA paid for me was like ~24k last year. Btw, the hostel fees are slated to increase every year for the next four years. (Its been announced, rates should be on the NUS website).

YOur monthly expense depends on how often you go out. Food in school is half the price of what you pay outside. And of course, you blow a lot off if you are the clubber/pubber type. Right now, my hostel rent is ~240 per mth (you should factor in the increase). Cellphone bills usually come in ~30 for most people and if you eat at school, you should be safe with counting spending ~200 a month on food (You can get a really decent meal at 3 bucks on campus). I've know lots of friends who get along with much less, although I confess I spend much more on food because I'm a Penangite (yummy food!) tired of eating the same thing on campus every day.

In your first year, all engineering students do the same courses. However, once you go into your second year, everyone is different. The MSE dept is much smaller, hence a lot of attention is paid to its students (compared to ~200 EEstudents) and they can afford to have many more laboratory sessions. Imagine 3 or 6 hour labs, 30 page lab reports and oral exams for your reports. The upside is that it's really hard to forget whatever you've learnt this way. The downside is a lot of time is spent on practical work on every module. The history of the dept matters as well. MSE moved from Science to Engineering Faculty, so the courses taught have a slant towards sciences. Because of the small cohort size, the students are quite close to each other. Our MSE prof even had a BBQ to celebrate the ending of his module!

In EE, the division is somewhat different. You dont' do too much labor-intensive labs in your first two years (except programming - but then its because I'm lousy at it), and spend a lot of time on the theoretical aspects of EE (signals, systems, electromagnetics, microelectronic devices, circuit design, programming etc etc). In your third year, you will have a major design project where you are expected to use what you've learnt in the past to build a system from scratch (I & teammates designed a smart home system- electronics, programming, sensors, actuators and all). Since there are much more people in EE, don't expect to know everybody. The upside is that the breadth of EE's sub-divisions is very much wider than MSE(very narrow), and IMO, much more interesting. I.E. if you don't like programming, you can do stuff like device physics etc. Or if you like controlling stuff and making robots and what not, then you can do it (not in MSE). Or if you like designing stuff you can do circuit design etc etc etc.

[sAmurAi-X]

Once we are accepted into NUS, a scholarship/ grant is guaranteed, right?

[wawa]

no. admission and financial aid are separate.

[sAmurAi-X]

Does the entire application process involve series of stringent selections? After all, is it easy to secure a scholarship upon enrolling into NUS?

[wawa]

It depends on your (I hate to say this) grades. STPM/A Level and MUET scores. Scholarships are awarded based on merit and there's an interview that you will have to attend, which is also factored into the decision. I know Prof Tan (Dean of Admisn) does make an effort to go to Malaysia and personally interview some of the applicants.

[sAmurAi-X]

Applicable to all disciplines? Precisely, I'll be doing environmental engineering. Thanks, wawa. :)

[wawa]

Yes, as far as I know. Specifically, if you are targeting ASEAN etc merit-based scholarships.

[Caprio]

Hey, guys! Do you think that it is wise to take up loans to study in Singapore? After we have graduated, we will be burdened by the loans and it takes time to pay back on our own. For our friends who study local, they can start saving or better still investing their money whereas for us, we need to take at least five years to settle the loans.

Undeniably, we have more opportunities if we were to study in Singapore, great facilities, world class lecturers, good study environment and many more. Nonetheless, we need to to fork out a large sum of money to study abroad.

So what do you think? Share here please. This problem has been troubling me for quite sometime

[wawa]

If you do take a loan (as some of my friends have done) and is enrolled under the MOE tuition fee grant, it should be quite manageable. I dont' know how you arrived at taking 5 years to repay back, but most people I know pay off their loans much much faster than that. Unless you like to spend money like water..... :P

[Herlene]

If you do take a loan (as some of my friends have done) and is enrolled under the MOE tuition fee grant, it should be quite manageable. I dont' know how you arrived at taking 5 years to repay back, but most people I know pay off their loans much much faster than that. Unless you like to spend money like water..... :P

wawa,from the people you know...how long do they take to repay the loan upon graduation...say for an engineering student?

[Caprio]

If you do take a loan (as some of my friends have done) and is enrolled under the MOE tuition fee grant, it should be quite manageable. I dont' know how you arrived at taking 5 years to repay back, but most people I know pay off their loans much much faster than that. Unless you like to spend money like water..... :P

I just roughly estimate that, it may be more or it may be less. My estimation is as below:

Since I plan to study engineering, the four years' tution fees for an international applicant is 4x9540=38000+

For the living cost, we spend approximately 10 months in Singapore per annum. My budget a month is around 650, that means total up four years will be 10x4x650=26000

Sum of the cost will be 38000+26000=64000
(This case is only true if I took up all the loans available, correct me if I am mistaken)

Assume the starting salary for a fresh engineering graduate is 2500. My monthly expenditure in Singapore will be 1500(this is only what I estimate, mostly will spend less) and repay the loan 1000 monthly. By calculation, it took me more than 5 years to settle the loan, and yet, the interest of the loan is still not yet take into consideration for this case.

Haha... wawa, in the earlier post, you mention you are a MFA scholar, actually what MFA stands for? Could you tell me please. Sorry if my question looks noob. :P

[sAmurAi-X]

If I'm not mistaken, MFA stands for Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore. Kindly rectify me if I'm wrong.

[wawa]

My goodness, your tuition fees are so high now. At my brother's time, it was only about 6k/year. Starting pay now is around 3k now for engineers.

You should consider working on campus while studying. Its a great help, and they pay students 8.5 bucks per hour.

[kpchen]

My goodness, your tuition fees are so high now. At my brother's time, it was only about 6k/year. Starting pay now is around 3k now for engineers.

You should consider working on campus while studying. Its a great help, and they pay students 8.5 bucks per hour.

For Medicine, the tuition fee hike for the AY2008/09 batch approaches 50% for International Students :(

I consider myself lucky to be born in 1987 :)

[Herlene]

Btw, how much is the interest of the loan?

[wawa]

http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/sfau/UG.html

NUS website link for financial aid.

[wawa]

For those worried about financial, this was sent by my school:

KUOK FOUNDATION BERHAD invites applications for the above awards from Malaysian citizens applying for or currently pursuing undergraduate degree courses at Malaysian Public Universities
and Singapore Public Universities.
Application forms can be downloaded from http://www.kuokfoundation.com
or obtained from :
Kuok Foundation Berhad (Undergraduate Awards 2008)
14th Floor Wisma Jerneh, 38 Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 KUALA LUMPUR
Requests for forms by post must be accompanied by :
(i) a copy of the latest examination results
(STPM or University or equivalent)
(ii) a stamped (50 sen) self-addressed white envelope (16cm x 23cm)
Only shortlisted candidates will be notified for interview.
Completed application forms should reach the Foundation no later than
11 April 2008 .

[Caprio]

For those who are studying engineering in Singapore, what do you think the engineering course offered in NUS and in NTU? Which one is better?

I know my question here is a bit ridiculous. Hehe... but I would like to what is your opinion. NUS is a more 'branded' university compare with NTU. However, in terms of facilities wise, NTU will be a better university as each branch of engineering has its own campus. So, what is your view?

[jiinjoo]

Seeing this from the view of a "hirer" of NUS and NTU grads, I think both are equally recognized locally. If anything it's a fraternity thing that makes the chances of getting a job a little bit selective. Before NTU was totally practical but I guess they have slowly morph towards a balanced approach. NUS grads also seem to have more exposure to hands on by the time their resumes reach the hirer.

[wawa]

Basically, not to different. Your choice of activities and experiences in either university will probrably be more important.