NTU NBS Global Leaders vs NUS Undergraduate Scholarship?
Hi everyone! Throwaway account because this situation is quite niche so I don’t want it to be on my main, nor do I want to be perceived as karma farming because this is actually a genuine concern I have.
I am super super fortunate enough to have been offered 3 really amazing scholarships by all Big 3 unis (NUS-US, NGL, LKCSP). But the main ones I want to focus on are the NUS Undergrad and NBS Global Leaders.
I personally feel inclined to take the NUS Undergrad Scholarship because NUS has always been my dream school and I really want to study there.
NUS is also closer to my house by about 30-ish minutes. (NTU's Journey to the West™) Even though I'll likely be staying in hall/house for both universities, this is still a plus point for flexibility.
I also like NUS because I'll be studying the BBA, and the freedom and flexibility to choose between all the business majors and lots of the second majors AND minors is a huge plus. (Compared to NTU where some majors/minors that I’m interested in are set to various restrictions).
Being able to only have to lock choice of majors at the end of Y2 in NUS instead of the end of Y1 in NTU is also a really big plus point for NUS.
NUS-US also only requires a maintenance GPA of 3.5/5.0 as compared to NTU NGL's 3.75/5.0. From the perspective of risk, I think it would be better to take the NUS-US in an adverse event that my GPA ends up being near the lower end of Second Lowers honours.
NUS also has the comparative prestige from an international perspective. I have friends incoming to the Università Bocconi, a very respected target university in Southern Europe for finance, and they largely said that NUS was “the clear choice over NTU” for them.
I’m also kind of worried because I’ve seen posts along the lines of “NUS/SMU > NTU”, especially given that networking may be harder given NTU’s location.
Furthermore, I detest my current understanding of NTU’s STARS bidding system. A more priority-based module allocation system like NUS sounds fairer to me than NTU’s “fastest-fingers-first Star Wars system”.
I’m also worried that since NGL requires me to attend NTU Honours College, maintaining a good GPA will be harder as NHC’s standards are higher. Furthermore, given that NGL mandates a full year exchange and NTU has a minimum number of letter graded courses, I’m worried about my capacity to read P/F courses instead since I’ll only have 3 years at NTU instead of 3.5/4.
Having a full year exchange in Year 3 also makes me worried about my capacity to do internships in NTU.
However, NTU's NBS Global Leaders scholarship is also really prestigious, given it's NBS' Signature Programme. Having read the benefits, I do believe their scholarship is definitely better than the NUS Undergrad Scholarship.
From a monetary perspective, NBS Global Leaders has partial housing/hall subsidies and partial overseas exchange subsidies, while NUS does not. NGL also guarantees 4 years of hall stay while NUS-US only “gives priority” for 2 years of residential stay. Money isn’t an issue for me, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind.
From a development perspective, NBS Global Leaders go on a full year exchange at an amazing school like UC Berkeley. This has also been confirmed as they signed the MoU already.
And I'm definitely not going to downplay a heavily subsidised, tuition-free, pretty much guaranteed exchange to such a good school as UC BERKELEY.
I'm also attracted to the fact that NBS Global Leaders actually has a tight knit scholarship community and also organises mentorships with top business executives. From a networking standpoint, this is a big plus.
Having talked to the Profs to get an understanding, I really feel NGL is centered around developing and nuturing their students a lot further than the ordinary university curriculum.
I’m also worried that NUS, in having a higher IGP would attract tougher competition than NTU, thus making it difficult to perform in a bell curve environment.
Also, while I haven't done much digging into any "bespoke scholarship community" aspect that NUS may have. My current understanding is that there isn't a real "scholarship community" unlike NGL scholars and NBS Changemakers.
NTU has also been very persistent in keeping us engaged in events and inviting us over for a lot of stuff. Whereas, NUS hasn’t invited me over for anything 🥲.
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All in all, I'm very lucky to have such a good dilemma. However, it's a dilemma nonetheless and I need help choosing between a school that I feel fits me more (NUS) or a scholarship and exchange that I favour more (NTU).