u/Educational_Mark_844

Hello everyone! I am an incoming student to SUTD this September and have many questions with regard to SUTD. I hope to receive some answers, and may this be helpful for other incoming students this year or in the future. For context, I am an international student who took Singapore GCE A-Level and was offered SUTD EPD, SUTD Undergraduate Merit Scholarship, and SUTD Hostel Award. I actually have so many questions, so I ranked it from most important to least important. I REALLY APPRECIATE ANY ANSWERS, AND THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

• 1.What do you NOT LIKE about SUTD? I have heard many good things about SUTD, but I want to know what I should be concerned about too. I appreciate any “insider information” rather than just “not from the Big 3” because everyone knows that.
• 2. What can I do now to prepare for my freshman year and my university journey at SUTD ahead? I am planning to revise my H2 Maths and H2 Physics learnt at JC and probably learn some AI/coding concepts to improve my computing skills.

   

• 3. What are your views on the university’s push and focus on 'DesignAI'?
• 4. Since SUTD is more self-directed and requires students to take initiatives, do you have any thoughts/opinions on how to find opportunities to add value to ourselves and network? ARE THERE MANY OPPORTUNITIES GIVEN IN SUTD COMPARED TO NUS/NTU?
• 5. Will I face many limitations as an international student when applying for internships and overseas exchange programmes? (Quota, etc.), or will the school provide more support in these areas?
• 6. Do most SUTD graduates work in engineering sectors? Any possibility that I can work in business sectors too? (IS IT HARD TO PIVOT AROUND?) I see there is a “Psychology & Business Management Minor” available; does this help? (To clarify, I am set for technology specifically Mech Eng, but just want to know if I can pivot around to my second interest in mind.)
• 7. Student proportion in SUTD, I am just very curious….

   

  • Are there actually MANY students in SUTD on scholarship? Making one holding a certain scholarship very common and less prestigious. 
  • Poly VS JC proportion? For JC, where do most JC students come from? Is it very diverse? Or is it mostly from high-tier or low-tier JCs?
  • Female-to-male students proportion HAHA
• 8. I understand that the SUTD undergraduate programme is 3.5 years rather than 4 years. Do you think we lose out to other universities that offer 4-year programmes?
• 9. School life/student culture? Is there anything remarkable about SUTD school life that only “insider students” know about? Of course, everyone knows about the small cohort that forms a strong community and the compulsory stay for incoming students.

   

• 10. Just any thoughts/opinions/suggestions for incoming students?

Grateful to be in SUTD and honoured to receive a scholarship; looking forward to university and appreciate any answers to my questions!

Dear all, I received an offer (direct admission through discovery day) to SMU business management as an international student who took Singapore A-Level, I got a C for H1 GP. I have a few questions regarding the course and hope that some kind seniors can answer them for me. Thanks in advance!

1) Financial issues/Scholarships

After comparison i realised that SMU has a significantly higher school fee than other universities. Thus, i wonder what kind of financial aid is provided for international students as my family cannot afford the school fee for 4 years, and how effective is the financial aid?

Beyond financial aid, I am also looking at scholarships that I may apply for during school terms. I'm wondering how competitive it is to get a mid-term scholarship at SMU. (I didn't apply for scholarship during admission, as my RP is not that good.)

I'm asking not only because i really need the financial support, but also because SMU advertised themselves as "40% of students received financial/scholarship awards", which gives me a lot of hope that I can overcome my financial difficulties. I understand that I can take up a student loan, but I personally hope I can have other options, as it's kinda sad that upon graduation I already have a loan to pay for straight up in the face.

2) Poor English proficiency= Poor performance?

As an international student, clearly English is not my first language (C6 for O-Lv EL, C for H1 GP). Thus, I am worried that I will struggle for presentation, class participation, and writing reports... which are key factors at SMU that contribute to my overall GPA. However, on the other hand, I have decent leadership skills (Uphold President/Captain role in my CCA), and I am frequently praised by others for being open to communication, able to initiate conversation, basically decent at talking to others. Thus, this makes me a good fit for SMU. As such, with my sharing above, can i do well in SMU?

SUMMARY: I have decent EQ (and IQ ofc), which makes me a decent fit for SMU. But my English foundation is weak, as it is not my first language. Can I survive at SMU? I also take slightly longer to process English content than my classmates.

3) Internship opportunity as international student 

I understand that SMU is well known for its internship opportunities because of its location, and all students graduate with 2-3 internships. However, I want to find out if it will be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for international students to get internship opportunities. And will I be at a huge disadvantage if I cannot find internships? I understand that for business students, internships contribute significantly to our competitiveness after graduation. 

I am saying so because upon graduating from JC, I went to look for part-time (PT) jobs, and it was already extremely difficult, as I will safely say more than 90% of the PT jobs available are only open to Singaporeans/PRs due to quotas, etc etc. I did look at internships available from JC students, and without any surprise, ALL are only open to Singaporeans/PRs. If this applies to university as well, I may not even get any internship opportunities even though SMU is known for internship opportunities...

Thanks for reading until here, and I appreciate any answers given. Please give me some advice on how to go about... I do have other offers, but I am currently heavily considering SMU...