lessons learned from NUS 🎓

i officially graduated! spent some time reflecting on my past 3.5 years in NUS & these are what i took away from my journey, especially since i matriculated in 2020 (during the peak of covid era 🥲)

🎓 join a CCA/committee or apply for hall

i figured since it was a covid matriculation, i had to join something to make friends/meet new people — i joined Sheares in my first year & while it was a little hard for an introvert (me) to get used to the hall life, it was surprisingly a good experience; i even made some lifelong friends :’) i also joined a committee in my faculty! this enabled me to meet new people outside of hall & within my faculty itself

🎓 plan your timetable well

can’t stress this enough but you really NEED to plan your timetable & modules well! i have friends that missed out on certain MCs and had to overload like crazy in their final years (& even postpone their graduation), so be sure to check your graduation requirements! what i do is list down all required MCs and mods in an excel sheet, and i plan my mods ahead of every new semester to ensure i meet my grad requirements

🎓 grades don’t define you

it really doesn’t. it took me some time to grasp this as i always placed heavy importance on studies & grades (especially in polytechnic), but i’ve learned that unless you’re applying for graduate or management associate programmes, most of the time HRs don’t ask for your GPA. i’m pretty sure i secured my first full-time job without even mentioning my GPA (they’re more interested in your experiences & portfolio!)

🎓 take on internships (but pace yourself!)

take RELEVANT internships that boost your resume! but don’t force yourself to take on internships during EVERY summer/winter break (or compare your internship experiences with your peers) — take a break if you want to & do things you love! you’ll already be working forever once you graduate so just spend some time traveling or make time with your loved ones whenever you can

🎓 overseas experiences!

be it semester exchange, summer/winter exchange, or even NOC, you should definitely try an overseas experience if you can! i went on a summer programme in korea because a semester exchange was too expensive for me, & it was a wonderful experience — i still think about it a year later

🎓 go with the flow & enjoy the process :’)

sometimes in life, the most unexpected are what makes your experiences better — korea summer school was a spontaneous & unplanned decision on my end & it turned out to be the best experience ever… sometimes you really just have to take things one step at a time & go with the flow

🎓 start applying for full-time jobs earlier

i applied for full-time about 3 months before i officially ended school (but also because i wanted to start work immediately). what helped me was having an excel sheet to track all my applications & progress. job hunting is tough & at times demoralizing, but it’s the rite of passage that all of us have to go through

& that’s it! the official end to my education life :’) happy grad to all my NUS batch mates & here’s to the start of adulthood~ we got this 🫵🏻💪🏻

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