Thoughts on the National Infocomm Scholarship
I applied for the National Infocomm Scholarship (half-heartedly, thus I filled up the application form at my whim and fancy) at the urge of my mum here and my aunt in Singapore.
(I’m sorry I posted this a day after the deadline of application for this scholarship but I wanted to just share what this scholarship is all about.)
Firstly, for the overseas programme, the scholarship offers to pay tuition fees, allowances, accomodation costs, airfare costs, medical expenses, etc. It covers many engineering courses such as E & E, computer engineering, information systems, etc. The Overseas Full Scholarship comes with a 5-year bond and if one is not a Singaporean, one has to become a Singapore PR. Is that good?
But here is another take on this scholarship by Jiin Joo, a Malaysian who is currently working in Singapore for the Infocomm Development Authority (former ASEAN Scholar): 9 Considerations for National Infocomm Scholarship
One thing in particular gained my attention from Jiin Joo’s post.
5. Do you know the difference between a salaried job and running your own shop?
Entrepreneurs beware. This is perhaps one of the most un-thought of consequence - the fact you have to run your passion “part time” while “bidding your time” in some government agency. This will be particularly true for geeks and wannabes as they are naturally attracted to NIS. You might say, hey, I don’t really have a passion, but you forget the fact that perhaps after going through uni life, you might hit on THE thing you want to do, and lo-and-behold, it doesn’t exists in Singapore, if not your bonded organization. You can’t be good at something you only do part time.
Ha! That is what I am afraid of! Landing on some great idea as an wannabe entrepreneur and being unable to work on it just because I am bonded to some stupid scholarship! This point applies to all scholarships as well, in fact. This is indeed a dilemma. No one makes it big doing something part-time. But without any scholarship, I will not have enough funds to study in the US in the first place. Is there another way out? How else would I get the money to go there?
Another interesting point regarding this particular scholarship is how Hongyi advised Haoyi not to apply for any scholarship in Singapore. Haoyi was considering applying for the National Infocomm Scholarship but his elder brother Hongyi advised him against it in a letter. (Hongyi and Haoyi are Lee Hsien Loong’s sons, and thus also Lee Kuan Yew’s grandchildren) Even though this account does not hold anything against the NIS Scholarship in particular, it reveals the sentiments that fills the minds of every bonded scholar in town (Lee Hsien Loong’s son notwithstanding)
Can there be another way out? It would be agonizing to get a bonded scholarship and then realizing that there are so many funding opportunities, grants and scholarships waiting for me when I am already there in the US. But the first step would have to be a leap of faith, paying my way there on my own first.
Well, 8 days to Stanford decisions and also those from Cornell and Princeton. I shall wait and see.
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1) Apply to small (but elite) liberal arts colleges in the US. Examples include Carleton, Bowdoin, Davidson, Harvey Mudd, Williams. Although they are not need-blind, fewer international students apply there, so there’s less competition for financial aid. You will get as good an education there, if not better, as in any of the big-name research universities.
2) Find low interest education loans. It is better to borrow from a bank than to borrow from the Singapore government (which charges a much higher interest rate on your bond).
3) If you really care about wanting a career that you can be passionate about, consider going to a local university first. You can always go overseas for graduate school, for which it is much easier to get funding from the universities themselves.
It may be a little late for this, but it is possible to get funded from sources outside of any Singapore government scholarship.
I’ve compiled a list called the Incomplete Guide to Financial Aid for Singaporeans with more information.
http://igfas.wiki.zoho.com
@Elia: that’s a great list. keep it up! I’ll see what i can do with it.
@twasher:
1) Agreed but well people like me are narrow minded and hence did not give LACs a try. Perhaps I should have applied to more LACs generous with fin aid, but I did not. oh well..
2) The other argument is that is ain’t so smart thing to incur such a large debt before even stepping out into the job world. A small sum would be ok, but the sum needed to go to the States alone is mind-boggling… can be considered nevertheless
3) Haha i definitely have that in plan B. For me, local university means NUS or NTU in Singapore, not those in Malaysia. (not doing medic)
but hey! thanks for the comment and yeah I’ll work something out i hope XD
also another dif between coming from Singapore and Malaysia is the currency exchange rate. As of now, SGD 1.38=USD 1.00 (SGD getting stronger due to MAS appreciation policy) while MYR 3.18=USD 1.00. Hence being Malaysian and financing US on my own is a REALLY HEAVY BURDEN