Okay, maybe not
When Ern Sheong is highly undecided, he tends to be fickle. He looks into the internet for proof that Industrial Engineering is a really cool major, (and yes he was pretty convinced by what he read and saw, and he pretty much decided to do the IEOR major instead of ECE) only to be shot down by those close to him who figuratively slaps him in the face and says something to the same effect as, “Are you stupid or what? You go to UC Berkeley to do Electrical and Computer Engineering simply because it is one of the best places to do it in this world! You would be so dumb to switch majors to do Industrial Engineering and Operations Research in UC Berkeley.” (Don’t get me wrong, I am not looking down on the IEOR major btw, it is an excellent major by itself. Just so happen to get admitted to EECS Department in Berkeley which somehow ranks rather highly and is, I quote, “prestigious.”)
Okay okay.
Back to where I started. 3 years. Bachelors of Science in Engineering. Major in Electrical and Computer Engineering (concentration undecided). Being kiasu, Ern Sheong adds in the Minor in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research which he hopes to complete too. (secretly he wishes he could double major them in 3 years as well, if he doesn’t kill himself first)
So there you go. It’s quite decided. I could imagine God seeing me veer off course and then He sent an army of people to sound me and put me back on track. Right. But at least now I feel more at peace with this decision. Hmmm
By the way, just to tell those who don’t know much about American Education, I think you should consider it as an alternative to UK/Australian/Singapore Education. Just by reading the previous blog post you can see that I am actually able to switch majors even after I have been admitted to a particular major (Unlike in the UK/Singapore/Australia where once you have decided, you are pretty much stuck unless you want to start from scratch again. US allows one to switch majors and still graduate in 4 years. Good for people who are very uncertain like me.) I also have the flexibility to complete my degree in less than the normal 4 years. So, with the Australian Dollar rising to almost the same currency exchange rate as the American Dollar to the Malaysian Ringgit, one might wanna consider US education. It is less rigid, more broad, provides good depth, has excellent faculty, has brilliant students from around the world, opens your mind to things other than your own major, powerhouse in research, etc etc etc. But most importantly you should consider whether you fit in or not, what your and expectations are, and also what you want to do or hope to get out of the experience.
Edit: Went to the US Embassy on Monday to get my visa done, but was careless and forgot to pay some SEVIS fee. So came back to the embassy on Tuesday and met Fardina from DJ! (’07 Dynamitez Cheerleading Captain weih) Asked her why she was going to the US and she told me that she won a scholarship to study at United World College New Mexico (US)!!! Besides Ee-lynn and Enghan, Fardina is the third DJian I know who is going for UWC (sorry if I missed others out) Congratulations!!!
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seems hard to break from the usual mould huh? everyone seems to advocate studying the most popular engineering in the world (electrical) and trying to get different results from it. I remember that someone calls that INSANITY. oh well, the world is insane anyway. majority wins. mummy wins. and yes, rach, you win too. and also victor. oh, and joseph from berkeley. you all win. haha. *hands up in the air* ern sheong loses.
Just study what you love to do, and things will work out right. That’s what I firmly believe in. Passion for what you study HAS to be there or I’ll just be time wasted. University’s the time where you prepare yourself for what you want to do in the future, so make sure that you study something that prepares you for that, and don’t do something just because everyone tells you that it is the right thing to do.
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” - Steve Jobs
The apple man said it, and since it seems reasonable, I’m taking it.
Read this blog post too, it’s awesome:
Why the money will follow if you do what you love
Hope this helps man, God bless.
@Kevin: yeah man thanks for sharing with me what Jobs said. What he said during his commencement address at Stanford has been very encouraging.
It’s not that I do not have passion for ECE or IEOR, just that I am really unsure. So it has been easy to swing back and forth. As for what I love to do, it ain’t gonna be possible without some technical background so maybe this is indeed the best way after all… and yeah it might seem that i am listening to what people are telling me to do but actually what they are really telling me is already in the back of my head, thoughts which I earlier suppressed in place of something else.
I like the phrase “Let go and let God take over.” be it the right or wrong decision, it’s still gonna bring me somewhere nearer to that dream.
Hmmm, btw i think electrical is getting more and more interesting after all. And i can even do IEOR courses. But I can always change there anyway
Yup Kevin appreciated the comment =)
Haha apparently God made sure you stayed on course. PTL! I still recall how He kept sending people to convince me to go NUS when I had wanted to go NTU, two years earlier.
When you are destined to study something, you are going to love it, even if it contravenes logical thinking. I went through a similar thinking process when I decided to stuck to Computing too. Why blah blah blah… then it boiled down to what you have passion in and what you want to study. Might not be the brightest career path or the one with the highest $ or the most flexible one but it is where you are meant to be. Your interests, passion, and perhaps aptitude lie there, so it is the way to go.
What’s more, with going to Berkeley where its strength lies in ECE, ECE became even more a suitable choice for you.
Trust me, I still wrestle with the question of whether I should have decided to do engineering today, as my friends go into the course, but in the end, God sent everything to point towards Computingm and I believe that as you can see now He’s doing the same thing to you. Wonderful God. ^^
Re: US as an education destination, well, the part on the flexibility of course choice is correct. If you are undecided, go US, because you get your butt into the university first, decide on the course choice later. Furthermore, there can be no better time to go to US than now. With recession looming ahead in US, the US$ is going to lose value against other currencies and behold! Your US education has just become cheaper. Go and take advantage of that.
@Ome: thanks Ome. Yeah it’s hard to tell what’s the right thing. But I am really sure that you will thoroughly enjoy Computing, but maybe it’s because I’ve always associated you that way, as in your strength is really in this