I was an average student in JC. My aim was actually to get into either NUS political Science or NTU PPGA and after receiving my âAâ level results I was considering between the 2.
I chose NTU PPGA because it offered direct honours which was important to me. This meant being able to straightaway specialise in something I was interested in, since I knew I wanted to study the field of international relations. This is different from NUS where you have to take up different modules before you declare your major. Having a strong interest in international relations and current affairs really helped me in my decision.
I am not on any scholarship but I did apply for the Nanyang Scholarship previously. My advice to juniors who did not manage to get the scholarship is to not be disheartened! There are opportunities to apply for mid-term and other available scholarships if you do well in university.
Donât let your âAâ Level grades discourage you just because you didnât get a scholarship.
Public Policy and Global Affairs can be broken down into 2 main parts.
For Public Policy, it covers aspects of public administration and how the government comes up with policies through decisions and processes to benefit the majority of society.
For Global Affairs, it is about international relations. The focus is on a macro-scale (Country to country relation) such as China-US, ASEAN-China, and Singapore relations with other countries etcetera.
Apart from these 2 main parts, there are also aspects on Comparative Politics and Political Philosophy. Comparative Politics focuses on how 2 different countries are compared against each other in terms of internal or foreign policy. An example would be the comparison between how Malaysia and Singapore handled the COVID-19 situation differently. On the other hand, Political theory focuses on the various political philosophers and how their ideas are applicable to the real world situation. An example would be the beginning of democracy and why it is considered the norm now.
There are many jargons and things to internalise. However, I think it is useful to be aware of this political science in general.
In year 1, there are compulsory modules to take. The modules cover a range topics such as fundamentals of politics, Singapore politics, public administration, political theory. These 4 topics actually encapsulate what political science is about. The lessons are mostly lectures and tutorials
In year 2, you are free to take higher level modules. These are usually level 2 or even level 3 where the style of learning is slightly different. There will be some seminar style classes which are common in 3k modules. However, I would advise against it because in a 3k module you would be competing against seniors.
In year 3, higher level modules (Level 4) will become available. Most lessons are seminar style so you would have done your readings prior to the lesson. This would allow you to have an opinion on the relevant readings so that you can engage your classmates and professor in discussion.
In the final year, there is a final year project (FYP). However, you have to attain a GPA of 3.9 to embark on the FYP. You can appeal if your GPA is within 3.75 to 3.89. However, if you do not meet the requirements to do the FYP, my advice would be to take 2 Level 4k modules since the academic unit count would be the same as doing a FYP.
The modules range in the different classification in political science. For PPGA, there isnât a specialisation that you can do. You can take a variety of modules from different baskets such as comparative politics, public administration, international relations and political theory.
For the lower level modules, it is more lecture-tutorial based. Once you get the hang of things and as you move up to the higher level modules, lessons will transition to become more seminar style. The profs will have a higher expectation of you sharing your opinions rather than them spoon-feeding you information.
The professor will decide the allocation of weightage that each component has in the grading. Usually, class participation will range 20-30% of your grade. Class participation includes things like attendance and answering questions. Group projects and individual assignments can take up to 50% of your grade. Lower level modules have final exams which can take up 60% of your grade too.
Yes, we have project work. Ultimately, it boils down to how the professor runs the module. In the lower level modules, there is more project work where it is team based. On the other hand, higher level modules generally have more individual-based work. If you are more of a people person, you will come to like project work more!
Generally, the project will be a topic that you and your group mates will have to do a presentation on. For example, in my year 1 module âIntroduction to Public Administrationâ, the professor gave us a list of topics that we can choose to present. Some of the topics that we could pursue were Cashless Society and Progressive Wage Model, etcetera. We had to evaluate the relevant policies and discuss how there can be improvements.
For higher level modules, I had a project in the domain of international relations. The module was called âChina in Africaâ and the professors allowed us to choose the topic that we wanted to present. I felt it was more of a mini literature review/ breakdown of our chosen topic.
I take my modules based on interest so I do not have a favorite one per say. However, if I had to make a choice, it would be this module called âChinaâs re-emergence in the 21st Centuryâ. This was an international relations module which really opened my eyes on how China has risen and is continuing to rise. This was insightful to me.
I donât think there is a general classification to who would be suited for this course. As long as you yearn to learn things about the world: about how governments work, I think you should consider this course. There is also a requirement for a certain GPA grade based on the IGP (Indicative Grade Profile). Basically, there is no âmodelâ student for what a PPGA should be. An interest in current affairs and the world around you would help but this might not put you at an advantage since everyone starts off on a clean slate.
Definitely. I think when you tell people that you are doing PPGA, the first reaction that people would have is: âOh, so youâre gonna be an MP next time ah?â.
It is a standard response from a lot of people.I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions that everyone in Political Science/PPGA would want to join the MFA, be an MP and a politician. I donât think we are limited to those career paths as I know many seniors who enter different industries, even in the private sector.
Another misconception is that PPGA students are caught up in their own ivory towers learning about the world and oblivious to the impact of everyday life. Sometimes when we learn about theories and how they can be implemented in societies, we can forget about how implementing these policies will affect daily life sometimes. There are people who do serve the community so they do know what is happening on the ground and not just stuck in our bubble of ignorance.
I have really enjoyed my learning so far but 1 tiny regret would be not learning statistics at an earlier stage. I learnt the importance and prevalence of statistics even in my course, PPGA. Even though PPGA sounds like a course that involves a lot of writing and essays; having a background in statistics does help. Partly, it is because the final year project I am involved in is about empirical analysis. I think taking statistics for granted is the only tiny regret that I have in this increasingly digitizing world.
I know that there are seniors who go into different ministries, statutory boards and other government related organizations. However, there are also people who go into the private sector as well. Some of the seniors I know are working in companies such as Tiktok, Amazon and Facebook. There is also a group of seniors who started their own businesses. The career prospects are extremely diverse. Another option is to pursue higher learning. I know of some seniors who are currently pursuing a masters.
That said, the majority of PPGA graduates do enter the public sector since that is where our skills are most sought after. However, there is an increasing number of people going into the private sector as there is a rising demand for private companies to hire people who can help them understand how the government and their policies work.
As mentioned earlier, there is no specific direction to where people do internships. There are people who do internships in either the public sector or private sector for the exposure and experience. These opportunities are either self-sourced or through emails that are sent out by the Schoolâs office. We are not constrained to finding internships.
Previously, I did an internship in the public sector and now I am doing an internship in the private sector. Thereâs no hard and fast rule. Go into an internship with an open mind and don’t impose any preconceived notions on how your internship would be like. Learnability is an important skill to have. You must be able to learn things that you don’t know, unlearn things that you already know and relearn things with certain misconceptions that you have.
I think both JC and university come with different types of stress so you canât really compare. In JC, the stress comes from having to score well to enter the university and course that you want. In University, there is also a slew of different stresses as well such as doing well for the modules and even things such as whether you are enjoying the degree you took. Jobs and internship prospects are also another stressor.
However, I would say that JC was more stressful for me. JC was very structured while in university you have more flexibility to plan out your time. This makes it possible that you might not have to go to school on some days which I believe some people would appreciate as well. This makes time for people to explore things outside of school.
Time management is extremely important. There is this triangle, with 3 sides of Sleep, Grades and Social life and you are only able to choose 2 out of the 3. I think this is true, especially when you are in year 1 when everything seems so fresh. You will have to juggle your commitments.
Yes. There are 3 kinds of exchange programmes.
Firstly, there are Short-Term Immersion programmes. These are winter/summer programmes where you go over to a certain country to learn about their language for 3 – 6 weeks. There’s also summer school programmes where you can go to countries in ASEAN and East Asia for language immersion programmes and cultural immersion programmes. Personally, I went to China to learn about business strategies. There are also winter immersion programmes where you go to different ASEAN countries to learn about their culture, politics and history.
Secondly, we have overseas semester exchange programmes. There are quite a few universities that you are able to choose from.
Lastly, there is the Singapore Universities student exchange programme which is local. To qualify, you must have a certain GPA.
There are many clubs to join. There is this thing called the School of Social Sciences Club which is a faculty-wide academic club. It is a mini student union where you plan for student activities for your cohort in the particular school. There are also university-wide CCAs in Performing Arts, Sports and even uniform group CCAs.
In NTU, there is this thing called the big 4. One is the student union which has various clubs under them which you can run. Second is Sports. Third is Welfare service clubs such as volunteering. Lastly, it is cultural activities clubs where all the performing clubs go. There is a huge variety of CCAs to choose from in NTU but it depends on your time management and how you want to balance your work life. Make the most of it, donât limit yourself to your interest and go and try something new!
Come with an open mind! I think it is something we all should have in every experience that we go through. Don’t bring your tinted lenses into an experience because there are so many things that your course offers you. I guess a lot of people will choose NUS Political Science since it has prestige and things like that. However, if you are willing to give PPGA a shot just come on board. I donât think there is anything that you are missing out on when you come to NTU. NTU will provide that learning opportunity, most important is that you want to grasp that chance. Make an informed choice, do your research and ask your seniors! Open-mindedness is something that you should have when deciding!
Also, donât worry if you do not have any background in current affairs or general reading per say. Eventually, you will be able to catch up and the professors are always there to help you. All the best!
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the interviewees and do not reflect the official policy or position of any institution. They are also not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, class, individual or organisation.
The information contained in this website is intended to provide general guidance only. It should not be relied upon as professional advice and does not 100% guarantee admission into any course.
0 Comments