Author: Mohamed Nawfal (article originally taken from uniclues.com)
Course: xxx
Political Science is the study of Politics. At Political Science, you’ll learn about various government structures and how they affect different societies and people’s relationship with their governments. At NUS, there is a wide variety of modules focused on Comparative Politics which allows one to compare the governments of various countries and source out their good policies and practices. While studying Political Science at NUS, I personally came to realise how Singapore has used Comparative Politics to shape our government, which can help you understand why Singapore has been successful in a lot of areas.
I was interested in Politics since Primary School, partly because of my dad who always encouraged us to talk about Politics at home. Back then, I would keep up with who our ministers were and other current affairs so that I would have something interesting to share with him. In secondary school, I was very intrigued by the political discussions we had in class and would find myself researching on the topics discussed at school.
“What really compelled me to consider going into the study of Political Science was General Paper at ‘A’ levels, which taught me to think critically about political issues and how every issue we face evolved around the study of politics. This fuelled my passion for Politics.”
To be very honest, I did relatively well for A levels. Hence, I thought I should go for courses like Law and Business which required higher grades than the other courses like FASS. Also, I wanted to do a general degree because I didn’t want to commit myself to any subject in particular as well. I didn’t get into Law. As such, I ended up in Business, which was my second choice.
By Week 5 of my first semester, I grew really tired of Business. The culture at NUS Business was personally too competitive for me and I was struggling to cope with demanding modules like Accounting and Data Analytics. Hence, I decided that Business wasn’t the course for me and threw in the towel. I emailed Professors from Political Science and History, asking if I could take their introductory level modules. The History Professor gave me the green light and I dropped Business Law so that I could take History 1001, which is an introduction to History.
“I believe that Business is for a certain group of people and I don’t belong there. It is important for those choosing their courses to see if they can handle the course they’re choosing.”
It was a very simple process for me. You just need to download a form from the NUS Webpage. The form is pretty straightforward and all the instructions on what you need to do are on the form itself. You just have to fill it up and pass it to an administrative office and they’ll reply within a week or two. For me, I didn’t have to go through an interview. However, I believe it is on a case by case basis. I have a friend who switched from the Science faculty to Psychology and she had to go through an interview to see if she had the aptitude for writing. I guess it depends on a lot of factors like what you’re switching over to, your original course, your grades in JC/Poly etc.
If you want to just blow through University, it’s going to be very difficult if you don’t like what you’re studying. Unless you have other things going on outside of school like running your own business, I would recommend most people to switch over rather than suffer doing a course you don’t like. If you’re wondering if it is hard to catch up to others after you switch over, personally, it wasn’t very difficult at all. Initially, I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to catch up and I overloaded my modules. Now, I believe I’m on par or even ahead of some of my peers.
“You should definitely do what you like.”
For my modules, we have lectures every week and tutorials once every two weeks. Like most courses, teachers will expect class participation at tutorials. For Political Science, most of our modules require us to submit about 2-3 research papers each per semester but the good thing is I have fewer final exams than other courses. For example, I only have to take 2 final exams for this semester out of my 4 modules.
A lot of the modules at NUS Political Science focus on regional politics such as the Southeast Asian region and they discuss the various structures of government and the politics of every issue like ‘Food Politics’ etc. From this course, you can see how every single thing is shaped by the government and the top 1% and the impact the corporate world has on our governments today.
In the first year, you don’t actually have to choose your major. You only have to declare your major by Year 2 Sem 1. In the first year, students would take level one modules from various majors like History, Economics etc. However, students would probably concentrate on modules from whichever subject they want to major in.
Most students try to take a second major but usually drop after a while because it can be very demanding. The handful of students that are successful usually take up Economics as their second major.
I have certainly picked up a lot of soft skills from my course like communicating and researching because I spend a lot of my time researching for the papers that I need to submit for my modules. Apart from these, I have also sharpened my work ethic as I have had to juggle a lot of activities like my commitment to USP. Political Science didn’t really contribute any hard skills to my resume sadly but that wasn’t a problem for me as I picked up those skills from my responsibilities outside of school.
For example, I picked up Photoshopping from my role as Head of Public Relations for Connect Tuition, which is an initiative by NUS USP to provide tuition for underprivileged students. Other ways one could gain relevant work experience would be to help clubs like the Political Science Society which dedicates its time to organising student events. One tip for students from Political Science would be that you should try to pick up skills other than what is taught in school.
USP aims to make your education well rounded. At USP, you have to take Science and Arts courses. It’s nice because I’m not just studying Political Science. I guess that’s the part that stands out to employers. USP Students are willing to go out of their comfort zone to learn about the world and are persistent in learning subjects outside of their major.
Employers in the Public Sector are looking for candidates who are able to manage crises and are analytical and critical of the systems that surround us, which are skills we as Political Science students offer. Moreover, we FASS Students are generally very hardworking as well and are excellent at researching and communicating.
As for job opportunities, my peers will be vying for jobs within the public sector. Public sector includes almost all the organisations except for MAS, which seems to prefer Econs students. MHA and MFA are usually popular among Political Science students.
I think that unemployment is not only a problem for Political Science students but for everyone across the board. It’s just the general landscape now. You need to be useful to employers and your degree alone isn’t going to cut it because whatever skills you’re offering is equivalent to what the other university graduates from your cohort are offering. It is up to you to build relevant work experience outside of school so that you can stand out and appeal to employers. For example, you can pick up skills that are in high demand like Photoshopping, Marketing or Data Analytics from part-time internships.
“You have to show employers that you are capable of various tasks.”
If you are passionate about Politics and are eager to learn more about governments and Political Systems, you should do Political Science. One good indicator would be General Paper. If you were passionate about GP at JC, I think you’ll be interested in Political Science. Political Science is generally for students who are inquisitive and question everything that happens around them.
“I have no regrets doing Political Science because it is something that I am interested in.”
Personally, I’m not very interested in submitting to the corporate culture and am looking to strike out on my own and use my 20s to figure out what I want to do in life. That’s something I learnt at NUS. Before I enrolled into university, I was all about getting a stable Public Sector job that pays well but I realised there is so much more out there. I want to explore my options and set up my own business and travel in my 20s. I think there’s enough time for us to go into the corporate world in our 30s.
“Everyone should know by now that you shouldn’t depend on your degree and use your degree as a safety net instead. You should use your time here as a buffer to figure out what you want to do in life.”
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.
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