DECISION MAKING

Did you go to JC/Poly? What subjects were you pursuing before university, and were they related to your university course? If you made a switch in your education path/choices along the way, share more about that! 

Initially I wanted to become a teacher, but I didn’t want to study and then work as a teacher immediately. I would like to explore my options. I wanted to study something that I was interested in before I actually became an adult. Thus, my initial plan was actually to study psychology because I found psychology interesting. Then, I was going to go to the PGDE (PostGrad Diploma in Education Programme). I don’t exactly remember what it stands for, but it’s this programme in NIE you need to undergo. So, yeah, but essentially, I kind of just picked psychology just because I thought it was an exciting subject that I wanted to learn more about.

How did you decide on your course over other courses, especially those that were similar? If you’re doing a double major/degree, what made you decide on that?

I enjoy understanding why people act in specific ways. I think people who like crime documentaries and related shows will relate with me. It’s kind of interesting how some people who were brought up will result in them thinking in a certain way. I also thought that was very interesting and I do think it has practical implications in our day to day lives. Thus understanding how people think and why some people act a certain way helps you empathise with people more, and then we can realise a lot of things can shape a person. I felt like I’m learning psychology because it fit my interests, and secondly, I think it helps correct the development of certain disorders.

E.g Why do we like certain things, why we are so influenced by the media and how come we are so influenced by what we see and what we hear from our parents.

How did you decide on your school (over other schools that offered your course) eventually? 

The top three universities that I had considered  were NUS, NTU and SMU (the kind of decision you’ll see people struggle with). I picked SMU for two reasons. Firstly, SMU has this teaching style, which is not lecture-based but seminar-style based. I really cannot stand lectures; I will fall asleep quickly. It’s kind of like a classroom setting where and it’s one teacher to 40 students in a class, you sort of get to interact a lot more, it just feels a lot more lively, and people give inputs rather than just the lecturer telling you what you need to know. Secondly, it’s also a practical choice because in SMU almost everyone can take a double major. At the time, even though I was interested in psychology, I was also thinking about in the future, what if I don’t get into teaching and then, if I just have a psychology degree, what can I do? So I was a bit afraid. As such, I think having the choice of a double major to specialise in something else like business or other courses made me feel a little more assured. I mean, Uni and Hall life are kind of synonymous, but SMU doesn’t have a hall. We do have a residence area though, but it’s too expensive. It’s also not really like the hall life they have in NUS and NTU, you know? The hall culture and the experience is entirely different from the ones in NUS and NTU. They’re also mostly occupied by international students who need a place to stay.  Yeah, I think it was a concern initially. However, I think in retrospect, it was not too bad as SMU’s CCA scene is quite vibrant. We have a lot of CCAs, and the CCA are mostly pretty tightly-knit. I also think, because of how small the class sizes are, you actually get to interact with and meet a lot of people. That would kind of balance out the negative aspect of a no-hall life. Because in any poll, you have lectures in SMU, you don’t have a Hall, but you have seminars where you have different people in your class. Right? YeaIt was one of the factors to consider when it comes to making the decision. The lack of a hall or residential wasn’t a huge deal-breaker for me.

TEACHING CURRICULUM

What’s your course structure like?

We only have seminars, and seminars happen every week for three hours. For each seminar, like I previously mentioned, it will be about one lecturer to about 40-45 students. You don’t have lectures, and you don’t have tutorials; you just have seminars for the whole week. Essentially, I think my experience with it was pretty remarkable because I think that’s one of the SMU’s focal points. They do try to sell themselves a lot on their seminar-style teaching and because of that, the teachers make it a point to interact with the students. So it is highly encouraged to participate in class. It’s not like, oh, “smaller class size, but it’s still a lecture is not like that”. Class part (participation) is a huge thing in SMU, even though I know it’s also a part of other schools like in NUS and NTU, but I still think the SMU class part is quite a big deal and it feels almost like a workshop because the professor would insert class activities to make your class part.  

I think the class part component is a double-edged sword though. I wouldn’t say I’m the most outspoken person In class, and  sometimes it’s a struggle to like class back then. However, I guess even if you don’t participate in the class part too much, you still learn how to formulate your answer to contribute to the class and also get to hear a lot more viewpoints. So even as a reserved person, you would benefit from the open discussion because people are talking as well because you could learn from them. Other people get to speak, and you hear their perspectives as well. I also do think it has made me a bit more confident and a bit more eloquent in conveying myself in a short period of time.

Reading week is one week per semester before midterms. In SMU, some of our midterms are before recess week, and some of midterms are after recess week depending on the mods you take. Thus if you take 4 mods and all the midterms are before recess week, you are a bit suay. I mean, it’ll be very tough for the first half of the semester, but I do think it is comparable to other unis. Yeah, I mean, recess week is just a week. I believe the reading week is okay, because usually our exams are spread out over two weeks. So you have one whole week to study during reading week and if you have exams in the second week, then you have another week to study. Usually we only take four or five mods and we only have about four or five finals across two weeks and thus it is quite manageable. Of course, you have to plan your mods and plan ahead before you enroll. And people usually try to spread out their finals, so that they have more time to study.

There is an 80 hours CIP requirement in SMU, and everybody complains about it. However, for most people, they clear it in one overseas CIP trip, which does take a lot of commitment, but these trips often result in tight bonds among members. Thus, a lot of the people who went on overseas CIP programmes don’t regret it and I see them hanging out with their friends a lot even after the trip. I didn’t manage to go because of COVID. But you can also do your CIP in Singapore by participating in freshmen camps and freshmen camps to fulfil CIP hours. There are a lot of ways to fulfil the requirement. For example, I have friends who volunteer at the zoo and explain to visitors about the animals there, which counts as CIP too. So yeah, I do think people can gain a lot from trying out a different type of CIP. 

What are the assessment like? 

In terms of assessment, some of them are essay-based, and not every module has a final exam. Instead of a test, you might be working on an essay at home. It depends on the professor and the modules themselves. I like a balance between finals and essays across all my mods. For example, having three finals and one essay allows me to plan my time better than cramming for four finals during finals week. I don’t prefer essays over finals or vice versa, but a mix of both is preferable for me. Other than exams, there is often a mixture of group and individual components in the grading of a module. In some cases, the project assignment encompasses a high percentage.

How heavy would you say the workload for your course is compared to an average student in your university?

In SMU, people usually take about four or five mods. I don’t feel that it’s too much. Because, okay, if we take four mods a week, right? It’s 12 hours a week. And sure, you have like, group projects to do and stuff like that, but I think it’s pretty manageable. And I also enjoy the flexibility of time because class is three hours per week (i.e., 12 hours of class a week). You do have a lot of free time to arrange your own schedule. People who can organise their time will thrive in SMU because you have to manage your own time for a lot of your work. 

I have taken a semester in NUS(local exchange). I was going to school every day. SMU students typically only attend lessons for three days or four days. I guess we have a lot of unstructured time on our hands. Timewise, we have a lot of unstructured time. Workload is manageable, especially if you know how to spend your time efficiently. 

Are there specialisations within your degree? If yes, when do you have to choose your specialisation, and what specialisation have you chosen?

From what I see, SMU focuses on social psychology, a sub-discipline of Psychology. They’re not really interested in expanding into clinical psychology. I think NUS also has a master’s in Clinical psych, so it would make a lot more sense for someone interested in clinical psychology to choose NUS for an undergraduate course. On the other hand, SMU tries to encourage more research, so many of the modules are more content-based and focused on research methods, rather than the clinical aspect.

 It’s unfortunate, but I think a lot of people who enter SMU doing psych don’t know the difference between psychological research and clinical psychology. Thus, they come in expecting that they will learn about therapy, or that they will learn about mood disorders but the reality is, SMU focuses more on research.

When I was in year 2, I took on the role of a research assistant. In SMU, there are multiple part-time roles that you can take under professors and being a research assistant means that you essentially help the professor run his/her research like collecting her data, and be her experimenter. While taking up this position, I realised that I like research, so now I have no intention to become a teacher anymore. Instead, I wanted to pursue psychological research, and I guess, because of that, I didn’t really find the need to have a second major as I was pretty set on just focusing on psychology and making sure I’m good at psychology. 

How are the faculty / professors of your course like? Any favourite professors!

Beyond what I do as a research assistant, the professor has also helped me a lot along the way. I think the psychology professors are pretty decent people who helped me build my CV in the best way possible. For example, my professors have encouraged me to participate in both local and international competitions, and provided me a lot of guidance along the way. Under their guidance, I actually managed to win some research awards the past year, both on a local (Singapore Psychological Society Student Research Awards) and international stage (University of Michigan’s Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research paper competition). 

Are there any final year projects / capstones / thesis to do?

The senior thesis is based on a voluntary basis, if you want to, then you can write a thesis and is worth about two modules worth of credits. However only a minority would write a senior thesis. I feel that it would be helpful for people who want to pursue research, and wish to pursue postgraduate study because the thesis is tailored to hone your research skills in SMU. Most people don’t do that. I think partially, it’s attributed to the fact that we are tied to business. A lot of people come here to do psych in HR and end up working in HR so senior thesis is not needed. It is just an option for people interested in research. 

It is recommended that you approach the professor yourself. There is this other thing called an independent project which is essentially a senior thesis but not as intense. So it’s only like one-course credit. And what that is, is like, you have to approach the professor and tell them the kind of project you want to do. And for that one semester, you will work on a research paper. And then yeah, it’s your independent project.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE / PREFERENCES

What were your most and least favourite/interesting classes/part of your course? 

Compared to NUS and NTU, there are relatively few psych (psychology) mods. The psych mods that we have are very comparatively basic and there isn’t a lot of variety. That’s why people take double majors from other faculties like Business School like HR (Human Resource) to fulfil the criteria required for the course.  

I do think that is one of the limitations. I do believe that our school is more focused on psychological research rather than psychological practice., Psychological research is more of doing research and handling data and doing experiments. So I think when people think of psychology, they think of clinical psychology, which is like when you are a psychologist/therapist. They sit there and you listen to people’s problems, and help them. So I do think that might be one of the limitations. SMU does not focus on clinical psychology, and their master’s program is all on research. Yeah, this is why in SMU we don’t have modules like clinical psych, or abnormal psych which is essentially all related to the clinical side of psychology; learning about mood disorders. 

I didn’t like that there are many other holistic and compulsory mods that we had to take. For example, I had to take Business, Government and Society, and I didn’t understand anything from that mod and got a B+. 

Yeah, I do think I am not sure what compulsory modules that other schools have. I’m not a business student, and I don’t want to take business mods but I have some of those mods that I had to do. Honestly, I felt like that was one of the worst parts of my first year. I don’t study any psychology for my first year, and I have to study all these stupid random business mods. 

What do you think are the biggest advantage or disadvantage for psychology students in SMU?

The drawback would be the limited psychology modules. So we don’t have a lot of psychology mods because the faculty is very small. The variety of mods they offer inside is honestly not a lot. If you compare it directly with NUS and NTU, it pales in comparison. Personally, how I tried to overcome it was to take psychology mods on exchange. When I went to NUS in the local exchange, I took psychology modules that  weren’t offered in SMU. I tried to broaden my own experience in this way but of course, it would have been a lot easier if it was just offered in SMU. Yeah, I guess the most significant advantage definitely will be the seminar-style teaching. 

Are there many people who switch out of your course? Is the student retention rate for your course high?

I don’t know anyone that has dropped out or switched majors but I know people who have taken 4.5 or 5 years to complete their education. It is pretty uncommon to find someone that has taken longer than 5 years to graduate. 

What sort of student do you think would excel in / be suited for your course? Or what should one like (e.g. working with numbers, presentations) in order to enjoy your course?

I do think people who are interested in doing psychological research and running experiments. Even if you don’t like numbers and statistics, I think people who want to try new stuff or are curious about human behaviour would enjoy SMU psychology.

CAREER PROSPECTS

Did you have any internships/work experience related to your career (elaborate if yes), and did your school give you sufficient training & resources? Otherwise, where else did you find them?

I have only done one unpaid internship and it is a lot more informal. I approached a professor in NIE from my network. However, I enjoyed research, and I only focus on research hence my internship will only be related to research. I helped the NIE professor run the website for the project he’s running, and I wrote a manuscript for his research.  

STUDENT LIFE

Did you stay in campus accommodation? Do many of your friends stay on campus?

Yes, there is accommodation, but it is costly. From what I heard, if you really want to stay, just stay for one semester then leave after. It is also not a conducive place to study because of the noise. The experience was pretty bad, and people were messing up the place. For something so expensive, they didn’t feel like they got their money’s worth.  

How is the school culture like and how would you describe the people? What should students entering your school take note of?

The student life is great but it’s comparable to most places. I met great friends and  I had a lot of fun doing an internship I love. Some people think students from SMU are intimidating, and students are always partying because there are bars at school. However, I do think it’s a good mix of students honestly, like not everybody is getting drunk every day. 

In general, SMU people are friendly, which is something I didn’t expect when I started class. Because everybody’s like, kind of like, looking a bit too prim and proper and there’s this impression that SMU people are loud and outspoken. I do think there is a group of people for everybody. There are definitely people who are a bit more adventurous, with their group of equally adventurous friends. And there are others who just like to go cafe hopping and stuff like that. I’ve met a range of people, and I feel like most of the people have found their group of friends. So it’s not just extroverts who would thrive in SMU. I do think that the people here are so diverse that everybody would eventually find a place. 

What were your CCAs?

I took part in quite a few CCAs. The very first CCA joined was in Year One, which is called SMU peer helpers. Essentially, it’s a group of students who work very closely with counsellors and what we learn about Mental Health – First Aid, or how to be a better friend. We need to kind of just be a friend for the community and make sure that our friends are okay. We run our own events as well, like weekly meetings. I also joined the Financial Literacy Club. My student life experience is a bit weird because I have a lot of random stuff that I joined along the way, and it’s kind of the last time in your life that you can go and try everything.

I joined the Financial Literacy Club because I wanted to learn more about finance. As somebody whose major is in Psychology– I’m terrible at finance, so I wanted to know more about it for myself.

I held financial literacy workshops for different schools, including poly, NUS High and all. 

Lastly, in my second year, I joined SMU Stereometa which is essentially this DJ CCA. There are just plenty of CCAs for you to choose from but Stereometa is something new and I think it would be hard to find a DJ workshop somewhere in the future. I don’t think I would go out and be able to find a DJ workshop somewhere else. 

I think in general, people are committed to as least one or two CCAs that they’re pretty committed to. The CCA culture is mostly not bad as they are very homely and friendships amongst them are strong. I guess it does make up for the lack of hall culture we have here. 

I would be focusing on Stereometa moving forward since peer-helping requires a lot of time.

Can you tell me a little bit about the fast-track Master’s programme?

I’m in my final year of undergraduate studies, and the Fast Track Master’s programme can only be taken at the 4thyear in my undergraduate studies. It’s great for people who want to further their study in the field of psychology and intend to do research in the future. The minimum GPA requirement would be 3.4 (somewhere between a B+ and A-) and the process is similar to a senior thesis. You have to approach a professor for supervision then he/she would see whether your research fits your interest. This Master’s programme has mods requirements to complete as well, and the grades are counted in addition to my grades in the fourth year. It’s great because you could get an A or A- for every mod in the Master’s programme and it would count to your undergraduate GPA, and nothing is graded on a curve (Grade moderation). I would take 2 mods in this programme and it also fulfils two credit units from my undergraduate. 

Any parting words of advice for juniors? :,)

Take part in everything and anything that comes your way. What has enriched my student life is the CCAs, leadership positions, and events I’ve taken part in. As you can tell, all my CCAs are a weird mix because I really wanted to try everything. You should also go to camps if you can.