Author of the | Guide to Study Abroad by Dawn
Master's degree from Nanyang Technological University
Hello everyone, I am Dawn, graduated from the AsianStudies Master's Programme at RSIS (Rajar Ranan School of International Studies) at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Unlike most of my classmates, this is the second master's program I have studied.
I studied social work at an ordinary second college in China, and the GPA during my undergraduate period was only 3.76/5. In my junior year, I began to prepare for the domestic postgraduate entrance examination, and finally successfully entered the social work major of a 211 college, completing the first step of my academic qualifications.
During my graduate school in China, I gradually came up with the idea of going out to study abroad. But my PhD didn't seem to suit me very well, so I decided to go to Hong Kong or Singapore to study for a second master's degree.
During this period, I maintained a GPA of 3.61/4, and also successfully passed the IELTS 7 score, and the whole application process was still very smooth, and I received admissions from the University of Hong Kong Chinese, the City University of Hong Kong, and Nanyang Technological University. In the end, after considering various factors such as school rankings and tuition fees, I chose Nanyang Technological University, a top university in Asia, and completed the second step of the academic jump.
Sharing my application experience here is also to give some encouragement and confidence to those students who feel that their undergraduate background is not very bright, maybe our road will be more distant and bumpy, but as long as we have goals and work hard, we can also succeed!
Next, I would like to introduce you to the NATOS Academy where I studied.
About employment
Many students have asked me what my career direction is after graduating from RSIS and whether I can stay in Singapore. In fact, the employment scope of RSIS is still relatively wide, mainly depending on individual choices and their own capabilities. The employment rate of our session is still good, some students have entered Tencent, Ali and other big factories, some students have entered think tanks, some students have chosen to go to civil servants and colleges, some are ready to continue to study for doctoral degrees, and a small number of people choose to stay in Singapore to work.
The school also conducts job training for students and holds various lectures to teach students how to optimize their resumes and coverletter. At the same time, it will often push some company recruitment information, when it is about to graduate, the school will also open ifair, the website is some Singapore local company recruitment information, you can pay attention to the time to prepare carefully. However, in recent years, due to the impact of the epidemic, foreigners have indeed become more and more competitive in finding jobs in Singapore.
About RSIS
The RSIS Academy is divided into four majors: Asian Studies (AS), Internationalrations (IR), International Political Economy (IPE) and Strategic Studio (SS).
Personally, I think the difference between AS and IR majors is not very big, except for one core course, other courses can be cross-selected, I chose two professional courses in three semesters. Students can choose to study specific countries and regions that interest them, and build an insight into Asian developments by studying history, politics, international relations, and economics. At the same time, the college also offers courses in religious studies, and if a certain number of religious courses are selected, a certificate in multi-religious studies issued by the college can be obtained.
IPE is a political economy class, the course content is more specialized, the course content is also economically related, mainly to explore the connection between politics and economy, designed to let students understand the theories and methods in international political economy.
SS is also more professional, the Chinese admitted is the least in the whole college, we only admitted one Chinese student in this class, I have taken one of their classes, very professional. The curriculum of this major mainly includes key concepts and issues of defense policy, security issues in the Indo-Pacific region, and the challenges of terrorism to the region and countries. Understand the role of military force from the aspects of politics, international relations, economy, society, and force structure.
Courses are divided into corecourse/primary course/electivecourse. Core is a must-choose, and Primary and Elective courses vary according to the requirements of each major. Taking our professional AsianStudies as an example, there are two cases:
(1) Write a graduation thesis (the total grade of the first semester is at least A− to be eligible to choose whether to write a graduation thesis or not to write), and choose 7 courses a year.
(2) Do not write a graduation thesis, choose nine courses in three semesters, and choose a maximum of three courses in each semester. This means that there are three courses to choose each semester, and there are two course combinations to choose from, 1Core+5 Primary+3 Elective or 1Core+6 Primary+2 Elective. The total grade of each semester is greater than or equal to C+ (2.5) and is considered qualified.
When I was at RSIS, I taught all offline, but the first week of each semester was taught online, and during this week you could choose your own interested classes and listen to them all, and finally decide on three. Offline classes during the epidemic will limit the number of courses, for example, a class can be selected by up to 30 people, so it is time to rush the class, because it is likely that your favorite class will be filled in one second.
Because of the epidemic, RSIS canceled all offline closed-book exams and basically changed to take-homeexam, which is divided into free choice questions and questions given by teachers, generally requiring the completion of essay writing for several courses in a week, with word count requirements ranging from 3000-5000. Of course, there are also assessment forms that I think are quite maddening 24hexam, as the name suggests, is to write an English paper of about 3,000 words in 24 hours, I know that I do not have this ability, so I choose to avoid the course with 24hexam when choosing courses. My boyfriend bravely chose two courses that are both 24hexam, and the teacher usually gives the question at 9 pm and submits it at 9 pm the next night, which means that you can hardly sleep at night.
About the accommodation
The students admitted to RSIS in 2020 have successfully applied for on-campus dormitories, and I applied for a double room. The cost of a month is around S$470. NTU's graduate dormitories are mainly Grainate Hall1 and Valley Hall 2, and the newer North Hill housing complexes (including Binjai Hall, Tanjong Hall, Banyan Hall) and Nanyang Crescent Halls are also open for graduate students.
(Graduate Hall 1 room type)
(Graduate Hall 2 room type)
The price of different dormitories and room types is different, the room type and dormitory building are their own choice, the school will also send an email reminder, and then grab it on time! Generally, the successful application is a default to the successful rental period, but the number of rooms is limited, so there is a possibility that the application will fail.
Water, internet and electricity are all included in the accommodation fee, but the air conditioning card needs to be recharged by itself. Each floor of the dormitory building is equipped with a kitchen, and there are study rooms and gymnasiums in the building, but unfortunately they are not open due to the epidemic. There is also a student activity room on the first floor, and at Christmas time, the school teacher will organize the activity room to give us small gifts and vouchers for the school shop and canteen.
(Dormitory building with Nanyang characteristics)
About the year
Many people are puzzled and ask me why I have already studied a master's degree in China, and I have to go abroad to study another one, which is a waste of money and time. When asked a lot, sometimes I wonder if I'm unnecessary.
However, after going abroad, you will find that the students around you come from all countries, all ages, all walks of life, for various reasons, everyone gets together and becomes classmates and friends. Some of them quit their jobs to come here to continue their studies; some are military officers and government officials who have been sent by various governments to study; some of them are studying while working for better job opportunities in the future, and there are countless students like me who have come to study for a second master's degree...
In just one year in Singapore, you have enough time to explore and feel this small island country that does not even have the size of a city in China, and everyone affectionately calls it "Poe Island". I love summer and Singapore fulfills all my fantasies and expectations for summer. You can buy snacks and beers by the beach, lie on the beach and chat with friends for a day and a half; you can take a cycling trip around the East Coast Park; you can run wild in the sun; you can go through the rainforest; you can meet friends from all over the world; you can be invited to church by classmates to experience different faiths...
In addition to learning, there is so much beauty worth discovering here, which is also the experience and feeling that my previous unchanged life has not brought me.
The above is my review and summary of the one-year study abroad life in NTU Singapore, which is also the first time I have completely recalled my days in Singapore from beginning to end. Thank you for reading it, and I hope my sharing can provide some help for you. Finally, I hope that everyone can receive their ideal offers and have a study abroad trip that is of great significance to them.