Sunday 27 March 2016

My first Q&A??? [NUS/ Global Studies]

HELLO! My blog is a hermit crab who has found a new home: https://enaeki.wordpress.com/


Of course, it's about Global Studies. GL is the only reason why anyone reads this blog. haha. notreallylaughing.
I hope 'Anonymous' doesn't mind me making this a post. Of course, I am just saying this out of courtesy; this is my blog, after all ;) 

Said comment by "Anonymous"
"hi there!! I somehow stumbled upon your blog while researching about global studies modules hehe and I absolutely love reading your posts. you even inspired me to find out more about wwoof and WOW I'm sold. I'm just another jc graduate who has gotten her a level results and lost about what in major in uni, and researching about the modules these few weeks has made me interested in global studies. I would like to ask if there a high chance of going on exchange/internship or is the competition very high among GL Majors? I really want to experience studying overseas (i have a dream of travelling the world one day but i guess some dreams are too hard to fulfil and I'll be contented with visiting those i love!) but since my grades can get me into local unis my parents aren't approving overseas uni. Hence, I hope to be able to go overseas for at least a sem. Hope that you can give me more insight about this since I could'nt really find out more about it at the open house :/ Oh and another question! This question isn't rlly about GL but do u happen to live in a hall and is the experience worth having? Thanks so much for taking your time to read this :)"

My reply (Warning: so bloody long that I shocked myself)
"Hi Anonymous, it's an honour to have you read my blog:)
What a sweet comment you gave!

When applying for internships, you are competing with at least, the whole FASS as Arts/Social Sciences-inclined internships do not usually specifically ask for GL majors, but rather, FASS students general. Though I would say that being a GL major is a good starter 'cos many employers will be curious about what we actually study about haha. As for exchange, I believe the same applies. Competing within FASS rather than within GL. As for high/low competition, it often depends on where you want to go. Asian countries apart from Korea and Japan are usually not so popular and hence easier to clinch since you're competing with less people. For Japan, Korea, UK, US and some European unis, competition can be tough! CAP will prove to be important.

As you might have read, I went on an internship to Japan after Year 1. I want to highlight that this is not common, but very achievable if you want it to. And my saviour is the NUS International Relations Office(IRO). NUS has a good system when it comes to overseas opportunities. The people at NUS IRO are awesome but unfortunately not appreciated and exploited enough by students!!! Super surprised that around 70% of my friends (not that I have many) do not know about IRO?! Highly recommended for you to check out the NUS IRO website! (In fact, I visit their "Global Opportunities" section at least once every 2 weeks 'cos it's constantly updated and I'm kiasu) Other than overseas exchange or internship, you may also consider NOC which involves being 0.5-1 year overseas. 

And I totally get you about the overseas uni part. I took IB so I would say it was really easy for me to get into overseas uni. But not good enough to get a scholarship. As I mentioned before, my dad is a taxi driver, he doesn't have extra like $50k per year to send me overseas. Yes, so I am in local uni. But I do not regret it because I don't think it has deprived me of chances to travel/study/intern overseas. We can choose to make the best out of what we have!

Lastly, I do not live in hall unfortunately. I did get into Eusoff but had to reject them as I didn't get my parents' consent + it was an additional financial burden anyway. I think hall life is great for making friends (something that really requires extra effort in FASS and especially GL 'cos we're always "department-hopping"). Halls usually have activities like hall supper and music nights, etc or even OCIP trips it can be loads of fun. You're also forced to take care of yourself I guess, though I do know people who bring home their laundry every weekend haha. Cons would be overload of CCAs if you wish to stay more than 1 sem, not sleeping early unless you wanna be a phantom, people wanting to come into your room even if you might not want them to. Note that these are just some of the stuff I heard from my friends who stay in hall."



I must be crazy spending 20 minutes replying to this when I have 3 assignments due but this was a good break! Thank you, "Anonymous"! :) Hope this helped you and feel free to pose any further questions (this goes for the rest who are reading too////

P.S. Isn't this blog way cooler and more helpful than open house booths? Okay no need to comment on this just let me be.

P.P.S. NUS IRO and WWOOF should make me their ambassadors.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Ena!! Thank you so much for taking your time to reply my questions you're a gem :) !! I understand more about the exchanges and internships part now, thanks to you! I got an offer from NUS today and I'm looking forward to taking GL this year :') Sorry to ask more questions, but you can take your time answering them pls don't compromise your homework for me hehe. May I know what theme and region you are taking? I actually wanted to take environmental studies as that's my passion but I heard that the employment rate isn't very good and the job prospects doesn't interest me. I saw that there is a theme in GL that is "global health and environment" and it kind of caught my attention! I also love korea (kdrama and kpop are my daily essentials for 8 years and ongoing HEHE) but I'm afraid that it won't be very useful next time since the future is abit risky (with the tension and s.korea youth unemployment so high, the chances of a korean company hiring me is pretty low I guess?) I would love to hear about what language you are studying and if you enjoy it :) !!! Once again, thanks for much for taking your time to even leave this post hehehe all the best for your studies!!
    P.S YES IT DEFINITELY IS LOL you go girl ;)

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    1. Hi Anonymous!

      With regards to the first part of your question on GL, I am taking the global economics and development + southeast Asia combo. And for me, I chose this combo mainly because many econ-devt and southeast Asia modules are compatible (in NUS at least) and because my main interest is in poverty alleviation. But I have to remind you that 4 theme modules (required by GL) isn't going to make you a global health & environment expert or whatever. It's very different from environmental studies in terms of depth.

      2nd part on language. I'm taking Vietnamese, for 4 reasons, 1) it's less common than Jap, Korean or French (which I all considered taking as language requirement), 2) a senior recommended it, 3) I thought the jap/kor/french bellcurves Will be real steep, which according to my friends, is quite true, 4) you can self-learn popular languages like jap online/offline since there are so many resources available. Anyway, my language choice of Viet hasn't stopped me from learning others like Jap so also don't worry too much about this.

      Lastly on employment, I would recommend not to let that worry stop you from taking something you enjoy. You'll probably leave NUS/Singapore with a different set of skills than S.K. Youths so it wouldn't really be fair to place yourself in the same labour pool as they are. On the other hand, if you're looking into a health&environment career path and wish to work in S.K., just make sure that such a path is open? Like, cos I've always associated the health/environment theme to aid related work? I might be wrong of course, so don't take my word for it; take this summer to do more research about this!

      All the best my dear!! :)

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  2. hello!! well look who came back here HAHAH doing some soul-searching at night (or morning) as bidding is gonna take place in arnd 5hours for the freshies HAHAHA I'm gonna live in CAPT and most likely taking global econs too!!!! did u start to take lang mods at y1s1? hope to see you around nus someday :)

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