Re: UNIVERSITY

  Hii again guys :( I feel really sad now. I was so, so excited about the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), but then I went over to look at the Singapore Medical Council's article detailing the qualifications that one must have in order to be considered to be registered as a Medical Practitioner in Singapore - and EPFL's certificate wasn't listed in the list of accepted Universities. 😞 I mean, I'm pretty sure that it's only because EPFL's certificate is one of a Bachelor of Science, and the SMC (Singapore Medical Council) is looking for a Doctorate Degree or a Doctor of Medicine degree, but still, I feel really sad, because this means that if I want to practise Medicine in Singapore, I won't be able to go to EPFL, and I'll have to go to another school that offers a direct Doctorate Degree. :'( I want to become a specialist, too - a paediatrician - and I guess that my end goal is more important than the school that I go to. Right?

  So... Right now I have two options.

1. Study in EPFL and become a Research Scientist / Biomedical Engineer / Pursue an additional degree to allow me to practise Medicine in Singapore

2. Study in another Institution of Higher Learning that will allow me to practise Medicine and, more specifically, paediatrics, in Singapore.

  Sighhs. That's gloomy. :/ I guess Option #1 remains, and I could choose it if my career goals changed somewhere down the road - but just to be safe, I'm going to research on Option #2.

  The only thing is that I really want to study in an Institution that is listed in the top 20 Universities in the world, as listed by QS World, but at the same time I want to be able to speak a language other than my native one - English - for some time in my life.

  And in the top 20 universities, almost all reside in the UK, the US or Singapore. All English-speaking countries. Sigh. I guess that means that I have to let go of one of my original criteria - well, beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

  Let's work downwards.

  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology - highest on the list. However, the undergraduate international fee is $42000 - $44000; that's too out of my league.

  The University of Cambridge - $26000. Same as MIT. The same goes for Imperial College London, too. The same goes for all of the universities that follow, with the exceptions being: 

1. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology;

2. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lusanne;

3. McGill University;

4. NUS; 

5. École Normale Supérieure, Paris

6. The University of Tokyo (but sighs I don't know Japanese)

7. Seoul National University (same woes as #8 - I don't know Korean)

8. École Polytechnique, France

9. Kyoto University

10. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

11. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

  The universities that are listed in SMC's accepted university qualifications list, and which speak languages that I know, are:

1. McGill University, Faculty of Medicine

2. National University of Singapore, of course

3. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

  And while McGill does rank slightly higher than NUS and NTU according to the QS World list, its school fees range from $14000 to $16000, and adding the cost of living, plus the additional cost of me flying back to Singapore biannually - it's too much. Plus, I can vouch that the quality of education is Singapore is nothing short of magnificent.

  Well, I guess that's the end of my comprehensive argument. I guess that I can always live elsewhere at another time, when my job had been secured, and that I can always carry on with speaking the French language without living in a French-speaking country - completing my studies in Singapore would make me eligible for applying for a job in almost any country. Anyway, Singapore is my home - and I guess I've just taken a while to realise it.

  So I can safely say that running around in this particular circle has been fruitful. I now have been reminded once again that Singapore is my homeland, and I know that no matter what - no matter how many trials I face - I can always run back here; to my family; to my country; to my home.

  I'll try my best to work hard for you, Singapore. 

  Love,

  Kirsten <3

UNIVERSITY

  Hii everyone!

  So it's the end of Week 9, and I'm just writing because next week's Learning Journey week for all of us and we don't have to turn in any homework so yay, I can post here :D :D Yeah, the homework load's been crazy lately :( But that was one of the things that I prepared myself for before I stepped into RGS, so I'm fine with it. :)

  So... Just to update you on what's happened so far, everything's been going great - I've made a lot of really, really nice friends, and while bouts of insecurity do still come about now and then, I feel like RGS has made me a lot more confident about myself - and yes, I've discovered that it's surprisingly easy to survive in a Girls' School. I used to think that I'd only be able to do well in a co-ed school because, you know, I've been more comfortable with boys than girls for my whole life because I grew up with my two brothers, but I've found it really liberating to be in a Girls' School, because there, you can act however you want and be as "uncool" and "nerdy" as you want to be, because there aren't any boys there for you to impress - and you can experiment with anything and everything, like for example a new hairstyle that could end up making you look terrible, because again, no one's going to judge you. It's just this really nice sense of freedom that I never knew existed in a Girls' School. :)

  So now I'm going to move on to the main topic of this post. :D I know, I know - University's really far away. I'm only in my first year of Secondary School, and I still need to get through JC - and who knows, I might even not do well enough to continue on to a University, so who am I to think so far into the future? The thing is that... Well, the sparking of my interest in a University came really randomly. I was, as usual, being very kiasu about everything Rafflesian, and so I searched up the Rafflesian Press - and there, I found this article about Rafflesians who had chosen to go overseas for their University studies. That piqued my interest, because many of the Rafflesians on that list had cited that they had gone to a foreign, non-English-speaking country to further their studies, and I started to think about my French - was it a possibility that I could go to a French-speaking country to further my studies too? After all, most of the Rafflesians cited had said that the environment was a lot less stressful in those other countries, and the reason why this was possible was because the people in those countries learnt how to manage their time really well. For example, during working hours, they did nothing but work, very seldomly being distracted by personal things, and that was why they could complete everything on time before going home and having fun.

  And I thought that it'd be really interesting to experience that for myself. So I went online and looked at the list of the top Universities in the world, listed by "QS TopUniversities", and scrolled downwards from there. The top 15 spots or so were dominated by schools in the United Kingdoms or the United States - which I skipped because I wanted to look for non-English-speaking options elsewhere - and two Universities stood out - the ETH Zurich Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

  I looked at the first one - the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - and it seemed really, really interesting - but one of the major setbacks was that it was in Zürich, a part of Switzerland that spoke mainly German. :( I didn't know how to speak German and knowing the language was part of the admissions criteria - and so I had to give the promising Institution a pass.

  Then I went on to EPFL, and I realised - it was perfect. It was located in Lausanne, a French-speaking part of Switzerland, and that was one of the huge bonuses for me, because well - I'm going to take French as my 2nd Language for six years, and this will be a perfect opportunity to continue speaking French and nurture my skills as a French speaker. Also, I've always wanted to go to Switzerland, and the Life Sciences and Technology programme at EPFL were AMAZING. I just knew that I wanted to go there - and now it's on my bookmark list. :D

  Another really good thing is that the fees there are really cheap - 633 Swiss francs a month, or 844SGD, which is way, way lower than the fee in NUS. My only concern now is the cost of living in Switzerland, but I haven't even researched on that yet, so I don't know if it's expensive or not - let's just hope it's the latter!

  So yupp, that sums up why I really want to go to École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. It's my long-term goal now, and I'm more driven to do well than ever - so I'll continue to study hard (and hopefully not get distracted as easily haha) - wish me luck, because --

  C'est mon rêve. <3

  Yours sincerely,
    Kirsten :D

EPFL's Rolex Learning Centre - Credits for the picture go to Ken Lee (September 4, 2010)

EPFL's Logo - Credits to URL: http://www.harness-project.eu/?page_id=11