"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." - Robert Frost

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An email I got:


Hi Gabriel

My name is *** and I'm going into uni next year. I'm quite a regular reader of your blog and would love to seek some advice from you regarding course choice and FASS in general

You see, I've been having severe dilemma between NUS FASS and SMU law. In Sg-pragmatic-pore, choosing law seems to be the natural choice since it's a professional degree which every freaking employer loves. However, I like economics and enjoy doing maths. Maths is to me what cooking is to chefs; it is just so natural and enjoyable without the pain and misery usually associated with surmounting difficult mathematical sums. I love reading up on economic theory as well. In JC, my strongest subjects were mathematics and economics. I worked hard in both subjects and did not find the process laborious because of my strong interest in them.

However, too many people have told me that a social science degree is too "general" [ I love this word, btw] and doesnt command much prospects. The common responses elicited are, "Har, study law lar. Why study econs." and "Study econs can be teacher nia." Which irks me as much as it depresses me.

Does passion matter alot when it comes to choosing our university course? Because I've quite a few friends choosing pragmatism over passion and are doing fine. And I know of cousins and seniors who have graduated with arts and science degrees and now have difficulty securing good jobs.

Would love to hear your take on this. And also your general opinions about NUS Fass, or better still, the economics department. Thank you so so much.

Cheers
***"


It is clear you know where your passions and interests lie.

Yet, it is possible to be passionate about something but not study or work at it. Partaking in it as a hobby or part-time endeavour is perfectly possible and feasible. For example, look at The Wannabe Economist. Or I had an Arts Professor who is into Orchirds (he is President of the Orchid Society of Southeast Asia and Editor of the Malayan Orchid Review).

In fact, in some ways it's more fun if you are not examined or have to make a livelihood from your interests (this reminds me of a Maths teacher I had who would incentivise himself to study other subjects by "rewarding" himself by then studying maths - which always struck me as bizarre).

Also, a word of caution: you can like JC economics and maths, but not maths as it is used in economics. For example, I have some philosophical disagreements with the way maths is used in economics, even though I am mostly capable of doing it (and was not unappreciative of JC maths).

I notice you didn't say anything about Law itself. Do you like or dislike it? What do you know about the theory and practice of it? If it's not much, you should try and learn more about it to make an informed choice.

Another thing to consider: SMU Law is not like NUS Law; I am told that SMU law is business oriented, and that you should do what's fashionable in SMU - a double degree. I am also told that they pour a lot of money into it to compete with NUS since NUS Law is supposedly better. Of course, the first batch of SMU Law students has not graduated yet, so it remains to be seen if law firms are as taken in by the SMU mystique as businesses (Incidentally, you didn't say if you got into NUS law. You could hedge your bets and try for the best of both worlds: NUS offers a Law-Economics Double Degree - even if you were rejected from NUS Law initially I think you can try reapplying).

Assuming you opt to do what is 'pragmatic' and get into Law and hate it, it is unlikely you will do well in it (at least not without suffering irreparable damage to your immortal soul, which will likely manifest in the form of bad poetry and giving advice to juniors who will happily ignore it and make the same mistake you did); while it is possible to like something but do badly in it (e.g. Me and A Level History, friend who liked Maths and did well in the S Paper [the equivalent of the current H3] for it and but didn't even do Honours in NUS), we are quite certain that disliking or hating something is not a good way to succeed in it. A First Class NUS Economics degree would then be better than a pass degree in Law (or whatever the equivalent in SMU would be).

As for comparative job prospects, as someone who did a general degree and is still unemployed I can appreciate how employers like those with more 'useful' qualifications (also, a disproportionate number of Arts graduates are absorbed by the Civil Service, so that is something you might want to take into account). Yet, an economics degree is probably the most 'respectable' or 'practical' of the Arts degrees (aren't you lucky you're not into Medieval Theology which, by the way, isn't even offered in Singapore?)

Also bear in mind that the lawyer attrition rate in Singapore is very high, and many of them go and become pastry chefs or something like that. Besides being underpaid and overworked, I think this stems from a lack of passion, and doing what everyone else is doing/wants to do/tells them to do.

In the end, your decision will depends on your relative weighting of career prospects, salary prospects (especially since the Golden Age of Investment Banking is over), interests and such.

As for FASS in general, it's a big and diverse place but generally I find the faculty to be good and committed to teaching but many of the students wanting.

As for Economics, staff-wise it's seen quite a bit of churn over the last year. Someone once described the faculty as bringing you the "flavours of Asia" - it has a lot of (mostly?) international staff, some of whom you might have problems understanding. A lot of the graduate students/teaching assistants are PRCs or foreigners, and many of them aren't very good or committed.

The program is very theoretical, and is geared at preparing you for graduate school. NTU is more applied and SMU is very project-based (though I'm told you end up not learning anything - i.e. it's like business school in general, since the place is one big business school)


Opinions from others are welcome.