After ASEAN

So of course, this blog is dedicated to talking about the ASEAN Secondary and Pre-University scholarships, but we all know that life doesn't just end after your A Levels or IB. The all important question for those who are thinking big and thinking far is: where can you go after ASEAN? (technically, where can you go after your ASEAN scholarship tenure ends? but that would kill the poetic alliterative feel right there. lol.) And based on true stories from various ASEAN scholars I know and my own story, I will attempt to provide a rough idea of where you can go after ASEAN.

If you had bothered reading the introduction page, you would know that I am currently in the midst of transiting to the next phase of my education - university. When I started this blog in January 2012, I myself had no idea where I would be heading, or where my other ASEAN scholar friends would be heading, so I held off writing this post. But now, in April 2012, university offers have streamed in, and most of us know roughly where we might be headed to, so I'm much more confident of sharing this page with you than I was before.

Ok, enough of my monologue. So: Where can you go after ASEAN?

The simple answer really, is: EVERYWHERE!

I shall split this post into three parts:
1) Staying in Singapore
2) Going overseas (UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, France, Zimbabwe...)
3) Going back to Malaysia

1) Staying in Singapore
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that this is the most often-opted choice for ASEAN Scholars. (I don't have actual statistics. This is a conclusion based purely on observation.) Contrary to what some nay-sayers of the ASEAN Scholarship has said, most scholars choose to stay in Singapore on their own accord, and are not "betrayers" of their country nor have they been "brainwashed" by the PAP government and hypnotized to stay here forcefully. (lawls, please give our independent spirits and minds some credibility here.)

There are many reasons why staying in Singapore is attractive to many people:

• If you were a secondary/pre-u ASEAN scholar and you had done reasonably well within MOE's criteria, and had gained admission into any one of the five public universities in Singapore (NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD, YNC), you would be eligible to be awarded the ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship which will fund your university! (Note: This scholarship comes with a two-year bond, unlike the Secondary and Pre-U one.)
• Note: You will have to gain entrance into the universities on your own merit before being considered for the ASEAN-Undergraduate Scholarship. Not all Pre-U scholars who gain admission automatically get the scholarship. It depends on whether you meet the given academic criteria dished out by MOE for your year or not.
• Note 2: YNC is a super exciting opportunity to pioneer a new university with a new education model in this part of the world! Do check it out! It opens in 2013.
• The universities are very highly ranked in the world! NUS is ranked #28 in the world and #3 in Asia! (source:  http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/top-400-universities-in-the-world?page=2)
• It is still close to home. (Easy/cheap to travel back and forth for holidays)
• Scholars, after a few years of education in Singapore, decide on their own that they like this place, and would like to continue furthering their education and future here! It's safe, it's cosmopolitan, it's clean, it's near enough to other Asian countries to travel during breaks, the people who don't use Stomp.sg (go check it out, it's like the ultimate Singapore gossip site - full of people with nothing better to do than to take pictures of students holding hands in public. =.=) are nice.. plenty of reasons to like Singapore after you've experienced it for yourself!

2) Going Overseas

While I kid about Zimbabwe, I personally know peers and seniors who have gone on to study in all of the other countries I listed out above after finishing up their Pre-University education in Singapore. I, myself, am taking this route. The Singapore-Cambridge GCE A Levels is recognized and highly regarded in most countries. This is the same for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Having either of these qualifications thus enables us to all be geographically mobile in terms of education. It goes without saying that if your Pre-U results were horrible terrible vegetable, your chances of obtaining admission to universities worldwide would be harder regardless of the type of education you receive in Singapore.

Just sampling from the scholars in my batch and one batch above mine, these are some of the universities my peers and seniors have gained admission into: Harvard, Yale, UPenn, Brown, UCLA, Swarthmore, Middlebury, UCL, Kings College London, LSE, Oxford, ANU, University of Melbourne/Sydney, Hong Kong University, University of Tokyo, University of British Columbia, and many many many many more! And these are just from two batches of scholars!

A very important note regarding Malaysian Scholarships

For those of you who plan to get a Malaysian scholarship to fund their overseas education, listen up carefully. If your dream is to get the JPA/Bank Negara/Sime Darby/Axiata/Khazanah etc etc scholarship, you may want to think very carefully before taking up the ASEAN Scholarship. Many of my peers (and myself) have found ourselves ineligible for these scholarships because we do not have a SPM Malay or equivalent grade - which is a core requirement of many scholarships. Unless they change their policies in the near future, it doesn't matter if you scored full As during your A Levels in Singapore or got a perfect score for IB, you are simply ineligible. 

That said, you are also ineligible for Singapore scholarships as a core requirement for these scholarships is for your to either be a Singaporean citizen or PR. Some of us were offered PR-ship, and hence qualified in time for scholarships. But for many males, obtaining either would mean a mandatory two year stint in National Service.

Edit: A friend of mine, who took Higher Malay at O Levels and Malay at IB, and who obtained A1 and 7points respectively, tells me this: that even if she did take Malay at O levels and IB, Malaysian scholarship boards have told her that her A1 and 7 points do not equate/are sub-par to a SPM Pass in Malay. Hence rendering her ineligible for Malaysian scholarships as well. Bummer.

3) Going back to Malaysia

While I personally don't know anyone that has gone this route, the option is available to those who choose to! Most Malaysian public universities accept the A Levels as a form of entry requirement for their undergraduate programmes. But please do check out the individual universities for verification. Scholars can also opt to study in a private Malaysian university, which usually accepts most forms of pre-university education as their entry requirement.

Why do few scholars choose this path? For some, it's because they chose to take Chinese as their mother tongue language instead of Malay in Singapore, rendering them ineligible for entry as some universities require at least a good pass in SPM Malay or equivalent. For others, well, your guess is as good as mine!

• Edit: An anonymous commentor provided this as a reason: that many Malaysian public universities do not accept the A Levels as an entry requirement for prospective Malaysian students. I, myself, have heard the rumour before, but am not too sure about the degree of truth in it. :) As usual, it's up to you to check the respective university websites yourself!