How Did I Choose To Go Junior College Or Polytechnic?

As students, we are given many opportunities to think about our future paths in polytechnics or junior colleges during our school visits and talks. I will be sharing how I chose between studying in a junior college or a polytechnic. 

My Experience

Personally, realising my own potential was a factor that played a big part in making this major decision. Discovering my own passion and time management skills also played a big part in my decision making process. This is because the polytechnic education system emphasises  consistency throughout all the semesters and a “ready for job” skill set. 

I took into consideration that polytechnic education would last for 3 years while junior college education will only last for 2 years. Both paths will lead to university if I am performing up to standard. I started to attend open houses and explore paths that lead to my passion, Cyber Security. 

At that point in time, I was aiming for a Diploma in Information Security Management from Singapore Polytechnic and it was a 15-point L1R4 course (currently it is a 4-8 point course). Also, I was exploring my Junior colleges options and I was aiming for Jurong Junior college, which was a 17-point L1R5 JC then. Having two options is definitely better than one as one of them can serve as a backup plan should my GCE ‘O’ Level results not come out as I expected. 

However, I was still indecisive about which path to choose. I felt very uncertain about making my decision. What if I chose the polytechnic path and could not fulfill my dreams? If I chose the junior college path would I be able to cope? 

All these stressful thoughts fell upon me and I had to sort them out in order to focus on getting the best score I could produce for my GCE ‘O’ Levels and prelims then. 

For my prelims results, I had gotten 5 distinctions, 1 B grade for English and F9 for combined humanities. One thing I told myself was to never let this set of results discourage me before the actual GCE ‘O’ Levels. I told myself that I just have to get good grades for the actual GCE ‘O’ Levels. Those grades are the ones that matter. This also led me to realise that I am not a consistent person.  

Eventually, I managed to do well for GCE ‘O’ Levels and obtained 8 points for L1R4 and 11 points for L1R5 after the CCA point deduction. I was very happy because I was eligible to apply for all the polytechnic courses except for International Business. Likewise, I was able to apply for Jurong Junior College as well. However, here comes the next dilemma — my results were way better than I expected, how do I decide from here? 

Here’s how I made my decision. 

Back then, the Information Technology (IT) industry was not as booming as it is now. I remembered consulting a few returning seniors and teachers about the opportunities ahead and potential career paths despite planning to pursue my passion. 

Also, transportation costs for polytechnic students then were without any subsidies. Hence, the considerations were changed, and I based my decision on these 5 main factors. 

1. Living Costs 
2. Learning/ Working Experiences 
3. Opportunities Given 
4. Travelling Time 
5. Personal Time Management (Consistency) 

 

1. Living Costs 

For living costs, I found out that food prices in polytechnics are generally more expensive than a typical school canteen in a secondary school or junior college. Besides that, as mentioned earlier, transportation costs were way higher than student fares as polytechnic students were charged adult fares. 

I will also have to purchase a laptop and the respective materials for the different polytechnic modules, which will not come cheap. For junior college, I have to purchase the study materials constantly, but overall, it is relatively cheaper. All these miscellaneous costs cannot be covered by bursaries. As I did not come from a well-to-do family, I leaned towards junior college because it is cheaper with an environment that was more similar to my secondary school. 

2. Learning/Working Experiences 

For learning and working experiences, I feel that there is no doubt that polytechnic offers a more realistic insight into the real world that prepares you for work upon graduation. 

Assuming that university would take 4 years to complete, I would have at least 7 years of industrial education preparing me for the IT industry, if i were to pursue a diploma. Besides that, the polytechnic path has a compulsory industrial internship, which gives me an advantage during a job search. For this aspect, choosing a polytechnic seems to be a better choice. 

3. Opportunities Given 

Based on my own research (such as open houses and live chats), it was clear that polytechnics provide more exposure to learning opportunities such as industrial competitions and visits to the industrial companies. In my opinion, these are valuable opportunities for me to network. 

Conversely, seniors in junior colleges had told me that even if I wanted to take on an internship, I at a disadvantage due to a lack of skills compared to the Polytechnic applicants. Given the hectic schedule in junior college, I had to ensure that I had enough time to study for GCE ‘A’ Levels and may not have time to do an internship. 

Given that I was sure that I wanted to be pursuing my future career in the Cyber Security industry, the opportunities provided by polytechnics were more enticing. 

4. Travelling Time 

For travelling time, both trips to Singapore Polytechnic and Jurong Junior College would incur an estimated time of 1 hour. However, for junior colleges we have to be in school around 7.30am while for polytechnic it was more flexible. Students just have to be in school in time for our lessons and certain classes even take place at night. 

I prefer to have some rules and regular routine to instil self-discipline and the school system in junior college would help to instil the discipline I felt I needed for my National Service. 

5. Personal Time Management 

Lastly, the most important factor — personal time management. I believe that the combined significance of the first few pointers is not as high as personal time management. Choosing either institutions would still lead to projects and intensive deadlines. 

As mentioned earlier, I am not a consistent person and at that point in time, I assumed the worst for both scenarios. 

For polytechnic, if I were to continue my inconsistency, it will definitely affect my Grade Point Average (GPA), which will affect the quality of opportunities and internships that I am able to apply for. At the end of the day, I am putting myself at risk and I might not be able to graduate as the “top few percent” of the cohort and apply to university. 

My final goal has always to graduate from university and I never lost sight on that. Hence, I eventually chose Jurong Junior College’s science stream as I felt that it gave me the highest probability of entering a local university. 

Final Tips

I would like to conclude by giving some advice to students who are facing the same dilemma as I did years ago. The financial burden now is relatively lighter with an increase in bursaries starting from Academic Year 2020 (AY 2020) so apply for them! 

Keep yourself up to date with current affairs to help you along the way, whether you are going to polytechnic or junior college. Do your due diligence and know what you want to achieve, start working towards your career goals before university. I suggest you to set your goals and execute your plans well with a backup option should things not go well. 

With that, I wish all students who are reading this article the best of luck and remember, this is one of the first few steps towards adulthood. Good luck!

 

Contributed by tutor Lye Jun (@RubiksJun)

---

Do you plan to head to JC or Poly? Let us know via Snapask’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. If you're new to Snapask, don't forget to check us out!