Why Do Junior College Students Choose JC Over Poly? | Hot Take

Why do Junior College students choose the JC route over other tertiary institutions such as, Polytechnics? What are some factors that affect their decision? Tune in to this episode of Hot Take to find out!

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[TheSmartLocal]

What are some factors that affects your decision when choosing an institute? 🤓

[seth-leong-scott]

I high-key wonder if life would've been better for me if I had not chosen JC over poly. I had a raw l1r5 of 8 points but I had a solid idea of what I wanted to pursue, so I put poly as my first choice in JAE. My family and friends urged me to reconsider because JC has a higher chance of going to uni, the route is shorter, and one of them even bitterly told me about his older sister who went to poly and failed and the parents had to sell off some property just to get money to send her to continue her studies overseas. I was so swayed by their arguments that I went through the process of appeal to get into JC.
Little did I know just how painful the process would be. Despite my good score, the JCs were all fully occupied and the only 2 JCs that could take me in were mid to low-tier JCs. So I didn't even get to claim the prestige of studying in JC, struggled like mad in my studies, was super relieved that I somehow miraculously got into NUS, ... only to find out when I entered the course that for this particular course that there are a bunch of poly students in there and they are actually able to go straight to year 2. So that eliminates the perceived benefit of me going into JC. To top it off, NUS doesn't teach shit. They expect us JC students to alr know how to do some technical stuff. And I have to ask these poly students for help coz they know how to do these things. So like what was the point of going through an education that gives us zero preparation for uni.
Paiseh this was a long rant ik but I needed to get that off my chest.

[jimw]

A few things stand out here. No different from 30yrs ago. Sg students are clueless of wat they want. I can tell u it’s the same even after A level, after Uni.

Sg students are jus a brunch of hard workers being overload with school work, projects, exams, … they hv no time to know themselves, explore the different options, basically, know wat they like & dislike, strength & weaknesses. There are a lot more in this world than wat is offer in school & Uni.
I am 50. Can’t recall any of my peers are still doing wat they major in Uni.
Tis problem of not knowing wat u want still remain the same after 30-40 years of our high stress, high workload education.
Basically, jus work hard, get good grades, go to good school.
But are clueless of wat u want in life.
Be more open minded, take a look at other education systems. Ask ourselves tough questions.
Working hard is good, but doesn’t solve the question of wat u want.

[ghostingmoa]

JC: + short route to uni, + no need self-regate, + generalistic education, - stress asf from As, - very theory driven, - if u fail As u become stuck

Poly: + relax study life, + Sepcialisation, + can work right out of poly, - need self regulate, - need score very well to get direct y2 (tie up route to uni y2 w jc), - extend education if change course


I would've prefered poly in hindsight (dsa into jc) because:

- already had a rather solid idea of what I wanted to pursue
- go jc largely for the school name xD
- couldnt be bothered to study cos the teachers nag to study xD
- poly style ~ uni style, so wouldve been more prepared for uni life (incl self regulation)

[gladystan]

Not based off this video but personally feel that the stereotype of poly is a easier way out as compared to jc is still kinda circulating in society.

Factors like studying duration, more freedom, and more gives the vibes that poly is “much more easy” as compared to jc. But in reality…actually is really not that easy.

The projects after projects. Working with different people hoping they dont slack off and screw up ur gpa. Other than projects also having to focus on exams. Depending on poly (i was from rp) we also have like “mini quiz” we call PQ after almost all lessons everyday and almost every week depending if the lesson was clustered or not. And these PQs do affect our cumulative GPA as a whole which is also stress.

As for JC the main stress is the last and finial exam that they are preparing for for the 2 years which is Alevels but poly is kinda like everyday u are fighting for ur grades everyday u are trying not to screw up things which will then screw up ur GPA.

I feel like stress are like everyday no matter JC or Poly. And really passion burns out with the stressful environment. In my opinion (i can be wrong correct my if im wrong) people are looking for higher paying jobs to survive in this high cost of living society. Be it what they pursued in the beginning when choosing the course or starting from zero. People tends to leans towards the higher paying job.

Thats where people sometimes can dont do what they love/inspire to be. I can say i inspire to do so and so when i grow up. But in reality when factors like grades, education level, job opportunities dont get they way u want it to be. They next best choice would be finding job that is of higher paying.

Kinda sad to be honest that passion are burnt out in society now.

(Above written are my opinion, im open up for discussion if there are any opposing views😁)

[patrickwu]

If u go to JC, u MUST go to uni next... Or else u'll just end up with an A levels cert n it will be very difficult to get a job outside, cos it is no different from an O levels cert in the employers' eyes...

[realzia]

Just go to jc honestly. In jc you are in control of your own results. (except for pw ig but now it’s easier since it’s a pass or fail subject) Even if you mess up in j1 you can still ace your a lvls. Meanwhile in poly, you have to maintain your gpa for 3 years and you can get pulled down by useless group mates in projects or biased lecturers.

[wildhorses]

I chose JC over poly because, like one of the girls, I wanted the shortest path to university. Also, I was not ready for the freedom in poly. Think I would have wasted my time and slack off because I'm not that disciplined. The academic rigor in JC is intense, but that really stretches you mentally too.

[homr]

Either choice would have a risk of dropping out. Most important thing is to know what you want to do in future regardless how long it takes.

[thisiszw]

my opinion: if you can, definitely choose JC over poly, especially if you want to progress onto uni.

its super hard to get into a local u from poly. you'd need at least like 3.6 GPA (this was back in like 2019)- which means scoring A's most of the time (and if u kena bad project grp members then GG).

personally, i chose to go to poly, and graduated with 3.3 GPA. got rejected from all 3 local U's as well as SIT. in the end had the choice of either private or going overseas uni....

[mattiusphern]

Insightful video! Would have been easier to watch if the video was edited based on the questions asked (with all the responses in one question segment) instead of the interviewee by interviewee...

[BlueMilkTea]

Majority of my classmates from poly dont want to go uni. After graduate with the diploma cert straight away go work. Not to mention there are also ite graduates straight away work one.... I think they are the ones that doesnt care about high education level, and just want faster income. I know someone i know that only have nitec cert and work after graduate then now he is a supervisor. So i think depends on individual? I mean your future so u

[swaser]

To the girl whose parents accepted her JC application for her, they did you a favour and you dodged a really big bullet. TP AMS is a rubbish niche course that you wouldnt need to get into the aviation industry.

[jytan]

Most choose jc cos they want to go to uni or they dunno wat to do or parents chose it for them

[notmelah]

Nobody talks about the disappearing and reappearing lalamove van 5:35, is that some kind of next level marketing

[cmatthew]

The rationale for picking JC over Poly because of not knowing what one wants to do seems to be just delaying the inevitable? It'll be more efficient to try and figure out what you like/dislike/can tolerate earlier on so that you get to make a different choice later on. But i guess i'm saying this in hindsight and people don't often end up working in the fields they major-ed in ;)

[gldenkook]

I went for JC cause I was conflicted on what I wanted to pursue + disliked working in groups (lo and behold imagine my shock when I found out about GP lol)

Honestly regretted my decision cause JC made me so burnt out I couldn’t study with the same intensity again in uni

[mysticery]

Honestly. I've always felt that JC students are far more mature than poly students. Poly has way too many playful students.. I guess it also depends on the course you pursue. And I don't think just because someone went into a poly knows what he/she wants to do. Great if you do, but it's just another academic path to take.

[keemarotichai]

so in a nutshell, jc students are clueless and have no clarity in their lives.of all interviewed, the indian girl in maroon/red was the only one who was sure and had clarity .someone with maturity.

[tttttf]

you risk 2 years to save 1 year when youre going into JC