tn this blog, we are going to share our regular knowledge exchange session about “Studying and Living in Singapore” by Theint Thazin Lin.
We regularly hold knowledge exchange sessions for our openfor.co/fellowship community members. We did the following knowledge exchange session On Jan 19th, 2022, 6:30-7:30 PM JST time.
This blog covers the following topics :
Please check out for more details in the following video or in the following blog.
1. Speaker, Theint Thazin Lin Profile
A business Management Student at RMIT University
Graduate Diploma in International Business
President of Marketing Department at SIM Career Champs
Business Development Assistant at Openfor.co
2. About Her University
The University of Singapore Institute of Management also known as “SIM” is a No.1 private university in Singapore and it is the only private university that has an actual campus. SIM offers a different range of courses such as Business Management and other IT courses but the main major is the Business Management course because the answer is already included in the name of the University which is the Institute of Management.
3. Her Educational Experiences
If you’re graduated from ILBC, you have to go through six months of business training first before you actually get into Diploma. But she graduated from Myanmar school in 10th grade so she didn't need to go to the training. Hence, she enrolled in Diploma courses at SIM. These are the four main Diploma courses and they are
Diploma in Management,
Diploma in International Business,
Diploma in Finance
Diploma in Accounting
Currently, SIM also offers other Diploma courses like Marketing, HR and so on too. Diploma in Management course which is a high demand course among others that’s why everyone really wants to enroll in this course. Secondly, a Diploma in International Business is the second best one but there are also many people in Diploma in Finance courses and Diploma in Accounting courses where people who passionately want to learn about Finance and Accounting usually attend and enroll in those two Diploma courses.
After you graduate from Diploma courses, you can choose a lot of Universities that partner up with SIM. The most popular Universities that make partnerships with SIM are
RMIT which is the most popular University among others,
the University of London which is the second most popular University,
the University of Birmingham,
the University of Buffalo which is located in the USA
There are also partnership Universities such as UOW Australia where people who want to specialize in Big data and other majors usually attend this University, the University of WARWICK, and LA TROBE University. Every university is different so for RMIT, most people in business enroll at that University. For the University of London, most people who are interested in the economy and finance apply for that University. The University of Birmingham is very expensive to attend but most of the people who are interested in international business usually apply for this University due to its structure of modules.
Currently, Crystal is attending The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology also known as RMIT which is one of the top Universities in Australia and located in Melbourne. This University is mostly popular in the major of Art and Design and other IT courses but it also delivers Architecture and Business courses as well.
4. Why She Chose Singapore
If you are a person who wants to be cost-saving but at the same time, you want a Degree from Europe University then you should actually come to Singapore because Singapore Universities are partnered up with most of the Europe Universities.
The first reason to choose Singapore is that there is no language barrier in Singapore as all the Singaporeans speak English and also there are Cantonese and Chinese people who cannot speak English. Singapore is an Asian Hub as there are a lot of people from other Asian and foreign countries who came to Singapore to start their businesses. As much as the country is small, it is really good to start your business and there are many talented entrepreneurs. It is a very safe country where you can go out anytime and no one will disrupt you. Singapore is very disciplined with health too. In the covid pandemic, the government notified its citizens every day to wash their hands, to stay safe with each other. Because of being an Asian Hub, there are strenuous job opportunities.
5. Climate and Food in Singapore
Singapore has tropical weather andIt is very hot every time, every day. Even if it rains suddenly, the heat doesn't go off. The weather is worse than in her national country, Myanmar. It has two seasons, the dry season and the rainy season. The temperature is average from 24 to 32 degrees Celsius
As Singapore has a lot of diversity, it offers different styles of food too. Even in the school canteen, you can find Korean, Indian, Malaysian, Thailand and other kinds of food. The most popular one is Hainanese Chicken Rice and it is one of my favorites too. You can literally find that one everywhere. Another favorite food in Singapore is Satay.
6. Festivals and Holidays in Singapore
Singapore celebrates so many kinds of festivals and has a huge amount of holidays. At the New Year Eve Festival, they shoot many fireworks from Marina Bay Sands and they are really beautiful. The most popular festival is National Day in Singapore. Even before the festival day, you can see jets flying in the sky, soldiers marching on the roads. It is one of the best experiences you will see in Singapore.
7. Scholarship Experiences
She had applied to many universities for the scholarships, as she was passionate about them. She was offered a Bachelor in Accounting Scholar from SMU, one of the top 10 government universities. She rejected the scholarship as she isn’t interested in accounting and achieved SIM diploma scholarship.
According to her experiences, achieving a scholarship will save expenses on studying. In Singapore, if they are giving you the full tuition fees, it only covers the tuition fees, and you have to work on the living expenses as they won’t pay for it. As she is a scholarship student, she becomes a role model to new students, has gained a great social network and met a lot of talented people. She has to maintain GPA points 3.5 out of 4 for every semester. There are altogether five semesters in her diploma so she has to face difficulties between social networks and studies.
8. Tips and Tricks to Apply for Scholarship
It is an 80% guarantee if you write a good scholarship essay. For the tips about the Scholarship essay, she gave us the advice to prepare the essay two weeks earlier before the submission date. You have to add what they want to hear, not what you want to say in it. So it is necessary to be extra careful to write an essay. By preparing earlier, she could read it every day again and again and add anything that comes to her mind. On the final day, the essay would be more than perfect.
For the Scholarship interview, she had to watch a lot of youtube videos, think about what kind of questions they would ask, and create possible questions herself for the interview. Most of the interviews asked us that if we gained the scholarship, what we would do for them. You have to think about what you are going to say for the question. You also had to prepare for the best and for the worst at the same time. She said,” Researching about the school you are applying to will help you in the interview.” She practiced her interview in the mirror so that she had courage and knew what to say. “The most necessary thing you need is that you don’t have to be so nervous about it. Just be confident in yourself and sit the interview calmly,” she said according to her interview experiences.
9. FAQ from Webinar Attendees
Q1: Did you work part-time jobs while you were in university in Singapore?
Ans: No, I didn’t work part-time jobs because Singapore has a law that International Students aren’t allowed to work but some students risk it and work unofficially.
Q2: How long did you take to prepare for the IELTS exam?
Ans: Honestly, I only took a couple of weeks to prepare because I had to prepare for the scholarships too. So, I didn’t have much time for it, and I got a band score of 7.5 out of 10. It wasn’t a satisfying score but at least it got me the scholarships.
Q3: What should we first aim for when we apply for the scholarships or IELTS exam?
Ans: The best answer is not to stress out too much about it. Believe in yourself and be confident and go for it. Because nobody ever knows what will happen, especially in interviews. It also depends on luck and faith.
Q4: What are the expenses of school and living?
Ans: As I am a scholarship student, I don’t really know much about school fees but I think It takes around 200-300 lakhs MMK (above 15000 SGD) annually. The expenses of living and food are quite expensive, too. If you want to rent an apartment or something, you have to pay around 800-1000 SGD.
Feel Free to Comment if you have any questions!
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. We will try to reply to your questions by asking as much as possible. If you have any webinar title you like to hear from, comment below too.