Hi ,
I'm currently going to enter Singapore Poly soon and the MDES (Diploma) scholarship looks attractive (monthly allowance , paid tuition fees and study bonus) to me , but I gotta serve an extra 3 years apart from my 2 years NS bond due to my scholarship bond.
Thus , I'm wondering if it is worth to sign onto this scholarship.
Any advice is welcomed
Thanks :)
you get to enjoy the cash benefits while you are studying, but comes army, you suffer.
when you sign on with the mdes scheme as a poly student, you are pretty much condemned to be a specialist (aka sergeant), and will never have any chances to become an officer, which commands a much higher pay.
and while you can disrupt after 1 year to go for fulltime degree course at nus, ntu, smu, you have to pay out of your own pocket. you will only be considered for degree sponsorship after around 5 years.
the army have plenty of officers, but are short of specialists, that they will try to retain as many specs as possible, so your chances of a crossover is very low, should you decide to take soldiering as a career.
as for marketability, the things you do have very little to do with the outside world, unless you want to work in the defence industry. your 5 years in the army would do little to help your portfolio, if you are looking for a technical related job.
it would be better for you to seek a scholarship with companies such as ST or smth.
yea man. i have a friend who signed a bond with SAF upon entering poly, he regretted it somehow because....
1) he got a above 3.5 GPA
2) physically superb
3) pc in bmt told him he could have easily gone to ocs and signed on from there = higher pay
4) now he's stuck in ME rank system.
so, THINK before u sign it.
Thanks for all the advice given ! , its is much appreciated.
My most worry is about career prospect , I don't think I want to be stuck in the army forever.
So maybe I will consider some other scholarship.
Thanks !
ME can advance de lor... still got process involved but easier than the specialist xover officer kind of system.
deathmaster, the scheme now allows xover, and technical related jobs outside still have relation, provided u are in something useful. [usually engineer jobs, but army side not that prospectful] and given the scope of an expert, soldier stuff arent priority but the basics are still observed.
TS, the scholarship is still ok but dont consider army jobs.. reason stated above.. partly cos it affects your 2nd career.
unlike what most people said, u can still appeal later during late BMT, or sispec training to try to get into OCS.
u sound like like u are signing on for $, which i personally don't encourage. if u are really not on hardship to pay your poly, take your time and wait till u are in bmt then sign on. u still get backpay (albeit lower than what u would have gotten if u sign on since day 1 of poly), but at least u can understand the system and won't be culture shocked.
Yes agreed, im a signed on personel and am currently in OCS, there's alot you'd need to consider before ink-ing the contract, trust me, it may not be as easy as it seems. Being in the army requires alot of skills and which you'd learn and develop during your days in BMT. Do consider, and do not sign on solely for $$$, u'd totally regret it, just sign during BMT.