-----------
Congratulations! On behalf of the National University of Singapore, I am pleased to offer you admission to the following undergraduate course of study in academic year 2014: Arts and Social Sciences. You have presented us with an impressive record of achievements. I am confident you will find the NUS experience enriching and rewarding, and one that will help you realise your full potential.
Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that your application for reading History at NTU has been successful. I shall eagerly await welcoming you to NTU in academic year 2014-15.
-----------
I am very pleased to receive these offers from the Universities. Truth be told, I never thought I could make it this far when I was young and chided as having a wasted future when I did not do well for the PSLE. At least it is something that I can feel proud of.
This afternoon, I received a reply from the NTU Scholarship Panel regarding the interview I went for 9 days earlier on the 10th April. It read:
-----------
Dear Tng Kwang
Application No.: A00103352
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded the COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP to pursue your undergraduate programme in History at the Nanyang Technological University commencing from Academic Year 2014-15.
The Terms and Conditions of the scholarship are stated at the following link COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
and we strongly urge you to go through the details.
Please submit your decision on our offer by visiting the online link at https://wis.ntu.edu.sg/pls/webexe/isr_check_schlr_status.login
between Thursday, 19 April 2012 to Friday, 1 June 2012. Kindly note that if you do not indicate your decision by the above deadline, the offer will lapse.
Sincerely yours
Dr Lalit Goel, PhD
Director of Admissions
Nanyang Technological University
The College Scholarship is one level down from the top-level Nanyang Scholarship, and it is the counterpart of the NUS Undergraduate(Merit) Scholarship.
-----------
My heart skipped a beat when I read and re-read the email. It is still something that I am struggling to process. Then I thought of the decisions that lie ahead. NUS or NTU? The bevy of thoughts that accompany this decision particularly befits the opening lines of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
and sorry that I could not travel both,
and be one traveller, long I stood
And look down one as far as I could,
to where it bent in the undergrowth
I was told by the professors at the interview session that my course choices need not be limited to history. I could choose to take up another major in English Literature, or a possible major in Politics ( which the lead professor said was under serious discussions with the University Administration) , or minors like Philosophy.
On one hand, I am happy for the scholarship offer. The provisions for tuition fees and a living allowance means that I will not impose an additional financial burden on my parents. Of course, my father was quick to assure me that monetary remuneration was not a concern. But I just do not feel comfortable with spending more of his savings than I possibly need to, especially now that I come to realise just how hard it is to earn a monthly stipend in the army.
Much has been said about the supposed 'disparity' between NUS and NTU - how NUS is the better one since it is more established and has a longer history, a longer list of faculty staff, a longer list of contacts and tie-ups with foreign Universities to leverage on. Not forgetting how its world ranking is 18 places above NTU ( varying according to the survey in question) at last count. And on how the pioneer batch of History Major students for NTU will only start studying this year. The enormity of this decision is something that I am struggling to grasp. The question is: do the rankings really matter that much in the outside world? What happens if I pick NUS over NTU, or NTU over NUS?
The stress of being a scholarship recipient also comes into play. I remember reading once about " Scholarships: everyone wants them, but who gets them?". This is something that I have never experienced, and even without the benefit of hindsight, I can tell that the 4 years will not be a course of spending the money given gratis as a living allowance by the University, nor an easy life spent in the sun secure on one's laurels. Instead, it promises to be a journey of many late nights, of the personal pressure and expectations from those around you, of the initial disappointments and struggles spent learning how to write a proper academic essay, how to contend with all the things that separates University from the A levels. The rigour will even exceed that of the A levels, and imagine that for 4 or 6 years running!
So just like the narrator in Frost's poem, I am " sorry that I could not be one traveller, long I stood. And looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth". It is a little ironic, how Life imitates Art at times.
But in it all, I recognise my luck and God's grace.
To whom much is given , much is expected in turn.
It is something that I will have to think very carefully over.
