"The Road Not Taken"

VANESSA PEH sat down with Harita, her secondary school friend, to find out why she decided to venture into a different education route.

Junior college or Polytechnic? Or maybe ITE? Are these what comes to your mind when you are deciding on where to pursue your tertiary education? More often than not, you will hear about these three paths during your pursuit of education. However, there is actually another possible option offered by international universities, the pre-university foundation programs. The Pre-University Foundation Programme offered by James Cook University aims to provide students who are affected by various situations with an alternative pathway into tertiary education programs. Students in Singapore are required to have at least four O Level passes and a minimum of 11 points to be eligible. It is important to note that this route is most costly as tuition fees cost close to $20,000. Harita Ravuru, an 18-year-old student, was one of the few that decided to go through the pre-university foundation program offered by James Cook University. She had an A1 for her English Language and B3 for Elementary Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Humanities, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics in O Levels. When it was time to decide on her next course of action after receiving her 'O' Level results, she was pressured to choose junior college(JC). However, further research made her realise that JC was essentially a "tougher, more taxing repetition of secondary school." None of the polytechnics offered a course that interested her, leaving her with one option, the Pre-University Foundation Programme. With specific interests and aspirations in mind, she felt that the program was "the most straightforward and efficient path" for her. With only one chance to attend physical lessons every week, Harita had to take full advantage of it. She was able to meet people from all over Asia and she felt that she was "growing out of the sheltered secondary school mindset." She got to learn skills in writing "real-world" reports and relearned note-taking skills. Currently, Harita is waiting to apply for the Bachelor's of Marine Science at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia in July. She has taken up a part-time job at a private patisserie to start being financially independent. Aside from working, she has taken it upon herself to apply her skills to good use. She reached out to a few professors from the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore. They connected her to a Ph.D. student who is in the midst of working on a guidebook on the ecology of Singapore. Harita volunteered to help the student out to gain some fieldwork experience. Additionally, Harita's love for animals motivated her to join the conservation team at Wildlife Reserves Singapore. Although the pandemic has limited her training opportunities, she was able to volunteer for two campaigns at the River Safari and Singapore Zoo. She has even started taking online courses such as data computing to continue learning. When asked about the pros and cons of the pre-university program, she brought the following up: Firstly, she was given the chance to reach her goals faster than other tertiary education schools like JC or polytechnic. She was also able to gain imperative skills for adulthood such as how to give presentations and how to gauge stock markets. However, the downside was that it was expensive, costing her family $40,000 for 8 months of education. "When it comes to deciding what your future might look like, don't make any decisions under the pressure of your parents or anyone else." Harita encourages everyone to do ample research and shortlist opportunities that they feel will be best for them. Consider what you wish to study, where you want to work and which subjects you will need to take to achieve it. While it's not easy to decide on your future at the young age of 16, you can definitely start discovering your passion and aspirations. Inspired by Robert Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken, Harita ends the interview with "Don't follow the crowd, take the road not taken, I did, and that has made all the difference."