Well, JCU is rather competitive, because students are fighting for honours, with 75% distinction average needed for Year 3 modules needed qualification of honours, which is sad because you see many people just fighting for honours aimlessly, and the joy of learning dies. JCU has a solid coursework and the lecturers are from the Australian campus posted to the Singapore campus. The tutors are sessional, so some of them have other own psychology jobs outside, and some are here to fulfill their teaching component of their PhD requirement. Not all tutors are good though, so it really depends on who you get as your tutor. JCU’s psychology program is statistics laden, and I have friends from NUS who come over and feel that JCU’s statistics requirements are rather rigourous as compared to NUS.

I guess the reason why I chose JCU was the fact that it is APAC certified, and perhaps the only four-year undergraduate sequence that has APAC Honours in Singapore. This is rather important especially for further studies in Australian universities. I know NUS/NTU/SIM students who come over have to pay an amount for their degrees to be tallied and checked for equivalence before being granted the proper exemptions or placements for the 4th year of training. The downside of JCU, in my opinion, is the administration which has a long way to go before it can truly compare itself to local university standards.

As for myself, I intend to pursue my postgraduate studies in probably Australia. Like everybody else who says they want to do clinical psychology, I intend to either do a masters in clinical or clinical neuropsychology. I’m also a little interested in educational psychology because as someone who has gone through two years of engineering school in NTU before heading to JCU, I believe in the importance of a good and happy education and developing your potential, especially for those who may need more help. I’m still figuring out what I exactly want to do as I go along this journey.

S

Addition from the author of reflection: JCU Singapore runs on a trimester basis, so it is kind of cramped and rushed, and typical lessons can start as early as 9 am and end as late as 10 pm.