NUS vs SMU

[bbsj137]

Hi everyone, I have a few questions regarding NUS FASS and SMU Business and would appreciate if I could get answers/opinions as I am not too sure which is the way to go.

Questions:

1. To major in Econs at NUS, do I just have to cover the neccessary Economics modules or are there limited slots and it will depend on my results (meaning there is a chance I do not get to major in it)? Also, are the Econs modules really heavily dependent on Math?

2. What are the employment opportunities (like type of jobs, the pay and employability) like for NUS Econs and SMU Business degrees?

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What I feel are the plus points for NUS:
- Internationally recognised (good) school
- More "wholesome" experience of university life
- I can take up another language which I am pretty keen on (I don't think SMU has modules for this, am I right?)

SMU:
- Business modules seem more interesting (But I heard from a few Business degree holders that it is a very general degree and they felt like they should have went for something more specialised instead. Also, they feel that it was quite a waste of time spending 3-4 years studying for it as what they learnt can be easily read up on their own. Is this true?)
- Central location which is more convenient for me

Thanks in advance to those who can share their opinions with me! (please do also correct me if anything I said is wrong)

 

[elite4570]

To answer your first question, to declare the Economics Major, you just need to take economics related modules. The modules allocation is based on a bidding system in which everyone is allocated the same number of points to bid.

From what i have read, economics at university level is heavily dependent on maths, however, you can choose to only do those modules that are qualitative in nature.

 

[babykny]

Hi everyone, I have a few questions regarding NUS FASS and SMU Business and would appreciate if I could get answers/opinions as I am not too sure which is the way to go.

Questions:

1. To major in Econs at NUS, do I just have to cover the neccessary Economics modules or are there limited slots and it will depend on my results (meaning there is a chance I do not get to major in it)? Also, are the Econs modules really heavily dependent on Math?

2. What are the employment opportunities (like type of jobs, the pay and employability) like for NUS Econs and SMU Business degrees?

-----

What I feel are the plus points for NUS:
- Internationally recognised (good) school
- More "wholesome" experience of university life
- I can take up another language which I am pretty keen on (I don't think SMU has modules for this, am I right?)

SMU:
- Business modules seem more interesting (But I heard from a few Business degree holders that it is a very general degree and they felt like they should have went for something more specialised instead. Also, they feel that it was quite a waste of time spending 3-4 years studying for it as what they learnt can be easily read up on their own. Is this true?)
- Central location which is more convenient for me

Thanks in advance to those who can share their opinions with me! (please do also correct me if anything I said is wrong)

w.r.t (1) just take and clear ec1101e. there are no further requirements unlike psychology for e.g. (nid a min B or B+ grade for the introductory mod). everyone who wishes to major in economics can declare to be so.

econ is highly quantitative in nature, particularly at the honors level. you can't escape math/stats in econ. you might take lesser quantitative mods/opt for less quantitative econ mods but you can't escape it totally.

and at nus, they are increasing the quantitative nature of the prog by introducing econometrics as a key requirement for many higher level mods

w.r.t (2) finance wise, both deg can open doors for you to do much of the roles in finance, up to your capabilities to get them. obviously though, due to the different nature of the prog, there are some roles that are 'exclusive' to each deg, such as economist or econ public policy prog in the ministries (mti, mof or competition commission) and for biz it'd be like a marketing role in oliver wyman for e.g.

i'd say employment opportunities are better (quantity-wise, meaning more jobs available in the market, not necessarily higher paying or better quality) for biz deg.

 

[bbsj137]

To answer your first question, to declare the Economics Major, you just need to take economics related modules. The modules allocation is based on a bidding system in which everyone is allocated the same number of points to bid.

From what i have read, economics at university level is heavily dependent on maths, however, you can choose to only do those modules that are qualitative in nature.

Thanks for the reply! I remember reading somewhere that there is a chance of students not getting to major in whatever they wanted to in FASS and I was pretty worried about it.

 

[bbsj137]

w.r.t (1) just take and clear ec1101e. there are no further requirements unlike psychology for e.g. (nid a min B or B+ grade for the introductory mod). everyone who wishes to major in economics can declare to be so.

econ is highly quantitative in nature, particularly at the honors level. you can't escape math/stats in econ. you might take lesser quantitative mods/opt for less quantitative econ mods but you can't escape it totally.

and at nus, they are increasing the quantitative nature of the prog by introducing econometrics as a key requirement for many higher level mods

w.r.t (2) finance wise, both deg can open doors for you to do much of the roles in finance, up to your capabilities to get them. obviously though, due to the different nature of the prog, there are some roles that are 'exclusive' to each deg, such as economist or econ public policy prog in the ministries (mti, mof or competition commission) and for biz it'd be like a marketing role in oliver wyman for e.g.

i'd say employment opportunities are better (quantity-wise, meaning more jobs available in the market, not necessarily higher paying or better quality) for biz deg.

Thanks for the detailed response! Do you happen to know whether the Math involved will be very tough and challenging? Is the Stats similar to what we learn in JC or...? I have always enjoyed and done well for Math but I seem to struggle a bit for Stats while in JC.

 

[babykny]

Thanks for the detailed response! Do you happen to know whether the Math involved will be very tough and challenging? Is the Stats similar to what we learn in JC or...? I have always enjoyed and done well for Math but I seem to struggle a bit for Stats while in JC.

math really depends largely on the individual, generally be comfortable with calculus

stats mainly all about regressions - linear, bi-variate, multivariate, time-series

anw there's this reflective blog by a graduate - somewhat dated, but still relevant and insightful. you might wish to check it out

http://www.davejunia.com/2013/05/reflections-majoring-in-economics-at-nus/