NTU or NUS Accountancy?

I'm pretty sure anyone who is thinking of, or has decided to study Accountancy in a local University would, at some point in time, think about which University to enter. For some, the choice is clear. But for others, like me, making that decision is a real big headache, figuratively and literally.

For myself, SMU was the first to be ruled out as I didn't really find the school's main selling point (the outspoken thingy) to be appealing to me. And ruling out that selling point, NUS would win in terms of opportunities and branding, while NTU would win in terms of course merit (In My Opinion).

That aside, it was down to NTU and NUS for me.  I ultimately went for the following courses (and was offered my top choices for the business school) in each University
NTU: Accountancy and Masters in Financial Engineering (3 + 1 years)
NUS: Accountancy and Masters of Science(Management) (3 + 1 + 1 years)

To decide between the two, I begin to analyse in terms of sections, which of course mattered to me.

1. Course: Which course is better?

If you don't already know, NTU's Nanyang Business School (NBS) is the longest-running business school out of all the 3 Universities. It is the most established, has the most extensive alumni, and takes in the largest number of students per cohort (for Accountancy). It is thus no surprise that NTU would win in terms of technical skills gained from the course

This was a conclusion I was confident of coming to after speaking to several NTU ex-Accountancy-students and asking working professionals. The general consensus was that the NTU graduates are generally more proficient in the technical side of accounting.

That is not to say the other Business Schools are bad though. I'm pretty sure SMU did not get so popular just because of their main selling point, and NUS did not get their all As in the 90th percentile in their indicative grade profile just because of school branding. All 3 schools will equip you with the necessary skills for accounting, but perhaps due to their experience and size of alumni, and perhaps because of the "Technological" in their school name, NTU offers an Accountancy course that focuses more on the technical side of things.

I am pretty confident of both NUS and NTU's ability in offering top-notch education and thus didn't really feel that this was a very important point to note. It is important to realise that while NTU focuses on technical skills, NUS focuses more on all-roundedness. If you live in the 21st century, you will know how important it is to be an all-rounder who can not only work, but also possess a whole lot of other skills. That is why for this section, I feel that NTU and NUS are on par. In fact I would say NTU, NUS and SMU are on par.

But if you prefer technical skills, or if you think you want to be the best speaker ever and don't think you will be able to cultivate that confidence yourself, by all means go for the other schools.

2. Scholarship offered

NTU - College Scholarship: Covers tuition fees and offers annual allowance of $3600
NUS - Merit Scholarship: Covers tuition fees, offers annual allowance of $6000, offers one-off computer allowance of $2000, guarantees 2 years of hostel accomodation, guarantees 1 SEP(student exchange programme) and offers an NUS Scholar Enrichment Grant for scholars to apply for 50% co-funding of local/overseas enrichment programmes

I don't think I need to say much here, NUS obviously takes the top spot here.

Honestly I really don't know how I could be one of the 20++ students offered the Masters in Financial Engineering Programme, but only obtain the college scholarship. I'm not saying I'm too good to not be offered it, I just don't understand how I could do well enough to get offered the programme, but not enough to get offered the Nanyang Scholarship.

Yes, I only attended 1 interview which was for both the scholarship and Masters course application.

Like seriously, how???

3. Masters Programme Offered

For the Accountancy course, I opted to apply for Concurrent Degree(NUS)/ Integrated Programme(NTU) instead of the double degree programmes.

For NTU, the Masters in Financial Engineering is a really quantitative course. Just look at the courses to be taken, there's a whole lot of cheem math, finance, and even computing included. This would be a really good masters course for those looking to pursue a career in the quantitative side of finance as it is a really well-established course (7 weeks in Carnegie Mellon Uni!!!) and is only 1 year if you are doing it full-time.

Many people around me encouraged me to take up this course as they say that the quantitative side of finance provides a more stable career as it is a specific skillset that not everyone has. Due to that, you aren't as dispensable as people in the management side, especially during economic downturns. Also, pay is really good for this area.

But, well, I don't see myself in the quantitative side of finance. I can't say that I won't do well, or that I will absolutely hate it if I go into it, but as of now, that is not a career I want to pursue. I don't want to face numbers, data and diagrams all day long. I want a really interactive career that would bring me to see different types of people and if possible, all over the world. I feel like I would be signing myself to a death sentence if I take up this course.

True, you can always just treat it as a good extra skillset if I don't end up in the quantitative side of the finance industry. But if that's the case, why the hell then am I wasting my time over this masters??? It would become useless, in my opinion.

NUS offers a more general masters, Masters of Science (Management). Many people, and even the professor in charge of this programme himself said that it is a general masters that is not necesssary for Accountancy students. Anyone can do management, so basically it isn't a very valuable masters, by itself. But NUS offers a dual masters programme with the CEMs Masters in International Management(MIM) that would bring you to 2 schools overseas and an internship in Singapore or overseas. I don't wanna go into a long story about this CEMs MIM, go look it up yourself if you are interested, but it is an upcoming masters that has risen in its prestige to be comparable to MBAs offered by prestigious Universities around the world. It is just more catered to fresh grads, while the MBA is more catered to working professionals.

After speaking with the professor from NUS, while he didn't outright say it, he suggested that as long as a student taking the MSc wants to do the dual masters, he or she should be able to get an offer, since to do the masters you must be of a certain academic caliber anyway.

The potential benefits to the career is also in line with what I envision for myself.

Hence, after much consideration, and I truly mean much (I literally suffered from a migraine over this), I decided that the NUS one is better for me.

4. Duration

We all know NTU offers the 3-year direct honours while NUS (and SMU) is a 4-year programme for honours. NUS gives you the option of obtaining your degree after 3 years, but you won't get the honours unless you complete the 4th year.

And if you have been to an NTU business talk, you would have heard about their cost and benefit analysis of that 1 year less of studying. But even if you have not, you don't need to perform an extensive tabulation to know that 1 year less of studying is 1 year's worth of savings in school fees(if you are not under scholarship), 1 year more of income and 1 year more of experience. Also, you are 1 year ahead of your friends who graduated from the 4-year programmes.

I think you really have to think for yourself, whether or not that 1 year is very significant to you. Some questions to ask yourself are:
1. Are you aiming to enter an accounting firm?
2. Are you ready to face the possibility of your fellow peers(same age) being ahead of you in the corporate world?
3. Is that 1 year really that important?

This was actually the main reason why I had such a hard time deciding between NUS and NTU. From the earlier sections, NUS would have been my choice. But it was that 1 year that NTU would help me save, that held me back from accepting the NUS offer. For me, the money was not the main issue, since I will be on scholarship anyway. But it was more of the experience that made me mull over my decision.

Ultimately, I decided that the 1 year isn't very important to me. I guess it's because I was thinking about the long years of working that I would have to face after graduating. The retirement age is constantly being delayed later and later, and by the time it's time for me to retire. the retirement age would probably be at 80, if not worse. The word "youth" would be referring to a broader time frame, and with my "young at heart" mentality and gerascophobia, my future self would most probably thank me for that 1 year more of student life.

Also, NUS allows one to leave after 3 years. If I decided then that that 1 year is important, I can still choose to go. Hopefully it's because I received a really good offer from a company, otherwise my ex-colleague at PwC who didn't have an honours degree is not doing worse than her peers who had an honours.

And so, I decided to go with NUS. NUS, I feel, also offers better opportunities for one's student life. Their exchange programmes are much more established, their branding both locally and internationally is also really attractive, and the opportunities the business school gets is not worse than NBS.

If you are also fretting over which school to choose, first find out what you want in both the short term and the long term. Once you have established that, your decision will suddenly become clear. Most importantly though, you should already be prepared to face the consequences of your decision. I mean both the good and the bad. I am prepared to one day curse myself for not taking the specific masters as I pack my stuff after being sacked during an economic downturn. I am prepared to have to work under peers of my age due to my 1 year delay in entrance to the workforce.

I am also prepared to spend a good 5 years of University life, living my youth to its fullest. I am prepared to put in my all in my career so that time and qualifications no longer matters. And so, let's hope for the best.