linguistics, here i come!

so i just wanted to give a little heads-up about what it's been like for my academic journey since i received my a level results...
who knows a freshie as a potential linguistics student in need of advice next year will stumble upon this and benefit greatly like how i did from jamiemermaid! :)

going straight to the point, i received my a's results on 3 march and well i didn't do exceptionally fantastic.
but then again i wasn't very disappointed because i know how much effort i've put in considering the fact that i really developed a strong dislike for science subjects that i studied in jc.
given my deep hatred for the sciences, i think my results were considerably reasonable for me to enter a local university.
i definitely don't have the wide variety of choices that the 80 rank-pointers are entitled to, but i was content because i think i did fairly okay for me to get into linguistics :-)

now on to university applications....
i didn't really put much thought into it because i kinda knew what i wanted both before and after i received my results.
to cut the long story short, i only applied for nus and ntu - smu had zero courses that i was interested in.
to be more specific, smu's fass courses didn't appeal to me one bit.
so i applied strictly for nus and ntu's fass.

a few weeks later ntu dropped me an email and phoned me up saying that i got shortlisted for the linguistics interview!!!!!!!!!!!!
it was quite sudden bc it was only a short 2-day notice before the interview.
i was so excited and when the day came, i was pretty nervous because i turned up late at the venue...
i reached ntu on time but i legit got lost in the huge campus of ntu and was late by about 15mins.
please learn from me: REPORT STRAIGHT TO THE COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES AND NOT WANDER OFF TO SOME MAGICAL BUILDING CALLED INNOVATION CENTRE
wth was i thinking to have even thought the interview there - i must have been really hit by the nerves.
good job man.
when i arrived they quarantined a group of 8 of us in a meeting room to do a written test.
as what i've read from previous interviewees, the written test is basically just a simple assessment of your basic english ability.
they weren't really looking out for your arguments like they did in gp, it was just more of like a check to see if you could write in complete sentences structured appropriately.
so previous years i read had questions related to singlish and bilingualism pop up, so i read a huge load of it beforehand...
but guess what, a question about animals and language surfaced on my interview day -_-
sighpie the topic i shunned just had to appear for the test :(
so i just wrote whatever that came to my mind and filled up the one page that i was given in 30mins.
a word of advice - there's not much time for planning a draft so just forget about trying to write out an essay plan bc you'll really be busy trying to bomb all the points down on the paper.

next, on to the actual interview itself.
because i came late i was pushed to the back as the last interviewee.
i was quite nervous bc i was scared that they'd mark me down for latecoming which would make my chances of entering very slim.
the candidates who took their turn before me were quite nice and there was much mutual encouragement :)

so i entered the professor's office and wow, it was a nice little square room that housed all his work.
it was cozy and it was so not like what i expected (a solemn job interview setting).
instead i sat beside his desk like we were good friends having a really casual chat.
he asked me a few questions about singapore and even myself, about the languages that i spoke at home.
i even introduced the professor to play quizup and try the english category :P
he seemed quite excited by it and said that he would check it out (hopefully he did!)
we had quite a good chat and he even told me more about himself and how he ended up in the field of linguistics too despite being a science student.
the professor was really nice and attentive towards all the responses that i was giving, he listened really patiently and even added on to keep the conversation going.
he really made me feel like linguistics was such a pride of place!!!!
at the end of the interview, he told me "hope to see you in august!" with a bright smile :-)

so the day ended off like that and for the next few days i awaited for my interview results anxiously.
i usually don't pick up calls from unknown numbers but this time round i was eager with anticipation to receive such a call...
i constantly refreshed my inbox to check if i received any email too but to no avail...

but guess what, the best surprise came on monday! (my interview was held on a friday)
ntu dropped me an email to check the updated results of my admission and so i did.
i logged in and guess what i found?

THANK YOU NTU ASDFGHJKL

WORDS CAN'T EXPRESS HOW GRATEFUL I FEEL

I GOT INTO LINGUISTICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think personally that's what actually really mattered for me in the whole process of taking a's.

i never had high expectations of myself and this was probably the only reason and aim i had in mind to get through the hellhole in jc.

and i finally did it :-)

so happy!!!!

after 12 years i actually like something that i'm studying.

on a side note i didn't get into nus fass, so..... idk whether it's a good or bad thing.

i don't really like the environment in nus and the way the system works as well so i guess i have one less problem and dilemma to worry about.

nus offered me science though, but no way in the world am i going to lose myself in the whirl of detailed molecular deciphering and alien formula again.

SO NTU LINGUISTICS, HERE I COME.

see you on 3rd august!