on scholarships and tuition grants

it was only 3 years ago that I started looking at scholarships and university programmes. at times, I resent the fact that some of these prestigious scholarships go to those whose families are well-to-do and more than able to afford an overseas education for their child.

the essence of a scholarship is to provide education for those who cannot afford it. only then will the bonds work out for the organization. not only does it help to create more overseas or local graduates, thus increasing the standard of education on a national/social level, it also helps the organization to retain the talents they have so heavily invested in.

in recent years, many scholarship holders break their 4/6 years bonds. in most cases, these are the people whose family could afford their overseas education, shown by their financial capability to break the expensive bonds, even without the scholarship. so in this case, you actually have one less graduate (local and overseas) and the company does not get any good brain to work for them (this is if the bond-breaking payout is equal to the amount invested in the scholar's education). if the scholarships were reserved for those whose families are not well off, then this scholarship would have served it's purpose well. first it has provided the desired education which the student could not have had without the scholarship and, since breaking bond would prove too expensive for the young lad, the organization would have got a talented young man spending the prime of his life for them, making their investment more than worth it.

but now the question is, how do you qualify those who are "poor enough" for a scholarship?

3 more weeks!

3 more weeks to school. however, I don't feel that excited or anxious as I thought I would be. it's just "yar...school's here.yup.gotta start studying."

the past week's been pretty good so far. uncle Meng flew all the way from Montreal to see grandma and now he's at the airport catching the flight back. met up with couple of friends whom I have not seen for years. it's nice to catch up with old friends =) some times, all these activities sets you thinking about your relationship with the people around you, wondering how things would be like down the years. you'll see how your friends have changed and grown and how, relatively, stagnant you have been. this particular dialogue triggered some thoughts -
CY,"...things are falling into place..."
XJ,"you should be PUTTING them into place..."
see how passive and non-chalant I have been about my life? all the "let it be" and the "things will happen naturally" suddenly seem so WRONG

made some new friends this week at the F.O.O.T. briefing. interesting people. there are quite a number of poly-grads going directly into 2nd year. I think this is a really smart plan for those who are sure of what they want to do. but too bad I just wanted to get to uni first and took the JC route. the camp should be fun judging by the zesty atmosphere at the briefing. but if we're gonna shout like that for the entire camp, I'll go deaf by the 2nd day. but I hope this is for the orientation only. cuz if that's the culture in NTU, I'll have a hard time trying to focus on my studies.

I've made my way back to the regime again. I think JE sports complex really provide a good avenue to exercise. I shall head there on 1/3/5 for swim and gym and run 5km on 2/4. I'm typing this out so I'll stick to it and not laze off. haha