Apply local

Just a short PSA to males serving NS thinking about applying to overseas universities:

There is a common misconception that you cannot accept a NUS¹ offer and apply to other (overseas) schools at the same time.

This is probably because this is true (in most cases) for offers to overseas colleges. At least for my JC, they will not support your application to say Oxbridge in your second cycle while you have accepted a US offer in your first cycle. Without the school submitting your transcript, it is basically impossible to apply.

This is not true for local universities. You can accept the offer with deferment (once again, this is for males serving NS, I didn’t do the research for other cases), and then “reject” them afterwards.

What does this mean? For JC males, there is zero opportunity cost² securing a spot in a local university in your “zero-th” cycle, i.e. the Feb/Mar after you graduate. You can hold on to that offer as a “backup” plan³. And then apply to whatever overseas universities you are considering over the next two cycles.

It’s always nice to have a plan B.

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This is what it looks like on the application portal:

1. Same for NTU. I didn’t check the rest but I’ll assume it’s the same. ↩︎
2. Besides the application fee. And the essays. ↩︎
3. There may be ethical concerns about “taking someone’s slots”. I don’t really find these valid as you have to “reject” them before they even consider the student intake for the AY. ↩︎