Article: Students with average grades grab chance to shine by Jane Ng, The Straits Times 22 June 07.

In 2004, the Education Ministry allowed the NUS and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to set their own admission criteria for up to 10% of their students. This allows students that are unable to earn a place in the universities with their grades, yet have performed exceeding well in other areas.

I believe that such an allowance provides more opportunities for the average students to excel as well as an A-grade student could. As tertiary education is not only about being book-smart, average students who have other strengths of their own that may in turn be helpful for the course that they are studying. For example, Mr. Han Weiding, 22, a second-year NTU student was admitted to NTU through the discretionary admission. His experiences in writing competitions during his secondary school days are helpful in his studying of journalism. Thus, it is certain that the discretionary admission helps to discover a pool of average students that have hidden talents that makes them as competitive as an A-grade student.

In addition, discretionary admission also prevents Singapore from losing average students who can be accomplished. For example, before the discretionary admission was allowed, Miss Penny Tan failed to get into NUS and decided to stay in Britain’s University of Leicester after she secured a place there. She is now studying medicine and prepares herself in becoming a doctor. Singapore hence lost an individual who can contribute positively to Singapore. Moreover, there is more than one such student like Miss Penny Tan in Singapore. Undeniably, Singapore will be at the losing end if steps fail to be taken in keeping these talents. Thus, with discretionary admission, Singapore will be able to keep promising students that may not be performing academically well. It eventually benefits Singapore’s economy in future. Thus, I strongly support the discretionary admission.