Any advice for young wannabe entrepreneur?

[ervine]

many people wana be an architect...

haha... maybe many people THINK they want to be architect... I tot so too...

follow your heart. live with no regrets......

Yah man.. no regrets.. so far I've not regreted any of my decisions as yet... let's hope it remains the same..

Even going into architecture school but finding out that I don't want to be an architect... it was my decision and I don't regret it... Never regretted not listening to my parents to go for a scholarship... thankfully I didn't...

But then again like my brother said... "in this practical world, sometimes following your brain is better than following your heart"

as asians, we have to take care of our old folks..... no escaping around that. make sure u make provision for this.....

Yup that's one of my concerns actually.. I fail nevermind.. but then if I fail means I'll run into problems later on in life when I need the financial buffer to look after my parents...

No Online portfolio = no income tax

Interesting.. never thought of it in that way....

Thanks for all the well wishes bros... I'll make a decision soon and hopefully all goes well, if not then just too bad for me.... Thanks a bunch!

[FuEl]

If Architecture does'nt interest you and you know you will feel miserable for the rest of your life if you were to take up a job related to your field of study, then I see no reason that you should pursue an honours degree. An extra year of study is mentally draining.

However if you wish to have something to fall back on (jobs related to your field of study) I would suggest that you complete your honours degree since you could qualify for it. You are from a lucky batch whereby cross-faculty modules are still given the pass/fail option so that your CAP will not be affected. I was from the guinea pig batch whereby they removed the pass/fail option for cross-faculty modules. I studied science and my grades were horrible for the arts modules. Needless to say I could not even get into honours although I aced in my Science subjects and I wanted to get into honours so much.

In this sense, the grading system for your batch has been improved compared to my unfortunate batch. You should take the opportunity and get the honours as it does give you more advantage.

Another option you could consider is to change your field of study. Many overseas universities have branches here that take in students from other disciplines. For example, you could easily do a Masters in accounting with just your Bachelor of Architecture degree. That would help you in business in future. For me I studied 3 years in NUS for a degree that I have no interest in. They changed the curriculum only after I entered. That was horrific. So after my 3 years of study, I don't remember much about NUS life except my friends & dead mugging for exams. At least soon I will be changing my course of study to something that really interests me. At least the learning experience will be viewed as enjoyable. Look for other opportunities in other countries, you'll be surprised at the amount of choices you get compared to studying locally (something which I deeply regret).

[ervine]

An extra year of study is mentally draining.

Exactly... it has already drained a lot out of me...

You are from a lucky batch whereby cross-faculty modules are still given the pass/fail option so that your CAP will not be affected.

Not entirely true... the majority of my cross facs are still graded actually.. only 2 were pass fail... and for my course there shouldn't even be cross fac mods in the first place because we are so damn busy with our own stuff...

But that's another discussion altogether.. sigh

Look for other opportunities in other countries, you'll be surprised at the amount of choices you get compared to studying locally (something which I deeply regret).

Yup... EVERYONE I spoke to who went overseas to study or went for exchange loved their experience... strange...

[Melvyn Tan]

Can i ask - how do you know for certain that you will be conferred a 1st Class Honours even before going onto it? Perhaps you might want to consider being a soothsayer ? or a crystal baller ?

Making it and making it big isn't the same as just thinking or thinking it big - although sometimes by just thinking you can come up with concepts like Stripperella, but it does not guarantee success. And if it does not succeed, you will be that Stripperella !!!

One thing for certain and for sure - there is such a thing called Destiny

Yikes !!! Looks like NUS is really churning out idealists and dreamers (Architects are indeed dreamers..thats why in many construction projects i need to tell them to wake up there are cost and time issues to consider as well..) Would you like to build Sagrada Familia ?

[ervine]

Can i ask - how do you know for certain that you will be conferred a 1st Class Honours even before going onto it?  Perhaps you might want to consider being a soothsayer ? or a crystal baller ?

Well if you have read my thread carefully I did NOT say I WILL be getting my 1st class.

I said "giving up my potential 1st class honors"... why do I say this? Because my CAP score is high enough to keep me afloat for a while... Please be aware I don't mean to be blowing my own trumpet or anything when I say, I'm just saying that if I really carry on with my course and put in my fair share of effort the first class honors is still within reach.

Making it and making it big isn't the same as just thinking or thinking it big

Well I'm not even thinking of making it big.. I'm just trying to see if I can make a living by doing what I like... In fact I have no intention of making millions out of my little tiny business... I don't intend to actually...

Yikes !!! Looks like NUS is really churning out idealists and dreamers (Architects are indeed dreamers..thats why in many construction projects i need to tell them to wake up there are cost and time issues to consider as well..)  Would you like to build Sagrada Familia ?

Don't know what you are getting at here but I'm not an idealist and I don't know what made you think that even.

As for a dreamer? If you don't dream a little you'll just be going with the flow for the rest of your life... well if that's what you want then go ahead...

As for the Sagrada familia, no I wouldn't want to build it.. that's somebody else's dream not mine...