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Monday, August 13, 2007

Rising Suns

Posted by Alphonso Tan

As time passes, trend changes. The beauty of yesterday, might be the ugly of today. Nowadays, seldom people will brag themselves that they want to be a 'wireman', which was quite a lucrative job last time. Medicine course is currently fading slowly (Pardon me). With cluster of courses offered in different colleges and universities, and of course also in some university colleges, teenagers are slowly diverting to their favourite courses, if not, a read-profit-making courses. Let me list down a few of these 'rising suns' and kindly allow me to provide a tiny briefing on these.

1) Actuarial Science
My friend (scored straight A1 in his SPM, except for G'CEO1119) told me about this when we were in Form 5. What I was informed is that the salary of an actuarist is quite high. Freshies will have a salary of RM3,000. I'm not sure though, and I will not be responsible for this.

Actuarial Science is a subject that deals with Statistics. "Why purchase this land?" "Based on Statistics." "Why sell 300 units, instead of 400 units?" "Statistic pictures all." "Is it appropriate to approve loan to this fella?" "Statistic says it is best to avoid such people." Everything is more or less based on statistics, risk management, and decision making. It is quite a challenging job which requires highly conceptual and calculating skills. Graduates can hunt for promising jobs in banking, finance and insurance fields.

2) Psychology
I had this ambition once before, during Form 1 I think. All started from the television. However, this dream ended in a complicated way.

Psychology is a field which involves the scientific studies of behaviour, emotional, personality and mental processes. It can be split to 2 fields, research psychology and applied psychology. For more information, kindly visit the Wikipedia.

3) Nutrition/Food Science
Pardon me for not knowing the differences. For me, they are 'almost' the same. I went to the edu fair once before, and I bumped in to a booth. I asked the college receptionist regarding about the food science, and they told me that it is a field which deals with food and the contents in it. And when I inquired about the differences between the nutrition and food science, another staffs told me, "I'm sorry sir, our courses are only opened to girls.", which means, I didn't get the explanation of the differences between them. I'm sorry.

I have a friend, who is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science (Nutrition & Community Health) in UPM. Haven't heard of her for about half a year, and I think she was too busy to be reached. She's currently having her industrial training as a pro bono nutritionist trainee (?), conducting research here and there. Drop by there to find out more.Basically, these 2 related fields, are more or less dealing with the nutrient contents in the food, and also what is good, how good, what is bad, how bad for the body. Graduates are welcomed to the F&B Industrial world, and also clinics and hospitals.

4) Computer Science/IT/Software Engineering (and related field)
As Bill Gates is still the currently World Richest Man, this draws the attention of many Gates-wannabes to this field. And of course, now we are moving towards the cyber-world. Globalize and glocalize (by Najib). We know that most of the houses have at least a computer, most of the computer can't last longer than 5 years, and most of the computers will be infected by severe virus or Trojan inspections within a year. So, opportunities are wide outside there.

These fields are mainly involve in computers. Note that I'm jumbling all the hardwares and softwares into these fields. They are somehow related, but I'm just too lazy to segregate them one by one.

Regarding about my experience, I'm actually not gifted in this field. I've taken 2 papers regarding about Information Technology and Information System, and I did badly in both. Just not my cup of tea =)

5) Marketing/Public Relation
A very challenging field too. Students who wish to get themselves exposed to the public can select one of these course. Marketing, no doubt, is listed as one of the highest-salary-paid job. It can be said as the limb of a company, finding source to feed the company. Today, as the MLMs are blooming, they also provide their 'marketing strategies' to their members as well, now everyone of us anyone can even become a salesman! And yeah, if you joined their talks, they will tell you they've become rich! To digress a little, here's an advice, if you really want to join Multilevel Marketing (MLM), make sure mark your right company.

Public Relation, a course which has to interact with the public. It trains you to organize an event (like what you've seen in The Apprentice and Please, Give Me A Job), raise funds, find sponsors, find advertisements, rush for deadlines, deal with the organizers, and etc. Quite an exposing job, I would like to say.

Actually, there are many other courses, eg. Accounting, Business Admin, Logistic & Supply Chain, however, I'd like to just focus these 5 fields. For the other fields, I will post it when I have plenty of time =)

As a conclusion, I would like to provide a final advice here, be it your favourite or profit-making course, make sure that you never never never regret of what you've done. Take everything as a milestone for your success. This world is never meant for one as beautiful as you. Cheers! :-)
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Comments
12 Comments

12 comments:

  1. Hahaha.. i just read a blog before reading urs.. and both also based on jobs.. guess wat.. another rising suns is full time BLOGGER.. wukakaka..

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  2. Very well-said there Alphonso.

    I think 4 of the courses you mentioned there(except for AS)are available here in TARC. I've friends who're currently taking diploma in those respective courses, and their comment is just like what you said, hah.

    I used to think of studying Psychology and Computer Science, but it is too popular and it limits my own choices for the future, so in the end I opt for A Level.

    Although it's harder than diploma courses, but I think I wouldn't regret the decision that I've made for studying A Level. :)

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  3. to add wat clf said, Actuarial Science (which i interest also) is available at UTAR, but however, local university, only UKM

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  4. what u all think about Actuarial Science in UTAR ? Is it ok ?

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  5. Helo there everybody ,i just finish my spm in 2007 including I.C.T subject , but without Biology subject, and I'm waiting for the result in march 2008, I wanna ask , If i going to take software engineering in the future , and now i continue my study in FORM 6, is it a completely a wrong path ???

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  6. Wen Hui:

    Besides public u, UTAR is one of the only local university that provides Actuarial Science course. But I think it is better for you to opt for a foreign university degree. However, if you are not a product of STPM, or you are not offered such course in local u, or you cannot afford to get a foreign university degree, you may do it in UTAR. =)

    Tomyamsup:

    Do you really opt for public university, first? If you are not, or those any-university-will-do lah type, you can straight away take a foundation course or a diploma course in a private college/university. However, if you really want to get in to the local university, then be prepared. For what I think APIIT is quite a famous university college for IT field. =) Here's the link about a student's experience:

    [url]http://student-malaysia.com/showthread.php?p=18#post18[/url]

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  7. well, actuarial science is specific in insurance field. It is more concern on life contingencies and of course, it also deals with investment, banking or finance. Anyhow, for those fields, there are more competitors from other courses. Hence, advice for those who study AS to enter insurance company as there are highly demand on this professionals.

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  8. Hi guys..

    I think, I can become one of the right source for you all to choose for the right course in your tertiary study.

    The most important thing to consider when choosing your academic pathway for your future career is the potential for employability, especially for those who want to pursue professional working career. Because, choosing your 'own interest-based' academic course may not be able to promise anything concernng your future working career, as the employment market nowadays is saturated with so many of "over qualified" graduates. First thing first, you should open and read newspaper and do some research particularly on employment market. You can do your own simple research by observing the Job Advertisement (eg. The Star, Saturday) or browsing Jobstreet. You must know which careers that are still in demand or already in the "stalemate" condition. Choosing the wrong course may dissapointing you in the future if you do not choose your academic pathway correctly and in line with the market demand.

    One more thing, communication skill nowadays is very important. Without proper communication skill, you might not be able to stay ahead or distinguish your self from others. Writing and Communicating are two different things. Everybody can write with good writing, but not everybody can communicate with good communication. What I am streesing here is "English" communication skills. Please yaa.. take note of this... During the interview session, interviewer will not see your writing skills, but your communication skill... As simple as that...

    ok.. Feel free to visit my blog. www.ridzuanmsr.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Help me! Im really lost. I am interested with biomedical science but everyone says that pharmacy is better. There is more prospects, higher pay, more prestige. Can anyone enlighten me about what does a pharmacist do and what a biomedical scientist do?

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  10. can i know which college and uni have dentistry?

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  11. Hi Alphonso Tan. Let me tell u something! I'm a guy studying Nutrition and Dietetics in Malaysia. I disagree with your statement that only girls can study Nutrition/Food Science courses. Food Science and Nutrition is a combined degree about food manufacturing mainly in industrial food company. Whereas Nutrition and Dietetics is a practical application of nutrition knowledge (Medical Nutrition Therapy) in disease prevention and treatment. A dietitian mainly works in hospital to help patients suffering from nutritional complication, whereas nutritionist mainly works in community or food companies. A dietitian is part of the multidisciplinary team in hospital which comprises of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, speech therapists and other allied health professionals. So before u jump into any ridiculous conclusion, do some research before posting misleading and false information to the others. By the way, the chief dietitian in Singapore General Hospital is a guy. Hope to receive your reply soon.

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  12. Is studying Food Science in Malaysia good? Fo example in UTAR. I hear a lot from my friends that studying Food Science in Malaysia is not good. Please give some advice. I'm now confuse whether to study overseas(expensive) or stay in Malaysia(cheaper)
    Hope to hear from you soon.

    ReplyDelete

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