Nationwide Programmes, Awards and Scholarships

The following document highlights some of the more prominent programmes, awards and scholarships available to students across different JCs that some seniors have received or applied for. Some useful details about the requirements and application process are provided where possible.

For details of programmes exclusively offered by schools, see the School-Specific Programmes thread.

Edusave Scholarships for Independent Schools (ESIS)

• Benefits:

  • Reduces your school fees by up to $2,400 per annum (especially helpful for independent schools)

• Requirements:

  • Are within the top 5% of all students who sat for the O-Level examinations based on L1R5 scores before any bonus points (likely to be 6-7 pointers, maybe 8)

  • Meet the ESIS cut-off score and are admitted to an independent school

  • Students under the Direct School Admission for Junior Colleges can also be awarded this scholarship

• Application Process:

  • Automatic, no interview or form to be submitted

MOE Pre-University Scholarship

• Benefits:

  • Reduces school fees by up to $2,400 annually; separately, $750 is paid annually to your bank account of choice

  • Bolsters your portfolio for civil service related careers

• Requirements:

  • Singapore Citizens, or non-Citizens with at least 1 parent who is a Singapore Citizen

  • Do consistently well in school and obtained an aggregate score of 8 points or less in your O levels

  • Outstanding co-curricular activities record

  • Good conduct record

• Application Process:

  • The form typically opens right after the release of the 'O' Level results - you need to submit a 500-600 word essay about yourself (such as your key interests, motivations, aspirations) and your reasons for applying for the scholarship in your online application

  • If you make it through the first round, you'll be called up for an interview from April onwards at the MOE Buona Vista Building - do emphasise that you are academically inclined / have leadership qualities, and be prepared to answer questions about current affairs

Singapore Police Force Book Prize (JC)

• Application Process:

  • Quite selective and hard to get; usually only those with outstanding achievements will be called in for final interview (many of the students there have represented Singapore in international competitions so competition is high and only about 20 students in the whole of Singapore get the award)

  • First round of application: most students need close to straight As for JC1 Promos to be considered

  • Second round of application: Applied Leadership Programme (ALP) or creating an SPF Ops plan

A*STAR Scholarship 5-week Research Attachment Programme

• Application Process:

  • Less competitive than the SPF book prize as a larger number of students (around 90) are selected

  • Students are to submit their application online to the A*STAR website directly, including a personal statement about why they want the award; some students may also be called up for an interview

  • Tips for the personal statement: show that you are extremely passionate about life sciences / chemistry / physics (depends on the science you hope to specialise in) - for me, I talked about conducting experiments on my pet mice and studying their behavioural patterns (don't worry I didn't abuse them), and got offered the scholarship without an interview

• Additional Notes:

  • You are required to attend a 5-week internship at A*STAR during the JC1 December holidays - note that the hours can be relatively long especially for biology and life sciences (e.g. 8am to 7pm; but the researchers can stay up to 10pm)

  • The internship can be considered dry for some as you will mainly be in charge of assisting in the lab work without understanding what it going on (sometimes researchers cannot reveal this to you because it is restricted research and there are risks of intellectual property theft, but it depends on the research institute you are in)

DSTA Scholarship

• Application Process:

  • Slanted more towards physics and engineering rather than biology and more selective than A*STAR Scholarship, especially if you are not a physics student (there are only about 35 students in the nation who receive the award)

• Additional Notes:

  • May require you to intern at DSTA, though this may not be the most updated, so do check their website for more information

MOE Geography Talent Development Programme (TDP)

• Benefits:

  • Programme for enrichment in Geography by MOE that gives you access to university-style lessons by NUS Geography Professors (every Saturday morning till the end of J1)

  • MOE markets it as a highly selective programme but in reality students need not actually be that academically brilliant to join (more information on joining the programme will be provided below)

  • A chance to represent Singapore internationally in International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) if you do well: there are selection tests to assess what students have absorbed learnt from the lectures, and 6-8 students are picked for a final fieldwork selection, from which 4 are chosen to represent Singapore (MOE will train you very hard for about 3 months to participate in iGeo - Singapore typically does well in the Olympiad)

  • Access to internships at government agencies like NEA, PUB, URA etc at the end of J1 during the December holidays, which gives you good exposure and boosts your portfolio

  • Allows you to meet like-minded students and make friends (probably the highlight of TDP, according to most students who have attended the programme)

• Criteria & Application Process:

  • Represent your secondary school in the NUS Geography Challenge, and win a Gold or Silver award - don't worry, they are quite liberal with giving the awards, so it's not as hard as it sounds

  • If you get a Gold award, you will automatically be given an invitation to join the programme in J1; if you get a Silver award, you may or may not be offered to join (it depends on how close your Silver is to a Gold)

  • Take at least H1 Geography in JC, or IB’s equivalent of SL Geography (for this reason, Polytechnic students can’t take part even if they got a Gold or Silver award in National Geography Challenge)

• Additional Notes:

  • The students and teachers in TDP generally very friendly and easy-going, so don't be intimidated by how "elite" the name sounds (it's really not a very selective programme)

MOE Economics Talent Development Programme and MOE History Talent Development Programme

• Unfortunately, the authors of this post do not have personal experience with the remaining TDPs, but you can refer to this MOE website to find out more

Disclaimer: There are probably more programmes, awards and scholarships than these (these are just those we have experience in), and schools usually tend to publicise them as they come, so do check your emails regularly.

Further reading:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/SGExams/comments/l9fexh/scholarshipsjc_guide_to_jc_scholarships/

Article Contributors:

Ho Song Yee (ESIS, MOE Pre-U, TDP, selected for iGeo)

Judith Ko (ESIS, MOE Pre-U, SPF [shortlisted for ALP / Ops plan only], A*STAR Scholarship, TDP)