Dear SMU
February 7th, 2007 | Published in general | 37 Comments
I’ve been in this institution three years now ââ¬â it was a decision I chose of my own accord, instead of going away, instead of going to law school, instead of everything I saw for myself ââ¬â I chose you. You’ve been alright to me, and so far my highest praise is: I’d rather be here, than any other institution in this bloody country. Which is not very high praise at all, and you’d be right.
I am not interested in working for Merrill Lynch. Nor JP Morgan. Nor Goldman Sachs. Not a bank either. I don’t think I’ll be working in anything involving Excel spreadsheets, so count me out from 99.8% of the jobs you think I should be doing.
So when you stick me in this stupid conference room threatening not to recognize my internship until you’ve put me through a thorough brainwashing session full of business school jargon; like: pedagogy and elevator speech and being different and value-added. Like profit-maximizing and corporate innovation, your corporate spiel takes us nowhere.
Fuck you for all the days you stuck me in a suit and heels (every presentation, and sometimes every other day), fuck you for all the times you tell me I’m going to be stuck in a low-end job because I’m studying something that “won’t make very much money”. It’s not that I don’t like money. I like money very much. I just happen to think I have a better way to make it, and no, I won’t tell you how. Because I’m already making that money, and/or on my way there, doing the things I love, doing things I give a damn about. And you know what? The 3 out of 1000 people who get in to (namedrop another MNC) isn’t that impressive a statistic. There are harder battles to fight, and win at.
Because I’m doing so much more with my life than you can imagine: and no, a person’s degree at university is not the be all and end all, but a mere tool. And you wonder why I’m in such a hurry to get out before you stick me in another suit.
If I sound bitter and spiteful, I am.
February 7th, 2007 at 10:28 pm (#)
nicely said..
February 7th, 2007 at 11:30 pm (#)
And there we had all those ads about SMU students unleashing their creativity…. to screw the world for a fast buck.
February 7th, 2007 at 11:44 pm (#)
AMEN!
February 7th, 2007 at 11:53 pm (#)
aye aye! flying f*cks to them! :) understand your sentiment exactly. at least you are studying a more open ended curriculum, us poor sods in acctancy with all the kpmg-pwc-ey brainwashing, def know what you mean.
wasn’t universities supposed to be about mental training, about the rigours and the learning? it seems to just brainwash, and throw big-ass words at you.
February 8th, 2007 at 12:01 am (#)
Bless your soul! The school is a lie!
February 8th, 2007 at 2:08 am (#)
Ok ok about the ’showdown’, u’re allowed to wear non-heels footwear k.
And yes, I did warned you abt that upper-middle-class mother(fraker), didn’t I.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:40 am (#)
Why a geek like you did not study something technical I’ll never know. Anyway, you’ll soon be out of it, so chin up!
February 8th, 2007 at 3:27 am (#)
Adri in a suit and heels - can I just say NPNT :)
February 8th, 2007 at 5:02 am (#)
budak: i beg to differ. it’s about smu students being willingly screwed over for a fast buck.
hui, boon, c, z: we need to detox. tandoori chicken!
donaq: i’ll never know either!
james: :) no such record exists.
February 8th, 2007 at 7:43 am (#)
Bravo. You stick it to them girl. There are thousands of paths to success and a Uni degree is only one of them. Do what makes you happy. That’s the key.
February 8th, 2007 at 11:25 am (#)
Eh, I thought SMU has an ad that states they are “different”. Never expected them to prod the students towards the corporate path.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:37 pm (#)
yes you should carry on doing what you like.
February 8th, 2007 at 3:23 pm (#)
Please come to work in a suit and heels tomorrow. Thanks.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:44 pm (#)
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
February 8th, 2007 at 6:09 pm (#)
“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else ââ¬â means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.” — e.e. cummings
February 8th, 2007 at 6:19 pm (#)
you strike me as someone way beyond the place you study (which at most could only be a nice complement to your person), and that was before reading this post.
always a good thing. some people can’t see beyond the narrow boundaries they’ve constructed.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:17 pm (#)
Well said. The way Corp Comm and OCS are working, we are just robots in the line. Lets get out fast.
February 8th, 2007 at 11:27 pm (#)
wah. i just knew that you’re an SMU student too. And reading your post convinced me that this torture of mine is going to continue.. Until approximately 3 years from now. Sigh.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:06 am (#)
Was bloghopping and ended up here…I’m glad you wrote this piece. The narrow focus on landing jobs in MNCs is something that’s really stifling students, not just in SMU…
and it’s great to see someone who’s able to step out
Live your dream~! =)
February 9th, 2007 at 1:55 am (#)
i see you went for that “compulsory pre-requisite” talk peppered full of ‘Citibanks’ and ‘KPMG’s’ and ‘Merril Lynches’ and ‘CreditSuisse’. i hate that fucking talk.
February 9th, 2007 at 5:33 am (#)
i agree with lainie. lack of choice screws us all over doesn’t it. and geeks don’t have to study technical stuff because they’re geeks, eh.
February 9th, 2007 at 8:50 am (#)
oh well, smu. my love hate affair with it will never end.
though now that i’m just a commencement out of it, things are starting to get pretty nostalgic.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:10 pm (#)
NTU doesn’t put you in suits or heels.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:39 pm (#)
Hear hear! Especially the constant name dropping of various MNCs at ALL ‘career talks’. Ugh.
February 9th, 2007 at 4:41 pm (#)
this is all too familiar.
i hate the world too.
dinner soon. hang in there. : )
February 9th, 2007 at 7:58 pm (#)
i HAVE TO COMMENT about this.
Way to go girl!!
it’s grrreeeaat (far greater than anything) that you choose what you love to do and not be stuck by conventionals. That’s WHY i choose to quit local U to pursue something that is far better than the few measly courses in the few measly unis here.
February 9th, 2007 at 8:00 pm (#)
i want some tandoori fish.. :) take care! MacBook is back in action, was unable to connect to the net yesterday using the built-in ethernet yesterday..
February 10th, 2007 at 12:31 am (#)
interesting thoughts. Well, but not everyone is like you, bold =).
I agree with you about the education and mnc. The thing is these MNCs keep acquiring small companies.. so it is actually scary..
February 10th, 2007 at 2:06 am (#)
[...] Looks like the last post really struck a chord, but that’ll be the last time I talk about the school (and my place within the education system). I’d told myself from the first year that I was going to try to be positive about it; tried very hard I did. I still think I ought to have “gotten out while I could” and I’m still going to kick myself for not doing so. While I’ve mostly succeeded for the most part in ignoring it — why do you think I travel so much? to get out! — it was a certain series of events which really drove home the point that this was all a mistake (I suppose such open declaration means I’ll be quietly fired as the school “Advocate”, hah). [...]
February 11th, 2007 at 8:46 pm (#)
Friend says he went for the talk too, but just scanned his talk and left.
Creative Thinking! :P
February 12th, 2007 at 12:26 pm (#)
my exact sentiments whenever i am in school. and i just hate the pointless banter with peers about which major to study, which company to go to and countless other brainwashed stuff.
nevertheless, i am still happy (somewhat) to be here…sure beats studying science in the west!
February 14th, 2007 at 4:38 pm (#)
well said!
i HATED the system.
like you, i chose to join smu of my own free will,
but i realised that i got out of 1 wretched system and into another.
i slugged through it all and graduated in 3 years.
hang in there!
=)
March 4th, 2007 at 5:30 pm (#)
I graduated from smu last year. Managed to get through my 4 years there without having to don heels (yes, i’m female). I’ll admit it’s hard to get out of having to wear a suit, but choice of footwear very much depends on personal preference and there are more sensible options around if you know how to tweak it to your own sense of style.
That said, I have to agree that red tape is everywhere, even in establishments that claim to be “different”. At this point, pretty much all you can do is to ride it out and enjoy the cheap beer! ;]
March 30th, 2007 at 4:22 pm (#)
[...] Hahaha. mrbrown takes a dig at my school — I am convinced that my screenshot of that school email (see above) provided the inspiration. You NEED to listen to this! The disillusioned of SMU (and there are many of you), rejoice. [...]
March 31st, 2007 at 11:25 pm (#)
YES! Another disillusioned soul from SMU. SMU is becoming so stuffy, like the corporate offices you see down in the CBD, I wont be surprised if any Singaporean mistakes us for the working crowds working in a major building downtown given how often we wear those stupid presentation attires.
9 more months for me, and good riddance!
October 31st, 2007 at 11:31 am (#)
[...] last grumpy post about school, because it’s nearly [...]
November 12th, 2007 at 2:29 pm (#)
[...] schedule. I expected to be nothing short of elated—my opinion on the education I received is no secret. (With a qualification: if I had to stay in this country, it would still be here; which [...]