My first year at NUS Business

After I joined NUS, many professionals told me not to rely solely on the academic content we learn. Business graduates are a dime a dozen and school knowledge would be outdated by graduation. This prompted me to think about the activities that would grant me a fulfilling 4 years. In my first year, I participated in 3 case competitions (2 stock pitch competitions), joined CCAs I was interested in, and made sure to also play hard with my friends who stayed on campus. Here are some of my personal reflections from my first year as an undergraduate.

Be realistic and celebrate small wins

While searching for some inspiration on this sharing point, I found this image which sums it up beautifully. To make the best of my first year, I immersed myself in extracurricular activities. In my first semester, I joined 2 stock pitching competitions despite not knowing how to read financial statements. These competitions were extremely time-consuming as I had to learn while doing, resulting in many all-nighters. I learnt two things from this experience. First, I learnt the importance of choosing good teammates. Although competence is a key factor, motivation is just as (if not more) important. If winning the competition does not matter to your teammates as much as it does to you, it is very difficult to win. Second, I learnt many technical skills through the feedback and resources provided by the competition organizers. Although I would try my best to win, I knew it was unlikely because I lacked the knowledge and experience that the more senior competitors had. Realistically, I hoped to learn new skills and (perhaps) get a participation certificate for my efforts. Surprisingly, my team and I actually won second runner-up in the NUS selection round for the NUS-SGX Stock Research Competition 2019. That taught me that as long as you avail yourself to opportunities, you leave the door open for favorable events to happen. However, the converse is true as well.

Prepare for the unexpected

As I performed well in my first semester, I drastically increased the workload in my second semester. I took 2 extra modules for the semester and participated in another consulting case competition. I thought that would help me perform better in subsequent years with a lighter workload and more knowledge. However, like a pilot flying without emergency safety measures, I was not prepared for unexpected events. When the semester started, my family ran into serious financial issues and I had to chip in to keep my family afloat. I ended up working 2 part-time jobs - giving private tuition and cleaning houses; any "highly paid" part-time jobs I could find. However, the stress of these unexpected commitments, school work, and other personal matters took a huge toll on my mental and physical health. I had very little sleep, constantly worried about my next meal, and struggled to keep up in school. I hung in there, believing that all these efforts would pay off someday. I also started to attend networking events and growing my LinkedIn during this period. With God's grace, I somehow survived and my grades turned out fine. It was definitely one of the toughest periods in my life and I felt like I lucked out, eventually bringing this troubled plane to a relatively safe landing.

The main thing I took away from that experience is to balance my commitments better by giving myself buffer time and capacity to react to unexpected situations. We can never predict what will happen, but we should always be prepared to handle what comes our way.

Leverage on all available resources

The final lesson I learnt: In times of crisis, friends and other resources are like that round log in the photo above. Without that log, it would be impossible for the man in the photo to lift the word "Crisis" with the stick. In my poorest days in school, I had no money for my meals. Fortunately, my girlfriend Mingjie offered to help me find extra meal tickets from her hostel mates who were not eating their allocated breakfast or dinner. To ease her burden, I approached my friends who stayed in other hostels and I traded meals between us. By offering them one meal from Mingjie's hostel, I was able to secure 2 in theirs because the food differed across hostels and they were willing to try. Some others like Clarissa Tan gave me their meals when they were not eating. When my slippers broke, my best friend Jian Kiat gave me a pair of spare slippers he had at home. When I needed a high paying job, another best friend of mine, Darryl offered to let me teach his younger brother tuition for $35 an hour. When I was lost, I was guided by kind seniors like Sagar Shah, Esmond Tan, Ryan Soh, Shaun Wong, Gary Lim, Gideon Wong, and many more. With my friends' help and my life savings, I was able to tide my family through these tough times and still performed well in school. This experience showed me the importance of accumulating resources - friends, money, and trust. I am blessed to have these people who help me unconditionally. They are the reason I aspire to do the same for others who are not as lucky as I am.

My first year in university has been a real eventful one and I am grateful for the opportunity to experience it. I am humbled by the experience and I am excited for my second year in NUS Business School. Thank you for reading this article, I hope you enjoyed it :)