Essay:What are the most important factors you will consider in choosing a school? Discuss.

In life, it is very often that you are asked to make decisions and choices. One choice that you have to make at a young age is choosing a school to study in for the next three or four years. How would you choose a school? Which factors would you base it on? Therefore I will be discussing the most important factors I will consider in choosing a school, namely the reputation of the school, where the school is located, the courses offered by the school and the co-curricular activities that the school is best for.

  The first factor is the reputation of the school. I am sure that you have heard about the bullying incident that happened at Shuqun Secondary School recently. After that incident, the Principal of Shuqun Secondary School commented that it takes years to build up a good reputation but only moments to destroy it. Yes, I agree with his statement very much as a school's reputation is important when choosing a school. A school's reputation can be affected by whether the students are well-behaved, whether the teachers are caring and able to teach well and how well the school fares academically. However, rather than focusing on as school's academic results, I focus more on the quality of the students who enter that school. Naturally, students would prefer to study in a school where they are surrounded by well-behaved, polite, and neatly-dressed students and are influenced positively.  On the other hand, students like me would try to avoid choosing schools whereby students smoke publicly in their schools uniforms although they are underage or are spotted kissing at the staircase of a public venue. Parents alike would not trust the school to teach good values and take care of their children well if they witness the students tarnishing the school's reputation through their actions as no parent would wish for their children to succumb to negative peer pressure and  step onto the wrong path in life.  Therefore, a school's reputation is one of the most important factors while choosing a school.

  The second factor is the location and accessibility of the school. Is it near to my house? Or do I have to take a one hour bus ride to and fro just to attend lessons in school? When choosing a school, I also consider the distance of the school away from my house. I would prefer a school which is nearby because I can clearly save on travelling and it is definitely more convenient for me to travel by foot to school on a daily basis. Taking myself as an example, I chose Fuhua Secondary School 3 years ago as I would only need to take a ten-minute walk from my house to school.  In this way, my sleep would not be sacrificed and I can rest well for every brand new school day, ensuring that I stay attentive and not doze off during lessons.  Accessibility is another point that is linked to the location of the school. Now that we students are deciding where to further out studies, we must consider how convenient it is to take the public transport there.  For example, comparing Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic, some may choose the latter because Dover MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) Station is situated right at its doorstep and they are connected by a bridge, but Ngee Ann Polytechnic requires students to first take the train to Clementi station and then ride a public bus there, which is more of a hassle. 

  However, it is not that easy to make a decision which concerns the next three years of my life, so the third major factor to take into consideration is the courses offered by the school. When thinking about the courses offered, I will consider my interests as learning about something I like will undoubtedly be more enjoyable than something that I am not so interested in. Hence, a school which offers a course that I favour and caters to my needs will be chosen over one which does not offer it. For me, I am looking for polytechnics offering the course Mass Communication as I would like to pursue my interest in the media industry in the future. Additionally, some schools stand out more than others due to their availability of courses which are not offered in other schools. For instance, Ngee Ann Polytechnic offers Psychological Studies as a course, so my friend is considering whether to study there after her 'O' levels. Depending on your learning style, you may also choose a school which offers special courses involving a more hands-on approach as compared to lectures. Therefore, the courses offered by a school also play an important role when deciding a school to study in.

  The last factor is the co-curricular activities(CCAs) offered by the schools, which the school is best for. Some schools are well-known for their CCAs and call them their niche. For instance, Fuhua Secondary School, which is the school I am currently studying in, is best known for its outstanding uniformed groups and Robotics, which all achieve remarkable results every year, be it for a national competition or the best unit award. Some people that I know of choose the school based on the special CCAs the schools offer, especially if the CCAs perform well in many national and even international competitions, as they would like to receive plenty of opportunities to showcase their talents through CCAs too. Hence, CCAs of a school are also significant when choosing a school.

  All in all, the most important factors that I will consider in choosing a school are the reputation of the school, the location and accessibility of the school, the courses offered and the CCAs available. It is no doubt that choosing a school to study in for your near future is a very difficult choice to make. However, I am sure that with the factors that I have mentioned above, you will be able to choose wisely and choose a school that caters to most of your needs after weighing the pros and cons of each school meticulously.

 Score:21/30