The A*Star Process   

As you near completion/or even completed your ‘A’ levels, many of you would not only be contemplating on your university choices but also scholarship awards. Apart from the rare and very fortunate PM (Papa Mama) scholars, the majority of us would be applying for a scholarship. In view of that, this article would hopefully provide you with some insights to a very important or even crucial part of the application process – the interview. 

Since I am a NSS (BS) scholar, I will give my take on the interview process of applying for the A*STAR NSS (BS). It would be based solely on my interview experience and certainly is not exhaustive. 

For the application to the NSS (BS), A*STAR is relatively generous with the deadline and there should be no reason for you not to submit decently well written essays and get your forms in on time. You can get more information about the forms and requirements from http://www.a-star.edu.sg/graduate_academy_and_scholarships/60-National-Science-Scholarships-BS-. 

The A*STAR Graduate Academy (AGA) will then contact you shortly for a preliminary round. Check your email frequently for updates and do contact the AGA officers if the interview timings are not convenient. They are all very nice and will most definitely help you out. To the guys in NS, they are willing to call your superior to liaise for you if you fail to convince them to let you out. There will be a total of 3 interviews with the group getting progressively smaller as people get taken out of the list. 

- Round 1 -  

As with all interviews, I would strongly suggest all interviewees to be appropriately dressed. First impressions are really important. A tie is not always necessary but it will be good for you to bring one along in your bag if you don’t feel like putting it on. When you are there and see everybody dressed so formally, you would naturally want to get one around your neck. I did not wear a tie for my first round of interview but wore one for my final round. 

Advice for the guys serving NS, please get your superior to release you early – by the time the interviews come, you should most likely in OCS, SISPEC or unit with the rare few still in BMT. Freshen up before you come and I advise against coming in your uniform. More often than not you will sweat on your way to Biopolis which generally translates to bad body odour. 

In the email inviting you to A*STAR for the first round of interview, they might require you to submit a softcopy of your CV. Don’t get too worried about the format. The AGA officers sent me a copy of the CV template with the invitation mail. You just got to take 10min to fill it in and all would be done. 

The first round of interviews is a pretty short one, lasting around 15-20min. If my memory serves me right, there are 3 interviewers. They asked me very general questions centered mostly on the application you sent in. Therefore it is a good idea to read up on the application essays you sent in. They basically want to know if you have any interest in science and research from what you have done in school – talk about your commitments and leadership position (if any – I don’t) and it should be fine. They also asked me about my recreational activities, what type of books do you read and stuff.  Do not make up things as they would ask you to elaborate and the notes they took will most certainly be sent to the interviewers for the next round. 

If you have done any research, please know what is going on. The interviewers are scientists and will certainly know if you are just trying to smoke them. Just pray hard that they do not specialize in the field of your research – it then becomes very important to know what you are talking about since it will most likely either make (if they are impressed with your work) or break (if they realize you are smoking them) you. 

- Round 2 -  

If you are successful for the first round, AGA will contact you again via email to go back to Biopolis for a second round. The second round is an Assessment Center by Civil Service College (CSC) consultants. It could either be before the final or after the final round of interview (mine was almost a month later). 

The session will take a whole day from morning to evening. For all of you who are also applying to the DSTA scholarship, the assessment is similar in length to the second round. AGA would ask you to bring along a sweater as the aircon might get a bit cold after a while. For guys serving NS, the AGA officers will fax a letter of request for you to be released. There is nothing much to prepare except to have a good rest the night before – you will need the energy. 

The assessment is actually quite simple. You will be split into groups and each group will perform a different task simultaneously. The task includes psychometric tests and several group discussions. The psychometric test is basically hundreds of MCQs which will get very boring after a while.  

The group discussions on the other hand will be quite interesting. For the different tasks, the teams will be shuffles around so you will get to interact with almost everyone present that day. You can be presented with a scenario and asked to brainstorm on the possible problems and solutions, eg a team of scientists who are sending Singapore’s first shuttle into space. The team would then have to make a mini-presentation to the assessors observing you. Also, you might be given a question and asked to discuss and come up with an answer best representative of the group eg. What is the greatest scientific invention/progress? 

The main objective of these discussions is to see how well you are able to work in a team and at the same time think critically. Take the initiative if necessary to start the discussion and embrace the suggestions of others. Do speak up appropriately and not make a fool of yourself by being over protective of your ideas and be too critical about other people’s opinion. Very importantly, manage the time give for the discussion wisely. You will always wish for more time but the team must agree on the answer before the time runs out. One of the purposes of the discussion is also to see how well the group can decide collectively on an issue. It will not only reflect badly on you but also the whole team if the objective of the task is not met. 

- Round 3 - 

The final round of interview will actually come very quickly after the conclusion of the last day of first interviews. To give you an idea, I was in the last day of interview for first round and I receive an email from AGA the next day regarding the final interview which turned out to be less than 5 days away. 

The interview will be conducted by the chairman himself, LG (NS) Lim Chuan Poh and 2 others. If I recalled correctly (remembering their name tags were the last things on my mind then), my interviewers were Prof Miranda Yap, Executive Director of AGA and Prof Lee Eng Hin, executive Director of BMRC.  

For dress code, do wear something presentable. Although a blazer would be excessive in my opinion, a tie would be preferred. I will strongly encourage you to arrive at least 15min earlier. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the environment, drink some water, use the toilet and may sure you look the best. The last thing you want to do is to enter the room looking like you woke up 30min ago. 

This interview will last slightly longer than the first round with the chairman asking most of the questions. This would be far more intense and fast-paced than the previous one. Do prepare yourself to take barrage of questions that would be pelting down on you in the interview room. There will be much less time for you to think through your replies compared to the first round when you generally dictate the pace of the interview. 

Try not to crumple under the pressure and phrase you sentences properly. Give truthful replies instead of ‘model answers’ you think they would want to hear since it is unlikely for you to keep up the act when the 3 of them are listening and asking questions. Don’t be alarmed if you are interrupted in your replies – most of the time the chairman just wants to clarify your points. I remembered it being very disorienting to break your train of thought to answer the intermittent questions shot at you. Try your best to stay on track of what you are saying and don’t go off tangent and start rambling. 

Stay confident of the work that you have done – research and other commitments. The interviewers might seem to be attacking what you have done in school and the effort you put in but the truth is they want to find out if you are prepared to commit yourself to scientific research as a career. Show that you are willing to put in a lot of hard work and are sure about committing yourself and it would be ok. 

However do try to keep your cool when the interview gets heated up. The chairman is a very fast thinker and speaker. Consequently, his questions typically come across as sharp and critical but remember to stay composed and answer his questions sequentially. Try not to speak so fast until your words by-passes you brain in an attempt to out-talk the interviewer – it is always easier to ask questions faster than you can answer them.  

You should also expect some personal questions that might possibly roll over from the first interviews. I was asked about the type of magazines and books that I read and what articles that I found interesting. Try not to mention things that you cannot or is difficult to justify like you read forbes but knows nothing about the current economy.  

For the guys in NS, be prepared to tackle some questions about the army. For the people in OCS and SISPEC, it should be ok. I remember him asking why I not go into command school and what impact NS had on my life. If you haven’t notice, the A*STAR chairman was from the SAF and these questions shouldn’t come across as out of the blue. 

With that, all the interviews you will encounter with A*STAR will be over and it will be an anxious wait till end May when the results of the application will be out. This are what my thoughts were and the process I went through for my A*STAR applications. I hope it will be helpful to anyone apply for this scholarship. 

In the meantime, you might still be in the process of having DSTA or PSC interviews or A*STAR might invite you to their tea-sessions. Do contact me if you need more clarification or help. Good luck and have fun!

See Yiyang

HCJC Graduating Class of 2006

If you want to contact him with any queries contact me at realityrules@gmail.com

- Joshua