Should I take the honours degree?

For  students admitted before AY2021/2022, the NUS Bachelor of Science degree (Major in Statistics) actually gives you the freedom to exit after 3 years - This was actually one of the reasons I picked this degree. Interested students can continue to study 1 more year (4 years in total) for the honours degree. 

I was personally extremely conflicted about taking the honours degree as I was getting burnt out by the rigorous curriculum and wasn't sure how writing a thesis paper would help me with getting a job. Eventually, I chose to go with the honours because I wanted to read more data science modules and I wanted to write a thesis on Deep Learning. Thankfully all stars aligned for me and I actually got my topic and professor (!!!) 

I'll now list down the pros and cons of the honours degree for you: 

Pros

• If you don't know what you want to do/ Want to avoid working as soon as possible/ The job market is bad (I thought that graduating in 2019 was bad enough, then I realised how wrong I was, the job market just got worser every year)
• Having a 4 years degree provides you with the flexibility and option of going for a Masters degree further down the road (you never know)
• Writing your thesis on an interesting topic allows you to self-study extensively on the topic. If you choose a great topic and project, it might even help you with your job interviews 
• 1 more year to do whatever cool modules you are interested in. For me it was more data science modules 

Cons

• Stress. I was still taking on a lot of workload during my final year because I failed my modules during exchange semester. So there was A LOT of stress.
• 1 year of writing thesis + clearing modules might not be meaningful and value-add to you 
• 1 year less of work experience and money. 
• Personal thought: This is slightly negligible in my opinion. You will get to work for the next 40 years of your life so what kind of "damage" will that 1 year less of experience have on you? Furthermore, a fresh grad probably earns 3.5k on average so it's just 12 * 3.5k = 42k of salary that you are missing out. Don't forget about taxes and pension contributions (CPF, if you are a Singaporean). But please bear in mind that this is purely a personal opinion. You should decide for yourself what is more important!

I have friends who took the exit after Year 3. 

1. Some left because their grades were not good and they know that they don't want a statistics/data-related job (traumaaaaa) and so they left, switched career tracks and started getting real work experience and earn some money. 
2. There are also friends who left with good grades (>Cap 4.0) because they believed that having real work experience is more valuable than writing a thesis. 

Then I also have friends who continued with the honours in Year 4

1. Those really smart friends obviously continued with the honours 🤣
2. There are the average students just like me, who genuinely wanted to just learn more and wanted to keep all our options open 

Verdict: Did I regret my choice? 

Not at all, in fact I actually recommend people to do the honours if they know that they want to get a data analytics/statistics related job after graduate! 3 years of knowledge is not enough in my opinion. 

Myth debunk: Is it true that the grade for your thesis is capped based on your current NUS CAP?

There was a rumour during my times in university that there is a cap to the maximum grade that your thesis can earn and it depends on how high your NUS CAP is. For example if your CAP is below 4, then maybe the maximum grade your thesis can get is B+. I was actually quite terrified when I heard this. 

I can confidently tell you that it is simply not true! My CAP was below 4.0 but I got A- or A for my thesis (oops I can't remember hahaha). So just give it your all and it will all work out for you in the end.