NOC Biovalley— My experiences in Philly
Philadelphia— "the City of Brotherly Love", the first capital in the United States,
the centerpiece of early American history. I have been fortunate enough to be selected for the Jan ‘08 NOC programme and to spend one entire year in this city rich with history and culture. The first few weeks whizzed past in a flash as everyone struggled to fight jet lag, look for accommodation and settle administrative matters. As soon as we get accustomed to our surroundings, it was time to travel! I would not say that we were the adventurous type, as the first place we hit was the factory outlets at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Shopping, as we soon discovered, would become an integral part of our life in United States. Brands like Coach, Guess, Ralph Lauren Polo etc had become affordable to most of us for the first time in our life. The best thing is that it is alright to shop on impulse as one can always return the item and the sales personnel never seems to mind.
Shopping aside, we also visited other cities for the sake of widening our
horizons, such as New York (of course!), Washington DC, Boston, Baltimore, Connecticut and Cape Cod. Most of the time we would take a bus, but recently, we had finally gathered enough courage to go on a road trip. What is so unique about each city is that there are always some intriguing stories behind them. For instance, Boston, Connecticut and Cape Cod are located in the region interestingly called the New England, as it has been known that the English Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution in Europe first settled there in 1620. While some people prioritize visiting places of attraction, it is important for me that I learn about the history and culture of the place that I visit. The objective of traveling for me has always been to learn and appreciate more about the differences between Singapore and the rest of the world.
In case you are wondering, NOC is not just about play. It is also about a lot of work. Compared to NUS, the University of Pennsylvania is indeed very different, not only in its type of education, but the characteristics of the professors, the students and the professor-student relationships. While it is rare to see students interrupting the professor and asking questions or presenting their opinions in a typical NUS Chemical Engineering lecture or tutorial, it is the norm over at Upenn. It seems like every student’s primary task is to get the teacher to remember their names by the end of the first week, and failing to do so would adversely affect his or her grades. Unlike NUS, class participation usually takes up a tremendous component of the overall grade. However, as aggressive as it sounds, it is really a testament to their culture of tolerating and encouraging failures as people participate in class without fear of giving the wrong answer. Learning to become more vocal and to think with greater speed and depth are some of the common take away after a semester at Upenn.
Learning opportunities go beyond the classroom, as it is compulsory for us to serve as an intern to one of the start up companies in Philadelphia. I have been truly lucky to be granted my first choice company Orbius Corporation. It is a social media networking company which allows users like us to build our own communities (think NUS Chemical engineers and ChESS) for free. There are several features like the forum, the resource library and image gallery that are provided to enhance interaction among the community members. As my company is very new, I am able to
apply most of the concepts which I learnt during my course, Engineering Entrepreneurship. Not only that, my boss is a seasoned entrepreneur who has started 1 other companies and worked for 5 early stage companies like eMoney, which has been acquired by Commerce Bank. It is not difficult to see why he is so successful and each week, he would offer us insights into the web 2.0 arena or motivational stories pertaining to his entrepreneurial background. What I appreciate the most was his insistence that we are given freedom to consider the important tasks we need to do for the company and take responsibility for our own actions. This level of autonomy granted has set free the creative juices that I did not know I had. Moreover, the fact that the majority of the employees are young also means that I have little problem clicking with everyone. In Orbius, I see limitless opportunities to grow as a person and hopefully become closer to fulfilling my dream of becoming an entrepreneur.
The advice for NUS students who are considering the application for NOC is that they should question themselves about how clear they are about the goals to be accomplished for the one year programme. They need to constantly remind themselves that they need to be open-minded, as well as to have self motivation with regards to what they want to accomplish. In Philadelphia, there are countless opportunities for one to learn about entrepreneurship. For example, there are frequent networking sessions for those who hope to enlarge their social circle and learn from the other entrepreneurs who have been there and done that. As long as one is understand what he or she is here for, and plan how they would go about realizing their objectives, this one year in Biovalley would definitely be an enriching and fulfilling one.
Philadelphia— "the City of Brotherly Love", the first capital in the United States,
the centerpiece of early American history. I have been fortunate enough to be selected for the Jan ‘08 NOC programme and to spend one entire year in this city rich with history and culture. The first few weeks whizzed past in a flash as everyone struggled to fight jet lag, look for accommodation and settle administrative matters. As soon as we get accustomed to our surroundings, it was time to travel! I would not say that we were the adventurous type, as the first place we hit was the factory outlets at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Shopping, as we soon discovered, would become an integral part of our life in United States. Brands like Coach, Guess, Ralph Lauren Polo etc had become affordable to most of us for the first time in our life. The best thing is that it is alright to shop on impulse as one can always return the item and the sales personnel never seems to mind.
Shopping aside, we also visited other cities for the sake of widening our
horizons, such as New York (of course!), Washington DC, Boston, Baltimore, Connecticut and Cape Cod. Most of the time we would take a bus, but recently, we had finally gathered enough courage to go on a road trip. What is so unique about each city is that there are always some intriguing stories behind them. For instance, Boston, Connecticut and Cape Cod are located in the region interestingly called the New England, as it has been known that the English Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution in Europe first settled there in 1620. While some people prioritize visiting places of attraction, it is important for me that I learn about the history and culture of the place that I visit. The objective of traveling for me has always been to learn and appreciate more about the differences between Singapore and the rest of the world.In case you are wondering, NOC is not just about play. It is also about a lot of work. Compared to NUS, the University of Pennsylvania is indeed very different, not only in its type of education, but the characteristics of the professors, the students and the professor-student relationships. While it is rare to see students interrupting the professor and asking questions or presenting their opinions in a typical NUS Chemical Engineering lecture or tutorial, it is the norm over at Upenn. It seems like every student’s primary task is to get the teacher to remember their names by the end of the first week, and failing to do so would adversely affect his or her grades. Unlike NUS, class participation usually takes up a tremendous component of the overall grade. However, as aggressive as it sounds, it is really a testament to their culture of tolerating and encouraging failures as people participate in class without fear of giving the wrong answer. Learning to become more vocal and to think with greater speed and depth are some of the common take away after a semester at Upenn.
Learning opportunities go beyond the classroom, as it is compulsory for us to serve as an intern to one of the start up companies in Philadelphia. I have been truly lucky to be granted my first choice company Orbius Corporation. It is a social media networking company which allows users like us to build our own communities (think NUS Chemical engineers and ChESS) for free. There are several features like the forum, the resource library and image gallery that are provided to enhance interaction among the community members. As my company is very new, I am able to
apply most of the concepts which I learnt during my course, Engineering Entrepreneurship. Not only that, my boss is a seasoned entrepreneur who has started 1 other companies and worked for 5 early stage companies like eMoney, which has been acquired by Commerce Bank. It is not difficult to see why he is so successful and each week, he would offer us insights into the web 2.0 arena or motivational stories pertaining to his entrepreneurial background. What I appreciate the most was his insistence that we are given freedom to consider the important tasks we need to do for the company and take responsibility for our own actions. This level of autonomy granted has set free the creative juices that I did not know I had. Moreover, the fact that the majority of the employees are young also means that I have little problem clicking with everyone. In Orbius, I see limitless opportunities to grow as a person and hopefully become closer to fulfilling my dream of becoming an entrepreneur.The advice for NUS students who are considering the application for NOC is that they should question themselves about how clear they are about the goals to be accomplished for the one year programme. They need to constantly remind themselves that they need to be open-minded, as well as to have self motivation with regards to what they want to accomplish. In Philadelphia, there are countless opportunities for one to learn about entrepreneurship. For example, there are frequent networking sessions for those who hope to enlarge their social circle and learn from the other entrepreneurs who have been there and done that. As long as one is understand what he or she is here for, and plan how they would go about realizing their objectives, this one year in Biovalley would definitely be an enriching and fulfilling one.
