These articles were written for Republic Polytechnic's annual Open House

While waiting for my ‘O’ levels results then, I visited a few open houses and ended up getting caught up in the other activities I never got a proper chance to find out about the courses I had interest. I never got into those courses but settled for one I never knew existed due to my lack of research.

Moving forward three years later, while helping out in my school’s open house, I realised a certain trend among visitors- most of them had no idea about the courses available here and mostly came for the freebies. Have people forgotten the main objective behind open houses? So how does one go to an open house to know more about their course of choice without getting distracted? 

Firstly, it is important to know what industry you want to join in the future. Research on courses related to that industry and find out what modules are offered and job perspectives. Also, do not let the names of the courses fool you. For instance, do you know there is a course in Republic Polytechnic that offers almost similar modules in other Media and Mass Communication courses in other schools? If the course booklets do not give u a proper description of the course, you can check it out on the school’s website or ask people already in those schools about the course.

You can plan this according to the dates of the open houses or time for open houses that fall on the same day. The best times to go for open houses (if you want to focus solely on knowing more about your courses) are usually in the morning when they first start. It would be easier to gain information on your preferred courses and explore the open house without the crowd. If you plan to stay for the activities, it would be best to stay for at least half the day- there are tons of booths and activities you can engage with.

Open houses are located too far? Not to worry, check out information on the school websites on the quickest way to get there. Most schools also have chartered buses specially for you!

Not all your answers to your questions would usually be at the booth and sometimes the booths do not contain any vital information. Asking the student helpers and the lecturers standing around would help you answer your queries. Lecturers would give you an insight on what to expect when you enrol into the course while students of that course would share their own experiences and thoughts on the course. It would be a good chance to get acquainted with your future course mates too!

After finding out what you need to specifically, do not be afraid to check out the other booths, there might be courses that might suddenly be of interest to you! Also, most of the booths have attractive freebies and activities you can get involved in. There are also stage activities that can help you gauge the student and co-curricular life in the school too. You might even get a glimpse of celebrities too!

At the end of the day, enjoy yourself at the open houses you go to, they might be an eye opener to what your future school life will be like!