DSA - School Preference Stage

The deadline for opting for the DSA offers is, by now, over. What a relief!

It had been quite a mentally draining exercise pondering over the questions: Which is the better route? The more-familiar A-level route or the less-familiar IB Diploma route? Will WY thrive and excel in the IB programme? Or will it be better that he sticks to the mainstream A-level drilling and mugging regime? What will WY be happiest doing and where will he learn most effectively? Can and will SOTA deliver? Is its academic programme rigorous enough to get WY into the university?

.................

I spoke to WY extensively about his preferences. He said he likes the idea of pursuing music and does not mind that he will have to work and practise very hard on the piano, but he does not want to do just only that. He wants to also study subjects like Science, Mathematics, History, Geography etc like the other secondary students. In fact, he is looking forward to studying such things as Literature and Geography.

So, I probed and asked and probed and asked. It's tiring and I must have sounded ultra long-winded, but eventually, we came to a decision.

To sum up, WY wants something interesting (he wants to learn composing music!) and challenging (like studying the academic subjects) but does not mind being different from his classmates (based on what WY knows, no one else in his school has tried for SOTA).

In his words, he is ok with going to SOTA although he would also like to see if his results would qualify him for other places like HCI or DHS. (I know at least one of his closer friends is going to either HCI or DHS.)

So, we worked out our strategy, made our choice and now only await the final results.