Alvin Wang’s NUS Appeal: Facts
I was stupid enough [1] to vent yesterday on Alvin Wang’s NUS appeal, and stupider to forget that the post could very well go viral, given the attention given to Alvin’s appeal. So this is the last post I’m going to write on the topic. I will summarize everything we know to be true of this saga, and correct the bits where I was wrong.
What We Know
- Alvin is passionate about: programming, design, and games development. Therefore he wants to get into Computer Science, because this is the only way he can specialize in Communications and Media. He was given Information Systems. He does not want this.
- Alvin did not mention he got into NUS IS on his site. The site made it seem like he got rejected from NUS, and desperately wants to get in.
- He has appealed for CS through the official channels.
- It is possible to switch from IS to CS from within NUS. [2]
- People are pissed that he misrepresented his situation.
What We Do Not Know
- If Alvin willfully misrepresented himself in his campaign. Counter arguments to this include: a) he forgot to mention it b) it is okay to try everything in your power to get what you want c) he was being ‘technically’ honest d) he is not trying to deceive people, but he is not being honest either. e) no harm was done.
What I Was Wrong About
- I was wrong to speculate about his motivations for taking CS. I assumed it was because he thought CS was a better course. This is wrong: he wanted CS simply because he wanted to get into the Communications and Media Major. This is a valid reason. For this I owe him an apology. [3]
What many people: two professors, myself, and a number of observers agree on
- He wasted a lot of people’s time. Being honest from the start would’ve still worked out in his favour. I would still have gladly supported him, had I known in advance he wanted CS(CM) instead of IS.
Now people are just annoyed at him [4].
And I need to get back to more important things. Let this be the last I write of this topic; we all have better things to do. I wish Alvin only the best of luck.
Update: final conversation with Alvin here.
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[1] Time spent writing posts like this is time not spent programming, studying, or working on the book future. This is a real waste of time; I should’ve just shut up and kept my hands away from the keyboard yesterday.
[2] Prof Ben Leong: ‘This is really a non issue. I don’t think there should be much problems with a transfer. Quite common to find transfers between IS and CS and vice versa. Sometimes even in Year 2.’
[3] I’m sorry Alvin - I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt on this one.
[4] “So as you might have read from the Sunday Times today, Alvin’s website did not tell us the entire truth. He did in fact get into NUS School of Computing. He was offered an IS course, but he did not want that. He wanted to be in CS. I suddenly feel really annoyed at having been misled by his theatrics.” http://zitseng.com/archives/3862
