My friend is going to complete engineering in ITE. Should he serve NS or go to poly first as he does not know what engineering course to take?

How strong is your friend mentally? Can he handle himself physically?

If he can, probably good to complete his NS first. Clock up the time and start on the reservist cycle. He could also use the time to study on his interests. And whatever he learnt in poly can be used in his career if he want to find a job after poly.

Hello there! I'd recommend your friend to pick a poly course soon and enter poly first.

This is just my opinion and your friend should make his decision on his own.

If I were in your friend's position, I would want to enter poly ASAP. If he chooses NS first, he'd be 20/21 upon ORD? It might be hard to vibe with 16/17 year old students that just came from secondary school. The age and generation gap will be wider as compared to if he were to enter poly just after ITE.

In terms of what course, it really depends on his preference. Is he a more mechanical, electrical or science (chemical/bio) kinda person. Polys also offer the common engineering programme, where students will cover both electrical and mechanical modules in the first year. Then they will be streamed into the more focused courses in year 2. But by going to this path, he has to do better than the other students in common engineering as they will be competing to be streamed into the more popular courses (like aerospace, etc).

Check out when is the poly open house and tell him to go down and take a look! It should b soon.