Advice for upcoming Direct Polytechnic Admission (DPA) interviews

A student who was shortlisted for certain courses at Singapore Polytechnic (Media and Communications, Creative Writing For TV and New Media) took to the internet asking for some peer advice about readying oneself for the upcoming interviews. Second year Singapore Polytechnic student Mr Budy Hartono Foo Bin Abdul Rahman who is pursuing a diploma in Applied Drama and Psychology offers some personal thoughts:

" Your interviewers will be lecturers and course chair of the respective course. As usual, the interview will start with an ice breaker, probably asking you why you selected this course etc. What the interviewers are looking out are: 1) How suited you are for the course and 2) Whether you have a strong interest / passion in the said field.


Before you attend the interviews, do some research about those two courses. Generally SP's School of Communication, Arts and Social Sciences are intensive with deadlines; amongst the three courses mine has the most exams even though we have at most 3 papers per semester. Internship is a semester long and it happens during the last semester of the final year. So technically we have 5 semesters and the grade attained for the internship will not affect your Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). By going into either Media and Communications (DMC) or Creative Writing (DTVM) you can pick up this special Diploma-plus program that is only available to these two courses on 'Digital Film'.


DTVM is a course that teaches you to create stories and content for various media. The 3 year DTVM course can be summarized as: Dream it, Write it, Make it. In the first year you learn the basics of story-telling, while in year 2 you shall learn the about the different methods/avenues of story-telling. In the third and final year, you shall learn how to bring your drafted stories to life (ie actual execution with budgeting etc.). The only written exam you will sit for is that on Media Law and Ethics in year 3; bear in mind though this course is crazily laden with project deadlines. This course is pretty interesting and in year 3 you are flown to possibly another country for an On-Location Production where you are put to the test with everything you learnt about executing a project from scratch to finish(ie budgeting, face-to-cam). Potential internship positions include those at The Today Paper (SPH), CNA (Mediacorp), Asian Food Channel, Fox International, Prime Minister's Office (PMO),specific government offices and Asian Geographic.


DMC is slightly different from the Mass Communication courses conducted in Temasek Polytechnic(TP) and Nanyang Polytechnic (NP). DMC trains you in areas including advertising and pitching of ideas. There are some Psychology related modules which have to be studied but the content involved is less thorough compared to what I learn in my course. If I am not mistaken, there are 3 year long modules such as Visual Communication where you can acquire know-how about typography and drawing logos etc. I'm not sure about internship placing; however you can always try doing some digging on the internet or asking someone.


Go into the interviews with an open mind. I had very little drama experience and was very inhibited at the start of the interview and it's okay to not know what you exactly want to do in the future. They let me in because I showed that I am willing to try new things and give my very best. Good luck with your interview!"


THANK YOU MR BUDY HARTONO FOO BIN ABDUL RAHMAN FOR ALLOWING US TO REPRODUCE YOUR POST.


The Czar (Site Founder)

Dated 23 July 2015


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