Running head: COLLEGE ACCESS AUTOETHNOGRAPHY

College Access Autoethnography

Thaddeus J. Teo
Seattle University

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Timeline of Key College Activities

My predisposition for going to college occurred before birth. It was the norm throughout
my K-121 and junior college years that was constantly reinforced by teachers, coaches, and
parents. I remember having teachers frequently use class time to plot out our educational
pathways on the whiteboard as we approached the end of primary school and were about to take
a national examination that would determine which secondary school we would go to. The
decision to attend college had been made for me, but the question of where I wanted to go was
something I needed to figure out on my own because neither of my parents had the opportunity
to go to college. It was only until my first year of junior college when I had just turned
seventeen years old that I decided I wanted to go to a large four-year university in the United
States.
Community College, from my current and limited comparative understanding, is a unique
American educational pathway that does not exist in Singapore, Australia, or England. My
understanding of higher education used to be synonymous to a three- or four-year bachelors
degree granting institution. Due to my lack of awareness and understanding, Community
Colleges played a negligible impact in my search process, nor were they considered an option.
The College Board website and informational books I purchased barely had information on
Community Colleges. Moreover, Community Colleges were omitted from college rankings,
which I had largely utilized in the early stages of my search. With my academic interests and
desire to experience a big school as primary criteria, I looked for large universities with strong
research reputations and undergraduate opportunities.

1 My usage of K-12 refers to 6 years of primary school education followed by 4 years of
secondary school education leading to the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of
Education Ordinary Level (GCE O Level). Identical to the British educational system, this
certificate is viewed by American universities as the equivalent of a high school diploma.

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There was nothing more I could do academically since I was already at the post-high
school stage, and taking the SAT was the last of all the requirements needed for application. My
SAT score would eventually determine the range of universities I would have a competitive
application to, and I relied heavily on the Internet and books for information because visiting
colleges was logistically unfeasible. I had to be very independent throughout the process as I
lacked parents, peers, and counselors with relevant knowledge on navigating an American
college application. I was the first among my age cohort to begin the college process, dropping
out of junior college as soon as I knew I was not staying in the Commonwealth system of
education. It was especially difficult being a quasi-international student who had to complete the
domestic student application instead of the international student one, in addition to concurrently
serving mandatory national service in the Singapore Army.
Pivotal Moments in my Pathway to College
Enlisting in the Army would eventually take me out of my cultural bubble where I
learned that the society I grew up in was not the nationwide norm in Singapore. The expectation
of going to a university and even junior college was almost exclusive to those attending my
primary and secondary institutions which have traditionally been for the countrys elite. I had
spent eleven and a half years2 in the same private school surrounded by the same friends from
similar family backgrounds westernized, upper-middle class, Oxford English speaking, and
predominantly Christian. Fortunately for me, the randomization of all Singaporean males into
national service batches would give me the opportunity to meet others who were not from the
same mold. It was my first take at seeing and experiencing diversity beyond race and ethnicity.

2
Including 1.5 years in junior college before dropping out. It would take 2 years to graduate
from junior college otherwise.

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I strategically managed to enlist much earlier than peers in my age cohort, subsequently
allowing me to begin college a year ahead because I had dropped out of junior college. This also
meant that I was placed into a basic military training batch with men much older than me from a
wide range of pre-university technical education backgrounds. A large majority of them had
spent extended amounts of time receiving terminal technical training following their secondary
education because they did not attain a sufficient academic score in the national examination that
was taken prior to graduating from primary school. The educational system in Singapore
channels students into distinct paths from an early age, and many who were placed in such
technical education tracks felt that a university education was excluded from their path.
I remember being very cautious about the way I carried myself, the clothes I would wear,
and how I communicated both verbally and nonverbally. I had to be careful in picking my
conversation content, the vocabulary used, and my pronunciation of words in order to avoid an
elitist demeanor. I fondly remember avoiding conversations regarding plans upon completion of
service because no one else had plans to pursue higher education except for me, and I definitely
became more aware of my privileges through that exposure. Serving in the Army was an eyeopening experience that led me to decide that I would only search for and apply to public
universities. I knew I had to leave the comfort of being in a private school, and that I would find
a greater diversity of individuals and backgrounds at a public institution.
Another pivotal factor that led to my decision to pursue higher education in the United
States instead of staying locally in Singapore or going to either the United Kingdom or Australia
was the Singapore educational system. Upon being accepted to junior college at the age of
sixteen, I had to decide what I wanted to study at the university level so that I could be
appropriately placed in either the science or arts track that would serve as prerequisite. There

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was barely any freedom for exploration, as I would be locked into the same four courses during
the next two years. Being only sixteen years old, I was not the least bit prepared to make such
big decisions so soon. Having an interest in the natural sciences, I navely picked the science
track. This same interest would also lead me to narrow my college search to only research-one
universities, but despite my interest, I felt trapped and eagerly wanted the freedom to explore a
wider range of academic disciplines.
Having the active experimentation learning style (Kolb, 1984), I knew that I had to seek
out new academic experiences as a way to narrow down several possible career options for the
future. Furthermore, I also knew that I had to go into the American education system in order to
get that freedom to explore. I had a strong desire to attend a large institution that offered a
multitude of classes, majors, and opportunities for student involvement on campus, and
Community Colleges were not research institutions that fit that requirement. In hindsight, I
probably should have done more exploration during my first two years of college instead of only
taking more science and math classes of which I was already knowledgeable of. Ironically, I was
afraid of taking subjects that were new to me due to my strong aversion to failure that was also
cultivated through the many years of going through the Singapore education system.
Reflection on My Privilege and Opportunity
I find tremendous value in the circumstances that have led me to the University of
Washington and Seattle University. Most importantly is having parents that put me into a school
that emphasized the importance and value in pursuing a college degree, along with constant
encouragement for me to pursue higher education. My parents had aspirations for my siblings
and I to receive high quality education from a young age despite them not having the opportunity
to get a college degree themselves. I was placed in K-12 schools that were top-ranked in the

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country, had the best facilities, and had teachers who were academically overqualified. My
secondary school campus was the only one in the country that was completely air-conditioned
and had university-quality life science teaching laboratories and libraries. An incredible amount
of resources were put into my education and the system in place almost guaranteed that we
would get into junior college and thereafter a university. This was a privilege that students in
public schools did not have, and that put us much farther ahead academically. Singapore is
notorious for the lack of social mobility that is largely due to the structure of the educational
system in place, and I was fortunate to be on the upside of that same system. I was also just as
fortunate to have become more aware of this privilege through my national service experience.
It was also an enormous financial investment for my parents to put me through four years
of college in a city with such a high cost of living and especially since I was required to pay the
out-of-state price because my parents did not pay taxes to the state of Washington. Nonetheless, I
was ignorant by overlooking cost during my college search process, automatically assuming that
my parents could afford it because we had lived comfortably growing up. My desire to be at a
public institution also meant that I would not be offered merit-scholarships, and my resident
status made me ineligible for need-based scholarships. I probably would have saved quite a bit
of my parents money had I chosen to attend a Community College instead, which was also
much easier to obtain resident status for the purpose of in-state tuition costs. I also could have
saved even more of my parents money if I had decided to remain in Singapore for college. I
understand that my socioeconomic status played an important role in my decision and
opportunity to attend college in the United States. I also recognize that although socioeconomic
status was a privilege that positively shaped my college pathway, it is also something that serves
as a barrier to higher education access for other students in both Singapore and the United States.

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I believe that there is a lot of potential for student affairs professionals here in the United
States to become more knowledgeable of the different educational systems that international
students have been through in their home countries. The number of international students
coming to the United States will undoubtedly continue to be a growing trend, and admissions
professionals need to be more aware of the barriers that these students face when navigating the
entire pre-college process from search to application to decision. The language used in the
applications and information packets need to be appropriate to the students country of origin. In
addition, I believe that a separate application could be created for American citizens who grew
up or studied outside the United States, otherwise known as quasi-international students, to help
ease the process of translating their respective education into the American mold. Likewise,
international orientation programs should be more deliberate about inviting students in such
situations to participate. In addition, there is potential for partnerships between admissions and
alumni relations to work collaboratively with international alumni in various countries to help
prospective students through the process as well as answer questions about the cultural
differences they might face when studying abroad.
This short autoethnography has only allowed me to scratch the surface in my reflection
and critique of the Singaporean education system, but it also remains as a topic I could see
myself pursuing in a future independent study. There needs to be more policies in place for
equitable access to higher education in Singapore. Unlike in Singapore where the main barrier to
higher education access is an academic ability-driven system implemented at a young age, the
American Community College system provides open opportunity for all with the main barriers,
in my opinion, being financial aid and retention. I look forward in learning more about the

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systems in place here in this country as well as addressing my assumptions of a Community
College education.

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References
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and
development. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.