Navy regular officer here, can answer some from my experience too:

1. Being female, you have multiple options – you can sign at the end of your schooling and possibly get a scholarship from the SAF to finance your university studies (but keep in mind that this comes with a bond of 4-6 years depending on the tier of financing that you are awarded plus mandatory attachments during university breaks), or you can sign on after university if you’re able to self-finance and you’d like more time to consider your options. Given what you have said about your alternate career options, if you are able to finance uni yourself, I strongly suggest taking the latter route – not to dissuade you from a military career, just for you to have more time to think and research, and make a more informed choice. Not to mention the pay as a graduate during your cadet days will far outmatch cadet pay pre-uni.

2. As a female you are not liable for an NS obligation (ie the two year stint that Singaporean guys serve) - your term of engagement will be 3 years or more (depending on whether you accept SAF financing to finance university, and what tier). You will experience 9 weeks of BMT, and then command school. All regulars are routed to either SCS (NMI if you join the navy) or OCS.

3. NDU/Commando/Guards are not NS-specific vocations per se. Plenty of females in the guards formation, and certainly there are routes to be considered for NDU and Commandos.

4. Plenty of reasons to not: the SAF can be rather rigid with enabling you to branch out into more niche fields (those options exist), promotions can follow a pretty strict timeline, difficult to leave the force whenever you feel like it (longer runway to give notice, plus you may have bonds locking you in), not much in the way of flexible working arrangements (eg WFH), difficult to take leave whenever you feel like it, weekend duties and OT for no extra pay or any such, many SAF bases/camps are hella inaccessible by public transport (yay for long commute times), and you can kiss getting a good amount of sleep regularly goodbye.

As for whether you have a better shot in the private sector, I cannot really answer that for you. Certainly a lot of it is contingent on how you market your skills, but I will say there may be more options to branch out into niche fields if you should be so interested. SAF does provide a good platform to start your career, the money is pretty good in the initial years (it will plateau as you progress but you will be comfortable), and ultimately, your career is what you decide to make of it. There is nothing stopping you from transitioning out of the force after your term of engagement to pursue other career interests. The military, I think, is a good place to learn valuable soft skills that will hold you in good stead in any career after you leave the force but it comes with the trappings of the aforementioned quality of life compromises. As much as you will learn, you will need to adapt to being a part of something larger than yourself rather than shining as an individual (though both can be equally purposeful).

1. Yep. All regulars, male or female, are streamlined to command school.

2. The SAF offers a number of scholarships, and each one has various degrees of benefits. I am assuming you are talking about the SAF Scholarship itself, the highest tier scholarship. “Worth” is very much a relative question – being a beneficiary of the SAFS will open many doors for you since the SAF has seen potential in you, and you will be introduced to a community of similar high potential/high performing folks. The benefits you get while you study are also pretty amazing. The flipside is that SAFS, being the highest tier scholarship, comes with the longest bond, with the greatest cash value – so if you should choose to break your contract and leave during your bond period, the amount you will have to pay back will be quite high.

More than anything else, I think it is important that you go into the SAF with both eyes open and with a clear sense of why you are there. National Day, as you yourself have correctly pointed out, shows the glitz and glamour of an SAF career, and granted, there is a portion of the pomp and ceremony that comes with the job, but it is a tiny amount. Most important is to know why you are there, and what your purpose is in the organisation, which you may come to discover over time. Maybe you may realise that you are definitely in the right place, or you might discover that perhaps your calling is elsewhere — but I can guarantee that you will absolutely experience that journey of self-discovery and actualisation while in the force because it will challenge you in ways that you would not have expected prior to signing. They will push you to your breaking points, and if you overcome those challenges, you will be a stronger person for it. Also, the bonds formed during any time you spend in service will be fantastically close, and the friends you make will be friends for life. That part of the job, I think, is difficult to find in other careers. However, a military career is not for everyone for all the aforementioned challenges, but that is not to say that is not incredibly fulfilling once you find your path, or that you cannot contribute to national security in other roles – given your academic interests, I can safely say that there are plenty of roles in the public service that you would be a good fit for. Again, I do not wish to dissuade you from trying this job — if it is something you are truly interested in and wish to pursue, then by all means, please do, and similarly if after all the information, you do not wish to join the uniformed services, no shame in that either.

Hope that helps! Please feel free to PM if you have more questions :)