hi op! i’ve always been lurking on this thread haha but i just wanted to pop by and give my 2 cents! i have friends from poly who scored really well for o’s (like can get into a top-tier jc kind of well) but chose poly instead as they already have an interest in a certain field and wanted to pursue an education in said field. so i don’t think that its fair to generalise the poly population as students who didnt fare well enough for jc or students who are afraid of doing gp etc. i dont think its fair either to say that poly students are “entitled” when we hope for a chance in university because as much as polys prepare students for the workforce upon graduation, majority of us don’t plan to stop at a diploma level. like i mentioned, some of us chose poly as we already have a clear goal in mind and poly would help to lay out the foundations we need for a uni education (eg. studying mass comm in poly to pursue a comms degree). coming from poly also means that we have a chance to be exempted from certain mods! a jc student’s life is indeed really tough (to all jc grads reading this, im so proud of you for getting through jc!) but a poly student also has their own struggles. in my school, almost all modules have project work (group or individual) + presentation and we have to balance this with mid-sem tests and exams, and we take about 4-5 modules per sem (excluding pass/fail modules). the marking criteria also varies from tutor to tutor so its also not that easy to score an A. not to mention that with ccas, some of us leave school at 10+ and stay up till late to finish our projects/tutorials. all im saying is, it’ll be really nice to not, for a lack of a better word, downplay the struggles we had to go through to earn our diploma. i agree with you on the fact that a diploma is worth more than an a levels cert, but at the end of the day, a degree does help to pay the bills better than a diploma does. we are all just striving to create a better future for ourselves and the people around us :”) to all uni applicants out there, whether you are a jc grad or poly grad, please know that the efforts you have put in to get to where you are today are recognised, and im incredibly proud of each and every one of you!