#trending: Netizens surprised as NUS undergrads say they expect starting pay of S$5,000 to S$10,000 a month

SINGAPORE — A starting salary of as much as S$10,000 a month for fresh graduates was too much of a stretch. Online users were left in disbelief at the lofty financial aspirations expressed by some National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduates in a recent viral video.

It started when Hong Kong-based YouTuber Torres Pit visited NUS and asked some undergraduates how much they expected to earn when they entered the workforce. The video he made has since gone viral.

Mr Pit, who has 761,000 subscribers, prefaces his 13-minute video by introducing NUS as "the best university in Asia", referring to the 2022 edition of the widely recognised Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) University Rankings.

Since 2013, NUS has taken the top spot in the QS Asia University Rankings seven times out of 10. In the most recent 2023 edition, it fell to second place after a four-year streak as Asia's top university.

The YouTuber then approaches several students on campus, asking them questions about their fields of study, how difficult it was to get into NUS, and how much pay they expect to receive once they start working.

NUS UNDERGRADS DISCUSS EXPECTED SALARY

The first interviewee, a first-year business administration student with a double major in economics, quips: "Okay, there's a difference between 'expect' and 'hope'... It's a very big difference."

She then reveals that the salary she "thinks" she will receive after graduation is S$10,000 a month.

Moving on, Mr Pit speaks to two second-year computer science majors, asking them which NUS degree would typically command the highest salary.

"I think, based on the study done last year, it was actually computer science," one of them responds. "Last we saw, it was about S$5,000 to S$6,000 (a month)?"

In the latest Graduate Employment Survey done by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2021 and published in 2022, the university degree with the highest average gross monthly salary stood at S$6,578.

This was for a double degree in business and computer engineering or computing from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), as the young men mentioned in Mr Pit's video.

The second place went to the Bachelor of Computing (Computer Science) degree from NUS, with an average gross monthly salary of S$6,002.

Having spoken to these business and computing students, Mr Pit chances upon a student under the cross-disciplinary philosophy, politics, and economics programme, who aims to work in academia.

She said: "I think with a philosophy degree, it's quite versatile because it teaches you critical thinking skills. So you can go into, like, business, banking, consulting... law, even."

Some of her friends have an expected salary of S$9,000 a month, she adds.

Mr Pit rounds out his interviews with a foreign student from Henan, China who is doing a master's degree in mechanical engineering.

The young man plans to return to China after furthering his education, he said, as he does not have as many opportunities in Singapore. There, his peers make "around 300,000 yuan (S$58,400)" a year, or S$4,900 a month.

HOW THEY MATCH UP

According to the Graduate Employment Survey 2021, the average gross monthly salary for each of the above degrees is as follows:

NUS BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (BBA)

• Expected starting salary: S$10,000
• Average gross monthly salary: S$5,567

NUS BACHELOR OF COMPUTING (COMPUTER SCIENCE)

• Expected starting salary: S$5,000 to S$6,000
• Average gross monthly salary: S$6,002

NUS BACHELOR OF ARTS

• Expected starting salary: S$9,000
• Average gross monthly salary: S$3,600. This is the average gross monthly salary for a fresh graduate holding the degree. The survey makes no distinction between different arts disciplines.

The Graduate Employment Survey does not provide information on master's degree holders.

American compensation software and data company Payscale said that the average base salary for a graduate with a master's in mechanical engineering in Singapore — for which the student expects to receive S$4,900 in China — is S$5,800 a month.

PEOPLE IN DISBELIEF

Mr Pit's video, posted last Wednesday (Jan 25), quickly picked up steam among Singaporean online users, many of whom were shocked at the undergraduates' expected pay.

A two-minute edit of the original video, focused on the students' salary expectations, was later shared again on Hardwarezone website, TikTok and Facebook.

The business administration student who was first interviewed, in particular, received the most attention for her "unrealistic" expected starting salary of S$10,000.

One YouTube user pointed out that even in the Graduate Employment Survey 2021, the highest starting salary was S$6,500.

"How did she end up with that S$10k figure?" he asked.

Another simply said: "Your salary expectations are so bloated... My daughter did the same (business administration course). The median is S$5k (for NUS BBA graduates) and perhaps after two to three years, its S$7k to S$8k for (high) performers.

"As for the philosophy student expecting S$9k — well, good luck if she can even (get) S$5k."

Many social media users also pointed out that these young students would be starting out "with zero (work) experience" and suggested that such expectations would only drive business owners to hire foreign talents instead of fresh graduates.

One Facebook user asked: "Why would you pay S$10k for an inexperienced local when you can get two foreign talents with experience (for the same amount)?"

However, others also defended the interviewees, arguing that wanting a higher salary was "quite reasonable" considering the rising costs of living for young people in Singapore.

Referencing the prices of housing, starting a family, taking care of parents, handling insurance and miscellaneous expenses, a Facebook user asked: "How are the younger generation supposed to survive in Singapore of all places with a salary of S$3k to S$4k a month?"

A WIDENING INCOME GAP?

On YouTube and TikTok, several people claimed that a S$10,000 starting salary could indeed be possible for a fresh graduate, though limited to niche jobs in fields such as real estate or investment banking.

A TikTok user said: "The first girl is reasonable if she is aiming for investment banking. The only one out of touch is the philosophy undergraduate honestly lol (laugh out loud)."

A top comment on TikTok read: "It's definitely possible to earn S$10k working in finance. Just because you can't or won't doesn't make it unrealistic. Don't be so bitter."

For others, the video was "worrying" because it appeared to reflect a "rapidly widening (income) gap" within Singapore's population.

Rather than being unrealistic, they argued that the interviewees appeared to be higher-performing students and therefore, could afford to expect higher salaries than the average Singaporean.

However, the responses from social media users showed that while a S$10,000 starting salary is a reality for some, it is quite out of reach for many.

Still, as one Hardwarezone forum member put it: "Dreaming is free..."