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‘Everything is so expensive’: Singaporean considers quitting master’s in Canada after just 1 month
SINGAPORE: A 30-year-old Singaporean who moved to Alberta, Canada, for a master's degree is already questioning the move after barely a month abroad.
Posting on the r/askSingapore forum on Sunday (Sep 27), the man said he left an above-average-paying job and gave up his part-time master’s programme at NUS to study overseas, partly because he was exhausted by what he described as Singapore’s “corporate rat race.”
His old routine, he wrote, involved waking up at 6.30 a.m., getting to work by 9 a.m., finishing around 6.30 p.m., and finally reaching home at about 8 p.m.
“I barely even had time for myself and my wife,” he recalled.
He added that his wife was initially less convinced about leaving Singapore. She felt the city-state offered a degree of financial security that would be difficult to replicate elsewhere, particularly as they could eventually own their own home and continue building their savings.
However, she ultimately agreed with his decision, believing that this untrodden path would benefit him in terms of his education.
‘Totally different from the structured education in Singapore’
A month into the move, though, the reality of life abroad has proved rather less romantic.
For starters, he had problems with the teaching methods.
“Now that I am in Canada alone, I realised the education here is quite bad. The professors are so atrocious. They are either promoting their own textbook, or they are writing their own notes and not sharing. It's totally different from the structured education in Singapore.”
Then there is the matter of food, which he initially assumed would be a minor inconvenience.
It turns out it was not.
“Food is part of mental health,” he said.
“I can't find anything that is less than $10, everything is so expensive, and the food isn't even that good.”
Safety has also become a concern after his bicycle was stolen less than 24 hours after he bought it.
“The landlord saw that someone came over and just snipped the lock and took it away from the backyard,” he said. “I don’t really feel that safe after that, like can I even trust my own backyard anymore.”
‘I am now second-guessing whether Canada is the right move’
The Singaporean said his experience abroad made him realise just how much he had taken Singapore’s education, food, and safety for granted.
“I am now second-guessing whether Canada is the right move or not,” he wrote. “I feel that Canada will not be a long-term thing, but if I go back to Singapore now, I will be jobless, without a master's, and lose my rental deposit and school fees, but if I stay, then I will have to pay more in rental and school fees.”
“So I am somewhat conflicted because maybe it is just a whole new culture and I just need to get used to it, or maybe I am just homesick and I miss my wife a lot. To be honest, I have no clue.”
Seeking advice, he asked the online community whether he should cut his losses, return to Singapore and restart his career, or give himself more time to adjust and try to make things work in Canada.
‘I would say give it time’
Reddit users were divided.
One user suggested that if he had already paid more than 50% of his fees, he should consider toughing it out, taking on a part-time job to ease the financial burden and treating the experience as a lesson in how life overseas can differ from Singapore.
If he ultimately decides to leave, the user suggested applying for jobs in Singapore first, given that the job market back home “is not particularly rosy either,” and only returning once he has secured employment.
Another user echoed the advice to stay, writing: “Are you really going to give up because a few bad things happened? It's obvious you haven’t adjusted to the culture or life there; considering it’s been a month, I would say give it time.”
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A third user warned that quitting now could leave him worse off in the long run.
"I think it's worth finishing your degree. I dropped out of completing my master’s after one year to move to the US from Singapore and I sorely feel the gap in my resume due to that break... plus I see classmates from my degree getting resources to find jobs from the school, so I don't think it's bad to stick through it!"
Others, however, felt that returning home was a reasonable option.
“Return to Singapore. You are not going to survive Canada with your current lack of clarity, reserves, sacrifice, hunger and determination to make it in Canada,” one user wrote.
Another shared a parallel experience of moving to Japan in 2016: “Omg, I feel you. I did the same for Japan back in 2016. I tried to tough it out for a year, realised it was bad, and got depressed, anxious, and horrible. Bit the bullet, dropped the PhD, and came back.”
“Initially felt like wah lao wasted money; now I look back, it was fun, I got to learn about life beyond Singapore but wouldn't ever go back to Japan to live.”/TISG