The Sunscreen Song for NUS MBA

The original lyrics -http://www.lyricsdownload.com/baz-luhrman-sunscreen-speech-lyrics.html

The song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

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Ladies and Gentlemen of the class 2009 (or 2010)… Use “depends”

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, “depends” would be it. The repeated benefits of using the word “depends” have been proved by MBAs across the world, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your student life at NUS; oh nevermind;
You will not understand the power and beauty of your student life until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at randomly tagged photos of yourself on Facebook
and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked...
You’re not as unlucky as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry,
but know that worrying is as effective as trying to crack Prof. Nitin’s case by eating Calbee or Rice Crackers in MBA Lounge.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind;
the kind that blindside you at 2 AM on your walk back to Heng Mui Keng terrace after worthless project meeting.

Ask one question in every lecture that scares prof

Drink

Don’t be reckless with other peoples hearts don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Eat at Edwards

Don’t waste your time on jealousy on jobs, CAP or awards; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind...the race is long, and in the end it’s only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive on your creative projects, forget the insults from individual tests; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old Gtalk chat transcripts, throw away your projects and case studies.

STRETCH

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know if you want to be in Marketing, Strategy or Finance...
the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 26 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year old alums I know still don’t

Get plenty of caffeine from Toscana

Be kind to your own MBA Lounge, you’ll miss it when you’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry someone you met NUS, maybe you wont, maybe you’ll have multiple promotions, maybe you wont, maybe you’ll turn entrepreneur at 40, maybe you’ll address the parliament on your 75th birthday...
what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either - your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your brain, use it every way you can...don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, its the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance...even if you have nowhere to do it but in Student Activities event after half a bottle of wine.

Read the mails from Arthur Wong, even if you don’t have a clue where NUS Museum is.

Do NOT read placement statistics (outside NUS), they will only make you feel ugly.

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Get to know your project group mates, you’ll never know when they’ll be gone for exchange.
Be nice to your roomies; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you when you are frustrated with internship scene.

Understand that exchange students come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in Boon Lay once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Pasir Panjang once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, fees will rise, students will cheat, you too will graduate, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young fees were reasonable, students were honest and juniors respected seniors.

Respect your seniors.

Don’t expect anyone else to give you a job. Maybe you have a CAP of 5.0, maybe you have a connection with a partner; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your laptop, or by the time semester ends, you will be running to Sim Lim.

Be careful which alum or seniors’ advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the best parts from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling the “gyaan” for more than its worth.

But trust me on the “depends”...