Founded in 1823, Raffles Institution is the oldest school in Singapore. It aims to provide all her students with an education that enables them to excel in their various passions and pursuits. Deeply committed in ensuring that RI is community-anchored and inclusive, they consistently exhort their students to pay it forward for the betterment of the community.

Cut-Off Point: Arts-5 , Science- 5

" I think that RI has a tight school culture where we all have each other’s backs and we have a strong sense of school spirit evidently when it comes to interschool competitions " --- Senior G

" I feel that like every other jcs, its a work hard play hard culture:-) many people say that rj students ace their exams without even working hard but that's rly not true! Nearing promos there are more and more people filling up the seats and benches around school to study, some even sacrifice their break times to clarify doubts with our tutors/do self study ;-; I'd say the environment can get intimidating at times when you see everyone studying, but it should be a source of motivation for everyone :-) After examinations/celebrations you'll see people flocking to different parts of sg to chill and relax too so it's not a super pressuring place where you have to study 24/7 :-) In the area of 'play hard' i really haven't experienced much yet HAHA but I heard there's gonna be house week after promos where there'll be many activities and im looking forward to that! House is a prominent part of rj even though it's very watered down this year but everyone is encouraged to take part in house activities! The house excos also take the effort to prepare birthday gifts for everyone (which is a lot of work considering theres 1.2k of us :0) " --- Senior J

" I picked jc over poly for a variety of reasons actually HAHAH first would be that I was not sure of what i wanted to do in my life and I didn't want to risk wasting my time there doing something I may not be interested in. Another reason would be the expectations from my family I have been doing quite decently in a pretty good secondary school so they did expect me to choose jc (but it was my choice too! I prefer a more 'all rounded' curriculum where I learn subjects like we do in sec sch as compared to focusing on one specialty)" --- Senior J

" I chose my jcs based on my l1r5, so I was eligible for all jcs and I had ri, hci and ny in mind. For me I knew I had to pick rj after visiting the school during open house! The environment was very conducive for studying imo, and there is a great school spirit! The students there are very willing to help you and clarify your doubts, not just the open house befrienders which makes me feel very welcomed :-) While other jcs had their appeals, I just felt that I will thrive best in rj :-) The programmes they offer are just endless HAHA and they are offered to everyone! Examples include monday enrichment programmes, olympiads and various competitions (there are many for math and econs)" --- Senior J

"It is rather stressful as everyone is constantly striving to be the best and most people are results oriented " ---Senior G

" This really depends on the people you interact with. For my class, we really work hard during exam seasons and the stress is there and it's felt by everyone ;-; I think this is just unique to my class but yes a majority of us are very focused on results (even for the recent timed practice which wasn't graded but everyone acted like it was) academically it is going to be quite a huge jump from sec school and you may feel like you're losing out because the ip kids have had some lessons before you + ri (sec sch) has this raffles academy (ra) programme where some of them may have covered jc content before but it is definitely manageable and teachers are very willing to have consultations w you. You just need to ask!" --- Senior J

" I was from the same CCA (hockey) in Y4 and we have an option to continue the CCA in JC so I didn’t have to go for trials but I think that it’s not too bad or ridiculous " ---Senior G

" It depends on what cca you're planning to try for! Some ccas do not require existing pre requisites and are recruiting developmental squads (e.g. touch rugby, ultimate frisbee) and some ccas do not require you to go for trials (some clubs e.g. biological society, sports e.g. recreational badminton) but some others will need you to go for trials and interviews, which isn't very hard to get in! The school will ensure that there is about a 1:1:1 ri:rg:jae ratio for every cca so everyone has an equal chance of getting in!" --- Senior J

" We have TRG which stands for The Raffles Games and it’s an interhouse competition where students battle it out in sports activities to earn points for their house like a Sports Day but it has more hype " ---Senior G

"HAHA I am not too sureee but we have this thing called o'nite at the end of orientation it's a concert which lasts till evening for us to bond with our ogmates! Not too sure if the next batch of j1s will get to experience it, mine got cancelled too :-( There's also yearly team raffles games (trg) which has mostly been converted online but it's to help our houses win points! sorry idk much about this HAHA " --- Senior J

" There are less than 30 students in each class and the gender ratio depends on subject combination as for example, more boys take Physics than girls " ---Senior G

" Class size depends on your combi, if you take bcme/pcme your class size will be bigger ranging from 25-30 i think? My class has 28 but I have been very small classes of less than 20 those are likely to be the hybrid combis :-) The ratio will be about 1:2 boys:girls? Based on what i see from a few classes :-)" --- Senior J

" The tutors are quite helpful and friendly " ---Senior G

" The tutors are great! You can approach them whenever and they are more than willing to help you :-) even if things are affected because of covid they are very willing to source for alternatives to have consults w you e.g. through msteams or theyll stay back in class to clarify some of your doubts. You're really in good hands here :')" --- Senior J

" Most people like around half of my cohort tried out for an exco role in their CCA but only a few managed to get a position so I would say it’s really competitive " ---Senior G

" I would say it is competitive but there are many opportunities for us here! Student council may be slightly challenging as the rp kids have their 'support' already (that being said, there are jaes who make it, but a relatively smaller percentage, i'd say about 10%?) but there are other opportunities available! such as class comm, exco of various via projects, cca exco :-)" --- Senior J

" The majority call us elitist, stuck up etc but that is not true! or at least it is not the majority of us :-) In terms of wealth there are a good proportion of us who come from lower income (there is help for us too!) I really don't see how we are elitist even the smartest or the 'richest' are friendly and will help us whenever they can" --- Senior J