Eventually, as it must, time passed, 2014 ended, and February 2015 loomed on the horizon. I prepared my applications as I did the previous year, applying to both NUS and SMU.

This time, however, I was much more anxious. I had had nothing to lose the previous year. If I didn’t get an offer from SMU this time, however, it would mean, basically, that I sucked, because how can you get an offer one year and not the next?

I applied to NUS as something of an A/B test (sample size: me). I tweaked one part of my application, which I suspected had been a stumbling block in 2014. This time, I didn’t bother sending in my outdated SAT results from 2003. I submitted everything that was necessary but I didn’t pad it with letters of commendation or extra supporting documents.

The shortlist email from SMU arrived, on the heels of a slightly-scolding autoresponder email telling us to be patient and wait and not bug the admissions people for news. The interview email was sent to us at the end of March, telling us to prepare for a mid-April interview and test.

So far so good. Everything was proceeding according to plan.

And then, the next week, NUS sent an SMS, saying I had been shortlisted for the Graduate Law Programme (GLP). SURPRISE.