By Amelia Tan

WHEN she first applied for a university place five years ago, Ms Syeda Sana Rahman was told that she was not good enough - despite her string of straight As from Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

The rejection stung, but the then 20-year-old mass communication diploma holder did not let it get her down.

She tried her luck in the job market instead, and landed a job as a features writer at Her World and, later, Simply Her magazines.

A year later, Ms Rahman applied to the National University of Singapore (NUS) again.

This time, her flair for writing - honed over a year at the magazines - caught the eye of the university's lecturers, and she won a place in the arts faculty.

Since then, she has maintained her straight A record while coping with the demands of a part-time job, and was named the valedictorian of the faculty in a graduation ceremony yesterday.

Now a research associate at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Ms Rahman is thinking of pursuing a master's degree and PhD, possibly in security issues.

Miss Rahman, born in India, is now a Singapore permanent resident. Her father teaches Arabic at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, while her mother used to teach Chinese Studies at the same university.

She said she hopes her story will change the stereotypes about polytechnic students that some people still believe in.

She said: 'I remember when I got into polytechnic, someone told me 'you must have played a lot when you were young'. I hope my story will tell others that going to polytechnic is a choice that some people make because the education there appeals to them.'

Ms Rahman added: 'It does not mean that poly students are not as good as junior college students.'

Yesterday's commencement ceremonies marked the start of a nine-day period during which about 8,800 students will graduate from NUS.

In his speech to about 300 students from the arts, science and dentistry faculties who graduated yesterday, the university's president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, told them to take heart even though their immediate future may appear fraught with difficulties caused by the recession.

He said: 'As Singapore and the rest of the world recover from the current downturn, many exciting new possibilities will spring up.

'Equipped with strong mental and personal skills by your education here, you can look to the future with eagerness and optimism.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.