Lee Xin Yi had always believed scholarships were meant only for straight-A students, but her own journey with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) showed her otherwise.

“When I applied for the MHA scholarship, I did not have the confidence that I would get it as I was not a straight-A student,” says the 22-year-old.

“Looking back, I am glad that I did not let self-doubt deter me from applying.”

She had suffered a setback in her academic journey when she was retained in Secondary 3 due to poor grades. Rather than continuing with the Integrated Programme track, she opted for the O-level route—a choice that, at first, seemed to derail her further.

Instead of letting the setback define her, she used it as an opportunity to reassess her priorities.

She not only got her act together but eventually did well enough to enter the same junior college as her former classmates, albeit a year later.

In 2022, she applied for and received the MHA Civilian Scholarship (Generalist).

If anything, the experience taught Xin Yi that success is not about avoiding failures, but about having the resilience to bounce back from them. It is a lesson that would prove valuable in today’s dynamic environment, where the ability to adapt and persevere often matters more than perfect academic scores.

The pattern of charting her own path continued when it came time to choose her university degree. Most people expect MHA scholars to gravitate towards law, sociology, or public policy.

But Xin Yi opted for a real estate degree at the National University of Singapore (NUS), drawn by how the programme blends geography, taxation, business, and property law.

“It is not strictly an arts or science degree,” notes Xin Yi. “There is a human-centric sensibility to problem-solving.”

Hungry for knowledge

Now in her third year at NUS, Xin Yi is convinced real estate is a multidisciplinary field that is highly relevant to public service.

“It taught me about opportunity costs, finance, and urban planning. In land-scarce Singapore, it is especially important to prioritise resources and make decisions based on sound policy,” she says.

On top of that, the degree has given her a good foundation in skills such as statistics and data analysis.

The interdisciplinary nature of her real estate studies, combined with her own experience of adapting to different academic environments, has taught her to see the value in different viewpoints. This versatility, she feels, will be particularly valuable at MHA, where projects often involve multiple stakeholders.

For her summer school exchange last July, Xin Yi’s interest in sports law took her to Switzerland, where she enrolled in the University of Zurich’s International Sports Law programme (Certificate for Advanced Studies).

She was one of the few non-law students attending the course.

“My time in Zurich, where I studied international sports law and doping cases, gave me a new perspective on crime prevention,” says Xin Yi.

“It showed me how important it is to look beyond individual offences and understand the underlying factors that drive people to break rules repeatedly.”

She hopes to bring these insights and new ideas across various domains of work that she will be involved in when she joins MHA as a Civilian Generalist after graduating in 2026.

During her school holidays, Xin Yi gained further exposure to the ministry’s work through the Vacation Attachment Programme. She was attached to MHA’s planning and organisation division as well as the human resource division.

She saw how different Home Team agencies work together for the common goal of keeping Singapore safe.

For example, the enforcement operations of the Central Narcotics Bureau as well as the rehabilitation of drug offenders at the Singapore Prison Service contribute to a drug-free nation.

When she joins the ministry as a Civilian Generalist, she will get to rotate among 12 domain areas, including communications, policy planning, and operations planning, across the ministry headquarters and 10 Home Team agencies.

“In this line of work, it’s easy to get caught up with completing tasks. But we need to remember that we’re ultimately working with people, not just cases or files,” says Xin Yi.

“We’re here to make a difference in people’s lives.” ​

This article was first published in The Straits Times.