Tips

Following is a list of tips for your stay at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore!

Graduate Programme vs Undergraduate Programme

Before you apply for NTU studies, think heavily about whether you should do an Undergraduate Programme or a Graduate Programme. Most of the Graduate Programmes’ courses only run once per week for three hours and do not need attendance, which can make for a great schedule. Most of the Undergraduate Programmes’ courses run for more than once per week but are also easier and funnier, which make them better in my opinion. As a Graduate student, it is possible but quite hard to get into popular Undergraduate courses during the add and drop period, because Undergraduate students get to choose these first. As an Undergraduate you can get into Graduate courses, but you will typically have to wait around 5 days, and there is a small limit to how many courses you apply for, so choose wisely. Graduate courses are, however, easier to get into, once you get approved for taking them. Also, NTU seemed to have a very bad organization for Graduate students, which made their add and drop period quite stressful. Therefore, in my opinion, the Undergraduate Programme is a better choice!

Buy a Starhub SIM card at the airport when you arrive

When you arrive at the airport, buy the Starhub SIM card. I bought the M1 card and was a bit disappointed about it, as they do not cover Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam. With Starhub, I think you can reliably buy and use data to use in any Asian country. They even have an app for you to easily keep track of your data plans and SIM card data.

Use the Grab app instead of Taxi

Use the Grab app instead of taking a taxi. It should not cost more than 30 SGD to get to NTU from the airport. If you know exactly which time you need a taxi days in advance, book a Grab Hitch, as this option will be much cheaper than an ordinary ride! Beware of doing this when you first arrive in Singapore, as it might take up to an hour of queuing for foreigners to get past the passport checks at the airport.

Register for course approvals two weeks before add and drop period starts

Circa two weeks before your add and drop period starts, you can register for course approvals; an opportunity you should take advantage of. In the add and drop period, you first have to get a course approved before you can queue for a spot in it. As the spots for most of the popular classes (i.e. fun courses with a good schedule) get filled up quickly, this step will give you a big advantage against your competition. When registering for course approvals, try to register any course you think you could participate in; even if the chances are minimal. It is better to ave too many options than too few, and this simple step might let you get an awesome schedule where you only study during Tuesday and Wednesday. I, myself, managed to get Thursdays and Fridays off, and had a course in Squash and one in German; a schedule I was very proud of!

Extracurricular activities in sports generally takes up too much time

In the first week of your exchange, you will most likely have a student organization exhibition where you can choose between a multitude of extracurricular activities to be part of during your freetime. During this exhibition, it is very important that you ask every organization you are interested in how much time you have to spend on that activity per week and if there are certain dates you have to be there for.

As I only chose sports classes, I quickly found out that most of them, if not all, take up 3 hours per session with multiple sessions per week. This was impossible to fit into my schedule and, as a result, I ended up not doing any extracurricular activity at all. Please do not fall into this trap and instead choose other activities. If you really want to exercise a sport, consider doing it outside of NTU, as this can both get you out of the university, as well as provide a better schedule. I, for example, had a friend who did yoga sessions in downtown every week.

If you live on campus, ask your janitor for apartment furnishments

Exchange students from previous semesters will most likely have left their apartment furnishments to the janitor who will probably be happy to give some of them to you. I had already bought everything I needed to my room when I heard that a friend had gotten everything in his room from his janitor. Broom, pillow, mattress, sheets, a mop, a router - I think you might be able to get any of these items from your janitor if you just ask. I, for example, gave all of the above except a mop to my janitor to take care of before I left.

During the first two weeks, everyone is a social butterfly and take every opportunity they can to network and make new friends. Take full advantage of this opportunity and have the motto to say ‘yes’ to everything, like I did. This will most likely give you the friends you need throughout the exchange semester and will also provide a great opportunity to improve your networking skills. By having many friends during the exchange semester, you will also be more safe about deadlines and knowledge about procedures, as at least one of your friends is likely to have information about it or remind you about something you have to do.

My best advice for finding new friends is to hang out at Canteen 2 early on and ask even the simplest questions to strangers instead of googling them if you can. There will probably also be a WhatsApp chat group for exchange students that you can use to network. I regret not using this, as it would have provided me with a wider network during the exchange. Remember that after the first 3-4 weeks, it will be a lot harder to get new friends, as most people will have settled down with a group of friends, and they will start focusing more on their studies and travels.

Make a budget before you go, and set aside money for travelling

I did this, and it helped me in keeping track of my costs and not be too greedy about my expenditures. Unfortunately, I lost track of my expenditures after half of my exchange semester, which I think made me spend more than I had originally planned. It was, nevertheless, a good way of making logical decisions about how much my average travels should cost, how many travels I should do, and how much I should spend on food every week.

My best tips on how to do the budgeting is to divide it into three parts. First, you should make a rough budget before the semester starts, then you should redo the budget a few weeks into the semester, when you have gained more knowledge about the costs for food, travels, etc. Lastly, you should redo the budget a little more than halfway into the semester, when you know much more about your expenditures and, hopefully, more about your travel plans until the end of the exchange.

As a rough estimate, you should expect to spend ca 6000-9000 EUR for this entire semester if you live on campus. This includes food, drinks, rent, travelling, flights to and back from Singapore and other expenses. If you plan on doing weekend trips (which many people do), know that the average trip for me cost around 300 EUR when you make the budget. If you live outside of campus, expect to spend more money, as these rents are often around 200 EUR higher per month than the ones on campus.