I thought I should give a good update on getting into NUS and getting settled at NUS as well as some observations I have made since being here. Hopefully it'll be helpful to anyone interested in studying abroad too! In the prep for coming to NUS, I first had to apply back at my home university to get accepted. I went through the MIX (Manoa International Exchange) Program. This program allows a student from one school to essentially exchange spots with a student from another school internationally. Through MIX, I got accepted at the National University of Singapore as a business student. After the initial acceptance, I had to go through a long series of steps to get everything in order and ready for me to come.
Apply for Housing -
There are several places one could stay on campus (PGR Residence, Cinnamon, Tembusu, UTown, and a few others). PGR is really close to the business school but it's pretty far away from all the other dorms, so it might be harder to meet other students living there. The other dorms are all within UTown. When I was deciding, I was told that UTown Residence is the best place to live so that is what I put as my preferences, and now that I'm here, I would totally agree. For anyone considering Singapore for study abroad in the future, I would recommend UTown Residence. There are 2 towers, North and South, I am in South Tower.
UTown-
There is essentially a huge circle of dorms making the outline, and then on the inside is a big grassy area that people picnic on, play frisbee and soccer, and just hang out on. There is a big research building and a huge resource center with a library and classrooms. There are also 2 big canteens with food stalls. The food in these 2 places is pretty cheap...between $2-10SD. I think on average, I have been spending about $3-6SD per meal, including a drink. There is a pretty nice gym that students can use with lots of equipment, but the hours are only from 9am-9pm, so no early risers here. There is a super nice infinity pool right above the gym that overlooks the grassy area. There are also 2 mini-express grocery stores, a sports shop, a book store, a hygiene store, a Subway, a Starbucks and a Wendys. NUS is committed to giving students "the best campus life". Right from UTown, there is a pick up and drop off for the internal shuttle that runs extremely often and takes students to designated places around campus, such as the BIZ building (business school). Outside of UTown, there are a lot of other food canteens, gyms, a track, an Olympic-sized pool, tennis courts, and many other things. The architecture on campus, and in Singapore in general, is so crazy. Really cool, super advanced looking.
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After getting accepted into NUS, the school asks that you list 10 classes that you would be willing to take over the duration of your stay. I had done the research at my school to see which classes had already been approved to transfer back for credit and which ones I could petition for. I listed about 10 classes, and of those 10, I got 3 back that I could take. Business Modules are really competitive and in high demand! With those 3, one of them was the equivalent of my capstone BUS 345 class called BSP3001C6. The only catch was that it didn't have the O focus at NUS, so I had to take an additional class last semester to fulfill that requirement. With the other two courses, I was able to successfully petition them to receive marketing elective credits.
NUS Class --> UH Equivalent
BSP3001C6 Strategic Management --> BUS 345
TR2201 Entrepreneurial Marketing --> MKT 371
MKT3418A Product and Brand Management --> MKT 361
You don't make your schedule until the weekend right before the first day of class. At that point, you also have the ability to add/drop modules.
An important step in getting everything settled for NUS is to pay all of the Misc fees they send you as well as your housing deposits. Without doing so, you will lose your housing allocation as well as your standing in registration. The fees include a mandatory health insurance and all of the other perks that this campus offers, such as the internal shuttle and food courts.
When coming to Singapore, US Citizens don't need a visa to enter as long as you are here under a certain amount of days (I think 90, but I am not positive). As part of the application process for NUS, they will send you documents and links to fill out to apply for a SOLAR pass. You have to fill out some documents very carefully, attach a visa photo, and respond within a certain amount of time. Once doing so, they send you finalized documents for you to print out and bring to NUS registration day. Because I missed registration day due to my time in India, I had to schedule an e-appointment to meet with this office. I am meeting with them on Wednesday afternoon. But all I will need is the documents and my disembarkment card that I got from my flight. Super easy, so no stress on getting a visa if your planning to study here (or visit)!
Ha, so this is where it all gets tricky. I signed up for a meet-n-greet airport service from NUS where they sent a buddy to meet me at the Changi Airport when I arrived. Unfortunately, my buddy wasn't able to ride in the taxi with me to campus because of other obligations, but she did meet me at the airport and sent me off in the right direction (ish)! The Changi Airport is quite cool, it's a huge airport, and supposedly one of the top in the world. Customs was really quick and I had no problem getting my baggage or finding my way around. From the Changi Airport, I took a taxi to NUS (except I had to find the address on my phone and tell the driver how to get there, which has been my experience on both the taxi rides I've been on...they don't seem to know where they are going!) So I was a bit frazzled at first, but then we got to campus and the signs were easy that led us to UTown. I paid $22SD for the taxi and I was now standing in front of a strange building in a brand new place with my bags and my only directions were to find the main office. I found some stairs and went to the main level where there was a bunch of people essentially thrift shopping through piles of people's unwanted stuff. When I got down there, an RA approached me and told me where to go and said to hurry back to look through the goods. So I meandered over to the office and checked in incredibly easily. It took less than 5 minutes. I got my room key and a bunch of keys to lock various things. I went up to my room, a single room in a flat of 4 with a shared common area. I am on the 17th floor and look directly across from the North tower, but if I look sideways, I can see the grassy field. I did go back downstairs to the thrift area and grabbed a ton of hangers, found some sheets, and got a few new pairs of clothes...good finds I'd say. I took the rest of the afternoon to do laundry (as all my clothes were dirty from India). There is a large laundry room on the 2nd floor, but the machines only take $1SD coins, and some of the machines require the new coin while others require the old coin. There are washers and dryers and they seem to work pretty good.
As far as buying groceries and other needed items, there is a Cheers and an Express FairPrice here in UTown. But they are super limited and pretty expensive. There are much larger and cheaper FairPrices at the Kent Ridge MRT Station, Clementi Mall, and my favorite one is about a 30 minute walk from UTown, off of Dover Road.
The food canteens here at UTown serve lots of noodles and rice dishes, but mostly everything has meat. For the first two weeks, I have had a relatively hard time finding food that I can eat, so I was mostly buying tomatoes, avocado, apples, and ramen from the store to eat. But, I have recently found this good vegetarian place that I cannot remember the name for the life of me, but it has a wall of items that you handpick and put in your bowl...ranging from baked, fried, and fresh tofu, vegetables, and a few meat items. Once you choose what you want, then you hand the worker your bowl and you can get one of four different kinds of noodles with soup or with Laksa (spicy gravy) or rice. This is a big bowl too, and it's super cheap....between $2.80-4.50SD per bowl. There are lots of drink options to choose from...from bubble tea, to hot/cold Milo, to fruit juices, to numerous teas.
Singapore has really good public transportation including the MRT, busses, and taxi service. The MRT goes essentially everywhere in Singapore, and if it doesn't take you close enough, then you can hop on a bus to get to your actual destination. Despite the tiny size of Singapore, it takes at least an hour to go anywhere! It's crazy. I learned something about cars here in Singapore...Someone can buy a car for a decent price but then they must pay for a COE (Certificate of Entitlement) which can cost as much or more than the car! It is a government imposed initiative to limit the number of cars on the roads. It's similar with the housing industry...most Singaporeans live with their parents until they get married, because you are not allowed to own a house here unless you are 35+ or married. I found that interesting since that is not how it is in the states.
The MRT is good, it is clean, relatively efficient, and goes most places. At first, I was pretty nervous to go figure out the MRT system by myself, but I got a good little map that shows all the routes and I realized that it is actually really easy. The MRT is my main means of transportation...there is even a station named Dakota. I still have to go check it out! I actually want to stop at every station on the MRT to explore and see what is there. Each stop has a different name with a different meaning, so I think it would be really interesting to figure out what each one means. Plus, that would be a great way to get immense exposure to Singapore.
They have 13th floors here...haha