Hello everyone, my name is Sabrina, and in this issue I would like to share with you some of my life and study experiences as a graduate student at the National University of Singapore.
·Self-introduction·
In 2015, I passed the gaokao and went to Lingnan University in Hong Kong, one of the eight public schools in Hong Kong. My major was visual studies, which is a relatively media major, so my subsequent exchange experience and graduate applications were all in the direction of humanities and social sciences. In the first semester of my senior year, I went to the University of Copenhagen in Denmark for a semester exchange.
·Application Experience·
In the first semester of my senior year, I began to apply for graduate school, and after receiving an offer, I finally chose to study cultural and linguistic studies at the National University of Singapore. In terms of application, I would like to share with you a few experiences.
The first is to enrich your resume during college. For example, participating in some volunteer activities, social practice, internships, etc., these are the highlights that can be added to the resume.
Then there is the reflection of personal strengths. You need to assess your strengths compared to other applicants. For example, if you have good language scores, or have a lot of social practice activities, you can use them as your own strengths.
In addition, it is also very important to recommend people. When applying, the school usually requires one or two referees. It is recommended that you have a good relationship with some well-known teachers in the school during your university, especially those who have a certain influence overseas, such as Baidu Encyclopedia can find teachers. If the school has such a teacher, be sure to go to him in advance and tell him that you need his help in writing a letter of recommendation.
The second is to find a teacher with a relevant background. For example, if you want to apply for the National University of Singapore, and you just know that one of the teachers in your major has teaching experience in Singapore, or he is a graduate of the new NUS, then go to him. In addition to the recommended person in the study category, if you have internship experience, you can also go to the relevant people in the company to write.
I applied to six schools, a total of 13 majors, all of which were humanities and social sciences majors, such as new media, cultural communication, Chinese regional studies, etc., and finally received 11 offers. Not every school needs an interview, especially for humanities majors, some only evaluate your hard conditions, such as your PS and CV, and if they meet the requirements, they will send you an offer directly. There are also some majors that will send you an interview invitation, and there will be an interview notice about a month after submitting the materials.
In the choice of school, the first problem is a very real problem, that is, the international influence of the school. Although we do not recommend ranking theory only, it is recommended that you also consider future employment when applying. Domestic school rankings are still more important, and if you want to return to China for employment later, you need to take this factor into account.
But the ranking can not be a decisive factor, because the direction of each school's professional expertise is different, for example, my undergraduate school Lingnan University, its international comprehensive ranking is only more than three hundred, mainly because the school does not have a science and engineering major, so in some areas will lag behind other schools, but Lingnan University's humanities disciplines can even rank in the top three in Hong Kong. When evaluating a school, be sure to see if the major you want to study is the advantage of the school.
Finally, there is your future planning and development. If you just want to go abroad to study for a year to experience, and then go back and forth to the domestic development, it is definitely not the same as the plan you want to develop and settle outside in the future, so in general, when you get the offer, you must make the most suitable choice according to your own situation.
·School Profile·
The National University of Singapore is very well-known and highly ranked in the world, with the QS World University Rankings rankings rankings at 11th place from 2018 to 2022, the first in the whole of Asia. The college I was in was the Faculty of Humanities, and the National State of Singapore put the humanities and social sciences in one faculty. The main campus is called KENT RIDGE. The school is about 4km from the city center and about 30 minutes by car from the airport. Singapore itself is a city-type country, the area is not very large, and it is still very convenient to go everywhere.
In terms of cost, in fact, Singapore and Hong Kong are the same, the tuition fees for humanities and social sciences are basically around RMB 120,000 to 150,000 per year, if it is a business major, the tuition fee may be higher, especially like the University of Chinese hong Kong, its business part of the major, the tuition fee is almost 270,000 yuan a year.
There are two options for accommodation, one is to share a room with classmates near the school, the cost per person per month is 4000 ~ 6000 yuan; then you can apply for the school's dormitory, the school dormitory is selected by lottery, not that you sign up for the name will definitely be able to be drawn, this depends on the character ~ the first choice is definitely the accommodation, one is because it will cost less, only need about 3500 yuan per month, and then because the dormitory is on the campus, there will be many opportunities to contact different students, There can be a better learning and life experience.
For a world ranking like NUS, there are no weak subjects. Business, humanities and social sciences and medicine are among the more well-known majors at NUS. Students studying medicine can consider the National Singapore, because the predecessor of NUS was a medical school in Singapore, and now the school is next to the national hospital of Singapore, which is very large and is a famous landmark in Singapore.
The campus of the new NUS is open, the entire school covers a relatively large area, and the road connecting between the colleges is also the daily driving road of the citizens, so it is often seen in the school that citizens, tourists and so on. The campus of nuscumen is relatively modern, and there are few quaint buildings in the school, basically very modern and very modern buildings. Transportation to the school is also very convenient and has its own bus.
Then there is the all-English environment. Although Singapore's Chinese population accounts for 70%, the vast majority of people's daily habitual expressions are expressed in English. In school, the dialogue of local students is basically all English, or there are one or two Chinese words in the whole English, and the school is also a completely Pure English environment.
·Professional Introduction·
My undergraduate major is film and television media, and the main direction of my research is film research and print research, that is, magazines, pictorials and other things. Nus nusat does not have a dedicated School of Communication, it places this department in the Chinese Department, the name of the major is called Chinese Culture and Language Studies.
At that time, the requirements for the application were, first of all, the GPA to achieve the B level, and the benchmark to the domestic score, about 85 points. If the full score is 4, it is to achieve 3.0 and above, and if your score is above 3.3, the acceptance rate will definitely be higher. The IELTS requirement is 6 points. You can also go to the official website to learn about this information.
The student composition of the whole major is mainly Chinese, and there are about 40 people in the whole major. But because graduate students are all taught in different classes, there are twenty or thirty different courses, scattered, basically a class of about ten students per class to come to class. The overall quality of teachers at NUS is very high, and many teachers who can be seen in Baidu Encyclopedia, department heads, honorary professors, and doctoral supervisors of the Faculty of Letters will also give lectures to graduate students.
The basic feature of the major is first and foremost that it is taught in multiple languages. Needless to say, some courses involve Chinese cultural things, so they are conducted in Mandarin, and other courses, such as the study of ancient poetry, or some cultural studies in Hong Kong, the teacher will also have a part of cantonese teaching in the classroom.
Another thing that I think is more distinctive is its fieldwork project. The so-called fieldwork is that after learning the theory in the classroom, the teacher will take the students out of the campus and go to the actual cultural place to conduct some investigation. I was very impressed once that when we were studying the Chinese community in Malaysia, we really chartered a car and drove directly to Malaysia, went to the local restaurant to investigate their food, and went to communicate and interview with the local Chinese.
Another is the practice of personal culture. The two topic selection reports I gave that year were theatre changes in Singapore and Malaysia, and the other was paper media and film studies. The picture shows me shooting the scene on the spot. I really need to go backstage to theater performances, chat with these people, go to some museums for field trips, and in the process, I personally feel that I will be more practical and impressed than the theoretical knowledge I learned in school.
In addition, although it is called Chinese culture, due to the actual situation in Singapore, it will integrate a lot of Southeast Asian cultures, so it is actually a multicultural exchange course.
Finally, the major itself is a cross-disciplinary study, with not only cultural and linguistic courses, but also some history, philosophy, and even Buddhist courses.
The curriculum is divided into compulsory courses and elective courses, the compulsory courses are mainly English/Chinese culture studies, Chinese Chinese language studies, there are many types of elective courses, religious philosophy, social culture, literature, media, etc. You can choose at will, and it is good to take enough credits.
The semester setting in Singapore is relatively short, basically from August to November, February to May, and each semester lasts about three months to four months. The GPA is also different from Hong Kong, Singapore's GPA is 5 out of 5, and when I graduated that year, my grade was 4.8, which is still very good.
Then there's the exam setup. Similar to most schools, the types of tests are basically classroom quizes, class participation scores, midterms and final exams, and regular paperwork. Relatively speaking, the proportion of paper scores in humanities and social sciences majors will be larger, and the proportion of exams for business majors will be greater, and teachers will clearly inform them in the first class of each semester.
·Daily Learning·
Under normal circumstances, basically the weekly course length is 12 to 15 hours, which is relatively small, so most of the time needs to do self-learning management. I am under the impression that most of my self-study and management time will be spent in two parts, one is data inquiry and field research, and the other is group work, and communication and cooperation with team members. Group work is a feature of overseas universities, and I did a lot of group work when I was an undergraduate in Hong Kong, so I can share my experience in this area.
When it comes to group work, first of all, you must understand what are the advantages and characteristics of your team members, and then be sure to communicate within the group for multiple rounds, do not wait until the homework is handed in to do the summary, and then set up some review and drill links.
Each faculty of NUS has its own library, which I think is a very good advantage, if you are a classmate who loves to study and love to learn, you will feel very happy. For example, the Academy of Arts and the Academy of Social Sciences have their own special libraries, five floors, which are full of books that may be used in classes, including some extracurricular literary works, and can be freely entered and exited with a student ID. The library also has a café, a thermostatic study room, a multimedia discussion room and so on.
On the campus of NUS, almost every corridor is equipped with a lot of tables, and many local or foreign students like to sit here and sit outside to study. There is also a study area in the school cafeteria, not to mention the dormitory, which is also equipped with a study area.
The picture above is an activity place in the dormitory area of nuskuman University, which is equipped with a restaurant and a large study room, and what Starbucks, Costa, Pizza Hut and the like are all here, so if you can live in the school, it is really very convenient.
·Campus Life·
When studying abroad, try not to spend all your time on learning, be sure to understand the local culture, communicate more with local students and students from other countries, and go out for a walk.
The campus is still very large, running between the various colleges mainly by shuttle bus, the school shuttle bus is free, it has a special APP, after downloading it can see its arrival time at the station.
In addition, I think it is more distinctive, that is, there is a thing called ubergo in Singapore, it is a kind of scooter under the Uber, there are a lot of scooters in the school, this can be rented, I have the impression that an hour is about fifty cents Singapore dollars, in the school you can use this scooter to walk around, it is also very cool.
Then there is walking, Singapore is a tropical region, the rainy season is very much, basically all the pedestrian areas of the school are shed, no need to bring an umbrella, it is also very convenient.
In terms of dining, the restaurants on campus are very rich, Singapore itself is a multicultural area, and the new NUS is a world-class famous school, with students from various countries here, so you can basically eat the more classic specialties from all over the world in the school.
In addition to the restaurants around the college, the school also has takeaway food shops, for example, if you are close to each other for two classes, you have to eat within ten minutes, or you have to bring meals to the classroom, at this time you can buy some takeaway meals in these small shops.
There are a lot of milk tea shops in the school, girls may like this, if there are classmates after going to Singapore to study, it is recommended that you must try the avocado milkshake over there, which is a feature of Singapore, whether it is in the school or outside the small shop, basically can drink to, really very delicious, probably two New Dollars a cup. Some of the more classic milk teas, such as KOI, are available in the Tribute Tea School. In addition, there are many kinds of tropical fruit juice, basically ten yuan a cup, before each class, everyone is used to buy this juice to drink, this can be brought to the classroom, or very good.
In the part of campus entertainment, the school will hold many large-scale campus activities, such as Chinese film festivals, Mid-Autumn Festival activities, networking activities, etc., all of which I have actually participated in. The Chinese Film Festival lasts for two or three weeks, during which time the school's theater will show about ten classic Chinese films. The school also often engages in networking activities between various colleges, and everyone plays games together. Then there will be some innovative art festivals, music festivals and so on.
The picture in the upper right corner is the school lawn music festival, which is held in the dormitory area, which is very interesting and very romantic, a bit like the strawberry music festival in China. In addition, there are various large clubs, which are similar to domestic schools, and if you are interested, you can participate.
The sports venues on campus are also very rich, especially the swimming pool of the new NUS, the school is equipped with 4-5 pools, and the pool in the gymnasium is a standard international competition pool, and it is free. In addition, there are more special such as climbing rooms and squash rooms.
Nusku University has two proud museums, one is the Lee Kuan Chie Museum of Natural History, the other is the National University Museum, both of which are very shocking, can be said to be the top museums in the whole Southeast Asian region, if you go to the University to study, you must go to see. Both museums are open to the public and can also be used as tourist attractions to punch in.
Students who study biology, or students in the department of partial science, these things in the museum are actually for these departments, so students in these departments may use some specimens or instruments in class.
This picture is a very famous Sands Hotel in Singapore, which has appeared in many movies, there is an outdoor swimming pool above the hotel, many ins Internet celebrities will go there to take pictures, if you go to Singapore, you can also go to this pool to punch the clock.
·Singapore Overview·
Singapore's natural environment has created a rich vegetation with many tropical fruits, so everyone will make Singapore a garden country. The greenery of this country is very well done, there are specialized tropical botanical gardens, which is a very famous attraction for it.
In addition, Singapore's economic development is among the best in Asia, so whether you go to school or work in the future, life is very good. In terms of population, more than 70% of Singapore is Chinese, mainly from southern Fujian and Liangguang, and there was a wave of immigration in the early 20th century, and most of them immigrated at that time.
In addition to the Chinese, the rest of Singapore's population is predominantly Malays, Indians and some people from other countries, and the language composition of the entire country is also composed of English, Malay, Mandarin and Indian Tenni Whisper. One of the characteristics of the diverse demographic composition is the abundance of festivals in the country. Chinese New Year, Indian New Year, Malaysia New Year will pass, so when I was in school, I often had a feeling that I didn't know what this festival was, but I was on holiday inexplicably. For example, Slayer and Eid al-Fitr, as well as some Hindu festivals, will be closed, and there are still many holidays throughout the semester.
The whole southeast Asian region is centered on Singapore, so if you want to go to Thailand, Indonesia and other regions, it is very convenient. Tickets to Thailand, tickets to the Philippines, basically within 200 yuan can be done, to Indonesia is more convenient, directly by boat can go. A 50-minute boat ride to the indonesian island. Malaysia, if you want to go to the border between Malaysia and Singapore, by car or by bus can go directly to Malaysia, there are a lot of outlet shopping malls, the consumption of the whole Malaysia is much lower than Singapore, on weekends, everyone also wants to go around, passports are also very convenient, Singapore's Chinatown can help everyone solve.
Traffic conditions
This is Singapore's MRT line. The entire Singapore subway is very developed, but it is characterized by being very slow. Singapore's MRT runs entirely on the ground, so it's really slow to see it. Another common mode of transport is the bus, which is one of the most important components of public transportation. In addition, there are Uber and taxis, but these are more expensive, and everyone can choose as you like.
Singapore's transport card is called EZLINK. It is the same as the domestic Shenzhen Pass transportation card, which can also be swiped for buses and subways, and some taxis can also be swiped. Now, basically taxis can use Alipay, very convenient, so in addition to the expensive no problem ~ EZLINK needs you to pay 12 new dollars, about 60 yuan, this money can actually be used to buy things in the commissary or 711.
When it comes to Singapore's transportation, there is also a very important attraction that is considered to be a classic attraction in Singapore, Changi Airport. It was the pride of Singaporeans, and at the time my Singapore landlord and some local friends, mentioning Changi Airport, thought it was remarkable, and this airport has been voted the most beautiful airport in the world for more than two decades. So when you get to the airport, you can set aside some time to take a good look. The waterfall in the picture above is called Star Shine Changi, which just landed two years ago, just at the airport, and everyone can go to see it.
Singaporean cuisine
There are many delicious things in Singapore, here is a brief introduction to you a few, the rest of you go to explore slowly
The first most famous thing to try is meat and bone tea. Singapore and Malaysia both have meat and bone tea, there is a slight difference between them, the Singapore version of the pepper flavor is heavier, the Malay version of the medicinal flavor is heavier, depending on your own choice. There are two shops here, called Songfa and the promoter, if you come to Singapore in the future, you can try it, this is a very classic, very representative meat and bone tea old shop.
Then there is the Hainan chicken, Singapore's special feature is the Hainan chicken is not very strange? This actually has something to do with the history of the immigration wave we mentioned earlier. Meat bone tea and Hainan chicken were brought to Singapore by people from southern China. Hainan chicken, there are also small shops on the street, Michelin restaurants, that kind of expensive Chinese restaurants also have, the span of the price is relatively large, depending on your choice, basically will not step on the thunder. There is a shop here that is recommended to everyone, called Tiantian. Everyday Hainan Chicken is a Michelin-starred Hainan chicken shop in Germany, and if you have a chance in Singapore's Chinatown, you can go and see it. And it is very affordable, a meal is about 3 yuan 5, rmb is about 18 yuan.
Chilli crab is also a famous local delicacy. It is a seafood meal made of meat and crab, and the price of this one will be a little more expensive.
There is also Laksa, which is a soup similar to curry and can be eaten with noodles, but I personally don't like it, mainly depending on my appetite.
Another more recommended is kaya toast, that is, coffee with toast bread, this is a very special breakfast in Singapore, toast will be smeared with coconut milk, so the taste is also very good.
In addition, in the tropics, of course, it is to eat fruit, especially students who like to eat durian, and they are really very happy in Southeast Asia. One of the things that impressed me very much was that my Singaporean friend took me to eat durian, and the durians in the fruit stall were all bought directly by one person, and they opened themselves in the position next to the fruit stall, and each person ate one, which is how to eat durian in Singapore, unlike in China, the salesman will help you get it right. Singapore's durian, according to a sale, one is 40-50 yuan, very cheap, and in Singapore you can eat fresh Musang King, super delicious ~
Tourist attractions
Clarke Quay was a very popular place when I was studying, it is actually the center of Singapore, there is a lot of food there, there will be some big brands in China, Tai Er, Da Long Yi, Haidilao are all in Clarke Quay, so we will often go there. There are also some entertainment venues such as clear bars, which are good choices for after-school leisure.
Then there is Chinatown, to Chinatown is like returning to China, there are a lot of Chinese food, you can think of domestic food, there are basically there. Chinatown's Chinese cultural activities are also more distinctive, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there will be flower lanterns, riddles, lion dances during the Spring Festival, etc., the atmosphere is still very good.
Next up are some attractions to get tickets to. I personally like Singapore Zoo, it is one of the top ten zoos in the world, and it is a must-see attraction. Among them, Night Safari is Singapore's night zoo, and everyone can feel it when the time comes. These animals are all free-range, and many of them are nocturnal, so when you go to see wild animals at night, you will see a lot of different lifestyles and states.
Then there's Universal Studios. Universal Studios in Singapore is the first Universal Studios theme park in Southeast Asia, it is quite large, there are seven theme areas, the Halloween activities of this place are very distinctive, probably starting around October of each year, will last for a month, like to pursue excitement students can go to feel it, the atmosphere is still very strong, learning tired when to scream is also quite good.
·Q&A Session·
Q: Hello teacher, can you talk about the IELTS standards and equalization requirements of the National Republic of Singapore?
A: In general, schools are similar and different, and the IELTS scores of different majors will be slightly different. The basic entry score line is about 6 points, if it is a literature major or a business major, the required score will be a little higher, and may reach 7 points. I was still relatively lucky to take the IELTS test, 8 points, more than GRE30 points, and finally used such a score to apply.
Q: Is it easy to apply to the Department of Computer Science at the National University of Singapore? What conditions need to be met?
A: The standardization requirements of the Department of Computer Science are 6.0 IELTS, undergraduate B level or above, but like the computer of this professional, it is recommended that you apply for the right, because its competitive pressure will be relatively large, if you have some software skills and certificates, be sure to write to the CV. After meeting the basic requirements, it is basically more than 30% higher than its basic requirements, that is, your IELTS to reach 7.0, GPA to reach 3.3, your chances of admission will be greater. I had a friend in the Computer Science Department of NUS before, and as far as I know, they did not need an interview that year, and they would be directly admitted if they met the conditions.
Q: What grade of university is the National University of Singapore equivalent to in China? Why is the ranking so high?
A: The new NUS is equivalent to the domestic Tsinghua Peking University, as to why the international ranking is so high, first of all, we must understand how the international ranking is constituted. Take the QS ranking as an example, it will integrate the university's faculty, academic contribution, faculty ratio, international student number ratio, etc., through these to evaluate, or quite informative.
Q: Is there a lot of pressure on the new National Master's degree program? Are there many opportunities to communicate with professors? What about teachers?
A: The master's degree of the new NUS, as far as I know, the pressure of the master's degree in business and science and engineering will be greater. This is actually to distinguish, foreign master's degree is divided into teaching master's and research master's, research master's degree is two years, the pressure will be greater, because they need to do scientific research projects, or do their own research out. The taught master's degree is actually similar to the mainland, mainly for credits. If there's pressure, I feel like it's a matter of personal time allocation. Basically all teachers will tell you what to do with your homework a month in advance, even at the beginning of the semester. If you put a 6,000-word thing at the end of the term, it feels stressful, but if you write a little every day, there is no pressure.
Nusat University has many opportunities to communicate with professors, and after class, there is nothing to do with the teacher, he will be in the classroom, you can ask him any questions, you can also make an appointment for his office hour, go and chat with him.
The teachers were very good, and even at that time, some of our teachers would participate in the Mid-Autumn Festival gala, lottery and other activities with us.
Q: Is there more Chinese in the NUS? Which of NUS's science and engineering majors are advantageous?
A: The two majors of engineering and science of the new NUS are ranked in the top ten in the world, so science and engineering do not have a special advantage in which major, they are very strong, you can directly apply for the examination. If you have to find a very good major, the petroleum engineering major ranked first in the world last year, which is definitely the most advantageous major
Chinese, Chinese is also to be divided into majors, like humanities and social sciences majors, Chinese students to tell the truth, the proportion of Chinese students in a class will be about 50%, a class of Chinese students in business accounted for 10%, like doctoral or research master's students, the number of Chinese students will be less. However, due to the geographical location and demographic composition of the new NUS, it is also feasible to use Chinese for other occasions than classes, but it is recommended that you use English better.
Editorial: Cindy
This article is shared by Sabrina, the academic tutor of Dasheng Study Abroad
Sabrina, academic tutor for studying abroad at Dasheng
National University of Singapore | major in Chinese Speech and Culture
| Visual Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Bachelor's degree in Visual Studies at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Master's degree in Chinese Speech and Cultural Studies from the National University of Singapore, DIY applied to the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, The University of Hong Kong, Baptist University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and other offers, IELTS 8 points, GRE330 points, has worked in domestic listed group educational institutions, has rich application experience, and is familiar with hong Kong schools and Singapore schools to apply for study abroad.
(This article is the original writing of Dasheng Study Abroad, it is strictly forbidden to reprint, once found the consequences are at your own risk)