Name: Aricia Yee
School: NUS College of Humanities and Sciences Y3
Course: Bachelor of Social Sciences (Major in Communications and New Media)
How would you describe your course to someone who doesn’t know about it?
Unlike media courses in polytechnic which are more hands-on, ours is more theory based rather than practical. We study communication theories, psychology and designs. We do get to learn how to design our own website, magazine and many more.
DECISION MAKING
Were you from JC/Poly? What drew you specifically to NUS College of Humanities and Science(CHS)?
I was studying media back in Singapore Polytechnic, where we learned more about film making and video editing. Coming to university, I wanted to learn something a bit more different, but still within the media industry and that is something I like. What drew me to NUS is that in CHS, we get to experience a lot of different kinds of modules. Even though I’m from Communications, I get to learn about AI, I get to learn about music, I can take a lot of electives, I can take language courses. It’s like what maybe other unis don’t really offer.
Furthermore, NUS focuses more on digital media (ie.social media), as compared to NTU Wee Kim Wee where they focus more on traditional media (ie.journalism). As I prefer to focus on digital content, NUS was the choice for me.
ADMISSION/SCHOLARSHIP
How competitive is it to get into this course, and what does the application process look like?
So actually, it took two years for me. When I graduated from polytechnic in 2022, I tried submitting my applications to a few universities, but I didn’t get in. Since I didn’t get in that year, I went to do internships instead. Then the following year, 2023, I went to apply again, and this time they actually contacted me for an interview, because I didn’t meet the GPA requirement. Back then it was about 3.66, and my poly GPA was 3.62, so it differs a bit. I actually submitted my appeal through the portal, got an interview, and also had to do a writing test.
I would say it’s actually quite competitive, especially for polytechnic students. It would be easier if your GPA is at a safe level, like maybe 3.7 or 3.8. I think for people with 3.8 to 3.9 GPA, they do get direct admission, where they give you an offer without an interview.
Is there anything about the application process you wish you’d known earlier?
I think it’s very important to narrow down what you want to talk about in your personal statement. As students, we do a lot of things, a lot of activities, but how many of them are actually relevant to what you want to study, or how do they differentiate you from other people? So for me, in the second year round, when I tweaked my personal statement, I made sure I focused more on my internship experiences and why I wanted to study at NUS, mainly because of my future career path. I think it’s very important to read up on what NUS offers differently from other universities, because when you’re doing the admission interview with the professors, they’ll also ask you why you chose NUS instead of NTU.
Would you recommend taking a gap year to someone who doesn’t quite meet the GPA requirement?
Actually, quite a lot of people from JC reached out to me to ask about this. I think if you truly want this course, then one year off to build up your experience will mean nothing when you look back. In my gap year, I actually learned a lot from my internship, from the real working industry. if they’re not sure what they want to do and they take a gap year to explore, then who knows, maybe they realise they don’t like this course the way they imagined it to be, and they still have time to change. But I know some people’s parents don’t really want them to waste time, because a gap year is one year gone. So if they can get in through appeals or something, that will be better for them.
How do you make the most of a gap year, beyond just doing internships?
I think a gap year is really about learning more about yourself. Internships is one thing, but beyond that, you can also do things outside of academic life. For me, I volunteer and took up new hobbies like Muay Thai. During the NUS admission interview, the profs also asked me what I did outside of academics and work. So I think it’s really meaningful to create value out of all these things, not just work and study. It adds character to your portfolio as well.
Are you on any scholarship? Which ones would you advise juniors to look out for?
I think when you apply to NUS and indicate that you need financial assistance, you can automatically be considered for the NUS bursary and scholarships. I would definitely recommend trying for these, because I know some of my juniors from poly who got it and the benefits are really good. They actually guarantee you an exchange spot, because exchange is also very competitive in NUS. They also guarantee campus accommodation and give you an allowance, and it’s bond-free.
There’s also an external portal called Bright Sparks, where companies post their own scholarships. I applied to a few through there. These companies provide internship experience and pay for your school fees, but you do have to go through interviews. I didn’t manage to get one in the end, but it’s still worth trying, especially because the job market isn’t great right now, and a scholarship like that also guarantees you a job offer after graduating.
TEACHING CURRICULUM
What’s your course structure like?
For our course, we have to take a total of 60 credits outside of our own major, which works out to about 12 to 14 modules. These include compulsory science modules and humanities modules. The music module I mentioned is actually a science module, where we get to learn about how physics plays a part in music, like sound waves, and we also have to compose a short piece. There are also humanities modules, which are quite interesting because we get to have a lot of small group debates that can train up your speaking skills and confidence.
For the Communications major itself, modules range from Level 1000 all the way to Level 4000 across four years. To graduate, you need to complete five Level 4000 modules. On average, we take five mods each semester.
What about doing a minor or double major alongside Communications?
CHS has a lot of majors, maybe 20 to 30, spanning social science and humanities. Double majors are possible, but for poly students we graduate earlier than JC students, so we don’t have enough credits for a double major. A minor is possible too. For me, since a minor restricts you to a fixed set of courses and I wanted to use my free credits for a Korean language course, I decided not to do one. It really depends on what you want to do with your elective credits.
How does the module bidding system work?
We have this bidding system where we plan one or two weeks before the schedule comes out. We choose our top three time slots for each module, and hopefully we get it. If we don’t, we might end up coming to school more days. We can rank up to 20 slots in total, but usually we won’t use all 20. Maybe we’ll use about three slots per mod, so roughly 15 slots across five mods.
Priority goes by year level, so Year 4s get first pick, then Year 3, Year 2, Year 1. And if you’re a major, you get higher priority for your own major’s modules compared to someone taking it as an elective.
How is a day/week in the life of a student in your course & school like ?
Typically in a week, I only have classes for two to three days because some of the classes are on alternate weeks. So I have a very flexible schedule. Outside of my studies, I actually joined quite a few activities back in Year 1 and Year 2. I joined CCAs, I joined orientation camps. I think that flexible study schedule really helped me to get a more fun uni life. In Year 3, I went for exchange and my schedule has really allowed me to do a lot of things.
What is the format of your assessments/exams like (practical / MCQ / essay; online/offline; mostly individual or group assignments)?
For science modules, we have final exams, because those are more formula-based. For humanities, it’s mostly group presentations and group projects, where we basically share our findings from the 13 weeks of learning. With regards to communications modules, most assignments are the final product itself. Additionally, by the end of Week 13 we can already go on holiday because there are no finals. For example, I took a class on designing websites, and at the end of the semester I just had to submit my completed website. These mods are very flexible, you just have to make sure you pace yourself and don’t last-minute do everything.
How heavy would you say the workload for your course is compared to an average student in your university?
For Communications, I would say it’s quite chill already. I know some other majors have a lot of finals. For us, it’s mostly projects and presentations. So actually by the end of Week 13(the end of the academic term), we can go on holiday because we don’t have finals. Other majors have to endure another one or two weeks of exams before they can rest. On average, we take five mods each semester.
How are the faculty / professors of your course like? Any favourite professors!
I think most of our professors are very willing to help. There was one particular mod that was very theory-heavy, with readings of 30 or 40 pages, and when I wrote my essay there were a lot of comments I didn’t really understand. So I went up to the prof and she explained everything patiently. I think that this is a good thing about uni. Back in poly, some of my lecturers would say ‘in uni, nobody will care about you,’ but I didn’t feel that way at all at NUS. The profs are really, really nice.
Some profs do have compulsory class participation, so it depends on the module and the professor. But overall, they’re very approachable.
Are there any final year projects / capstones / thesis to do?
There’s no FYP. There’s an honours thesis, but that is optional.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE / PREFERENCES
What were your most and least favourite/interesting classes/part of your course?
The most interesting part is actually the freedom we get to choose what we want to do. In poly, courses tend to be very rigid. For example, they’d assign us a client like Singtel and tell us to think of a campaign for them. But for most of the mods I took at NUS, they let you choose any brand you want and research that, which makes it a lot more fun compared to working on something you’re not really keen on.
The less interesting side would be the mods that are a bit dry, especially when there’s a lot of theory and we have to write a 2,000-word essay. That’s not very fun. Apart from that, I really enjoy the group projects and anything that lets me use creativity.
What are some thing(s) you didn’t know/expect about the course before starting, and what are some things that surpassed your expectations?
Before coming in, I didn’t really anticipate that we’d have to take so many modules I wasn’t confident in, like science or statistics mods. I was a bit scared at first that the profs wouldn’t be very willing to help. But for one of the data and statistics mods I struggled in, I actually went up to my prof and it was basically like maths tuition. I’d ask him how to do certain questions, and he would just explain. The profs were genuinely helpful.
What surpassed my expectation is that we get to learn a lot of things that are very different from what I expected. I actually expected everything to be a copy and paste from poly content, and I’m really glad it wasn’t. There are so many Communications modules to choose from. Now I make sure that before I sign up for any module, I read thoroughly on the NUS mods website, which also has anonymous student reviews.
Are there any common misconceptions/stereotypes about your course that you would like to debunk?
A lot of people think that maybe you have to be very outgoing and extroverted to do Communications, but actually that’s not true. Communication is very broad. Some people can choose to stay behind the scenes, like in video production you can do the editing side instead of being on camera. For those who like to interact with people, you can choose a career path that allows that, like public relations. There are really people of all walks of life in the course.
Are there many people who switch out of your course?
I actually asked my prof about this once. He said that as the years go by, more and more people actually join Communications rather than drop out. CHS is very flexible, you can still change your major by the end of Year 2 and graduate on time because you have elective credits to use. Most of the people who switch into Communications, interestingly, come from Psychology.
What sort of student do you think would excel in / be suited for your course?
I think someone who is not afraid to try new things, and someone who is brave, because uni is really about stepping out of your comfort zone sometimes. For me, I was quite hesitant about going on exchange at first, because it’s actually quite scary to leave home for a few months. But seeing so many people in my cohort go and have really good experiences was what pushed me to take that leap of faith. I think if you’re willing to put yourself out there, you’ll get a lot out of this course.
CAREER PROSPECTS
What are the career prospects like for your course?
So there are three main pathways. The first is public relations, which is basically helping a brand planning events and representing the brand to media and influencers. The second is marketing and content creation, which is creating content for brands or thinking about brand strategy. The third is design, which covers web design, user experience, user interface, and graphic design.
For the design track, we learn the design and UX side of things, but the actual coding still has to be done by someone else. So we focus more on how things should look and how users move through a product.
What are your plans after university?
For me, I’m looking to pursue more on the marketing side. Thinking of strategies for brands and creating social media content for them.
How does NUS supports students in finding jobs and internships?
I think the school helps quite a lot. We have career fairs every semester, which are really helpful for networking and asking employers directly what opportunities they have. I’ve gotten interview leads from career fairs before. There’s also an NUS student job portal, and we have career coaching. I actually went to the career coach to review my resume and she gave me specific feedback on which keywords to use.
How do you prepare for a career fair?
Be mentally prepared, because there will be a lot of people and it can be quite overstimulating. Prepare one or two sentences on how you’d introduce yourself and why you’re a good fit. Read up on which companies will be there beforehand. I’d choose maybe three or four companies I really want to visit and focus on those, and then ask them questions also. That’s a better strategy than just trying to cover everyone.
STUDENT LIFE
Did you stay in campus accommodation?
I didn’t manage to stay on campus because I appealed to NUS. By the time I got in, all the hall applications had already closed. That’s one of my regrets because hall life is really vibrant from what I see and hear.
NUS has other accommodation options beyond hall. There are Houses, which have no commitment at all. It’s mainly just a place to stay for convenience , and some neighbours don’t even talk to each other. Then there are Residential Colleges, which I didn’t really consider because you have to take modules specific to that college. It’s more academic. Hall is really the community-oriented option, where you earn your stay through hall points by joining CCAs and taking on leadership roles.
Can you still have a good student life without staying on campus?
I think student life is still very much possible, but you have to put in the effort yourself. For me, if I didn’t join CCAs, if I didn’t sign up for any orientation camps, then every day would have just been going to school to study. That’s why I made sure to sign up for activities.
What CCAs did you join, and how was the experience?
I joined the Taekwondo club, which I’d really recommend because it’s very beginner-friendly. You can start from white belt, so there’s no prior experience needed. I also joined the NUS Student Union Camp by doing publicity for them, which was quite fun because we got to organise our own camp. It’s actually the largest camp in NUS, so it was a really good experience. In Year 1, I also joined the Entrepreneur Society, where I did publicity for their Starterthon. It was a good experience, though since it’s more business and tech related, it wasn’t that relevant to me personally. The camps were where I got to do a lot of live content creation, which was more fun and more relevant to what I’m studying.
You went on exchange to Taiwan. How did that go, and what does the process look like?
I think exchange is definitely a must to try when you’re in uni. It’s really once in a lifetime, being able to travel and immerse yourself in a new environment. Taiwan was a great experience. I got to practise my Mandarin, the food was really good, and the most memorable part was making friends with the locals. They’re really, really nice. I would strongly encourage anyone who can go on exchange to do it.
For the process, it really depends on GPA. Some schools have minimum GPA requirements, and UK, Australia, Korea, and Canada are very competitive destinations. I went and researched schools that were a better fit for my course and not as competitive.
NUS has a very helpful partner universities portal where you can search by major. My major had two recommended partner schools, one in Taiwan and one in Amsterdam. I applied for Amsterdam first but it was really competitive because everyone wants to go to Europe. So I settled for the Taiwan school. That said, you’re not limited to just the recommended schools. You can apply for any NUS partner school. My advice is to check the number of available slots per school per semester. Some schools only have one or two slots, so I applied to those with at least five or six spots to maximise my chances.
What are some opportunities/facilities/resources that you feel that are not so well known among students that they should be utilising?
One is the university counsellor. Especially near exam season, it gets quite stressful, and I think students shouldn’t be afraid to get professional help if they need it. The other thing is the exam goodie bags that student associations give out every semester. A lot of people miss it because they only announce it on Instagram, not always by email. So make sure you check the student association Instagram around that time. I always look forward to those.
Any food recommendations on campus?
My favourite canteen is Frontier. It’s the one nearest to the MRT, and the food options are more affordable compared to other canteens. There’s a noodle store there that I remember in Year 1 was only $2.50 for a proper portion, and now it’s around $3, but it’s still cheaper than most places outside. At University Town, there are also quite a few small restaurants to check out, including a Korean place called Hwang’s that’s quite popular on campus. I always look forward to lunch at NUS because there are so many options.
PARTING ADVICE
What are some things that you think incoming students should know or expect about this course before committing?
I would say it’s okay to not know what you want to do yet, especially in CHS, because we have so many different courses for you to explore. You can take the introductory module first to see whether it’s a good fit. If it’s not right, you can always change afterwards. Year 1 is really the best time to try as much as you can, because as the years go by, in Year 3 and Year 4, there’s less time and the academic work gets more demanding.
If you could tell your JC2/Poly Y3 self one thing before choosing, what would it be?
I think I would tell myself to not feel so stressed, because everything will eventually work out. If you didn’t manage to get in, it’s okay to try again. It’s really about not giving up.
Any parting words or advice for juniors?
Just have fun in uni. Don’t stress so much about grades and do your best. If it doesn’t work out, there will always be another way.