Hey CC-ers!
So I’ve noticed that there isn’t a dedicated resource thread for Yale-NUS College, so I thought it would be helpful to start one especially since the school is relatively new. My main goal is to help clarify any questions or concerns about Yale-NUS College in Singapore, and to help people get a feel whether the school is right for them and how to proceed through the application process if so. Whether you are set on coming here or know nothing about the school, feel free to ask me anything! I am currently a freshman at Yale-NUS College and will answer any questions prospective students have about the college, from academics to extra/co-curricular activities to general living and beyond. I am from the United States originally and a scholarship student here, so I can give a lot of insight into those topics as well. I’ll also answer questions about my specific experience, like why I chose to come here (over a large range of schools, including Ivy Leagues, liberal arts, and big research universities and so on. Feel free to PM me as well if you have more specific questions that you want discussed in private correspondence.
Hi bsb4389. I am also from the States and have an interest in Yale-NUS.
Here are some questions that I have:
How much financial aid does this school provide?
Is the academic prospect hard?
What are your favorite things about this college?
The school provides an incredible amount of financial aid. Most of it is merit (and if you get in, you’ll probably get some amount of merit aid), but I believe they have generous need-based aid as well. They offer a range of merit scholarships, from full-ride to half-tuition and more. Yale-NUS lists their scholarships on their admissions website so check it out there.
I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty demanding. However, the first semester is ungraded pass/fail to help ease into the work, and the classes are super interesting/multidisciplinary, so the work doesn’t seem as bad as it is. Plus, in your first year, you get Wednesdays off to help balance your schedule!
The international environment, the classes, the professors, Singapore itself, and the travel opportunities the school provides (I’ve gone to India/Burma/Bali already!) are all incredible. It’s an extremely unique place; you won’t find anything like it anywhere in the world, and I love that about it as well!
Do the scholarships require that you work for a company in Singapore after graduation? That is what I’ve been told, and I don’t believe I can commit to that because I want to go to medical school.
@yaledreamer97 No, you are not required if you get a scholarship. If you don’t, however, you have to pay the subsidized amount, which is about 11k (Yale-NUS has a 20 year loan program for it which is pretty nice, but you can get into that later). I’m actually in the same situation as you; I am applying to medical school afterwards as well!
Oh awesome! What is your take on the coursework and options for premedical studies? I’m interested in global health, and I think going to school abroad would be an interesting way to approach that.
@yaledreamer97 Although there’s no direct “pre-medical” track (yet, might change with more interest in medical fields), we are pretty close with Duke-NUS which is a similar concept school to Yale-NUS (global partnership) but a full-fledged medical school. You could form a very successful premedical studies course here in my opinion, as many of the professors do research at Duke-NUS Medical School which you could be involved in, there are a lot of different biology/health courses (and some really cool ones that intermingle science subjects with history/anthropology/urban studies, et cetera), and the career advising office (CIPE) is fantastic and will help you find more opportunities that would pertain to your future medical studies. Plus, if you were interested in going into medical school, Duke-NUS has a commitment to Yale-NUS students so you’d have a relatively good chance of getting into there compared to other prestigious medical schools!
Did you apply to Yale as well? If so, how was the application process? (Did you share the app with Yale-NUS?) And if you got in, why did you choose Yale-NUS over Yale?
@yaledreamer97 I applied through the checkbox (shared app) and eventually got into both schools. I got deferred from Yale-NUS and waitlisted by Yale, but was accepted by both schools shortly thereafter (long story short, I had significant accomplishments to add to my application which definitely helped me).
I mostly chose Yale-NUS because a full-ride is hard to ignore. But, that being said, I would have gone even without the money I believe to really do something completely different than the typical college experience. The college is so new, that it is the student’s opportunity to shape it and define it; that’s something you can’t do at nearly any other college. Also, with a global education, I think you will have a wealth of unique opportunities coming out of the school and could really thrive in any environment. Finally, I believe the small class size with a huge outreach (with help from Yale and NUS) will make you not only a more versatile and well-rounded learner, but a commodity in today’s world. I think it is an exciting and unique opportunity, and despite 4 Ivy League offers and other selective schools, it was one I felt like I couldn’t turn down. You don’t get the grandeur, the established opportunities, or the unique benefits of going to an incredible school like Yale, but at the same time the lack thereof provides an opportunity to excel and grow as a learner and a person.
It was a really hard decision, but I’m happy with the one I made!
We have a brand new campus this year that is absolutely gorgeous. All new rooms, facilities, classrooms, etc. It is on the end of UTown, which is NUS’s newest addition to campus (the rest of the NUS campus is across the road) which is also very nice. I like to think of it as a “liberal arts plus” campus; it is not extremely large, but it is very nice and contained. And NUS/UTown is literally right out side of the campus gates, so you have a large university right at your fingertips. Although it might not sound like a big deal right now, we also have a lot of green spaces and general lounging areas, which you will find to be very valuable when in college.
Yale-NUS does not have an engineering major. However, the math-type major combines statistics and computational science, and then standard physical/life sciences. All the STEM-type majors are very interesting because they are very multidisciplinary and have a large focus on application, but you still get very concrete knowledge on the topics themselves. Yale-NUS recently acquired well known chemist and Princeton professor Steven L. Bernasek as the director of sciences, so some really exciting things will be happening in the future for the STEM majors. You then have NUS, one of the biggest and best research universities (especially for sciences) in the world to conduct research at and to take advantage of their resources. All around great STEM opportunities in my opinion in both classic research and liberal arts styles.
Yes, but if I’m not mistaken only approved courses (that pertain to your major usually). However, the only classes students usually take (as of the sophomore/junior classes) at NUS are law (if you are a Double-Degree Program Candidate) and foreign languages.
Hey @bsb4389 ! I would like to know more about the economics major. It seems that the curriculum requirements are not very quantitative or grad-school oriented. Do you have any idea if an economics major with a math minor can sufficiently prepare one for grad school ? Also, do the math courses cover the standard curriculum- uni variable, multivariable calculus; linear algebra; differential equations; real analysis; probability theory etc. Are there sufficient undergraduate research opportunities in the social sciences?
@ambitious27 I am not completely sure on the majors themselves, so I can’t answer in much detail. However, my understanding is that the economics major is more focused towards applicability rather than theory, making it usual for the workforce/business school but as you pointed out it is not pure economics. There are a lot of electives though so I imagine you would be able to craft it to have a more scientific or a more humanities-based approach. The math courses can cover a standard curriculum like you mentioned but also has a lot of flexibility in picking different paths (e.g. applied mathematics versus pure mathematics). There are a lot of undergraduate research opportunities in the social sciences. Most of the professors work on research while on tenant, and since we are purely undergraduate, the students will help them significantly in the research. Also, every major must complete a capstone project in their senior year, providing an individual opportunity to pursue research.
I’m not familiar with the current research for life sciences because I haven’t had a lot of experience in the area yet. I’ve seen numerous research opportunities though provided by professors and given that we have NUS/Duke-NUS as “partners,” I’d imagine the research scenario is strong. Might be a better question for admissions however!
The biggest advantage is that students get to define what the college will be like in the future. The opportunities to “build” your ideal college experience are immense and a unique opportunity. There is a lot of funding right now as well which is great; we have the new campus, a ton of scholarships, two free trips abroad in the freshmen year alone, etc. Obviously, we don’t have an established global presence yet being so new, but the Yale and NUS namesakes help appease that.
I’m not too familiar with NUS being from the United States. Friends of mine though express that Yale-NUS is a lot more personalized and the curriculum (built around a Yale model by Yale) is very unique and special.
Yes! There are so many things I can’t even tell you. From a “stereotyped” outfit (that includes a Yale-NUS tshirt and elephant pants, it’s complicated haha) to big events like EYW/Orientation Cup (think: Amazing Race style), the Yale-NUS student body is truly unique and special. In 3 short years, we’ve developed a lot of cool habits and opportunities given the nature of our student body.
Hi @bsb4389 ! Thanks so much for starting this thread. I was recently admitted into Yale-NUS’s class of 2020, and I was wondering, what are the job prospects afterwards? Are Yale-NUS students able to find internships easily in Asia, Europe, and/or the United States? I’m particularly interested in majoring in economics, and I would like to work in finance in the future, so I’m really interested in what kinds of work experience and jobs Yale-NUS students are getting
From what I understand, the first class has not even graduated yet, but how are you all doing in terms of planning for after-graduation?
