ONE-OH-ONE: 2. NTU Freshie guide



Sorry I took so long to come up with this. I think in general, these tips apply to any school/freshman year. I'm not the best person to advise but this is what I got from my first year. Like, seriously, IT DOESN'T MATTER, JUST HAVE FUN.


1. Get a map of your School.

When in doubt, you WILL get lost on your first day. We have an app that navigates you from place to place with shuttle bus timings and everything. Get it, it's free. It's called Traversity. It has shuttle bus timings/routes, bus stops, and a lot of other rubbish.

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2. Dress-To-Impress in moderation.

Esp on your first day. Depending on which faculty you're from, people dress differently. For e.g, ADMers always overkill. Don't know how to elaborate. Any other qns, please direct them to my ask.fm.

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3. Pen & Paper

So important. 1st classes of every mod- Lecturer always gives you the Course Outline + what they're going to do every week. Take note of the days you can skip class. I usually always bring a planner with us + extra notebook for doodling & taking down notes.

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4. Class Participation Points

There's this thing that makes up 10-20% of your grade. When the teacher asks for an opinion, you raise your hand. When the teacher asks for questions, YOU THINK OF AN INTELLIGENT DEBATABLE QUESTION. Work it~

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5. Get this book.

I was wreck on my first day in school camp because I was afraid everybody would judge the lousy poly student who came to local U. If you're as afraid as me, it'll may be a good thing for you to learn how to understand other people's non-verbal cues of asking you to go away 'cause they don't wanna hang around with you.

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6. Know the timetable planning dates

It's so important- unless you want a sucky time table for the rest of the sem, I'd advise you to remember the dates for planning your own time table. We call it STARWARS. You'll know why soon enough.

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7. Know your canteens

You need to eat right? We have Subway, Old Chang Kee (Canteen A), Artease (at Humanities and Social Sciences)… But other than that, stay clear of Canteen B, &Canteens 1&2 have the best food hands down- Xiao Long Bao, Jap food.

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8. Know your limits (if you're staying in hostel)

Boy, are you gonna be out every night till 230am having supper with your clique + school/hall friends + seniors. As the months pass, the suppers will lessen, so don't worry. It's just the post FOC hype. Remember to only join activities you can commit to.

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9. Camps

I hate camps. But it's really good to go for camps. So you should go for at least 1 to acquaint yourself with your community. There are Hall camps, Faculty camps, Union camp, Sports camp. If you're staying in hall, I'd advise you to go for faculty + hall. They can get very guy-girl & messy. Just a warning.

10. I know it's tough, but be friendly. It pays off.

My boyfriend says that I'm a very unfriendly person (yes, you did say that Bryan), so trust me when I say that I do know how tiring it is to be so. Here's a tip: Just smile a lot. Works for me.