FAQ for Exchange (Exclusively for NTU Students)
- lingmontravels
- Aug 21, 2016
- 6 min read
"Where should I go for exchange?"
I recently went to the GEM Explorer clinic to give advice to outgoing exchange students, and generally, the queries they have are no different from mine when I was pondering over my plans for exchange.
I actually planned to study at Korea's Yonsei University in Year 3 Semester 1 as a fee-paying student, but cancelled it because of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). I even paid about SGD 200 for the application fee which was non-refundable.
Not being able to go to the land of kimchi was actually a blessing in disguise - I applied for GEM Explorer to ZHAW School of Management and Law in Switzerland and I got the spot. Planning for exchange was so tedious, that I thought my fellow juniors could do with some tips. I genuinely want to help to lighten the burden of planning.
Here's some questions you might have:
When should I start planning?
As early as possible!
- You won't be able to go for exchange in your final semester if you have Final Year Projects (FYP).
- Internship. You'll have to find out when your internship starts or end, and whether it will affect your exchange.
- You have to be strategic and plan what "difficult-to-score" modules to take during exchange, since it's going to be Pass/Fail.
How can I start planning?
You'll have to start matching courses by going into Course Finder. To help you narrow down your choices, ask your seniors where they went for exchange. The NTU Student Resources and Form is a useful website to get more information. I love the section "Past GEM Explorer Student Journal" where you can find out about other students' experience.
Does my GPA matter?
Yes it does! You have to have at least a GPA of 3.5 to be able to apply for GEM Explorer. Furthermore, your chances are tied to your GPA. Time to buck up. Be strategic when choosing your choice of country or school, look for those less popular schools.
How many vacancies are there for each schools?
Looking at the list of vacancies (the PDF) that NTU sent out is a good proxy for you to make your decision. The number of vacancies range from just one single slot to more than 10 slots per school. After you write your 500 words essay on the GEM Explorer application, you'll get to see how many students applied for each school, according to 1st to 5th choice.
WHAT?! There is a 500 words essay to write?
YUP. Your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Don't be too troubled by it. Feel free to express your thoughts. I wrote about what I hope to achieve from exchange, how I will be an ambassador of NTU and Singapore. Yeahh, all the positive stuff.
How much should I set aside for budget?
Your budget is dependent on which continent you are traveling to, the cost of living, how much you plan to travel around. You'll basically need at least SGD 15,000 if you decide to go America or Europe. That's the bare minimum, and the average is about SGD 20,000 if you are planning to travel around the continent.
For Europe, countries that have very high cost of living are Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. Countries in Central and Eastern Europe have lower costs of living. Within in each countries, there are cities or towns that are more expensive than the rest, for example, Dubrovnik in Croatia is really expensive.
What if I can't apply for GEM Explorer?
Fret not, there are plenty of opportunities, like Winter Prelude and Language Immersion. There is an option for fee-paying too. Choose this option when the school fees of the overseas schools are affordable.
The only downside of winter prelude and summer schools I could think of is there is less interaction with the local students when you are there, since it's a summer or winter break for them. I'd personally prefer studying abroad for at least 1 semester for a longer experience.
What is fee-paying?
The key difference between GEM Explorer and Fee-paying scheme is simply the payment of the school fees. For the former, you'll pay NTU your usual NTU school fees, but study overseas. For the latter, you are paying the host's university school fees.
E.g. you plan to study in XYZ University in Country X, which cost $10,000 for 1 semester.
- Through GEM Explorer, you are simply paying NTU your usual $3,000-$4,000 per semester.
- Through fee paying, you are going to pay $10,000 directly to XYZ university (it's crazily expensive).
Usually, students choose to fee-pay in universities that are highly popular and/or the school fees are affordable.
What are the popular destinations for Fee-paying?
Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Taiwan and Thailand are generally cheaper than our NBS school fees, while Korea is roughly 1K more. Taiwan is popular among Accounting students, and Korea is the top destination for Marketing students.
There is free education?
I heard that there is free education in Germany and Czech Republic. I have a few friends who are studying Engineering and went to Czech Republic on fee-paying scheme. Please check thoroughly with the exchange coordinator and the host university website first, not all schools are offering it.
Will modules be offered all year round?
Do not assume that it will be the same. The fall and spring semesters do not offer the same classes.
In addition, if you have applied for an exchange more than 1 year in advance, check if there are any changes to the modules offered, prior to each new semester. Meaning to say, if you have applied in Y1S2 to go exchange in Y2S2, check out the modules offered again in Y2S1. Schools usually revamp their curriculum after 4-5 years. I have a friend who went into this problem, which is why I want to let you know that this is a possibility.
Does the school semesters start and end at the same time as NTU's?
Nope, they don't. I have a friend who studied in the States and started his exchange way earlier, and my school in Switzerland started 1 month later than my peers in NTU. I also heard that the school semesters in Germany are really strange and they don't fit in to NTU's.
Can I go for exchange in my final year?
Many faculties in NTU and other schools like NUS and SMU strongly discouraged it because of convocation and final year projects.
The 3 of us could go for exchange in our final semester, because we are not required to complete FYP. We were strongly discouraged because of potential problems like professors closing the class because of poor sign-ups, failing a module while we are there, which could dampen our chance of graduating on time. We did very thorough planning to make sure the courses matches and that there are enough vacancies to secure spots for both of us.
The downside of going to exchange in your final year is that you will delay your convocation, if your semester ends later and the transcript cannot reach NTU before the convocation. And... that's what happened to us. Commencing 1 year later to me is no big deal, and I wouldn't trade this opportunity of studying abroad for anything else.
You'll also have to know that you CANNOT afford to fail any module during exchange in your final semester, so you must put in effort to study. You'll probably need to conduct your job search while overseas, and be ready for skype interviews.
What other factors should I look for when choosing a country?
- Be aware of the weather conditions, e.g. harsh winter in Canada, monsoon in central Asia, typhoon in East Asia, heat wave in Oceania.
- Dietary restrictions: Halal, vegetarian. Not a major concern, but still a concern!
- Language barrier could be a major concern for many, but I came to realise that actually, if you as a foreigner learn some basic local phrases, the local will be surprised and pleased. Language is a simple way to bond people, if you make an effort!
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My final advice to you is to ask as many questions as you can, and clarify with the Exchange Coordinators. Feel free to drop me an email (my email: crystalcove_94@hotmail.com), I will be most willing to help you with your queries :)
