Tips for New University Students from a Fresh Graduate
I grew up in India, and moved to Singapore for my undergraduate degree in Nanyang Technological University in 2020. 4 years later, as a fresh graduate in 2024, here are some things I wish I knew when starting out university from my perspective as an Indian international student in Singapore’s NTU. Some advice is relevant to people from other backgrounds as well! To new students you may not need all this advice anytime soon, but hope you may find it useful in the future and may keep this link as a reference.
Semester 1 GPA is critical, if you do worse it is still definitely possible to pull up your grade by your final year but it sort of sets a benchmark. After preparing through Indian entrance examinations the content may appear easier, but remember that this is only Semester 1 where it is very basic and introductory courses for a wide range of people from different backgrounds. The actual degree content usually starts around semester 2 and the form of assessment is very different from what we had in our Indian education boards. Similarly in each semester, Week 1 and Week 2 are critical, where any backlog keeps building up over the weeks, and I wish I knew to avoid this.
Understand that there will be both good and bad lecturers. In NTU this is because not all professors are dedicated teachers, many different kinds, and some are stronger in research rather than teaching. Over the years especially with higher level content this is especially more true where it is more like researchers teaching rather than dedicated teachers. However, overall lecture content NTU holds it to high standards, and the reference materials that professors provide often have in-depth and good explanations. If you don't understand and can’t keep up with the pace of the lecture, refer to these materials and the textbook.
NTU LIBRARY IS AMAZING. Lots of resources. Lots of workshops and tools. A second home for many people.
Don't be afraid to ask doubts. Professors or Teaching Assistants (TAs) are often available for consultations, a very underutilized resource in my opinion. I still remember a TA who prepared a special worksheet just for me for a certain concept I was struggling to understand.
University is a bridge between childhood and the working career kind of adulthood. We learn how to handle increasing loads of work. Lots of emotional maturity lessons. Managing friendships. Try to surround yourself with people you are inspired by.
Keep in touch with your parents regularly. It may seem like you may need a break at first, but for many people it also slowly becomes a larger and larger gap to the point that they have nothing to talk about.
Use your electives to learn something new and unconventional instead of resorting to courses that are considered "easy grades." If worried about grades it can be declared as unsatisfactory and can be made into a pass/fail grade.
Not applicable to everyone, but going for what is considered "hard" in a reputed environment like NTU will lead to good opportunities. For example in my third year in EEE I chose semiconductor courses purely because it was considered to be the hardest route. Grade was alright, but that very choice led me to a fabulous internship opportunity that has now shaped my career path.
For those coming from India especially, remember a university like NTU what you can achieve is largely up to your own interest and self motivation where no one is going to push you or compel you to go to classes. The learning environment here is more towards self-study. The need for self-motivation holds for projects like URECA, FYP as well where the professor is not going to push you, and you need to commit, show interest and take up work. NTU provides many opportunities, up to you to take it up and explore. NTU and Singapore in general, being quite international, provides a lot of different opportunities- so many many different co-curricular activities, events and talks, exchange programs, overseas work experiences, career workshops, research projects, start-up incubators & funding, hackathons, competitions, and more.
Academia and Research - while it's good to be career minded, NTU is great especially for academia where there are many good research projects especially in core engineering. So give it a shot, you might like it! For those interested in start-ups, academia offers a route where you can develop a technology through FYP/PhD work and launch it as a start-up having the NTU tag as a credential.
Be open to new opportunities and experiences, to meet people from various different walks of life, perspectives and thinking. Be respectful. Especially there are many people with various different financial backgrounds, and in Singapore where financially weaker students also have support. In a large university like NTU you'll meet a large number of people of so many varying demographics- undergrads, masters, PhDs, post-docs, lecturers, professors, staff, exchange students from various countries around the world.
It's a place where you can test out things such as startups, personal work styles, management styles (when holding club leadership positions), and afford to make mistakes or fail, without too many real world or career consequences. For e.g. by participating in many different hackathons relentlessly each time with no success but still learnt a lot, and these kinds of lessons prepare us for real life where the stakes are higher. We learn various things like communication lessons, economic feasibility and skill gaps.
Pro tip: Learn a new language. Super useful hobby. University is an especially good place to meet people to practice with. Start early.
Stay healthy. Do lots of exercise, drink lots of water, and eat regularly on time. As a vegetarian I cooked in the hall pantry to manage. Being vegetarian in Singapore is harder but definitely possible. My biggest achievement: Rava Idli with Paneer Butter Masala in the hall pantry. With enough dedication and commitment anything is possible.
Rava Idli with Paneer Butter Masala (from scratch) cooked in NTU’s hall pantry!
Hope you may have found any of this content useful! All the best for this incredible journey of a lifetime!
