NUS guide: surviving university! 🏫🎓💯

CourseReg Round 1 opens at 9 a.m. tomorrow and closes at 12 p.m. on 21 July (ie the next day). It is not first-come-first-serve. Round 1 is a protected round. Students will be able to select courses (subject to meeting course pre-requisite, co-requisite and preclusion rules) in this round if the courses can be used towards: (i) Programme (Faculty, Major, Specialisation) requirements (ii) Second Major requirements (iii) Direct admission/restricted Minor requirements (iv) Prescribed English requirements (i.e. courses offered by CELC) Students will vie for a spot in the course within the available places allotted to their student category (e.g. separate numbers for UG and GD). Note: if you had done what we suggested previously, you may have declared the major associated with e.g. UEs you want to clear as a “second major”. This would then already allow you to bid for them in Round 1. In this round and future rounds, having declared it as such would also give priority (as part of the priority scoring rubrics) against someone else who did not do so. Ranking of courses does matter (a better rank gives more points for bidding). You can find past year demand/allocation info at https://courserekt.vercel.app/ which may be helpful when you want to strategise your course preferences! (typically, courses which often have excess vacancies don’t have to be as heavily prioritised during bidding—one may be able to afford to rank this lower). If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

ThisCounted’s Apple partnership — offering bonus rewards on top of Apple’s Back to School Sales — is back! This time, its arrangement with Apple gives cashback of up to $60 for products like the iPad and iPad Mini when you use ThisCounted’s link. It is also noteworthy that this time, Apple isn’t offering free AirPods or Apple Pencils (you’d need to top-up) for Pro/Air purchases like it normally does, offering only AirTags instead. This could make the non-Pro/Air devices a better choice this time. Do view their FAQ @ThisCounted if you are unsure how this works. (Note that you have to use their tracking link and follow the steps, and this remains safely on the official Apple website albeit with a tracking cookie). We will post our thoughts on which device to get later today! If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

Apple Store Online’s Back to School Offer (with ThisCounted Exclusive Bonus) 📱🖥️ 🟢 Maximise your student benefits with ThisCounted’s exclusive link — Get bonus cash if you purchase a product that does not already come with Apple’s bonus accessory. (T&C apply) 📒 Purchases must be through our unique link ( bit.ly/ThisCounted ) and follow the tracking steps below. 📘  Bonus up to $60 is provided based on the items you purchase 🍪 Steps for successful tracking: 1.⁠ ⁠Ensure that you’re using ThisCounted’s link ( bit.ly/ThisCounted ) when making your purchase; you will need to enter this again when actually checking out (Step 2). Your browser should allow cookies to be tracked. 2.⁠ ⁠After student/staff status verification, enter bit.ly/ThisCounted again on the same tab 🚨(UNiDAYS may redirect you incorrectly, so just re-enter our link after student/staff status verification). i.e. Re-enter bit.ly/ThisCounted again on the same tab when you reach the final check-out page; your cart should still be saved. 📘 T&C apply (refer to ThisCounted T&C and Apple’s T&C) 🔴 Bonus cash is only for those who make verified purchases through ThisCounted’s link from now till 31 July. Fill this claim form after your purchase: https://forms.gle/M8hQCdYiPzUTqtXb7 Questions? Reach out to us at ThisCountedBiz@gmail.com , @ThisCountedSupportBot or message the @ThisCounted channel directly ——— FAQ and more student deals: @ThisCounted

^ also, @ThisCounted (a student deals channel run by students) usually shares versions of promos that are better than that promoted elsewhere (e.g. this Circles.Life promo also includes a bonus $10 Grab voucher with no minimum spend requirement from Circles.Life, while other platforms sharing this promo do not include it). They are most well known for working with Apple during Back to School Sales the past years (which from hearsay is coming soon 👀) to offer perks on top of the usual free accessories. Do subscribe to them to show your support for this student-run initiative! If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

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Academic Plan Declaration opens on 13 July, 9 a.m. This allows you to declare your primary/second major/minor. While this officially closes on 17 August, you would actually want to finish this at least 24 hours before CourseReg opens (20 July) as it affects your priority for course bidding. The need to do it at least 24h ahead of CourseReg opening is for processing time/administrative delays (i.e. try to do by 18 July🚨, ahead of CourseReg opening, despite the deadline for academic declaration being supposedly far later on paper). Tip: As mentioned before, some students find it strategic to just declare a major/minor related to courses they plan to bid next semester (even if they actually don’t truly plan to major/minor in that, or haven’t fully decided) in order to have more priority during coursereg (e.g. an economics minor/second major student gets priority bidding for EC1101E than someone who bids for it without making such a declaration). This academic plan can anyway be changed before every semester (during academic plan declaration) up till your fifth semester of study. If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

AY26/27 course listings and schedules are out: View them here: https://nusmods.com/timetable/sem-1 You may insert courses you are considering into the NUS mod’s timetable to view their day/timing. We will send CourseReg tips (aka “bidding”) on a later date! (When searching up courses, you may find it helpful to use the starting letters of the major’s course code to have the list of courses in the major displayed — e.g. most computer science courses start with CS____, or a chemistry course may start with CM____, or a mechanical engineering course may start with ME____. Do also search up your faculty website for information on what courses you need to take to clear e.g. major/common curriculum requirements) If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

[OFFICIAL NUS FUNDRAISER] HEY FRESHIES!! (and seniors who missed out on past shirt sales)! WELCOME TO NUS 😝😝 🚨 The Classic NUS Shirts are FINALLY HERE!!🚨 ⁉️ Looking for a nice, clean, simple Dri-fit NUS tee⁉️ ✨ The Beloved NUS Shirts are back! AND it will be available in 7 unique colours in Dri-Fit material! Perfect for late night suppers, to sweat in during trainings, or just something to throw on before you make ur way to class🫣 😘Pre-orders are open finally open! What are you waiting for!🥵 💵 Pricing 3 for $39 ($13/shirt) 2 for $30 ($15/shirt) 1 for $16 📲 How to Order: Fill in the Microsoft form and NUSync form together 🔔IN THE MEANTIME! Do check out @NUSguide for seniors tips, advice and reminders that could be helpful for you! 😴 ✅AND If you’d like to know the best student deals available do join the @thiscounted channel!⚠️ 📅 HURRY! There will be a limited run for Sem 1 collection so don’t miss your chance!

For those looking to buy NUS shirts, those from this official fundraiser below are the cheapest you can get them (at as low as $13 per shirt). The main alternative is to buy from NUS Co-op, but their prices are usually seen as over-priced (so an NUS shirt there costs ~$26 per shirt, which is double that of this official fundraiser) so it's recommended that you get your shirts from the @nusshirts fundraiser! The fundraiser only runs for a limited duration, so this is the best time to get your merch! If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

What if you did not get the course of study you want, or change your mind later? New fact obtained by @NUSguide (June 2026): • While transfers to Law has historically been few (and remains extremely competitive), it is noted that for the 2025 intake, there was a surprising uptick of about 10 successful transfers (@NUSguide conducted our own checks, as there is no public data). This marked an increase from the usual 0 to 2 per batch. We are still confirming data for the latest transferee intake. • If you have questions on transferring, you may message the @NUSguide channel.] A) Continue with the course you were given, and apply to transfer courses. It is possible to change courses. As a transfer applicant, while your pre-university score (e.g. A-Level) is likely still considered to some extent, doing well in Year 1 in university may also be helpful in proving academic merit to transfer to a course you could not enter. Depending on which faculty you transfer to and what courses you take in Year 1, you may be able to count credits towards your new course of study should you successfully transfer, such that there is less or no delay in graduation. This may work well for faculties that provide more leeway for unrestricted electives, or if the faculty you transfer to shares similar courses with your Y1 faculty. Note that there may be an increase in university fees payable should you have to extend candidature past the normal number of semesters as there would not be further MOE Tuition Grant. However, NUS subsidises the first and second semester past normal candidature such that the increase in fees is significantly mitigated. The first window to apply to transfer is usually in February. NUS Law, for instance, allows a transfer of 40 units from your previous course if you successfully transfer to law school (this means no delay in graduation if you transfer in after Y1, or only a one year delay if you transfer in after Y2). This is rare, with typically only 1-2 people per batch succeeding, though @NUSguide did a manual count to find that it was ~10 in 2025. This could be due to increased awareness of the transfer option (perhaps thanks to us raising awareness on this in recent years? 👀) such that there are simply more quality transfer applicants, or an increased acceptance rate. We will update when we obtain data for 2026. ———————————— B) Upgrade to a double degree later on. Similar to a transfer, there may be the option to apply to enter into a double degree program on a later date. This is competitive, and a double degree generally means a longer candidature. C) It is said that NUSC students get a special benefit of being able to transfer to any course they want within NUSC, with a supposedly 100% success rate; this excludes restricted programs (Refer to Page 4 here): “NUSC students have the option to switch into another major (not including Law, PPE, and Pharm Science) without further application, that is, they won't be scrutinized, approved, or rejected for reasons of fit.” D) Post-graduate options: Duke-NUS offers Medicine at a post-graduate level for those who have completed a bachelors degree in a different field. Similarly, NUS and SMU Law offer a "Juris Doctor"—where you can take Law for three years after completing a bachelors in something else first. However, this does mean that you will have many additional years of schooling, and these options can be very costly. It remains an option for those who still want to go into Law/Medicine after completing an undergraduate degree in something else, though! E) Retake pre-university exams such as the A-Levels, to either attain a better score or retake specific subjects to fulfill prerequisites to re-apply. You may benefit from a gap year. It is not advisable to retake this while juggling with university studies, though it may be a possibility if you are simply retaking a single subject prerequisite you previously did not fulfill. If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

@NUSguide Hall Tips for Incoming Freshies: How can I increase chances of entering hall? The politically correct (and indeed correct) answer is to tie your application to what the hall needs, and display your talents and skills. In this post, though, @NUSguide will attempt to answer two other questions that you may be less certain of: Qn: Does ranking of choices matter? @NUSguide Answer: Yes, it may. While we may tend to think that ranking does not matter, at least one hall has been known to preferentially select those who rank it as #1 place among preferred housing options. There is a general misconception that ranking does not matter, but @NUSguide can confirm that ranking has been used at least as a factor among some halls (and sometimes, as the main requirement). This could mean an unfortunate reality: if one applies for X hall as first choice, then applies for Y and Z as second and third choices, if he/she does not get X hall, then the chances of getting Y and Z would be lower if they prioritise applicants who had it as first choice. What this might mean is there may be a need to be strategic with your placement of choices, especially as we enter Round 2 of applications. The approach to acceptance varies based on the JCRC of each year and each hall. Qn: Do connections matter? @NUSguide Answer: You have probably heard by now about seniors or peers supposedly entering halls with the help of "connections". While not necessary (the vast majority enter hall without tapping into connections), it is undeniable that inside connections do help, which one may view as an unfortunate reality. Halls, unlike some other residence types, primarily have students as the decision-makers as to who enters the hall. For many halls, the evaluation of applications is made by the President and Vice-President of the Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC), and some halls may involve other JCRC directors in the decision-making. These are students holding leadership positions in the hall. While nepotism is frowned upon, it would seem that naturally, student leaders who carry out the decision-making may be made more certain of your character or abilities if they know you personally or if there are others in hall (who they know) who vouch for you. If you already applied in Round 1, it may not be too late to turn to seniors in hall who can vouch for your unique talents/skills. This is contrasted with e.g. houses or residences (PGPR/UTR), where the decision-maker would typically be staff (which is typically less likely to have connections to), not student leaders. Another reason connections could matter is that you’d get a better idea if the hall is looking for a particular set of skills/talents, which may depend on whether particular CCAs or sectors are now the focus on the incoming JCRC or are lacking in numbers. Bonus Qn: Are there spots still in Round 2? @NUSguide Answer: As we noted in a post last year, halls give out most spots in Round 1 -- this means your chances in Round 2 tend to be lower. That said, it is still worth applying. This is because 1) some applicants end up not accepting their Round 1 offer, and 2) we can confirm that there are JCRCs who have intentionally left some spare capacity for Round 2 knowing that there are always later applicants who miss Round 1. If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

For seniors, note that S/U opens again from 3 July to 5 July 6 p.m.! While meant for the end of special term, you are still able to partake in the S/U period even if you did not take special term (i.e. most of you). If you are having second thoughts about not S/U-ing after last AY, this is your second chance to do so. If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

Tele groups for incoming freshies: Credits: GROUP CHATS (collated by @unigrouplinks) ———————————— [stuff for all students regardless of uni r at the bottom of the post] Incoming NUS Freshmen 🟦🟧 Useful guide/senior tips (subscribe): @NUSguide NUS CHS: https://t.me/nuschs NUS Business Admin: https://t.me/+ahfP2noW2sYyNWUx NUS Medicine: https://t.me/+02HAC7_ezg5mY2Ex NUS CDE: there are two groups— https://t.me/nuscde and another one managed by a prof (but it’s a private gc, wait for @NUSguide to share) NUS Law: https://t.me/+TZJC5oj2OlszNjll NUS Computing: https://t.me/+qlrYC9o-XW4wMzU1 ‼️ NUS Class of 2030 (for all NUS incoming freshies): https://t.me/+BP6-hBNfNEY1MTNl Useful guide (once in NUS): @nusguide —— ⭐️BOTS Bots for random matching w freshies/seniors (allows student verification, matching by major/year/purpose but slower match time): NUSmatchbot https://t.me/nusmatchbot) (quick match but be extra cautious bc there’s no student verification, and has more issues with spammers/scammers): NUSchatbot: http://t.me/nuschatbot ⭐️Also worth checking out: @ThisCounted (student deals)

For seniors: Exam results release on 3 June! As per usual advice, you may download your transcript (as you won’t be able to download it for some time after results release). You may consider submitting your upcoming internship applications etc. with your current GPA/results before the exam results release if you are pessimistic about your upcoming results. For juniors: Various freshmen events are up ahead! We will keep you updated on upcoming camps etc. and what to look out for, and more senior tips to get you ready for uni. 💯 If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

Note for current students: Canvas is currently down due to a recent attack/hack, affecting Canvas across institutions internationally (not just NUS)! It will hopefully be back up soon, though! If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

RC Tips: @NUSguide Q&A with Alyssa (Tembusu College Students’ Committee, Finance Secretary in AY24/25) Next up, we have Alyssa Lee. Alyssa served in Tembusu’s 15th College Students’ Committee (AY24/25) as its Finance Secretary. The CSC is Tembusu’s highest student leadership body. Alyssa’s role in Tembusu extended even beyond this, having also later taken on a role as a Resident Assistant. [Do share @NUSguide with your incoming juniors!!🫡] @NUSguide : Do you have any tips or advice for Tembusu College interviewees? Alyssa’s tips: — do your research into the utcp modules that tembu offers (esp junior seminars/senior seminars) and see which ones you are interested in. this would show that you are already thinking about how you would engage with the utcp — you can look into the different student bodies and interest groups that tembu has to see if there are any you can see yourself joining and why; you can also suggest starting up your own IG! this would show that you are already thinking about how you can contribute to the tembu community — it would be good to tie in the 4 ethos of tembu into your answers too — be prepared to talk about your experiences and to share your thought processes when sharing your answers, so that the interviewers can understand you better and assess if you would be a good fit for RC life, particularly in tembu — overall, just make sure to show genuine passion for the utcp modules and involvement with the tembu community (through our student bodies/IGs) + bring good vibes to the interview! If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

RC Tips: @NUSguide Q&A with Ahza (CAPT College Students’ Committee, Director of Clubs & Societies in AY25/26) As promised, we are getting tips from different seniors from different RCs! The following tip is targeted at CAPT, but probably applies to some extent to other RC applicants as well. [Do share @NUSguide with your incoming juniors!!🫡] Today, NUSguide requested for some tips from Ahza, who holds a directorial position in College of Alice & Peter Tan’s College Students’ Committee (AY25/26). The CSC is elected by its residents each year. @NUSguide : Do you have any tips or advice for CAPT interviewees? Tips from Ahza: - research the junior/senior seminars offered and what they teach, capt committees and their structure and capt events, and show that u have a good rough idea of how capt works. - keep in mind the theme of capt is community engagement. be prepared to answer questions directly relating to this theme. - prepare a comprehensive overview of your volunteering/VIA experience and be ready to talk about that. you are also encouraged to talk about your other experiences (arts/sports/etc) but try to link it back to how it positively impacts your community/ the people around you. - keep up with current affairs locally and globally! the prof might ask you your thoughts on it. if they do, use this opportunity to show them your awareness of what is happening to diffferent communities on the ground, both locally and globally, and the struggles that they face. - other than that, just show a genuine passion not only for helpin out communities, but also understanding them and learning from them. - note that at the end of the day, capt is still a residential college. talk about how u can be a positive presence in ur neighbourhood as well as the capt community, and how u can contribute to capt thru working in the different capt committees, ur neighbourhood committees, etc. @NUSguide : What made you choose CAPT out of all the RCs? Ahza: - the theme of community engagement really appealed to me! and i was also interested in their overseas mods. also heard that capt had a good wholesome community. (note that capt is NOT a christian RC tho there r q a number of christians in capt) @NUSguide : Is there anything one can do if one did not get shortlisted, missed the application deadline, or are subsequently rejected from CAPT? Ahza: - you can try writing to the capt master rc3head@nus.edu.sg to appeal for ur case. If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

If you or your juniors are curious what the competition is like for RCs, this may be an indicator. NUS used to show the number of applications for each RC. This, dug out from 2023 (which is the last year this was publicly displayed), highlight each RC’s competitiveness to enter. RVRC’s lower demand may be due to its location (it is not located in UTown) among other factors. However, each batch is different, and this may no longer be reflective of this year’s applications — this is especially noting that there is a new RC (Acacia), and the introduction of more housing types. If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

For prospective/incoming freshmen: The application window for AY2026/27 Residential College Programmes (Acacia, RC4, RVRC and Tembusu) Admissions has been extended to 20 April 2026, 12:00pm. We will also share some tips on applications/interviews for RCs soon too! If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻

For seniors (particularly the graduating batch): • 🎓Commencement Ceremony Dates (aka “Graduation Ceremony”) for the graduating batch, i.e. Class of 2026 The NUS website has just published the commencement ceremony dates https://nus.edu.sg/commencement/ceremonies/schedule-ceremonies.html You should be able to refer to this to find your faculty to know the date/time of your ceremony! This can help you make availability arrangements for yourself and your friends/family who may be want to come for your commencement ceremony! If you’re from the graduating batch, do continue to subscribe to us — we may be sharing some tips for beyond graduation too! 👀 [we will share more tips for incoming/prospective NUS students too soon! do subscribe to us in the meantime] If you found these useful, do share our channel @NUSguide with your friends/juniors — we share uni tips/hacks throughout the year! 🙌🏻