Imagining yourself going on exchange is the ultimate form of romanticization for a college student. You daydream about immersing yourself in a foreign culture, making international friends and just having the time of your life, since you’re only required to pass courses. But, the actual process of applying for exchange can seem daunting and overwhelming. Before I dug deep into NTU exchange programmes, I found myself confused when seniors used words like Explorer and Discoverer and Venturer, and I was expected to know the difference. As I gear up to go for exchange next semester, here’s my guide on how to go on exchange in NTU.
First thing to know: what kind of programmes are offered (and what do words like Explorer and Discoverer and Venturer mean??). NTU OGEM (Office of Global Education & Mobility) offers quite a few programmes to NTU undergraduates hoping to study in another university for a semester or longer.
- GEM Explorer: This is the most common form of exchange—studying (or conducting research) in a foreign country for one full semester.
- GEM Discoverer: This means spending the winter or summer break in a foreign uni
- GEM VEnturer: No, the capitalised VE wasn’t a typo, it stands for Virtual Education. It includes semester and short-term virtual study courses and programmes from a university overseas.
- SUSEP (Singapore Universities Student Exchange Programme): If you want to stay in Singapore but also get a taste of another university, you can take courses at NUS, SMU or SUTD.
There are also a range of other choices if you don’t necessarily want to study abroad. You can participate in the Overseas Internship, Overseas Entrepreneurship Programme (OEP), or Overseas Community Engagement Programme (OCEP).
Personally, the best way to keep up with the overwhelming amount of information associated with exchange has been to take it as it comes, mostly just keeping track of OGEM’s emails about opening of applications, timelines and what to expect. You can also speak to OGEM staff and understand the timeline for applications by simply emailing their office, or attending the GEM Fair, which usually happens in October (follow their instagram to know exactly when and where).
One of their most important emails is when they release the vacancy list for both semesters at the same time. After this, starts round after round of applications to go on exchange for both the first and second semesters. In your application, you get to rank your top three choices of university and what semester you prefer for each. This means that if you have a particular university that you really want to attend, you can apply for it for different semesters too. For example, you put Harvard Sem1 in first place, you can put Harvard Sem2 in second place. Similarly, if you only want to go in a particular semester (due to certain course restrictions by your school), you can apply for only one semester. However, most programmes are highly competitive and many colleges usually have some GPA requirement.
Another major task in this process is Course Matching (matching NTU’s courses with your target university’s courses). This is how AUs are transferred across universities. Although you check our previously approved courses on CourseFinder in Student Link, this process mainly involves googling what courses are offered in that university and trying to match them with NTU’s. I would recommend to course match BEFORE you apply to the university. This ensures that you won’t have to reject a place you’ve been offered by OGEM just because you realised later that it doesn’t offer many courses you want to take. Also, email your school regarding how many MPEs you can clear while on exchange since most schools have a cap on that. Another thing to remember is to ensure that the courses you’re hoping to get matched are offered in the same semester you plan to go in.
How I went about course matching was that I first saw how many courses I am allowed to take overseas. Next, I calculated what courses I had left to finish my degree and which of them I would prefer to do in NTU and how many I want to just take as a Pass/Fail module. Then, I researched my target university’s courses and tried my best to match them. I recommend you match at least 8-10 courses since not all of them will be approved for course matching, not all of them will be offered, and you won’t be able to get all of them in your target uni’s version of STARWars.
Lastly, don’t allow the means make you lose sight of the end: don’t let the stress of keeping up with exchange deadlines and applications lessen the romance of living and studying in a foreign country. Research as much as possible before you apply, including googling and talking to people who have been on exchange before. Good luck!