H O O K E D - The Difference Between U N'US

The Difference Between U N'US

Written by Alicia Tan

With at least a semester under our belts, there’s no doubt that everyone has developed a special relationship with NUS. Apart from the cheesy tagline plastered across NUS advertisements about how you N’US can achieve greater heights, HOOKED will take a look at the little things that makes our campus life all the more unique and different from other institutes of higher education.

Grand Turismo on the campus

It’s not exactly your ideal racing circuit, with the lack of hot rods and the smell of burnt tires, but NUS’ Clementi Campus gives everyone a brief satisfaction in their need for speed. What on earth is HOOKED referring to? Of course, it’s none other than our very own distinctive bright orange shuttle buses that cruise the streets.

The roar of the engine, the burst of exhaust and an occasional bump over humps, our orange beauties on wheels might seem like a really short roller-coaster ride around the campus. Just get on board, sit back (or grab a hand-strap) and use your imagination.

What really stands out of course, is the choice of bright orange. Normally, we’d think that universities would stick to more subdued or mature colours when picking colour combinations. NUS instead chose to spring a pleasant surprise on us with orange and blue. While it might be a sight for sore eyes for some, there’s no denying that there’s no way you’ll mistake the Campus Shuttle Buses for public ones.

Though, operating at seemingly breakneck speeds as the buses lunge over the campus’ hills and crests, there always never seems to be a bus when we really need one.

CORS – Christie’s Auction Prep

Ah, CORS. You know it’s that time of year when your campus buddies start sending you harried messages on MSN telling you what a pain it is to bid for modules. Stopping short of a full-blown auction house like Christie’s, CORS offers us students an introductory course in bidding for sought after (or not) items.

        That said, other universities in Singapore do have similar online registration systems – just none that induces such a harried response from students; and that spans an average of 2 weeks.

        Other faculties in NUS usually get off easy, with a sizeable amount of essential modules being pre-allocated to them every semester. On the other hand, students from the Arts faculty end up with a little more on their plates.

        Aside from the nervous wreck that CORS does reduce us to as each Round passes by, you have to admit that suffering in the comfort of your own room sure beats running around the campus to manually sign up for your courses. Or worse, having them given to you in complete randomness.

        So, with great bidding power, comes great responsibility. With an extremely ironic twist, NUS students are left almost entirely to control the fates of their university lives – will you use that power for good or for evil?

To S/U or not to S/U?

        (Enter, stage right, S/U Policy. Student body is in an uproar.)

        Student Body: We demand for a change!

        Unique in more ways than one, NUS’s S/U policy first interesting point comes in the form of the policy itself. S/U-ing a module allows us to take a module free from the worries that doing badly in it would affect our CAP score, limiting the overall “grade” to simply just being “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory”. Even if that fulfils the idealistic vision of allowing students to freely expand their academic horizons, the policy itself has a few gaping holes that led to a sizeable amount of criticism.

        Aside from the restriction that one can’t S/U modules that are needed for Faculty, Major, Minor or USP requirements (which in a way effectively rules out most of the S/U policy’s usefulness), the initial time period where student had to declare the S/U option (by the sixth week of the semester) presented another whole set of problems.

        Hence, a completely NUS-centric situation arose, which resulted in a revamp in the S/U option, making it generally more effective and less of a confusion for everyone. Kids, only in NUS do you get a chance to fight for your rights.

Two’s a Party and Three’s a Crowd

        With two campuses (if you don’t count the Outram Campus) in her hands, does NUS really need another campus? While we leave all you readers to decide for yourselves, HOOKED analyses the concept that will be the Warren Campus.

        How much more different can NUS get, if the campus at Warren fulfils its promises of residential colleges? You can call NUS crazy for dreaming up such a concept, but the fact is that no other university or tertiary institute has plans for a second, much less a third campus.

        With the Warren Campus, NUS will probably come closest in imitating her higher education counterparts in the US and UK, where residential colleges revel in living and learning.

        No doubt NUS is upping the ante in making the university life, a much more pleasurable one for everyone. Unique point? Even though it’s in artist impressions at the moment, NUS does seem to care a whole lot for our welfare!

Save the Environment, Save the World!

        Exclusive to NUS (at least on these shores), is our once a year environmental bash: Rag Day. Using only recycled or recyclable material, Rag Day’s floats are always an engineering wonder with each passing year producing more and more extravagant floats.

        Other universities have orientation programmes which are more on the ‘normal’ side of things. NUS instead chooses to tread the fine line between sanity and insanity – though with lots of fun on both sides. Even if you scoff at the meagre attempt in trying to save the environment through Rag Day, the event itself is a foolhardy way in creating new and stronger bonds between you N’US, the freshies and seniors.

The ultimate orientation experience, and you’re helping to save the world at the same time! Only in NUS!

So whenever you’re feeling like being in NUS means that you’re missing out on the whole essence of varsity life, think again! We might actually have an even more fulfilling experience, with our university’s quirks! HOOKED

Comments
Written by shippoCY88 on 2008-02-17 00:16:52
I really like the floats built on Rag Day...my friends in other universities told me that they hoped their universities would have one too, instead of boring orientation programmes...

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