NTU Life: Halls

Welcome to the first blog post where I try to introduce you to life as an NTU undergraduate student. Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) is also “affectionately” known as Pulau NTU, because apparently only 3 buses go in and out of the campus – 179, 199 and Campus Green. During blooming season, you can observe sakura-like flowers blown in the wind but it’s still hella warm.

Update (28/3/2019): I have rewritten this blog post to reflect better information. (And also fixed the writing style, which was super atrocious!) Hope this remains helpful to everyone!

You Might Be:

  1. A Potential Exchange Student looking to see what NTU has to offer and what you can experience living on-campus.
  2. A future undergraduate seeking the unique dorm experience.
  3. A post-grad (?) student.

This post will all be about NTU dorms, or more commonly known as Halls. Hall life is a very integral part of those who do choose to stay on campus. There are many pros and cons to living on campus, and it all depends on what you want. But how are halls arranged in NTU?

Current Available Halls

Currently, there are 24 halls, not including the Graduate halls. 1, 2, 3… all the way to 16, Pioneer and Crescent hall, Binjai (a type of plant), Banyan (a type of tree), Tanjong (a Malay word for Cape) and the most recent one – Nanyang Crescent cluster (Saraca, Tamarind and Meranti).

Click here for the hall map.

Type of Rooms

Most halls are double occupancy rooms which mostly cater to students who are either on exchange, live far away from campus or are foreign students. Some rooms have A/C, and others don’t.

To utilise the air conditioner, a special card has to be used. I’m sure you can get it from the Hall office. What I do know is that you cannot use your matriculation card to debit the amount.

Click here for more info on the type of rooms.

School Policy

Some people who stay near NTU can get hall stay during their freshmen year Quite recently, NTU has changed the policy whereby freshmen get guaranteed housing stay during their first 2 years (causing a lot of problems, but that’s another post altogether). That means that there are a lot of vacancies ever since the newer halls were opened!

To keep on staying in the same hall, you have to calculate distance points as well as activity points. Not too sure what’s worth what, but I know that it’s not worth it for me to stay in hall because I stay in Jurong West.

Cost of Staying

Staying in hall is not cheap, but for exchange students who come from countries with stronger currencies, it’s real cheap. There are no meal plans available, and double room occupancy is a little over $200/person per month. Single’s around $400. It gets more expensive in newer halls with air conditioner installed. The cheapest is, of course, Hall 1 but on the whole, prices are increasing because of the costs required to revamp old ones and open up newer halls.

Check here for current hall prices.

Facilities/Amenities

Most halls have their own communal kitchen, indoor sports hall, washing machines (pay-per-use – only new $1 coins are accepted), recreational rooms/study rooms/TV rooms, gym and printing rooms. From what I know, hall printing facilities are one of the cheapest in the entire school, so I usually tag along with my friends to their hall to print out my notes.

North Spine printing shop is expensive don’t ever go there.

Accessibility

Most halls do not have lifts except for Pioneer, Crescent, Binjai, Banyan, Tanjong, Meranti, Tamarind and Saraca. If you have difficulty moving around and require a wheelchair, avoid the halls that are not mentioned. You may take it in a positively though – you’ll have super toned thighs and butt after a week.

There are some halls more ulu (isolated) than the rest. Halls that are not conveniently located near bus stops are Hall 3, Hall 16, Banyan Hall.

What about hilly halls? Almost all halls require you to climb some sort of hill or stairs, but the hilliest ones I must say are Hall 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, and 16.

Hall Life

Personal opinion: Hall life is by far one of the most hectic life I personally would not choose to involve myself in. But I have had friends who do – and some belong to the top committees in Halls (like JCRC, but the name is different now). And they told me that being involved in the hall culture demands a high level of commitment. It’s not all bad though!

Hall culture (to me) are very hierarchical in nature. To get to stay in a hall, or be guaranteed to have a stay in hall the following year, you kinda have to make yourself known by being involved in hall activities. This might be taken negatively, but for the benefit of the hall, it’s to ensure that people of similar interests can band together more easily. That’s why some halls are more “sporty” or “artsy” than the next.

It’s also not bad to put yourself out there. You get to make new friends (!!) and learn new stuff like managing your own responsibilities (and assigning others’). Ultimately, your efforts ensure that the particular hall builds its own culture.

Activities

You can sign up for clubs and activities – and there are plenty to feed the most inane interests like Dart Club. But there are really nice sounding ones such as the Events team. I guess making sure hall occupants at least enjoy their hall life is really a great thing to do.

One thing to note, however, that it does take a toll on your available free time. You must manage school work and hall activities well. Otherwise, your grades will suffer and to me, that’s not worth it. What’s the point in enrolling in university then?

Choosing Your Hall

Also, admission to staying in hall for freshmen takes form in bidding. There’s this school policy (but as of 2019, not sure if it has changed) that freshmen who attended respective hall’s camps gain priority into the particular hall’s vacancy. (There are lots of controversies on Hall camps or tertiary camps in general which you can Google because I’m lazy).

Food

This can probably be linked to facilities/amenities but doesn’t hurt talking about this in a more elaborated manner.

Most halls have their own canteens. Halls that do not have their own food court/canteen are Hall 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, Meranti, Saraca, Binjai and Tanjong. I think the most disadvantageous hall is Hall 7, because it really is far from everywhere except South Spine canteen. The other halls mentioned are located near to canteens from other halls. You can check it out here.

Prices range from $3-5 a meal, not including drinks. Not sustainable if you plan to eat there every day, you will get sick of campus food very soon!

Halal food: Very limited on-campus choices if from canteen stalls. North Spine, South Spine, Quad, the Hive have the most variety of halal food. Canteen 2, sometimes canteen 14 (the last time I went it was closed).

Groceries: There’s a Giant supermarket and a 7-11 around Canteen 2 as well if you prefer to cook your own meals. Prices are okay for the most part – but if you’re expecting alcohol, cheeses and imported stuff, they are quite expensive due to them being taxed.

Lastly

Are you looking for an awesome hall experience? Keep a lookout for the annual NTU open houses (usually held in March every year) where the Halls residents will bring you around!

For those who have stayed in dorm, what’s your favourite activity to do to not feel “stuck” on-campus?

Featured image taken from NTU Nanyang Crescent Hall.

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[…] I said in the previous post, NTU is known as Pulau NTU. What does it mean? Pulau stands for island and island it is. […]

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