Monday 24 June 2013

An Inside Look into Yale NUS College, Singapore

Our UAC intern, Mala Swaminathan, attended a weekend event in May 2013 to introduce Yale-NUS  and had this to share:

      The Yale NUS College (YaleNUS) orientation for parents, counselors and 60 admitted students was held at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium at the Education Resource Centre on the NUS campus.

      YaleNUS is the first liberal arts college in Singapore and it is a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore. A total of 11,000 applications were reviewed for the year 2013-2014 of which 4 % of students were accepted. Currently, the student population is 2/3rd Singaporean and 1/3rd international and the college will eventually have a student body of 1,000 and a faculty of 100.

    The campus is adjacent to the NUS’s University Town and has well-equipped classrooms,a great library with rare books from Yale University and state of the art computer rooms. The college is fully residential and all the students can enjoy a comfortable residential life with study spaces, sky gardens, butteries and informal student run eateries. Tuition per semester will range from 7,500 Singapore dollars for Singapore citizens to 15,000 dollars for foreign students, or from $6,000 to $12,000.

      YaleNUS is looking for students with an ‘extra something’ –students who could add to the college community, students who are articulate, interesting and well rounded individuals. While the admissions office does not specify an exact IB or SAT score, they go through a holistic process by considering every aspect of an application. Good academic performance and rigorous coursework are qualifying factors in applying to YaleNUS. Admissions for IB students would consider a student's transcript from Grades 9 to 12 and a student's predicted grades.  Offers are not strictly conditional; however, a discrepancy between predicted grades and final grades can lead to the student’s admission status being revoked. Once the application has been completed online and all the relevant documents submitted, the admissions officer interviews all candidates after which a final decision is made.

      There are three aspects to a degree from YaleNUS:
      - Common/Core Curriculum
      - Pure Electives
      - Majors (15 majors including a double degree in law)

      Students will take a common curriculum in the first year, including courses on literature and humanities, philosophy and political thought, scientific inquiry and social institutions, before selecting a major.Class sizes are limited to 18-20 students. Students, all of whom will be required to live on campus, will also have the option of pursuing a combined undergraduate degree with law, with the law component taught through the N.U.S. law school, or combining an undergraduate degree with a masters in environmental management through Yale.

      All students will also complete a senior capstone project in their final year that will require them to conduct original research. All students are guaranteed: an international experience, internship opportunities and special leadership programs. Some of the special leadership programs include; first summer@yale (only available for students who have been admitted this year), Study at Yale or at one of the NUS overseas colleges (one year), 40 global programs and independent research programs. Students become alumni of three bodies -Yale, NUS,and YaleNUS.

      Please visit the following websites to learn more about YaleNUS:

      http://www.ync.nus.edu.sg/learning.html
      http://yalenusblog.com/2012/10/17/why-university-students-need-a-well-rounded-education-by-james-bradshaw/

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