Apollo6

My daughter is looking to study Chinese language and international studies and/or environmental studies. We are having trouble finding affordable options in the U.S. If you are from Singapore, would you prefer a U.S. public university over NUS? Why? Do you have any information to share about NUS?

dontcomehere

US public university over NUS anytime.

I'm a junior at NUS. I have been in Singapore for 7 years and I would strongly discourage anyone who has the option of studying elsewhere from coming to NUS. It has a pretty high world-rank, yeah, but the quality of life of students here is really bad. Getting a CAP of 3.5/5 (equivalent to GPA of 2.8) is very common due to bell-curve and grade deflation. That makes it very hard for any NUS graduate to pursue master's overseas.
All my high school friends from Singapore who are now doing undergrad US told me that they are so much happier there.

International students in NUS would need to work in a Singapore-registered company for 3 years after graduation because of tuition grant. A lot of people aren't thrilled about this. Without tuition grant (and therefore no 3-year bond), the tuition fee would be ridiculously high.

I've taken Chinese class in NUS (chinese level 1) and the class was great. Language classes in NUS are really good in general. My only concern for your daughter is that in a highly structured major such as environmental studies, she might not be able to take Chinese every semester because 4 to 5 "core" modules would already be pre-allocated to her each semester. Students here usually take 5 per semester. 6 is a little bit of an overkill, especially when one of the them is a language class.

Apollo6

Thank you for your response. My husband remembers working in Singapore as an expat in the '80's when the govt didn't allow chewing gum and handed scissors to long haired males at the airport. Singapore probably isn't the environment that our daughter would appreciate but your response was interesting.

mamaroneck

Apollo, I am a born and bred Singaporean who has now come to the beautiful midwest to study. Studied in Singapore all through to high school, got accepted and almost went to NUS (kinda the opposite of your daughter, Apollo!) Like dontcomehere said, quality of life (just happiness and stress level, in general), is very bad in the Singapore education system. I speak from experience of junior college days at a good school, I'm sure NUS is the same or even worse.

Midwest might not be sexy and appealing like San Fran or Seattle or other close-to-coastal US cities, but pace of life is much better for most people, I think.

LemonDormiens

I personally think that NUS is quite a good school. I've lived right next to the university for eight years, and had a few close friends attend NUS, and they all liked it a lot. I think the environment of Singapore is actually getting a lot better and more "modern" and "city-like". It's an amazingly clean city too. But like the other posters said before, the quality of the students might be a little below average, for the various reasons stated above.