how to apply for EXCHANGE!! nus fass edition

hii guys! writing this ONE month after fass sep applications was over HAHAHAHA bcoz i was procrastinating…

DISCLAIMER: please fact-check the things written here / call me out if any information is wrong or outdated!!

after going through the whole process of SEP application, i understand how overwhelming it may be (at least personally i felt that the information was rlly scattered and i was really lost…) so heres a concised version of what u need to know! hopefully it helps! especially for the juniors to know what to except because i had no idea how the entire process worked 🫣

1️⃣. WAIT FOR THE EMAIL

fass took SO long to send out the email HAHAH much later than fos and basically they gave u TWO weeks to research and apply for the schools of ur choice!

- the email included the attachment in pic 3 which is quite comprehensive ngl! but they did not include the document with the schools available to apply to… so it was kinda annoying

- the email also included TOP30 (most popular schools and their demand last year)

2️⃣. LOOK FOR THE LIST OF SCHOOLS AVAILABLE THIS ROUND (pic 4,5)

this can be found on the website here: https://fass.nus.edu.sg/student-exchange-programme-sep/

(along with the under SEP application materials)

3️⃣. SELECTING UR SCHOOL OF CHOICE

for me i made a google doc listing some schools that i wanted to go to based on:

1. country (i wanted to go to europe or US)

2. course offerings (availability of mods to map) / when does the semester take place

- i heard it from a friend but he mentioned that canada is a popular destination because the semester ends rather early and students can come back in time for a summer internship? gotta fact check this though! good consideration still!

- some semesters are pretty off-cycle and may even stretch into ur NEXT NUS semester. if that is truly the case, you might meed to take a Leave of Absence (LOA) for ur NEXT NUS semester so its best to do your research before!

3. campus / location (whether its easy to travel to other cities, cost of living - city or more country side, how big the campus is…)

4. culture? language? personally im rlly chill and open to experiencing new cultures but ik friends who go for english speaking countries only like Canada or Netherlands or UK

5. competitiveness / chances of getting it!! so refer to the TOP30 List in the email to check if the school of ur choice is on the list

4️⃣. do ur STUDY PLAN! (pic 7)

there will be word doc where u can make a copy and edit! basically u will need to map some courses when u go exchange and this study plan is for u to think and plan these courses beforehand!

what you can do is to pull put ur list of courses that u are planning to take in these four years, or any unrestricted electives (UE) or major mods and list it down

then go to the website of the school of choice and look for their course offerings (search in google or through their website: XXX uni modules (add ur major))

NOTE: you are often planning for exchange a year in advance and the course / module listing for that year may not be out yet. As such, just use the mod listing for the current year and ull be fine! the SEP team is aware of this as well so they are kinda chill with the course mapping

NOTE: dummy-code. if you find some interesting modules that you want to take but is not offered in NUS, you can always map to a dummy code. for instance i had quite a lot of PS37XX (yea literally write XX at the back)

i dont think there is a limit on the number of dummy codes mod u can map to but its best to check again with ur friends / faculty coordinators. for me i usually play it safe ny trying to find existing mods in NUS to map to (those that existing but are not offered this AY, perhaps because the profs are not in NUS) but else i just dummy code it

NOTE: check ur MAPPING RESTRICTIONS (pic 3)

some major mods are harder to map than others. for instance, when i was taking econs second major, all the core econs mods have to be completed in NUS. (econs is generally harder to map) however for pol science, i can map up to 2 4k mods overseas!! and im aware that history can only map 1 4k mod… its advisable to map 4k mods overseas bcoz they are known to be more difficult and its PASS/FAIL instead of letter graded for ur final results! ie it does not count into ur GPA

NOTE: unit transfer ratios! we know that other universities work very different from ours so be sure to search up how their credit system works! (pic 8) shows the credits that is equivalent to 20MC in NUS

5️⃣. APPLY ON EDUREC

honestly jus follow the application checklist HAHHA

for fass u just need to input up to 5 schools and write ur FIRST CHOICE. the rest are all ur second choices (not in order)

- general ur unofficial transcript

- letter of undertaking, pretty simple jus need to sign

- study plan

PERSONAL STATEMENT

if im not wrong there is a 1500-character limit which is RLLY VVV little??? around 200-300 words?

do they read it? i heard that fass doesnt rlly read personal statement… but we wouldnt know!

ANSWER a few questions on how to ensure ur safety overseas, potential safety hazard (which i chatgpt-ed)

6️⃣. final note

there are two rounds usually for SEP! round 1 is SEP for slots in sem 1 and 2 the following AY while round 2 is only slots in sem 2.

usually in round 1 they dont maximise all the vacancies? or so i heard… especially for schools with more vacancies above 5

i heard quite a few instances of people not getting their first choice in round 1 but got it in round 2 so dont be discouraged!!!

and quite a few instances of students giving up their initial offers in round 1 (not first choice) and getting their first choice in round 2… but do it at ur own risk!

hope it was comprehensive enough and please point out any errors! 🙏

#unitips #exchange #uniexchange #unisep #fasssep