Congratulations on getting your NUS offer! After you had accepted your university offer, you are now able to sign up for camps! However, there are so many camps to choose from be it from the Student Union to faculty to Hall camps, which campus should you sign up for?
Here is a guide to help you to choose and have a better understanding of camps in NUS as you start school excitedly in August.
Table of consolidated information about NUS University Camp:
Your Own Faculty |
Halls / Residential Colleges (RCs) |
University Wide |
||||
Your School (might not be relevant to all) |
Your Faculty |
Hall |
RC |
NUS Sports Club |
NUS Student Union (NUSSU) |
|
Examples |
School of Science
School of Engineering |
Pharmacy
Chemical Engineering |
Eusoff Hall
Kent Ridge Hall King Edward VII Hall Raffles Hall Sheares Hall Temasek Hall |
Cinnamon (USP) College
Tembusu College College of Alice & Peter Tan Residential College 4 Ridge View Residential College |
NIL | NIL |
Camps Available |
School of ___ Camp (eg. SCamp (Science Camp), Arts Camp) | Major/Faculty Camp (eg. NUS Business Camp, Psychology Camp)
O-Week Camp |
Hall Exposure Camps (eg. Kent Ridge Hall’s Camp Bleed Blue)
Hall Orientation Camps [eg. Kent Ride Hall’s FWOC (Freshman Welcome & Orientation Camp), Sheares Hall’s SWOC (Sheares Welcome & Orientation Camp)] |
Orientation Camp only | Sports Camp | NUSSU Union Camp
NUSSU CAC Camp (eg. Modern Arts Camp, Social Camp)
|
Criteria |
You will need to be of that school | You will need to be of that faculty. | Exposure camps (You need to be a NUS student but can be from any course)
Hall Orientation Camps (You need to be a resident of the hall, that is, you had applied for the hall, gotten offered a place and had accepted the offer |
RC Orientation Camp (You need to be a resident of the RC, that is, you had applied for the RC, gotten offered a place and had accepted the offer)
|
You need to be a NUS student but can be from any course. | You need to be a NUS student but can be from any course. |
Time Frame of Camps |
Early June | Faculty Camps (June period)
O-Week Camps (Start of August, usually right before school starts) |
Hall Exposure Camps (End May)
Hall Orientation Camps (July – August) |
July – August | Early July | Mid July
|
Sign-ups |
Usually a month before the start of the camp Hence, you can start looking out for the camps sign ups a month before they start. |
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Price Range |
~$85 | ~$85 for both | $50-$60 | $60-$70 | ~$90 | ~$80 |
What are the criteria needed to join a camp?
Source: NUSSU VPC
One of the requirements of most, if not every, camp in NUS requires you to show your evidence of accepting the NUS place offer. Hence, upon verification, you may embark on your journey of university life. Specific criteria to specific camps are also shown above.
What camps are there?
If you are overwhelmed by the number and types of camps available, we have actually collated and categorised almost all of the major camps available in NUS listed in the table as shown at the beginning for easy understanding. Using that table, we hope that you will be able to make a more well-informed decision as to which camps to sign up for in order to accommodate your interests.
As much as the school has done its part to deconflict the camp dates, there may be instances where camp dates still crash. Hence, it is important to check the dates of the camps with other camps you signed up for to ensure that you get the full experiences of the camps for yourself.
Which camp(s) should I join?
Usually, university students will choose to go for a camp related to their course and another related to their residences in school (that is if they are staying). Meanwhile, there may also be others who enjoy going to camps a lot and would sign up for cross-faculty camps to make friends outside of their courses and schools. These people may sign up to up to five or six camps (eg. Hall exposure camp, faculty camp, sports camp, union camp, hall orientation camp and O week). Going for camps can actually be quite tiring for most people as the camp schedules are packed with activities from morning till night, for 3 or 4 full days. Hence, if you were to go for one after another, it may be physically draining for some or even unhealthy, if you do not take care of yourself. However, if you are up for it, then you might enjoy your choices.
For residential related camps, it is worthy to note that while residential colleges only offer camps for freshmen who are successfully allocated to their residence, halls, on the other hand, offer exposure camps for all freshmen students who may or may not ultimately be given a place in their halls. It is truly what it means in its name – to expose you to the hall. These exposure camps are different from the orientation camps the same hall offers which are only given to freshman who has a place in the hall. They also one of the earliest camps, happening at around end May, before hall application closes, in hope that you can make a well-informed decision of which hall fits your interests.
University camps usually require a fee as they cover most of your meals, accommodations and logistics for activities. Depending on the scale and programs, these fees can vary slightly as listed in the table.
Are university camps competitive?
Source: NUSSU VPC
The funny thing about NUS university camps is that some camps may be more competitive than others, meaning that applying for them may not guarantee you participation in the camp. Hence, use the sign-up forms wisely or ask for advice from relevant seniors! However, camps like O week which are of larger scales will usually grant you your application as they are catered specifically for everyone to make friends in your faculty and courses.
Next, it is also worthy to note that for faculty camps, usually those that are occurring in early June are the ones you should be looking out for if you are planning to understand more about University Activities like Rag and Flag, Pageants. Usually, these camps will be when pageants participants are selected or when seniors tell you more about the faculty’s Rag activity. (Rag is where crews and performers come together to perform and make props for NUS Rag Day). However, even if you were to miss the faculty camp, it is not too late to join the Rag program via their sign-up links.
What happens if I do not go to any camps?
Before we end the article, we would also like to mention that while camps do encourage or spark friendships forming, it is not the only way you can make friends in university. Even if you ended up not going for any camp, you will still be able to make friends when school starts as long as you put in the effort! Join school-based Co-Curricular activities, halls, RCs, events etc. and actively make meaningful connections! (*Inserts WikiHow: How to make friends in college)
How should I start signing up for camps?
Finally, after understanding how NUS camps work and what are available, you can start searching up their social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Telegram Channels etc.) to keep yourself updated on the camp dates and sign up links so that you will not miss them out! Following their social media pages also allow you to preview the themes and past years activities, which allows you to better decide which camps you want to be going for and which camps will help you better understand certain queries you have.
Source: NUSSU VPC
Bonus:
Camp Experiences
Personally, I have made some of my closest university friends during my Freshmen Orientation camp back in year one. They have been there throughout my university life and we would still meet up catch up, have supper and even travel together. I guess it was lucky that we manage to find one another who happen to just click so well!
My orientation groupmates.
After party from the Union Camp.
Mookata with them
For me, it was really lucky that I met a group of friends like them who added so much fun and joy to my university life.
With that, good luck and enjoy your, probably once in a lifetime, freshmen year! Cheers!
This article is written by Ho Kar Yern a Year 2 Accounting Student from National University of Singapore who loves a good cup of coffee and weekly mala sessions ~