FAQ

ADMISSION

All candidates will be asked to submit essay(s) and personal statement as part of the application process. Shortlisted candidates may be called for an interview. Candidates may also be asked to provide a reference.

Freshman candidates should be prepared to participate in the University Town College Programme (UTCP). Students who are accepted in their senior years or who belong to non-modular faculties or schools should be prepared to read a minimum of one module a year in the College as a condition for residency.

Freshmen accepted into the College in their first year are offered residency for two years. Students entering the College in their senior years are allocated a one-year residency. At the completion of the two-year period of stay, students may submit application to request for Senior Retention.

Accomodation & Meals

Students have a choice of living in single rooms along the corridor or in a 6-bedroom suite. Information on the different room types can be found here and respective fees can be found here.

Meal Plan Rates

The meal plan includes breakfasts on Mondays to Saturdays and dinners on Sundays to Fridays. You can find the meal plan rates here.

Yes, it is compulsory for all students to purchase a meal plan if admitted to the College as meals are considered part of community life.

Meals are served six days per week. On weekdays, breakfast and dinner will be provided. On weekends, only breakfast on Saturdays and dinner on Sundays will be provided. For more details, please refer to here.

Various type of meals (Western, Asian, Vegetarian, Indian, Halal) are available. You will use a meal credit for each meal. Items from the Salad & Fruit, and Drinks sections are free-flow.

You can tap your card up to three times per meal-time.

There is a 2-week rollover period for unused meal credits. Meal credits for breakfast are not transferable to dinner.

You will receive 12 meals per week throughout the semester, from dinner on the first evening of the semester up till the last day of the exam week. Bear in mind that credits for each meal expire after 2 weeks.

The meals arrangement for every semester starts with Dinner on the eve of the first day on every semester and ends with Breakfast on the last day on every semester.

Vacation stay is possible at an additional charge. However, please note that meal plans are not provided during the vacation period. If you would like to stay at the college during this period, there is a separate application. Please approach the College Office at Level B1 for more details.

You may indicate your preference to live in a single room along a common corridor or in a suite (aircon/non-aircon). All the rooms are equipped with ceiling fans. You may refer to this page for more details.

As we would like to provide you with opportunities to meet new people and embrace diversity, students are randomly allocated to their rooms based on floor preferences and room types (subjected to room availability during the application period) indicated by you via the University Hostel Management System (UHMS).

You can email your request to capt@nus.edu.sg. Room change requests are subject to very limited availability and it is generally possible only to grant them in extenuating circumstances such as certified medical conditions. Where there are medical grounds for the request, the resident should provide supporting documents from an NUS UHWC doctor to certify their condition.

Curriculum

UTCP refers to University Town College Programme.

Yes, the UTCP is designed as an alternative pathway to the GE programme at NUS. For more information, please refer to this page.

No. UTCP students take the same number of courses to graduate as non-UTCP students. Most faculty degree programmes require students to complete General Education (GE) courses to graduate.

Students from faculties without a GE requirement, such as Medicine, Dentistry and Law, and selected programmes (e.g. Nursing and Pharmacy) are not enrolled in the UTCP and read fewer College courses to meet their residency requirement, by arrangement with the Home Faculty.

For students admitted from AY2021/22

UTCP students who read the four UTCP courses (a Junior Seminar, an Ideas & Exposition course and two Senior Seminars) will fulfil the requirements of the following four GE pillars:

  • Cultures and Connections
  • Critique and Expression
  • Singapore Studies
  • Communities and Engagement

For UTCP students from the NUS College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS), you will be exempted from four courses in the CHS Common Curriculum as illustrated in this circular

In addition to the four UTCP courses,  students must also read a course under the Data Literacy or Digital Literacy pillar with their faculties.

For students admitted before AY2021/22

The five UTCP courses replace the GE requirement, except that students admitted from AY2016/2017 onward must still take the Quantitative Reasoning GE module. The fifth UTCP course is taken as an Unrestricted Elective instead.

Incoming senior students (those who have already been at NUS for at least one year) are expected to read one course (preferably a Senior seminar) per year to establish or maintain residency. This requirement may be adjusted for students whose programmes do not allow the reading of ULRs. Year 1 students with reduced ULRs or limited course space to read the full five UTCP courses are expected to read the relevant UTCP courses that can fulfil their graduation requirements and residency requirement during their stay in CAPT. Please email captbox2@nus.edu.sg if you need more information.

The Junior Seminars are graded on a CS/CU basis. The Senior Seminars and Ideas & Exposition courses are letter-graded, with the option to S/U.

No, you have to read and pass a Junior Seminar before reading a Senior Seminar as Senior Seminars are level 2000 courses.

Yes, you can read one I&E course together with a Senior Seminar concurrently in the same semester. You can also read 2 Senior Seminars concurrently in a semester. However, note that successful pre-allocation of courses is subject to overall courses demand and availability of course quota. Due to limited course places, you may not be pre-allocated two courses concurrently in a semester.

You should plan to take one UTCP course each semester in your first and second year. Students who leave taking two courses to their fourth (Year 2 Sem 2) semester often find themselves unable to complete UTCP and will be at a disadvantage if applying for Senior Retention.

Financial Aid

Applications for financial aid should be made as soon as possible after your application for admission to NUS through the Office of Financial Aid at the Undergraduate Financial Aid Portal. Once your application is submitted online, you will also be automatically considered for all other NUS bursaries, including the CAPT Grant, where eligible.

The types of financial aid available to students residing in the College of Alice & Peter Tan are as follows:

  1. Residential Programme Bursaries
  2. Residential College Scholarships
  3. Residential Colleges Bursaries
  4. CAPT Grant

More information on the various financial schemes can be found on the College website or Residential Colleges website. Candidates must have been offered and accepted a place at the College to apply.

Please note that the CAPT Grant is only available to full-time NUS undergraduate students.

CAPT does offer the CAPT Grant for students staying in our college. For more information on the eligibility please check this page.

You should receive an email notification on the outcome of your CAPT Grant application within one month after your application submission in the Undergraduate Financial Aid Portal.

Should you require more information or wish to speak to someone confidentially on aid related matters, please contact:

Defie Tanoto, Assistant Manager

Office number: 6601 2850 (Office hours: Mon-Thu 8:30am – 6pm and Fri 8:30am – 5:30pm)

Email: defie.tanoto@nus.edu.sg

For queries on other types of financial aid, please find the contact details of the Office of Financial Aid via this link.

Facilities & Maintenance

Call or directly report the problems to Office of Housing Services (Tel: 66012778, 66012779) located at Level 1 (#01-50) of the College during office hours (Mon-Thu: 8:30am-6pm; Fri: 8:30am-5:30pm) or 65461515 after office hours.

Call IT Care Hotline at 65162080. Information on the operating hours, email contact and walk-in location can be found here.

Academic Visitors

The College of Alice & Peter Tan Academic Visitors scheme provides for individuals from other academic institutions or with equivalent professional experience to be invited to share their expertise and to enrich residential life and learning in the College through their teaching and interaction with students and other members of the College community.

If you are in NUS on official business and would like to stay in the visitors’ apartment at CAPT, you may send a request through your host department to capt@nus.edu.sg.