NTU Hall Life

Monday, March 25, 2013

*UPDATE2: Hall 5 has since been renovated and is now equipped with air-con. (Thanks anonymous for the tip FEB 2016)
*UPDATE: There are two more new halls, Pioneer and Crescent Hall. (JUL 2015)

If you're coming into NTU, I guess one of your top concern would be if you should apply to stay in the halls in NTU.

NTU has a total of 16 undergraduate halls as of now. They're planning to build a lot more in the upcoming years though as there's a huge demand for it.

Here's some basic things you need to know of the halls in NTU. There are some halls equipped with air-con, some with lifts, some have canteens, some have gyms. Hall 3 and Hall 16 are the hot favourites because they are equipped with air-con and they have lifts! Hall 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 are the halls without the air-con. Hall 11 is the furthest away from school. Hall 8 has the best location, situated right in the middle of the North and South spine of the campus. Hall 7 is located away from all the other halls, in a tiny little smurf village of theirs.

Besides that, each hall has their unique "characteristics". For example, we have our sports halls - Hall 3 and 6. And our arts halls - Hall 1 and 2. Take a look at how NTU stereotyped their very own halls on their facebook page.

Ok, now that you know a little about the different halls in NTU, we'll move on to talk about the different types of activities hall life provides you with. After all, one of the reasons why you would want to stay in a hall, away from home sweet home, is to experience and have fun with the other hall mates.



Every year, the different halls will compete in many competitions, hoping to clinch the overall winner. There are so many different types of competitions, sports and recreational games. We call this the inter-hall games. If you're good at water polo, you could represent your hall in the inter-hall games to compete with the other halls for the champion title. Or if you're really good at scrabble, why not consider playing it for your hall?





And of course we have our two main competitions, the inter-hall cheerleading competition and the inter-hall dance competition. Each year, the 16 halls put up performances to wow the crowd with their cheerleading stunts or their slick dance moves.




These are really big competitions in NTU and residents of all the 16 halls would flood the venue just to support their hall and their friends.

Besides these competitions, there are plenty of events happening in hall. We have our very own dinner and dance where a hall pageant will be held. Imagine all the pretty ladies and handsome hunks catwalking while you're digging in to hotel banquet food! 

And then there's a lot of late night activities, such as the hall's very own Supper Hop. They would charter a bus and bring you to all the delicious supper spots around Singapore. You can eat all you want all night long, at your own expense of your wallet though. And there's night cycling where you can cycle till your butt aches the next day. 


And of course, the hall celebrates every festival together because we are all part of a big family! Lantern Festival, Halloween, Chinese New Year, you name it! 
Expect lots of performances by your fellow hall mates and delicious food during the celebration! And expect to be scared during Halloween with all the gruesome and scary decorations hung around the hall. Dig in to your yusheng during Chinese New Year as the entire hall gather for a reunion dinner! There are plenty of things you can celebrate with your hall mates!

Or you could even gather your own friends anytime and hang around at the rooftop of your hall for a party! Do be prepared to get wasted if you're there.
Of course, these things do not matter as much as the condition of the room you're staying in. As mentioned, there are 16 halls so different halls have different designs to their room. For example, Hall 1 and 2 has their own private toilet shared among two rooms. The rest of the halls have a common toilet. And the furniture in the room may differ across halls too.
The most common design would be this:



My room mate and I rearranged the furniture to push the beds together. The beds were supposedly apart. Well, every room will have their very own bed, study desk and wardrobe. Of course, you are free to bring in any furniture you wish. You may even bring in a television or a refrigerator (you have to pay fees to bring a refrigerator though). Or you can beanbags in your room, or even a tiny tea table for you and your friends to gather around when they are in your room.
Sure, after reading so much about hall life in NTU, I'm pretty confident that you'll be tempted to stay in a hall. However, there's always another side to things. 
Staying in hall can be pretty depressing at times. Being stuck in your own room, you will realize how wonderful your parents are. Home sick. That's the most frequent sickness hall residents get. Also, the hall canteen's food may not be the most delicious thing you have eaten. Well, but I guess it's still a really good experience to stay in the halls of NTU once in your life.


All photos taken from NTU Hall 10 Facebook Page
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44 comments

  1. Hi Michelle, I just happened to chance upon your blog and saw the photos of your hall room. Would you be interested in featuring your hall room in the next issue of HEY! magazine? If so, please drop me a reply at winifredtan@ntu.edu.sg. Thanks! :)
    - Winnie

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  2. hi, may I know how is hall 5?

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    1. I would say Hall 5 is one of my least favourite hall and a hall I wouldn't want to live in. But everyone has his or her opinions and I do know people who are enjoying their time in Hall 5.

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  3. Hello! I have just been accepted into ntu and since i didnt even expect it, i didnt find out about hall life when i went to ntu's open house! I'm so glad i chanced upon your post as it really did give me an excellent overview of hall life. From the bottom of my heart, thx for the awesome post! I have friends in nus halls that tell me that each hall has a certain stereotype and hence tend to attract certain types of ppl. (i.e."studious" halls attract "nerds", "happening/cool" halls attract "cool" ppl) I would like to know if ntu's halls have these stereotypes as well and if so, what are they for the individual halls? this would really help a lot in helping me decide which hall to stay in! Also, do you know of people taking biz+acc double degrees staying in hall and still being able to cope with hall activities? (i would love to be active in hall if i do stay in one!) I look forward to your response, and thanks a lot for the post! (if your answer is too sensitive to be posted here, do email me at jieyi.ang@hotmail.com) All the best in your studies!

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    1. Congratulations on your acceptance. Unfortunately, the allocation of halls is on a random basis so you won't get the opportunity to choose which hall you want to be in.

      As to your second question, there's no drastic difference between a ACBS (accounting business) student and any NBS (business sch) student in terms of workload. Some may even say ACBS students tend to have more time because their workload is spread across 4 years instead of 3. Thus, there should be no problem coping with hall activities. I do have a friend who took ACBS and he contributed to his hall dance and held a leadership position for school cca club. It all boils down to your own time management.

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    2. OOH! I didn't know that ntu allocates randomly! That's great actually, saves me the stress of competing for a place like in nus hehe. Thanks a lot for clearing up my queries! I never would've thought that ACBS could potentially be even easier to manage than a single degree! Thx for your insight :)

      May I also ask if freshmen have the option of choosing to stay in either double or single rooms? And would you say that staying in a double would have a negative impact on your studies? (late night girly distractions and whatnot haha)

      Also, I'm quite confused as to what a "direct-honours" program offered by the biz/acc faculty means..i have heard that i would not need to submit a thesis if i do make the cut for honours, and the class of honours will hence not be dependent on thesis grades. Is that true?

      Thx a lot for taking the time to reply and read! If the other seniors in NTU are as nice as you...can't wait to matriculate!

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    3. I can't exactly remember if freshmen have the option to choose to stay in double or single room. But you do have to indicate who you want to stay with or else you get a random roomie. Single rooms are normally reserved for seniors. I stayed in a double room in my first year and I guess there's not much impact on your studies, unless your roomie constantly brings others into the room while you're studying (if you can't stand your roomie, you can actually try complaining to the hall office and request for a room change. It might work sometimes).

      For bus/acc students, they are not needed to write a thesis or complete a fyp. It's a special case for them. The class of honours is dependent on your GPA. Eg: a 4.5 gpa will get you a first-class, 4 gpa will get you a second upper, a 3.5 will be a second lower...

      :) glad to help out! hope to see you around in school next year :)

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  4. hello do you know if we do get assigned to a hall without a gym, can we still utilize the gyms from other halls? :)

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    1. No, a hall key is necessary to enter the gym. You can try and borrow from your friend in the hall or use the gym at the sports hall.

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  5. Hi, Michelle. NTU is very near to Lim Chu Kang cemetery so have you heard of any spooky incidents in the hostel?

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    1. No, I do not hear of such incidents in the hostel. There are some stories floating around but those are all hear-say.

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  6. Thank you so much for the reply. May I know it is compulsory for fresh undergraduate(1st year) to stay in the hostel? Is there any security guard at every hall? I don't know how true it is that friends and family can actually visit us as long as they leave the hostel before 11.30pm?

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    1. Hi, it is not compulsory for first years to stay in hostel. Yes, there is a security guard at every hall. And lastly, I understand that it may state that no guests are allowed after 11, but in actual fact, nobody really bothers about it. Your friends and family can stay as late as they want, as long as nobody lodges a complaint about it to the security guard. Hope that clears some doubt!

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  7. Hi Michelle, I would like to hear from you which hall is better: hall 2 or 7!
    Enrolling this coming august and personally I think I like hall 2 cos it is nearer to the canteen and the swimming pool as well as the school of comp eng. But my friend prefers hall 7. Which is cleaner, newer, more convenient in your opinion! :) thanks in advance

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    1. Hi, I'm not sure where your friend got the idea that Hall 7 is more convenient. In my opinion, Hall 7 is the least convenient hall in NTU. It doesn't have a canteen and the nearest canteen does not really open in the night for dinner. I would pick Hall 2 anytime and anyday, for the canteen. But of course, both Hall 2 and Hall 7 are the older halls and are not equipped with air-condition.

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  8. Hi Michelle, I would like to hear from you which hall is better: hall 2 or 7!
    Enrolling this coming august and personally I think I like hall 2 cos it is nearer to the canteen and the swimming pool as well as the school of comp eng. But my friend prefers hall 7. Which is cleaner, newer, more convenient in your opinion! :) thanks in advance

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  9. May I know which hall is suitable for business school student for air-condition and non-condition. Can we choose the hall prefer or is it up to the school to allocate.

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    1. You don't get to choose the hall, but you get to pick if you air-conditioned or not, if I didn't remember wrongly. The older halls such as 1, 2, 6, and the two new halls are pretty near the business school. Likewise, halls such as 3, 16, 15, 14, 13, and 12 are too far away either.

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  10. Hi..Coming to NTU this August. How are Hall 3 and 16? Are they close to School of Comp Engg ? Do they have a GYM and Canteen?

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    1. There's a gym in Hall 3, not too sure about Hall 16 though. And yes, all hall have access to canteens, except maybe Hall 7!

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  11. Can residents of any hall use the Gym of other Halls?

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    1. Hi, from my understanding, you'll need a key to enter the gym. Thus, only residents of the hall can enter.

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  12. which hall is better in terms of facilities Hall 3 or Hall 16 ??

    How are Halls 12 and 13 as compared to Hall 16 ?

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    1. Hi, both Hall 3 and 16 are pretty similar. They are the newer halls so they may be a little smaller than Hall 12 & 13. But otherwise, the facilities are about the same.

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  13. May i know what are your thoughts on hall 1?

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    1. I have never stayed in the hall but my best friend stayed there for three years. I heard they have a really friendly culture there. The only things I don't really like about it is that it isn't air conditioned and can get really dirty (if you do not clean your toilets).

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  14. Hi have you heard about hall 15? How's the culture and the experience like?

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    1. Some of my closest friends are from Hall 15! It seemed like a really tight-knit family and I really like the culture they have it there! I'm sure you'll have fun there. Do sign up for the camp!

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  15. Hi what are you thoughts on hall 16? Especially if youre not the sporty type! I got allocated to hall 16, single room (:

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    1. Hall 16 is new so the interior is really nice! I'm sure you'll have fun there. Do sign up for your hall camp!

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  16. How is Hall 3 ? Which are the nearby canteens to Hall 3 ?

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  17. Hall 5 now has aircon n newly renovated

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    1. Hello! Yes, I've heard! I haven't really been living on-campus the past two years but I'll update the blog post! :)

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  18. Hi, I am planning to apply for single room this year. Would you know how many points are required to for getting a single-room for girls? I have 13 as of now.
    If the points are less for a single room, then I will apply for a double room under local-foreigner scheme.

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    1. Hi! I applied for my single room with 15 points and got it on the first week of school. However, that was before the new halls were built. There may be more room vacancies now and I'm not too sure about last year's cut off points. Last year's cut off points will give a good gauge!

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  19. Hi, can you advise on whether hall 3 or 2 is more suitable for a nbs student? Both hall committees has approached me to play sports for them when I matriculate thisaug. Heard that hall 2 is more happening while 3 focus ton much on sports. I heard in terms of facilities hall 3 is better but 2 is more convenience. And 2 is cheaper since no aircon

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  20. Hi, I am glad to come across your blog. I stay in Tampines, so it will be great if I can get a Hall. I was just accepted to the HSS, and am wondering which hall would you recommend me to get. Non-aircon room will be good.Thanks

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    1. Hello! First years do not have the option to pick the hall of choice though. It's randomly allocated by the school. Hope that helps!

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  22. Hi! May i know how long does a hall activity normally last?

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    1. Hi A! Well, it depends on what hall activity you're in. It also depends on the hall. I can't really advice you on this. However, hall activities normally start at 7pm, after dinner time, and can extend to 9-11pm (depending on the activity).

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  23. Hello. I would really appreciate if you could provide me with some advice...
    I really want to stay in a single room but I heard year 1 students are only assigned to double room, or very slight chance to be given a single room. And my concern is that, if I applied to single room and i didnt get it (*touch wood lol*) then I'll be assigned to a random roommate whom I scare might be those noisy type...

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