“I’ve learned a lot more about SMU today. I’m glad I came,” said Joe. “There’s such a buzz. I really like the place,” said his friend Shaun. They were just two of aspiring SMU students who visited the University with friends and family during SMU Open House on 1—2 March 2014.

Around 7,000 visitors in total attended this year and got a better feel for the city centre campus, which is one of SMU’s unique strengths. SMU’s previous Open House events have been held mainly at the Administration Building. To cater to the growing number of visitors to SMU’s Open House, the team at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions this year decided to expand the space for the event from the Administration Building on Victoria Street, through the underground concourse and all the way to the School of Accountancy. Information booths were all located in the concourse, with the Undergraduate Admissions booth at the T-junction. The booths for the six schools, Postgraduate and Professional Programmes and the Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship benefitted from a lot more space and this enabled the faculty members, current students and alumni fronting the booths to hold conversations with visitors much more comfortably. The crowd also flowed more freely and this meant people were far more likely to move on if there were long queues at a booth, gather information elsewhere and return later when queues were shorter.

For the series of 17 talks each day, three venues were opened up, with the addition of the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium to the usual Sports Hall and Mochtar Riady Auditorium. Each school scheduled two to three talks, there were three presentations on “Admissions, Scholarships and Financial Aid”, plus a talk on the recently-launched SUTD-SMU Dual Degree Programme in Technology & Management. As usual, these talks were very well attended and inspired lively Q&A sessions as prospective SMU students and their parents pursued the issues of particular interest to them. Hot topics included scholarships, internships and the choice of programmes. There was also a great deal of interest in SMU’s excellent results in the Graduate Employment Survey which were released in the press on the same weekend.

One of 34 well-attended talks held at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium (above), Mochtar Riady Auditorium and Sports Hall.

Students showcased their talents on the stage opposite the food court with hourly performances and demonstrations by martial arts groups, Malay and Indonesian cultural clubs, dance groups Caderas Latinas, InDanCity and Eurhythmix and musical groups Chamber Choir, Guitarisimo, Musical Interactive Club, Samba Masala, SoundFoundry and Symphonia. Various Co-Curricular Activity groups also hosted booths along the concourse which impressed visitors with the breadth and depth of their interests and added to the carnival atmosphere which kept energy levels high throughout the weekend.

Adding to carnival atmosphere of the weekend, Caderas Latinas dance troupe.

Around 160 student volunteers, including 20 student ambassadors helped to marshal the crowd, lead the campus tours, handle enquiries and provide logistical support. Alumni too lent their support by speaking at various talks, through their involvement in the CCA groups and by standing alongside the faculty members, staff members and students who manned the information booths. The smooth running and success of the event was all the result of this remarkable teamwork and the distinctive SMU spirit.

SMU President Prof Arnoud De Meyer (centre), Vice President Corporate Communications and Marketing Alan Goh (right) and Associate Director Undergraduate Admissions Andrew Loh, posing at the free photo booth with speech bubbles highlighting the Top 7 Reasons Why Students Choose SMU.

Women’s Rugby was just one of the many Co-Curricular Activity groups showcasing their talents over the weekend.

[Featured photo:] More spacious booths and the wide walkway of the concourse enabled visitors to enjoy more relaxed discussions with representatives of the six schools.

Brief highlights of SMU Open House 2014 can be viewed on SMU’s YouTube channel. You can also find many more photos and comments from visitors on SMU’s Facebook page, Flickr and Pinterest.