SINGAPORE — For many university students, moving into a hostel on campus during their undergraduate years is often seen as a rite of passage.

Each residential hall is typically associated with its own unique hall culture, which attracts different types of students.

Given the extended periods of time that one would have to spend with one’s hostel mates, it is no wonder then that some students would go to great lengths to ensure that they pick a suitable hostel.

For TikTok user “wearyyyyyyyyyy”, this entailed creating an entire Google word document detailing what she has found about each of the 23 residential hall’s culture at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The TikTokker, Miss Jaime Aw, 20, will begin her first year of studies at NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in August this year.

She published a seven-second video on Wednesday (June 19) night showing snippets of the online document.

Listed in the document are casual comments on halls that have a “chill” culture that “welcomes everybody to try out different (co-curricular activities) compared to the sports and dance halls”, halls that have “limited food options” and that seemingly have mould or persistent “termite issues", or where students have encountered various wildlife such as monkeys, snakes and toads.

Where available, Miss Aw has also attached images of the floor plans of hostel rooms.

The information about NTU’s different halls includes their addresses and the price range for both air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned double rooms in the upcoming academic year.

In a note at the top of the document, Miss Aw states that the information was gathered “mostly based on word of mouth and Reddit (or) other sources like Lemon8”. Reddit is an online forum and Lemon8 is a social media application by the creators of video-sharing app TikTok.

It is not known if the information provided is accurate or verified.

When contacted by TODAY, Miss Aw also said that she was not sure if the content is "reliable", but she was curious to know which NTU halls had the best and worst culture, because the main reason she is looking to stay in a hostel is to make new friends.

Some TikTok viewers had asked that she make public the full document and she intends to do so eventually, she told TODAY.

When she does so, Miss Aw said that she is open to receiving comments on what students feel their hall culture is like.

Since it was uploaded less than 24 hours ago, the video has received more than 600 likes and been shared almost 150 times.

It has sparked discussion on some of the hall choices.

One TikTok user joked that “Crespion” — referring to NTU’s Crespion and Pioneer halls — were “the best”, sarcastically remarking that they had “no hall culture at all”.

Another TikTok user said that Halls 8 to 10 have several stairs and residents could be heavily exposed to dust due to the nearby construction of an MRT station, before adding that freshmen at the university are not allowed to choose their halls and it is randomly allocated.

This TikToker also said that the “rec lists” for most halls have since closed for the new intakes. “Rec lists” refer to lists of recommendations of prospective hall residents that can be put forth by a senior student already residing in that hall. 

Some students believe that being placed on a hall’s “rec list” may raise their chances of being accepted into that hall of their choice.

Acknowledging in a comment that the university’s freshmen are unable to select a residential hall of their choice, Miss Aw said that she would instead be using this as reference in the future to prepare herself for what to expect of each hostel's culture.

On Thursday evening, she posted another video saying that she made the online document for herself, but asked viewers to give their take on what the halls are like in the document, which she then shared in the comments section of the video.