.png)
“May my wishes come true.”
Something that I’ve been wishing for every time I make a birthday wish. Lucky enough and also too good to be true, I somehow ended up as one of those lucky people whose wishes do come true. My wish to study overseas was no longer a dream!
I spent the 3 months of holiday after SPM looking into courses that I was interested in and struggling to choose between biotechnology and Artificial Intelligence. Just to be sure that I will make the right choice, I took some time to look into these courses and also the job prospects. In the end, I believe that Artificial Intelligence is the one that suited me the most. (This is indeed a tiring process, everyone has different opinions on what one should do but other people’s advice might not always be good for you. Instead of relying on others and waiting for their advices, it is important to know yourself better and figure out what kind of career you would like to pursue)
It hit me hard when I realized that there are not many institutions in Malaysia offering this course, even if there is, it costs too much and simply unaffordable. So, staying to my interest, I could only wait for my SPM results and decide later on. Luckily, my SPM results were fine and I was eligible to apply for most of the scholarships that I wanted to apply for. However, what came next was the real challenge, applying tons of scholarships and receiving endless rejection, I only got 3 interviews out of 8 applications. I attended Yayasan Tenaga Nasional and JKPJ interview. I did not attend the ASEAN scholarship interview as I have already been offered the JKPJ scholarship when the interview for ASEAN scholarship was held.
So, let’s talk about scholarships. The first stage is always application. Most of the scholarship applications is the same and can be done online nowadays. Always make sure to have a stable internet connection while filling up the application form, don’t forget to look back and forth on the information you gave. Some scholarships like Kijang or Yayasan Khazanah come with an essay writing, do pay attention to the grammar mistakes. If anything goes wrong with the application website, don’t hesitate to contact the person in charge of the technical problem. Lastly, never miss the submission deadline!
Then next stage, interview. It might probably be the first interview you will be attending in your life (or maybe just me). The first interview I attended was Yayasan Tenaga Nasional and it was held at UNITEN. The interview was divided into 2 parts, psychometric test, and individual interview. While waiting to be called into the interview room, this is a good time to calm yourself down and make some friends too (these people might be the people you meet in your next interview, make sure you don’t make enemies; make love, not war). The first impression is always important, give your best smile and greet them, don’t forget a firm handshake too. The interview session is rather relaxing and feels more like a chit-chatting session. I was prompted with questions like “What do you do for leisure?”, “Can you do me a Pahang slang?” , “What is your weakness?”. However, it is also important to be prepared to answer questions regarding the company and courses you applied for. Overall, the interview went well for me.
On the other hand, the JKPJ interview was completely different. (Each scholarship interview is different, be prepared and learn from other people’s experience on a particular interview. As the saying goes, “Sediakan payung sebelum hujan”). The weirdest part of this interview was that we were required to wear sportswear instead of the common formal attire. (No matter how weird is the condition stated, do follow the instructions given or enquire them directly) The interview for JKPJ was carried out in a group, and my group consisted of 5 people.The session started off when my teammates and I entered a room for group activities. We were given 3 tasks; build a freaking KLCC Tower using 3 A4-sized papers, charades, and problem-solving. The key point for this interview is teamwork, it’s great to stand out among your group mates, but don’t try to dominate the others. Most important of all, engage yourself in the activities and have fun too. After this session ended, we proceeded to the next one which is the interview. As the drill goes, smile and blablabla… JKPJ is a scholarship offered by the Public Service Department, better known as JPA, which is a government body. The questions asked varied from Rukun Negara to TN50, and my group was asked about Malaysia Public Works Department, JKR. (That was the time I realize the existence of this department, excuse my ignorance, PLEASE……) Tried my best to crap all the way about what I thought I knew about JKR, luckily and surprisingly it wasn’t too far off, but remember honesty is the best policy, the interviewer will know straight away if you are lying or crapping. (Think twice before you make any statement) The interview ended well I supposed, as the interviewer said we were the only group that actually impressed him, YAY!
After a month, as I woke up from my usual nap, I was informed that the results for the JKPJ interview were out, which you probably would have guessed it by now. Currently, I’m a second-year student of KTJ (Kumpulan Teknikal Jepun), studying at INTEC Education College which has other overseas preparatory courses and a lot of scholars are sent here too. KTJ is a two-year foundation program, which mainly focuses on learning Japanese language as well as other subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. As most of the classes in Japan will be in Japanese language, learning Japanese is compulsory and learning other subjects in Japanese too. However, my course is divided into 4 semesters and we will only start learning all the subjects in Japanese during second semester. So, we actually have a period of time to adapt to using the Japanese language.
First and foremost, why do I choose Japan among these 4 countries? As I’m going to study fields related to Artificial Intelligence, Japan is definitely the first choice for me as Japan has always been the leading country in robotics which is closely related to what I want to pursue. Every country specializes in different fields of engineering. I need to do some research first before choosing any one of these countries so that I won’t make the wrong choice and regret for the rest of my life. Well, how is it to learn a new language. Honestly, it is frustrating as I’m not a person who enjoys learning a language. Then, for the reason that I am not an anime fan or a manga reader, I’m not familiar with Japanese at all. Ironically, most of my batch mates who graduated from boarding school had learned 5 years of Japanese and they can speak Japanese fluently while I was still struggling to introduce myself in simple Japanese phrases. Even though it felt quite demotivating, I chose to see this problem as a challenge because learning is always part of growing too, right? Learning a new language is undoubtedly fun and troublesome at the same time, but with consistent practice, learning a language is not much of a problem!
Other than studies, life is kinda easy and fine here, excluding the fact that the school bus is always unpunctual or sometimes magically not appear at all… I had quite a lot of a great time here, of course, I screw up sometimes too. My journey till now is totally unexpected I would say, I never thought of going to Japan for my tertiary studies as studying in the States has always been my first choice. Perhaps, uncertainty in life is what gives life meaning after all. Life is tough, but it’s up to you to decide whether you let life takes control over you or YOU TAKE CONTROL OVER YOUR LIFE!
CHEERS!!!
Bryan Ng is currently taking Japanese Preparatory Course at INTEC, Shah Alam under JKPJ scholarship. He likes to collect books but doesn't read them.