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Assalamualaikum and hello everyone! Since you all will be sitting for SPM this year, or maybe next year, or not, I’ve figured that this story of how I got my scholarship may help you students or at least motivate you guys.
14 March of 2019 is the day that I got my SPM results, I did not expect much on the day itself but I think I can say that I passed with flying colours. So after I got my SPM results I did a research on how to apply scholarships through internet. Nowadays we have social medias which make it easier for us to get these kind of information such as Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram where information travels fast. Twitter helped me the most because I got to know the date where the applications were open and the deadline. One of the accounts that gave me the most information was ‘Schoollah’. Here you can get tips and tricks about the scholarships. It kept me updated with the scholarship applications dates and you get to ask them about what you are curious about and they will give you the answer to your questions. I think that this would be helpful to all of you guys after SPM so be sure to keep updated with these kind of information in order to not miss the opportunity to apply to these scholarships.
In Malaysia we have a lot of scholarships that are offered to SPM graduates including Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA), Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) , JPA-MARA, PETRONAS, Kijang Emas and many more . You can apply as many as you want but remember all of these scholarships have its own requirements and conditions. Before applying, you have to read all the requirements and conditions so that you would not apply to the courses that you cannot take. Different courses require different requirements and conditions. It depends on the courses that you are applying for. For example MARA, the conditions is that your SPM results have to be 8A’s and above. A- is acceptable but according to the courses there are certain subjects that you must get A or A+. For example if you wanted to apply for medics, your Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Inggeris, Biology, Chemistry, Additional Mathematics must be A or A+ while for engineering Sejarah, Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Inggeris must be A or A+. I am not sure about these requirements but I am pretty sure it was the same. There are many more courses but I just could not remember the requirements.
After I have read all the requirements and conditions, I decided to apply for Engineering and will be furthering my studies in Korea after studying at UNIKL for one and a half year. As I wanted to further my study to Korea since I was young, I made the decision to chase that dream and go for it. The application was made at MARA website mara.gov.my and the duration was one week. It opened a day after the SPM results day and happened so fast and you have to be quick so that you did not passed the deadline. During the application process, we were required to fill in our biodata and SPM results. Also we had to take a psychometric test before submitting the applications. After I have submitted the application, I waited for about two weeks to know whether I was chosen to go to the interview or not. Thankfully, I got the chance to go to the interview that would be three days after the interview results were out. I was working at that time so I was worried that I could not go because of work but even if I did not get a leave I will probably go.
Why would I miss this golden opportunity just because of work that I will quit before I went to university? Luckily I got to take a leave. The interview was at Kolej Poly-Tech Mara Bangi and we were divided into sessions. I got the evening session which I think 1.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m.. I was asked to bring my parents’ and my own Identifications Card, resume and stationery. I think resumes play an important role because the interviewers would look at your resumes first before you went into the interview room. So make sure that your resume gave them a strong impressions of yourself. The day came and I went to Kolej Poly-Tech Mara Bangi. When I arrived at Kolej Poly-Tech Mara Bangi, all of the interviewees were divided by groups and one group required 7 interviewees. After that, each group were brought to one classroom and were instructed to wait for about 5 minutes before going to the interview room.
After that we went into the interview room and there were four people that were already in the room which three of them were the interviewers and the other one was like someone that will keep all the documents. Here is the important part where you have to show your confidence in everything you did because all of the things that you did in the room was being observed by the interviewers. Moving on, we entered the room and each of us were asked to introduce ourselves one by one. After all the candidates had introduced themselves, we were asked to look at the paper on the table which is the topic that we were about going to discuss for the next 15 minutes. One more thing, during the interview you must only speak English as it is already instructed by the interviewers. If I am not mistaken the topic was about vaccine and we discussed, divided points and parts, brainstorming within that 15 minutes. During the discussion, it is important to show your cooperation with the other groupmates as it shows your leadership and relationship with others. 15 minutes passed and we were asked to sit down.
Right before we started, one of the interviewers said “Your points are all in reverse order so we are going from left to right” which was supposed to be from right to left. We were all speechless and shocked hearing that, I almost gave up thinking that “This is it. I am screwed up.”. But I calmed myself down, looked at the point that was given to me and started to arrange the words so the idea would not look stupid.
After each of us finished presenting our points, the interviewers asked two questions to all of us. The one that wanted to answer the questions had to raise their hand. It is better to answer the questions first as your point might be the same with the other and it will make the interviewer notice your persistence to answer the questions. After that two questions they would asked you the reason you choose the course that you chose and how can you contribute to our country. My turn came and of course they knew that I chose Korea for Engineering from my resume so I answered the questions truthfully. Suddenly, one of the interviewers started to talk in Korean with me. I froze for a moment but thanks to all the Korean dramas and movies that I watched for the past few years I could understand a bit about what he is saying. Obviously I did not know how to talk in Korean at that time so I answered it in English. The conversation kept going until he said okay and it is someone else’s turn to answer. I was grateful that I did not stop watching all the dramas and movies which my mom asked me every single day because I knew it would be useful someday. The interview ended and it was about 45 minutes I guess.
The result were out two weeks after the interview through MARA website. I was shocked by the result at first and am grateful that I made it. That’s it. My MARA scholarship journey. I hope that this would be helpful to you guys and if there is anything you would like to ask feel free to hit me up at Twitter @hazirah_irfan or Instagram @hazirahirfan. I wish you all good luck for your SPM and future. Do your best so that you have no regrets!
Hazirah Ahmad Irfan, a Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) scholar, is currently studying for Foundation in Science and Technology for Korean University in Universiti Kuala Lumpur before flying off to Korea this December. I enjoyed watching korean movies and dramas during my leisure time which makes it easier for me to learn a new language which is Korean.