When it comes to education, there is something that everyone
has go through - planning what’s next after completing secondary school. These plans are important as they will decide our
future. Currently, I am studying Medicine at NUMed Malaysia. So, how did I make these plans in the past?
When I was still a child, the first ambition I had was to be
an architect, because my father is an architect, so I wanted to follow him.
However, I knew little about how the job of an architect is like, and I had no
idea whether I am actually interested in architecture or not. Later, as I grew
up, I observed that my father's job of an architect is quite busy and
stressful. I also disliked and was very poor in arts. Besides, there were a few
times where I followed my father to construction sites, and I did not feel
comfortable being in such places. All these made me question my ambition to be
an architect. Later, I realised that I had interest in Medicine. This, in
addition to the fact that I like to help others, caused me to change my
ambition and I wanted to become a doctor instead. Then in September 2009 when I
was in Form 2, an incident happened which made me realised that some doctors are really money-minded and they cause a lot of sufferings to the patients. I felt that I could make a difference by becoming a doctor, so this strengthened my ambition to be a doctor. Since then,
I had decided that I want to study Medicine. My parents preferred that I study
Engineering, but they did not oppose my decision, while my grandparents fully
supported my decision. Therefore, long before completing secondary school, I
had planned the degree course that I want to study.
Since when I was young, my family had planned to let me
study my degree course at a university in Australia, because my parents
previously graduated from a university in Australia. I initially agreed to
their plans, but later as I grew up, I felt that I preferred to study in
Malaysia instead of overseas, mainly because I was used to the environment in
Malaysia and I knew it would be difficult for me to adapt to the environment in other countries. However, I did not tell my family about that because they might feel
unhappy. Then when I was in secondary school, my grandparents heard that there
are many who study in Malaysian universities, and they felt that it might be
better for me to study locally since the cost would be much lower than studying overseas. I definitely agreed with them, and I told them that all the while
I had wanted to study locally. My parents also agreed about that. Since then, I
had planned to study Medicine in a local university. At that time, I only knew
about local public universities such as USM and UM, but not any of the local private
universities.
Before we can get into a degree, we have to complete a pre-university programme first. Since primary school, I had wanted to study STPM after completing Form 5. The
reason was that by studying STPM, I could continue studying in the same secondary
school and continue staying in Kulim for another 2 years. At that time, I did
not know about any pre-university programmes other than STPM, and I often
wondered why many students chose not to study STPM. However, somewhere during
year 2010 when I was in Form 3, my grandparents came to know about a
pre-university programme which is the MOE Matriculation. According to what they
heard, students who study Matriculation are guaranteed entry into local public
universities as long as they pass its examination, although they may have to
get better results than that in order to study the course they preferred, while
students who study STPM are not guaranteed entry into local public universities
despite getting excellent results. Matriculation is also much easier to study
compared to STPM. Therefore, they felt that studying Matriculation is much
better compared to STPM. I agreed with my grandparents about this. Since then,
I planned to study Matriculation after completing Form 5, and I no longer
wanted to study STPM. Unlike STPM, Matriculation has a limited number of places available and only students who perform well in the SPM are offered a place in Matriculation. At that time,
I thought that I could get the offer for Matriculation as long as I get
straight A in SPM, and I believed that it would not be too difficult for me to
get that result. When my parents knew that I wanted to study Matriculation,
they also agreed with my plan.
After entering Form 4 in year 2011, I had a new aim. In
addition to getting the offer for Matriculation, I also aimed to get the JPA scholarship.
At that time, the JPA scholarship was awarded based on the SPM results. Initially,
my target was to get only straight A but not straight A+ in SPM, because I
thought that straight A would be sufficient in order to be offered
Matriculation and the JPA scholarship. Later in June 2011, I saw on the newspaper
that for that year, only students who obtained straight A+ in SPM would be
guaranteed the JPA scholarship. Therefore, I set myself a new target of getting
straight A+ in SPM, so that I could get the JPA scholarship. Shortly after
that, I heard of rumours that starting from the following year, the JPA
scholarship would no longer be awarded to SPM leavers, instead it would only be
awarded to leavers of STPM and other pre-university programmes. I thought that
the rumour was not true so I just ignored it.
In April 2012 when I was in Form 5, the Ministry of
Education announced that starting from year 2012 onwards, the KPM Bursary would
be offered to all students who obtained at least 9A+ in SPM, and it will
sponsor for pre-university programmes such as STPM, Matriculation and A level.
They also announced that students sponsored by the KPM Bursary could be offered
the JPA scholarship for their degree course after completing the pre-university
programme, provided that they meet the requirements. However, the newspaper
article regarding that announcement was unclear in some parts so I could not
fully understand it. My lack of understanding about the KPM Bursary caused me
to not take it seriously. Later, I heard that 2 of the seniors in my school were
not offered Matriculation on that year, even though both of them obtained
straight A+ in SPM and were offered the KPM Bursary. This gave me the
impression that one had to get straight A+ in SPM to even stand a chance of
being offered Matriculation. I told myself that I must get straight A+ in SPM,
and I prayed that I would get the offer for Matriculation. At that time, I felt
that getting the offer for Matriculation was more important than getting the
KPM Bursary.
Later in year 2012, my parents told me that other than
Matriculation, A level is also a good pre-university programme, and I could
study A level at Taylor’s College or Sunway College in Subang Jaya. They also
said that I could enrol for A level using my SPM trial examination results and
start A level in January 2013 before my actual SPM results is released.
However, I was not interested in A level because I thought that it is only for
students who want to study overseas, while I wanted to study in Malaysia. I
then planned that I would study A level only if I fail to get the offer for
Matriculation, but even then I would start A level only after my actual SPM
results is released, because I did not want to move from Kulim to Subang Jaya
so soon in January 2013 and I wanted to relax for a few months after finishing
SPM. At that time, I preferred Sunway College over Taylor’s College, because I
felt that the name ‘Sunway’ sounds much better than ‘Taylor’s’ which sounds
like ‘tailors’. Later, I heard that many colleges have intakes in January, April
and July every year, so this showed that there is the option to start studying
after the actual SPM results is released.
On 10 August 2012, I applied for Matriculation through
online, and I selected Kolej MARA Kulim, Kolej Matrikulasi Pulau Pinang and
Kolej Matrikulasi Selangor as my preferred colleges. I hoped that I would be
offered to study Matriculation at Kolej MARA Kulim, so that I could continue to
stay in Kulim. However, during my SPM examination in November 2012, I did not
answer well for many of the papers. This was probably because I was too
stressed due to studying too hard. As a result, I was only confident of getting
7A+ 3A, and I gave up hope on getting straight A+. My chance of getting the
offer for Matriculation would be low without straight A+ in SPM, so I realised
that I had to make alternative plans. I hoped that I could get 9A+ 1A in SPM so
that I could still qualify for the KPM Bursary, but I was not even confident
about that. I lied to my family that I was confident of getting straight A+ in
SPM, because I did not want them to feel worried. However, I did not tell them
anything about the KPM Bursary, because I was worried that if they knew the KPM
Bursary existed, they would assume that I would definitely get it since I had
told them I could get straight A+ while it only requires 9A+, and consequently
they might not make any alternative plans for me.
On 29 November 2012 which was 2 days after my SPM
examination ended, my parents telephoned me and advised me to enrol for A level
at Taylor's College for the January 2013 intake, giving the reason that there
was no guarantee that I would get the offer for Matriculation. They also said
that I could still switch to Matriculation later if I got the offer. Since I
knew I had a low chance of getting the offer for Matriculation, I agreed to
study A level first. However, I told my parents that I wanted to start A level
in April 2013 instead of January 2013 and that I preferred to study at Sunway
College instead of Taylor's College. My parents agreed to let me decide myself
whether to study at Sunway College or Taylor's College. However, they insisted
that I must start studying in January 2013 because most students would start at
that time and they said that the April intake is most probably available for
diploma programmes only but not A level. I refused to listen to them and I argued
with them. As a result, my parents got angry and they ended the phone call
abruptly. I felt very stressed about that. When my grandparents knew about the
incident, they said that they would always respect my own decision and that
they would try to tell my parents to do the same. On the following day, my
parents telephoned me again and it seemed that they were not angry any more.
They told me that both Taylor's College and Sunway College would be having an
open day soon and asked me to attend it. They also said that after attending
the open day, I would understand that I had to start in January 2013. I agreed
to attend the open day.
On 7 December 2012, my parents took me to have a look at the
locations of both Taylor's College and Sunway College. After looking at their
locations, I felt that I did not like the location of Sunway College, and instead,
Taylor's College's location is much better. Therefore, I changed my mind and preferred
Taylor's College over Sunway College. I decided to attend the open day for
Taylor's College only but not Sunway College. On 8 December 2012, I attended
the Taylor's College’s open day with my parents. During the open day, the
course counsellor introduced us the pre-university programmes offered by
Taylor's College which are A level, SAM, CPU and IB. I decided to choose A
level over the others because it is fully examination based which suits my
study style. The counsellor also showed us the universities which former
Taylor’s College students were studying in. For Medicine course, many of them
studied at IMU which is a local private university. That was the first time
where I heard about IMU. I registered for Taylor's College’s A Level programme
on the spot. The course counsellor said that I could choose to start the
programme either in January or April, but he strongly advised me to start in
January because students who start in April would have to do self-study to
cover up for what they had missed during the first 3 months. Therefore, I had
no choice but to start A level in January 2013. After attending the open day
for Taylor’s College, I searched on Google about IMU. I found out that IMU is
quite a good university, and it accepts both A level and Matriculation. Since
then, I hoped that I would be able to study Medicine at IMU.
I started studying at Taylor's College on 14 January 2013. I
was able to adapt to life at Taylor's College easily, but in the beginning I
did not like it, because the environment in Taylor's College is quite different from that in secondary school and I missed secondary school life very much. I felt that it would be much better if I study Matriculation because the environment in Matriculation colleges is likely much more similar to secondary school. Therefore, I kept telling my
parents that I would definitely switch to Matriculation if I got the offer
later, even though I knew that my chance of getting the offer was very low.
However, as time went on, I began to enjoy life at Taylor's College, mainly
because of the excellent facilities there and the freedom that I could enjoy
due to the lenient rules there. Soon, I had enjoyed life at Taylor's College so
much that I no longer wanted to study Matriculation. However, I did not tell my
parents about that, as I felt that this would be an 'admission of defeat',
because earlier I was so sure that I wanted to study Matriculation but I now
realised that my parents were right in asking me to study at Taylor's College.
On 21 March 2013, my SPM results was released and I obtained
9A+ 1A, so I met the requirements for the KPM Bursary. The subject which I did
not get A+ was English. At that time, I finally told my family about the
existence of the KPM Bursary and that it would sponsor for A Level, but I also
noted that its requirement might change on that year since the Ministry of
Education had not yet announced about the KPM Bursary for that year. I knew
that it was highly unlikely that I would be offered Matriculation because I did
not get straight A+ in SPM, but I did not feel sad about that since I no longer
wanted to study Matriculation. Then, it was confirmed on 24 March 2013 that I
would be offered the KPM Bursary.
On 29 March 2013, Taylor's College gave a briefing for all
students who were offered the KPM Bursary. During the briefing, we were told
that after completing A Level under the KPM Bursary, we could be offered the
JPA scholarship for our degree course if we are successful in getting an
unconditional offer from one of the universities in the JPA's list. For
Medicine course, the JPA's list at that time included all local public
universities and the top 10 foreign universities according to the Times Higher
Education ranking, where 6 of them were US universities and the other 4 were UK
universities. Local private universities such as IMU were not in the JPA's list
so they would not be sponsored. This was a problem, because A Level was not
accepted for entry into Medicine course at local public universities, and the Medicine
course at those 6 US universities were only available for postgraduate entry.
To make matters worse, those 4 UK universities included Cambridge University
and Oxford University, but it is only possible to apply to either one of them,
not both. Therefore, in order to be sponsored by the JPA scholarship to study
Medicine, the only way is to apply to either Cambridge University or Oxford
University, as well as the 2 other UK universities in the JPA's list, and get
offered a place by 1 of the 3 universities. Since those universities are very
highly ranked, it would be very competitive to get an offer. Even then, there
was no 100% guarantee that we would be offered the JPA scholarship. Therefore, it
was extremely difficult to get the JPA scholarship for Medicine course, and I
gave up hope on getting it. When I told my parents about that, they advised me
not to give up so easily, but they also reassured me that they could afford the
study fees for the Medicine course at IMU. So, I planned to study Medicine at
IMU after completing A Level and let my parents fund my studies.
Taylor's College had 2 weeks of holidays from 30 March 2013
to 14 April 2013 and I went back to Kulim during that time. In Kulim, I often
had conversations with my grandparents regarding my future. My grandparents
said that they hoped that I could get the offer to study Medicine at a top UK
university such as Cambridge, and be sponsored by the JPA scholarship. I
replied that this would be quite difficult, and that I preferred to study
locally which was what I planned all the while. They then said that it would be
silly for me to reject the opportunity to study overseas. I then argued that
they had previously agreed that it would be better for me to study locally, so
now they should not change their view on that. At last, my grandparents agreed
to leave the final decision about this to myself, while I also promised them
that I would still try applying to the UK universities in the JPA’s list.
At that time, my grandparents also advised me to continue
studying A Level at Taylor's College even if I am offered Matriculation, and
they gave several reasons for that. Since I no longer wanted to study
Matriculation, I agreed with my grandparents that I should continue studying at
Taylor's College. However, I strongly disagreed with their reasoning for that. My grandparents said that since majority of my classmates in
Taylor's College obtained A+ for English in SPM while I did not, I should
continue studying at Taylor's College and learn from my classmates in order to
improve my English. I did not like it whenever my grandparents asked me to
learn from others, because I preferred to teach others and let others learn
from me instead, and I felt that I could also improve myself by teaching
others. I remembered that during Form 5, I had a crush on a girl (not any more
now) who was weak in academics, so I often taught her and I felt happy about
that. However, my grandparents said that I should learn from others instead of
teaching others, because by teaching others I could only improve within my own
abilities, but by learning from others I could improve beyond my own abilities.
I was very unhappy after hearing what my grandparents said because that signposted
that it was wrong for me to teach my crush previously. Consequently, I dismissed
my grandparents' advice about that completely, even though I actually wanted to continue
studying A Level at Taylor's College. As a result, my grandparents thought that
I really wanted to study Matriculation if I get the offer.
On 5 April 2013, my grandfather met one of his former
student who previously studied Matriculation and was studying Medicine at a
local public university at that time, and spoke to him for some time. My
grandfather told me and my grandmother that according to that student, studying
Matriculation is not easy as it seems because life is difficult, since it is
compulsory for all students to stay in the hostel which has poor facilities,
even if their house is near the college, and students are only allowed to go
out once every 2 weeks. I agreed with that and I felt happy because my
grandfather could finally give a good reason to advise me to continue studying
at Taylor's College. I wanted to tell my grandparents straight away that I no
longer wanted to study Matriculation, but before I could tell them, my
grandfather added that despite the difficult life, studying Matriculation has
its advantages according to that student. The main advantage is that
Matriculation students could get into local public universities easily because
they are given priority over students studying STPM or other pre-university
programmes. In particular, during that student's batch, all students in his
Matriculation college who applied for Medicine course at local public
universities, were successful in being offered a place, as long as they
obtained straight A in the Matriculation examination. That student also told my
grandfather that many students who were offered Matriculation only got straight
A but not straight A+ in SPM, so I still had a considerable chance of getting
the offer for Matriculation.
My grandparents then said that although Matriculation life
may be difficult, it would be just 12 months, and this is outweighed by the
fact that I would be almost guaranteed entry into Medicine course at local public
universities. They also said that studying A Level at Taylor's College under
the KPM Bursary is not that good after all since it would be difficult to get
the JPA scholarship for Medicine course. They felt that if I could study
Matriculation and then get into local public universities, then it would not
matter even if I do not get the JPA scholarship since the study fees for local
public universities are quite low. Besides, they felt that since I did not want
to study overseas, it would be better for me to study Matriculation instead of
A Level. My grandparents also thought that I preferred to study Matriculation.
All these reasons caused them to change their mind and they began advising me
to switch to Matriculation if I got the offer, instead of continue studying at
Taylor's College. Later, they told my parents about this. My parents seemed to
agree with my grandparents, and they also said that Matriculation students
could enter both local public universities and private universities but A Level
students could not enter local public universities, implying that Matriculation
is a better choice.
I began to feel a little worried that my family might force
me to switch to Matriculation if I got the offer. Even after knowing the
advantages of studying Matriculation, I definitely did not want to switch to
Matriculation, because by doing so I would be separated with my friends in
Taylor's College and I could no longer enjoy the freedom and excellent facilities
in Taylor's College. Therefore, I quickly accepted the KPM Bursary on 18 April
2013, and I chose A Level as my programme of choice and Taylor's College as my
college of choice. After accepting the KPM Bursary, it is not possible to
change the programme and college of choice unless if I give up the bursary. So,
in case I am offered Matriculation and my family forces me to switch, I could
use this as an excuse not to switch. However, my grandparents said that I
should switch to Matriculation even if that meant I would be losing the KPM
Bursary, because studying Matriculation is free anyway.
On 24 April 2013 which was one day before the results of the
application for Matriculation was released, my grandmother asked me whether I
would be switching to Matriculation if I am offered Matriculation. I replied
that I would be switching only if I am offered to study at Kolej MARA Kulim. I
replied like that just to avoid her from feeling unhappy, but in reality, I did
not want to switch even if I got Kolej MARA Kulim. However, my grandmother
wanted me to switch if I got the offer regardless of which Matriculation
college I was offered. I then reminded her that most likely I would not get the
offer because I did not obtain straight A+ in SPM. She then warned me not to
lie to her about the results, otherwise she would be very angry. After that
conversation with my grandmother, I felt very stressed. If what my
grandfather's former student said was true, it was possible that I would be
offered Matriculation, and if that happened, I would be forced to switch to
Matriculation. I really did not want to switch, so I kept praying that I would
not get the offer. This was such an irony, because in the past I wanted to
study Matriculation so much, but now it is the exact opposite. On 25 April 2013, the results of the application for
Matriculation was released and I did not
get the offer for Matriculation. I felt happy and relieved about that because I
could continue studying at Taylor's College, but in front of my family I
pretended to feel disappointed about that. My grandmother believed me about that.
My family then told me not to feel sad and said that studying A level at
Taylor's College is also quite good.
However, I later found out that my greatest enemy in
secondary school, Thinnesh Kumar, got the offer for Matriculation, even though
my SPM results was much better than him. I was unhappy about that because I
felt that Thinnesh Kumar did not deserve it. So, I thought that I must also get
the offer for Matriculation so that I would not lose to him in this matter. I
submitted an appeal for Matriculation through online. If my appeal was
successful, I would not tell my family about that, and I definitely would not
switch to Matriculation, because I just wanted an offer. Later, my grandfather
came to know that 2 of my secondary school friends whose SPM results were not
as good as mine were offered Matriculation, so he advised me to appeal for
Matriculation. I told him that I had made an online appeal, but he preferred
that I go to the Ministry of Education to make an appeal. My grandfather also
told my father about that. At that time, my father had a friend who is a teacher. He asked his friend for advice about my case, and
his friend said that students who were offered the KPM Bursary would no longer
be offered Matriculation, so that it is fair to those who did not get the bursary.
His friend also told him that if I go to the Ministry of Education to appeal
for Matriculation, the appeal might be successful, but then I would lose the
KPM Bursary. Therefore, I had to choose between Matriculation and KPM Bursary.
My choice was definitely the KPM Bursary, but due to the
fear of 'admission of defeat' as I mentioned earlier, I did not immediately
tell my father my choice, instead I told him to give me some time to decide. My
father then said that soon it would be the 2013 General Election on 5 May 2013 which is a public holiday and he would only make the appeal after that, so I still had time until then to
decide. However, my father also noted that he had already planned to go ahead with the appeal, so if I choose the KPM Bursary over
Matriculation, he would have to change his plans. On 6 May 2013, I
finally told my father that I chose the KPM Bursary, because I was worried that
if I still do not tell him, I might really lose the bursary. However, after my
father knew my decision, he still wanted to go to the Ministry of Education to
appeal for Matriculation. He retracted his statement earlier and reassured me
that according to his friend, even if I continue with the appeal and the appeal
turns out to be successful, I would not lose the KPM Bursary unless if I then
accept the offer for Matriculation. With my father's reassurance about that, I
agreed to continue appealing for Matriculation.
On 8 May 2013, my father asked me to write a letter for the Matriculation
appeal. He actually wanted to go to the Ministry of Education to appeal on the
next day, but he did not tell me about that. Because of that, in addition to
the fact that I actually did not want to study Matriculation anymore, I did not
put in my effort to write a good letter, and I also did not prepare any other
important documents such as photocopies of my SPM results slip and my identity
card for the appeal. Consequently on 9 May 2013, when my father went to the
Ministry of Education for the appeal, he had to go from one department to
another to get those documents because he did not have them, and the whole
process took him about 8 hours. He was unhappy about that and he blamed me for
not providing him with those documents beforehand. Only at that time I knew
that my father had gone to the Ministry of Education.
Soon after that incident, another problem arose. When I
accepted the KPM Bursary earlier, I chose to continue with the January intake
of Taylor's College instead of switching to the July intake, and the Ministry
of Education had clearly stated that this is allowed. The main reason I wanted
to remain in the January intake was because I did not want to separate with my
college classmates. Also, I could enter university half year earlier compared
to students in the July intake. However, many of the students who received the
KPM Bursary had not started studying A Level in January, so their only option
was to start in July. Besides, some of the Bursary students who already started
A Level in January, including 2 of my college classmates, chose to switch to
the July intake. As a result, majority of the Bursary students would be in the
July intake and I was among the minority who were in the January intake. Consequently,
my mother preferred that I switch to the July intake. She was worried that the
Ministry of Education might simply withdraw my KPM Bursary if I did not switch
to the July intake. She was also concerned that even if they do not withdraw my
bursary, I might be disadvantaged in certain ways for being in the minority
group of Bursary students in the January intake. Besides, Bursary students in
the July intake would get 6 additional months of allowance compared to those in
the January intake, so my mother wanted me to take advantage of that.
I
explained to my mother that it was definitely not true that I would lose my KPM
Bursary or be disadvantaged, and that entering university earlier is more
important than the additional allowance. However, my mother did not fully
believe what I said and she still wanted me to switch to the July intake. I argued that previously she was the one who insisted that that I start A Level in January. However, she said that if she had known that the KPM Bursary existed, she would definitely let me start in July and she would not have to waste money paying the fees for the first 6 months of my A Level programme. She blamed me for not letting her know about the existence of the KPM Bursary. I explained to her that I did not let her know because I was not confident of getting 9A+ in SPM, but she did not really accept my explanation. I made it clear to her that I would definitely not switch to the July intake. Although she did not force me to switch, this incident caused some
misunderstandings within my family, which then led to a series of family
arguments.
Somewhere in May 2013, my father told me that he saw an
advertisement on the newspaper that the JPA scholarship is available for
Medicine course at Perdana University which is a local private university, and
he advised me to apply to Perdana University. I did not believe that because I
knew that the JPA's list of universities only included local public
universities and foreign universities but not local private universities.
However, my father showed me the advertisement to prove that it really existed.
I then checked the website of Perdana University. The website was poorly
designed and had little information about the university, so I had the feeling
that the advertisement was fake and therefore I did not pay much attention to
Perdana University. Later in that month, when I was searching on Google for
JPA's list of universities, I came across an updated list. The updated list was
similar to the previous list, except that the updated list also included local
private universities such as IMU, AIMST, Monash Malaysia, NUMed Malaysia and
Perdana University. I felt very happy about that and I regained hope of getting
the JPA scholarship, although I was aware that it is still not easy as most
likely I would need to attend interviews for it. That also made me realised
that the Perdana University's advertisement earlier was actually true. At that
time, I did not know that NUMed Malaysia is the Malaysian branch of Newcastle
University UK, so I did not pay much attention to it.
On 13 June 2013, the results of the appeal for Matriculation
was finally out, and my appeal was unsuccessful. I mostly felt happy about that
because I definitely did not want to study Matriculation anymore even if the
appeal was successful, and the unsuccessful appeal meant that there would no
risk that I would lose the KPM Bursary. I was a only little disappointed that I
ultimately lost the 'battle' with my greatest enemy, Thinnesh Kumar, to get the
offer for Matriculation.
On 18 July 2013, the Ministry of Education organised a
briefing at the Multi Purpose Hall of Taylor's College for all Bursary students
in my college. Before the briefing started, we were given the offer letter for
KPM Bursary. With the offer letter, it was confirmed that I received the KPM
Bursary to study A Level at Taylor's College. During the briefing, the officers
from Ministry of Education talked mostly about the KPM Bursary and very little
about the JPA scholarship. Then during the question and answer session, many
students asked about the JPA scholarship, but the officers declined to answer
most of the questions regarding JPA scholarship, giving the reason that JPA and
Ministry of Education are 2 different entities so we should contact JPA for any
enquiries about the JPA scholarship. One of the few things that the officers
said about the JPA scholarship was that Bursary students would not be given any
priority over non-Bursary students when applying for the JPA scholarship. That
made me and other students feel worried, but I decided to just leave it to
fate. Later, one of my close friend in college told me that according to one of
his friend who also received the KPM Bursary, Bursary students need not be
interviewed when applying for the JPA scholarship, unlike the non-Bursary
students. I did not fully believe that, but I hoped that it would be true.
On 17 September 2013, I submitted the application to UK
universities through UCAS. Even though I preferred to study in Malaysia instead
of overseas, I still decided to apply to UK universities because I felt it
would be good to widen my choice. I chose to apply to Oxford, UCL and ICL
because they were in the JPA’s list of universities. UCAS allowed me to apply
to up to 4 universities for Medicine, so I also applied to KCL which was not in
the JPA’s list. Then in early October 2013, one of my college friend who also
received the KPM Bursary got the latest JPA’s list of universities from the
office of Taylor’s College, and she showed me the list. In this list, for Medicine
course at foreign universities, the 4 UK universities remained the same, but all
the 6 US universities had been removed and replaced with HKU, NUS, Monash
Australia, KCL, Manchester and Edinburgh. This list continued to include local
private universities. I liked the new JPA’s list because it made it easier to
get the JPA scholarship for Medicine at foreign universities, and KCL which I
applied to was now in the list. I planned to apply to HKU, NUS and Monash
Australia. I remembered that I liked the environment in Singapore and Hong Kong
when I went there in the past few years because they were similar to the
environment in Malaysia, so I felt that it would be great if I could study in
HKU or NUS. At that time, I no longer rejected the idea of studying overseas
that much, unlike in the past. I applied to HKU on 21 December 2013.
In January 2014, I was rejected by all the 4 UK universities
that I applied to. Later in that month, I started researching on the local
private universities that are in the JPA’s list, because their application
would be opening soon. It was at that time where I first knew that NUMed
Malaysia is the Malaysian branch of Newcastle University UK, and I was
interested to study there. I applied to IMU on 21 February 2014 and then
Perdana University on 31 March 2014. Later on 29 April 2014, I was rejected by
Perdana.
On 20 May 2014, Taylor’s College had a briefing for all
students who were sponsored by the KPM Bursary. During the briefing, they told
us that it was almost guaranteed that all Bursary students would be offered the
JPA scholarship as long as we met the requirements, and we need not attend any
interview, just that we had to attend the BTN camp if we wanted to study
overseas. This showed that what the officers from Ministry of Education said
during the briefing in the previous year was not true. Then on 29 May 2014,
there was another briefing for Bursary students at my college organised by JPA.
The officers from JPA told us the requirements and procedure to get the JPA
scholarship during the briefing. They also told us that they had once again
updated the JPA’s list of foreign universities for Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy,
and the new list included many universities not in the list previously. I did
not bother to apply to those added universities, because I had decided
that I would be studying either at HKU, NUMed or IMU. At the time, my 1st choice of university was HKU, my 2nd choice was NUMed while my 3rd choice was IMU.
I received the conditional offer from IMU on 31 May 2014. I
applied to NUMed Malaysia on 5 June 2014. From 16 June to 20 June 2014, I
attended the BTN camp which is required for all students who would be studying
overseas under the JPA scholarship. At that time, all the foreign universities
that I applied to had rejected me, with the only exception of HKU which still had not replied me, so I still
had the chance of studying at HKU, and that was why I attended the BTN camp.
Then, I received the conditional offer from NUMed Malaysia on 26 June 2014. On 23 July 2014, my
parents took me to the JPA headquarters in Putrajaya to get the JPA scholarship
conditional offer letter because I had to submit it to NUMed Malaysia in order
to avoid paying the deposit. At the JPA headquarters, I submitted my forecast A
Level results, my conditional offer letter from NUMed and a photocopy of my
identity card, then I was given the JPA scholarship conditional offer letter on
the spot.
On 12 August 2014, my actual A Level results was released
and I obtained 4A*. With that, NUMed Malaysia converted my conditional offer to
unconditional offer. However, I still did not receive the reply from HKU about
my application outcome. On 17 August 2014, I decided to stop waiting for HKU to
reply and choose NUMed Malaysia instead, because I was worried that I might not
have enough time to complete the procedure to get the JPA scholarship if I
continued waiting. I completed the registration on the JPA eProfiling website
and selected NUMed Malaysia as my university of choice. Then, I e-mailed my
actual A Level results, my unconditional offer letter from NUMed and other
required documents to JPA.
On 20 August 2014, I received the offer for JPA scholarship
and I was able to login to the JPA ePenawaran website. I then accepted the
offer through the website. Then, HKU finally rejected me on 27 August 2014. On
2 September 2014, my mother bought the Hasil stamps for the agreement of the
JPA scholarship. Then on 3 September 2014, I opened a new Bank Islam account
which was required in order to receive the monthly allowances from JPA, while
my father brought the JPA scholarship agreement to the Pejabat Hasil to remit
the Hasil stamps. My mother then took me to the JPA headquarters on 4 September
2014 to submit the agreement and other required documents. With that, I had
completed the procedure for getting the JPA scholarship. I moved to Johor Bahru
on 20 September 2014 and started studying Medicine at NUMed Malaysia on 22
September 2014. Later on 15 October 2014, I received my first allowance from
JPA, and this confirmed that I am sponsored by the JPA scholarship to study at
NUMed Malaysia.
Now, I am studying Medicine at NUMed Malaysia under the
sponsorship of the JPA scholarship. I don’t have much plans for the future now,
I am just aiming to pass all the 5 years of my Medicine course. I am still not
sure what specialist I would like to become in the future. Lastly, thanks for reading this long story.
