A non-political, non-profit community of Malaysian college and university students aimed at collecting and distributing information about education, opportunities and the future generation of Malaysia. Comments, suggestions, e-mails are welcome!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

University Students, Overseas - Education Roadshow 2006

Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:26:13 -0800 [01/02/2006 10:26:13 PM EST]
From: "CHAN, VANESSA JOAN"

Subject: Education Roadshow Summer 2006
Dear all,

Some of you may have heard that last summer, of a a group of Malaysian students studying in the US decided to travel around Malaysia as part of an education roadshow to secondary schools in Malaysia. Now these students have gotten old (LOL..) and have alternate summer plans so I propose we take up their efforts this year in our own Education Roadshow Summer 2006! Let's get together and make it
happen!

When: Summer 2006 (May - September 2006)
Where: All around secondary schools in Malaysia
What: Promoting alternate ways of obtaining higher education to students in secondary schools in Malaysia. We give them the information they need on admissions, financial aid, scholarships etc.
Who's involved? : Anyone studying outside Malaysia who wants to share experiences and encourage more Malaysians to aply to their university/country. Anyone who wants to be a part of a good thing. Anyone who wants to have fun and be doing something worthwhile as well.

I've compiled a list of possible doubts/questions you may have and answered them as best I can:

1. American colleges only?
No. This roadshow is to provide information on all sorts of education opportunities outside Malaysia, hence it would be wonderful if Malaysians studying all over the world would participate to share experiences. You remember how clueless you were when you were applying, let's answer the questions that no one helped us answer!

2. I don't want to give up my summer!
Look at this as a way for you to do a good thing while travelling around Malaysia. Giving talks at schools by day and hitting the town by night. All round Malaysia...meeting new people, seeing new places, can anyone say roadtrip? :)
Plus, you dont have to give up all three months of your precious summer. Just let us know when you are free, and we'll fit it around everyone else's availability - and draw up a neat little schedule.

3. How long will this take?
This really depends on you guys. Basically all of us will get in touch with as many secondary schools as we have contact with and the number of schools will determine the length of the roadshow. But as i wrote above, you dont need to be there for the entire roadshow, just when u are available.

4. Costs?
Whoever has an available car must feel duty bound to offer it for us to drive from place to place :P :P For those who want to give talks in East Malaysia, then there will be flight costs to take into account. We will try to get some degree of financial assistance from our respective universities. Once again, i ask you to take this as a holiday that you would pay for anyway, while doing a good, noble thing.

5. Will it be fun?
DUH of course. Put a bunch of young people on the road , how could it not be fun?

6. Is it worth my time?
Yes i see the question already...yes it will look good on your resumes. "Part of independent effort to promote education nationally." Sound good? Hehe. Also, possible newspaper publicity if you like to get your photogenic side profile in the national dailies.

7. Will I get in trouble?
Er..no. I see no conceivable way you could get into trouble unless you get too drunk and decide to run through Kelantan naked, in which case it would not be the fault of the roadshow anyway. LOL.

8. Can my friends get involved?
Of course, the more the merrier. Just get them to email me their details.

9. I have more questions because you just suck at predicting and answering them :P
Email me at vanessachan@berkeley.edu

10. Can i confirm later?
Yes, but as soon as possible.

So if you're interested, please email me back the following details:
- your name and contact number+email address
- what secondary schools you can get in touch with
- your availability with as much exactness as possible
- your university (for financial assistance we hope to get from them)
- whether you have an available car and can drive it/allow it to be driven from school to school.

Vanessa (who is suffering in rainy California right now... hehe)

Happy new year all!!!!!


--------------------
Vanessa Chan is currently in her freshman year at University California at Berkeley. She is originally from Petaling Jaya and is studying Economics. She and Nick go way back.
If you are interested in participating in the Education Roadshow 2006, please email vanessachan@berkeley.edu

10 Comments:

Blogger nakedwriter said...

Vanessa and gang...i want to congratualte you all on taking up such a great effort - many opportunities were closed to me before i even knew it because my school did not provide proper information. It would be nice if you guys cand rop by my school? I can liase with the admin there if you need me to (though i'm no more a student). Keep in touch

the_naked_writer@yahoo.com

7:30 PM

 
Blogger Ashley said...

Can I help out for the East Malaysia region? Though I am not in university yet, I do know quite a bit on these issues as I toiled over my scholarship and university applications last year. I'll be free after I finish my A Level in June. Drop me a email at elife@yahoo.com if I am of any help. =)

10:25 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A good effort I must say. However, I believe that it is only relevant to american universities as the application process is different and tiresome. Furthermore, american universities are more appealling because of the financial aids these universities give out.

There isn't a such a thing called financial aid for international students in British and Australian Universities. We are required to pay fees which are 5 times more than what the locals pay. Because of this, it is easy to enter any australian universities by american standards. It is also true for british universities except for oxbridge and possibly a few colleges of the University of London where one still needs to fight for one's place.

2:29 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Like nakedwriter, I'd like to congratulate Vanessa and her team on a job well done. Not many people are willing to do such things. I actually attended one such talk in my school. It was very enlightening. Plus, I happened to see an article on the speakers in the Xue Hai, a Chinese student paper. So yes, you do get media attention.

2:33 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Vanessa:

I would like to help by providing a Canadian perspective in your forum for all Malaysian friends.

As for the Summer 2006 Roadshow, arrangements can be made when Vanessa has finalized the schedule.

1:12 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Tony, Vanessa:

I would like to help by providing a Canadian perspective in your forum for all Malaysian friends.

As for the Summer 2006 Roadshow, arrangements can be made when Vanessa has finalized the schedule.

Tony, I am for your proposal on the Non-Profit Organisation on Education for Malaysians.

1:13 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi ah kian! sure, no problem but u will need to email. did u go to UBC? I have a friend there now.

5:50 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Vanessa:

Great! I am at SFU.

Ah Kian

3:57 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm a postgraduate student from the UK, and was offered a place at cambridge uni for my undergraduate studies (tho' I went to london instead). While I agree with the 'other' anon, in that financial assistance is less readily available in the UK (tho' on a side note, I am on a double scholarship for my PhD studies here, and these are offered to me by the UK uni itself)... there is still the issue of getting placements, and being aware of what unis want what. This is a good initiative tho' I don't think I can join in because postgrads don't have summer breaks... :P -- best of luck anyway. I *might* contact vanessa a bit later, time/work permitting.

11:58 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree....it's a whole lot different when it comes to postgrad studies. There are countless bursaries, grants and scholarships up for grabs.

In 2004, a student from HELP was offered a place to pursue undergraduate studies at Oxford. The student rejected the offer because of financial reasons.......So you see, to get into Oxbridge or any other British universities, You must have the grades and also the finance.....

At the end of the day, the roadshow is only relevant to american universities. No advice is really needed for British, australian, canadian NZ applications......just fill in the form, A-levels results etc, pay a fee and you would most likely get a place.

3:42 PM

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home