Post-SPM, STPM: Experiences KL 2006

Experiences KL 2006 is Malaysia's first ever large scale American Universities Education Fair organized by alumni and current students volunteers of premier American universities. If you are a prospective student we would really like for you to attend. If you are a student studying in the US, we would love for you to represent your university.

It is a one day affair where volunteers from universities all over the US (alumni and current students) set up booths to hand out brochures, give information and answer questions you might have about studying in the US in general and in their university specifically.

Date: July 16th, 2006 (Sunday)
Venue: Sunway Convention Centre

As of now, this is a tentative list of which universities will be participating:

Bates College
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
Cornell University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Uniersity
Georgia Institute of Technology
Gustavus Adolphus College
Harvard University
MIT
Northwestern University
Ohio University
Smith College
Stanford University
University at Buffalo, State University of New York
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Southern California
Yale University
University at California, Berkeley (NEW)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (NEW)
Michigan Tech University (NEW)

For more information, or to sign up as an attendee or participant, visit the Experiences 2006 website.

Edit: Yayasan Sime Darby scholarship

Sime Darby is now giving out scholarships to the UK as well. The deadline to apply is 31st March 2006, so please hurry! They are offering scholarships in the following fields:

Engineering
Science
Business Administration
Accountancy
ICT/Computing
Agriculture

For more information, go to Sime Darby Scholarships.

For Justin Tiew (current Sime Darby scholarship holder)'s post on the scholarship process, read this

Good luck!

Post-SPM - "One-in-12 chance for top scorers"

Shortlisting for the JPA scholarship interviews will be announced in early-April, said JPA director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Adam.

The criteria for the shortlisting would mostly be academic performance (65%), he said. The other factors necessary for the shortlist would be "involvement in co-curricular activities, performance during the interview, their family's socio-economic background and the appropriate combination of subjects and grades relevant to the course they are applying for."

Read the whole article at The Star.Com

Film - Malaysian Documentaries 27th March

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ReelPower

Dear friends,
Please come join us next Monday for the screening in Help University
College if you would like to catch the latest update about the Broga
incinerator issue.

ReelPower


You are invited to --

MALAYSIAN DOCUMENTARIES
presented by Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia

featuring

-- On the eve of the launch of her much awaited new film Gubra -- see Yasmin Ahmad's first docu shot recently in Mumbai (50min)
-- Thaipoosam (4:22min) by Sanjay Perumal, a stunning visual essay on the Hindu religious festival
-- Alice Lives Here (30min), Ong Ju Lin's updated documentary on the widely-opposed Broga incinerator project near Semenyih

Venue:
Theatrette, HELP Univ College, Pusat Bandar Damansara
Monday 27 March 2006
8.00pm

Free admission!

Interviews: Interview Tip #3

Now that we've gotten the first impressions out of the way, let's sit down and talk. Over drinks, or over notes that I am scribbling. For 15 minutes, or for 3 hours. In a sterile office environment, or in McD's Bangsar, or next to the pool in a condominium complex. I might be taping your reasons WHY you want to attend The Ivy University of So-and-So, or I might be making ambiguous "Uh-huh." or "Of course." comments, while filing my nails and yawning from time to time.

Interviews are all different, but each one you attend will have one constant: you. No matter what the environment or the interviewer is like, this is essential - you must always be yourself.

When I say "be yourself" I don't mean speak to the interviewer as you would speak to your buddies. He/She is NOT your buddy; they are a figure of authority and should be treated with respect and deference. What I mean by "be yourself" is to speak decisively, to clearly state what you mean and not to lie just because lies sound better than truth, and to be SINCERE.

If you really do not enjoy math, please do not cover up by proclaiming effusively your love for triple derivatives. Instead, be sincere about what you do like - art, chemistry, history, business - do not apologize for who you are because your acceptance into a college will be based on who you represent yourself as in the interview.

I know this sounds obvious, but when you are nervous and do not really have any idea what to say in an interview, you tend to err on the side of untruth. The interviewer may ask "Why do you want to do Economics? Do you like Math?" and, thinking about the fabulously low score you got on your last Math test, you blurt out "Yes!! I've always been very good at Math!!" And what would you say after that? Absolutely nothing - because you honestly do NOT like Math, you HATE it. How can you elaborate on your untruth? You would end up sounding insincere and unpassionate about your "dream" or "interest".

In situations like this, the best thing to do would be to calmly say "I don't really like Math that much, but I do enjoy the theoretical workings of economics and thinking about its application. I would love to work on public economy and government policy - which is the reason why I'm interested in the Econs major."

In a nutshell - don't try to be the perfect interviewee, because there is no such thing. You are different and unique in your own right, and the most perfect you can be is yourself.