JPA Scholarship Interview ^.^

As stated at the title, I went for JPA Scholarship interview today =) Overall I would say it was quite alright, just that I got a bit stuck when I was answering in BM =P

Oh yea, I wore baju kurung to the interview, it was my first time since I participated in the performance during kindergarten!! A big thank you to Amiera (my coursemate) ^^ By the time I asked her, she said yes without any further consideration. She is awesome~ I will be meeting her at the Petronas Eduquest Camp on Sunday, all the best to both of us =D 

Here, I would like to share my experience today. I think it could be useful as a reference for those who are interested in applying JPA in the future. My interview started at 2.45pm and I was requested to reach there half an hour earlier to register. There were clear directions for us, so do not need to worry that you cannot find the block. When I reached there, I started to find my name on the white board. I was in panel 10 and I was the first batch to interview after they came back for lunch. I met shan en, yeo jia ying and kai lun lol!! I believe that they could do well =)

Then, I went to upstairs. We needed to gather in a room and hand over our certificates for review. They gave us a number tag and I got number 2. I introduced and communicated with the candidates who were in the same group with me. Yea, you would need to do that so that you got to know each other better. It will be easier for you to do group discussion with them during interview.

My group consisted of 3 chinese girl (including me), 1 chinese boy and 1 malay boy. We are interested in different field such as finance, business management, pharmacist, natural science and engineering. After that, we entered the interview room. My interviewers were all Malays (1 lady and 2 guy) but they were very nice and friendly. They guided us and clearified some misunderstandings to us. There were laughing throughout the whole process, it was not as serious and tension as I thought it would be ( was this a good thing? ) =P

They asked us a few questions as below :
1) Introduce yourself in English, you need to include your name, school, family background, activities in school. (Talk about your achievement at different field to show that you are an all rounder, remember to mention about your involvements and achievements that you wrote in your online application form. If not, they will ask you why you did not mention ??? that you wrote.)

2) Why do you want to study this subject? (As a reminder, sastera ikhtisas means finance or economy, actuarial science is not included. They clearified that for me hahaha)

3) Which country do you want to go to and why? (Do some research about the country that you want to go and target an university that you wish to enter. They will ask you about that to determine your passion and planning for your respective course)

4) What if JPA offer you to study in local but not overseas, will you still accept?

5) Group Discussion in BM: Selepas kamu menamatkan pengajian di luar negara, apakah sumbangan yang dapat kamu berikan dalam membangunkan ekonomi negara? (there was a programme name for the economy that our government has invented but I could not remember what it was. Four of us did not know anything about the programme, luckily the malay guy knew about it =P )

These were all they had asked. It seemed to be less but my interview lasted for almost one hour (much longer than others O.O). There were also a few things that you need to focus on:
- Practice your speaking in English and BM, you will definitely be tested on both of it

- When they ask in BM, then you will need to answer in BM, same goes for English

- For girls, when they mention formal attire, it is always better for you to wear baju kurung or collar shirt with pants. Do not wear slipper.(There was people wearing skirt and slipper today but they still can enter the interview, I guess they were not too strict this year. Anyway, it will always be better that you present yourself well in front if the interviewers.)

- Do some research about your course (where to study and why, how is the process, why it will be needed, how can you contribute)

- Prepare your documents and file them up according to the sequence. Remember certify your documents that they requested before you go to the interview. (There was one guy came with documents that have not been certified, I did not know how he ended up with but I guess that would not give a good impression to the one who was responsible for checking the documents)

- Do not be nervous during the interview (I know it is hard but just do your best)

- Say things that you have confirmed, try to relate some current issues with your points

- Greet the interviewers and shake their hand before you leave (Shake with the interviewers that are same gender with you as some of the Malays actually cannot come in contact with people that are different gender.)

- Do not ask the interviewers questions about the process of JPA like when will the results release, will we get notify or what should I do if I want to change course. They will not know as they only in charge of the interview session. You can get answers for these from the workers in charge of checking documents.

- Last but not least, smile =D

I think that's all for today. Addition to it, Chun Kit and Win Yen, there's no problem with my voice hahahahaha. In fact, the other two chinese girls were asking whether I have involved in public speaking XDD JPA scholarship is done, next will be Petronas Eduquest Camp on coming Sunday. Emm..... I should have stayed more calm and tried to think more solid points. Nevermind, I know that I have tried my best.

Whether I can get it or not, it depends on God and the interviewers' decisions. But of course I wish and I pray that I can get it so that I no need to worry about money problem for my future studies. Anyway, I hope that this can give a little guidance to the future candidates. All the best to the candidates went for 2010 JPA Scholarships!

Hope separates the quitters today from the winners tomorrow =)