Oh my God....... I have never thought that I would be that touched and grateful to receive the offer from the University of Warwick. The whole process happened within ten minutes when I was alone in my room and everyone else was asleep. Do not ask me why am I not sleeping at 4am in the morning, I just feel like writing down my feeling now~
All along since I started to complete my UCAS application, I have been setting my mind on LSE, one of the London Universities as well as the top school for BSc Accounting and Finance. What's wrong with a girl who was born and raised up in a city to aim for a life in such a big London city for her three years of university life right? Looking through the syllabus that LSE provides for my course, I had a feeling that I seriously wanted to enter this university. Their syllabus are more than just teaching you what you need to know, they include how to apply it in real life although their syllabus do not really give you exemption on ACCA or ICAEW professional papers. Well, I was not aiming to take that either.
So, I started to do research in order to get some inspiration in writing my personal statement. Browsing through all the information and analysis, I found what I want and the funniest thing is, I might be going onto a pathway that I once refused to. I have forgotten since when I started to set my mind on becoming an entrepreneur and one of my businesses will be a restaurant, a F&B business. I like the feeling of creating new venture, creating new value out of something as well as transferring your skills to others through sharing and education.
Being a successful entrepreneur ain't that easy, it requires a lot from a person and experiences in workplace are definitely required. When I was doing my research, I actually found out how a study in ICAEW can benefit one like me. Putting aside the fact that a lot of the top successful businessmen took up ICAEW or ACCA, by just looking on the future after the studies, I can enter an audit firm and start off my career life with being an auditor, completing my tasks by different companies. Well, I'm not saying that in order to become an entrepreneur, you must first take the professional papers, but I have been hoping to have the chance to experience, or at least to know more about how other big companies operate before I start to build my own business. It seems like taking this up will provide me the great chance and it's definitely better and more efficient than I change my job once in two years hahaha!
And so, I was thinking to take that up after studying in LSE. Until that day when I received rejection from LSE, honestly I did feel disappointed. It seemed like the want to study in London will not be fulfilled. Luckily the reason for them to reject me was due to my personal statement that did not demonstrate enough focus or the future planning after my degree but not due to my results which I could have work harder on it. I wrote about how important is the degree and how it can actually benefit to me for my future career as an entrepreneur. I guess they must be expecting one to write more about accounting and the future of an auditor or financial analyst. Well, I was the one who chose to not write that much about accounting because it's totally not what I'm interested in, so I could not brag about it too. I missed the chance because of my own choice but not due to something that I could have done better, I guess this made me feel a lot better.
God treated me really well, for He did not leave me alone in this battle. He put people around me, telling me that God has a better plan for me. Then, my friend started to tell me how good Warwick is, for it has the best research center in the UK and it provides you with the most exemptions in ICAEW. I went online to search about it too, it stated that ICAEW has a partnership with three top universities in the UK, which are Manchester, Cardiff and Warwick. Furthermore, Warwick was ranked 1st for degree in Accounting and Finance. He showed me all these after I got my rejection. Yea, I admit that I have been putting my main focus on the wrong aspect, wanting to live a city life and I nearly chose the wrong university. He got no other way but to take away my offer from LSE.
(But LSE is really a very good university, both Warwick and LSE provide very good education and they are both top universities in the UK. It truly depends on yourself where do you want to study at as both will equip you with different skills and experiences, shaping you into a good graduate and highly efficient employee. The most important thing is still your attitude in learning and how you bring up yourself throughout the three years.)
So, I switched my target to Warwick, waited for more than one month for the reply. I knew that was normal, but the process of waiting was just too long. Refreshing the same page every midnight and morning just for the email from UCAS. Until the Petronas officers came to our college for engagement session, we still have not receive our offer from our first choice of university. You might be asking why do we need to worry, Petronas only allow us to apply to the top 20 universities in the UK and what's more can they ask for if we get our offer. But the truth is they are asking for diversity, they do not want to put so many scholars in one university, meaning that you might not get to enter to your first choice of university even if you are offered a place. Luckily, Mr Rasyidi said that they would not dictate that much. Last Sunday, after we had our church classes, my church friends prayed for me. They prayed to God to give me the best to me for He knows the best for me, taking care of me as I'm His daughter and fulfilling my little wish to study at Warwick. Then, Dayana received the offer on Thursday midnight.
I waited again for a whole day, hoping and praying that I will be the next one to receive the offer too. I reached home at about 12.45am after the celebration of our 3rd year anniersary (oops~~), the email has not come yet and I fell asleep with the thought that I have to wait for one more day. Surprisingly, I woke up at 4am. Guess what, the alarm of my digital watch woke me up =.= The purpose of the alarm was not to wake me up, but if you own a digital watch before, you would know that anyhow it is, you need to set a random time for the alarm. So, I opened my eyes and I could hear the voice in my mind, telling me to open my email. It must be Him, and so, I took my phone and did what He told me to do.
And arrrrrrrrrr................. there was a new email and it was the "status changed" notification from UCAS. Went to open the UCAS track --> saw the conditional offer --> speechless. I could not say anything else but just "Thank you God!". For some people, getting an offer from Warwick might not seem to be a big deal. But for one that has been longing just for the reply to come, worrying that if I get it late, Petronas might not allow me to be there, doubting my own ability and wondering if I will really be the one whom they accept, I felt extremely excited, with a little bit of surprised and a lot of gratefulness!
My dear God, seriously, thank you very much. Previously, I just saw what I really want, but You have a great plan for me and it's much more better than what I demanded for. I know I should have trusted You more on this, I should have just waited patiently for Your answer and Your surprise to come, but I did not. I worried, I doubted myself and I prayed for many times, I hope that I did not annoy you =P They were right, You treated me just like Your little baby, holding me tight since I came to this world. Thank You for all that You have done and all that You will be doing for me. I will live a great life and be the model of others, showing them how great are You in changing one's life. Thank you God <3
The cross and the moon
I will look on to You,
You lead my life,
not only when the day is bright,
but also when I fight against the darkness ;)