JADYPM Interview

I had set my phone to wake me up at 5.45am so I would have plenty of time to prepare but it was only when my dad came in at 6.30 that I woke up. Worried that I would be late, I'm supposed to be there by 8.00am, I got ready within 30 minutes. Good thing I had already prepared my bag and baju kurung last night. We arrived at Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA Beranang, my dad and I, just on time. I was then ushered into the waiting hall. After everyone had arrived, we moved to another hall where we would take the written exam.

The papers were already put on the tables. There were three different sets of questions so no one could cheat. I got Set 2. The written exam is 20 objective questions: 5 English questions, 5 add maths questions, 5 chemistry and 5 physics. Alhamdulillah, the English, chemistry and physics questions were easy. But add maths was hard. Dah lah tak boleh guna kalkulator :( We were given 30 minutes to answer. Aku tawakkal.

Then was the interview. There were 9 panels and around 10 people were assigned to each. I got Panel 8. I came to Beranang fully prepared to wait a long time for my turn because my name is usually last on the list - huruf U kan. I don't know how they sorted us but I turned out being the second person to be interviewed by Panel 8. I had just started to sit down when I was told to go out of the hall, walk down the corridor and climb the stairs all the way to the top floor. Kenapa perlu buat dekat tingkat atas? Penat aku panjat. I feel sorry for the boy before me. He had no time to relax after the written exam, going straight to the interview. I waited outside. The top floor was an open space so there was no air conditioning. There wasn't even a fan but my hands were so cold.

I was worried that I wasn't wearing proper shoes. I don't have formal footwear. But we had to take our shoes off; the classrooms where the interviews were being held are carpeted. Everyone leaves their shoes outside the door. I noticed that the interviewers' shoes were all positioned neatly side by side facing away from the door, just like in Japan.

I heard the door swing open and I knew that it was my turn next. I recited a quick Al-Fatihah. My first interview ever. My hands were freezing. My lower jaw was quivering. My mouth was dry. I was hungry. And I just want to go home already.

My panel were two men; one in a blazer and the other in a white shirt. I never asked for their names, neither did they introduce themselves so I only know of them as Mr Blazer and Sensei. Mr Blazer spoke a lot. He asked me why I want to do electrical engineering. I had prepared for this question so I answered that it is a field that is evolving right now and will continue to increase in demand in the next 10 years, thus, ensuring a job for me when I finish studying. He then asked me what I would do if they offered me mechanical engineering. Would I accept? So I said that I am interested in robotics and mechanical engineering is used in robotics so I would accept. Hearing me mention robotics, Sensei said something but he spoke so quietly that I didn't hear it but it didn't seem to be important so I pretended I heard him and nodded.

Then Mr Blazer asked me if I had applied with any other agencies. I said MARA. Then he asked me what course I applied for with MARA. I knew I shouldn't have said it but I couldn't lie so I truthfully answered that I applied for Medicine. I knew I should have lied. I should have just lied. He came onto me with very tough questions then. We want only the very best and most focused students for this program, he said. We don't want students who think they want to be a doctor. Decide right now if you want to be a doctor or an engineer. If we offer you this scholarship and MARA also offers you to do medicine, which would you choose?

At that time, while I answered I was thinking that I wasn't going to get this scholarship. They had ruled me out the moment I mentioned medicine for sure.

Sensei then asked me about my co-curricular activities. I didn't have very much to say on that topic. Then Sensei asked me two physics questions, one about Fleming's left-hand rule and the other on Ohm's Law. He also asked if I knew about the Look East Policy but I don't. Then Mr Blazer warned me that this program is very tough. That I will have to work very hard under a lot of stress. He asked if I would be able to handle it. Itu soalan yang aku rasa agak bodoh. Takkan nak jawab tak boleh. I said that I am confident. He then asked if I had learned Japanese before. I said that not formally, no, but I did try to teach myself Japanese and I can read hiragana and katakana but kanji is too difficult. I believe here my appeal went up :)

Mr Blazer then asked me about my school. He thought I went to Jalan 4. Then he asked how many other students from SMK BBB applied for this scholarship. I'm the only one, right? Then he said, so we can choose you to be the representative of your school in this program. I froze. What? He quickly said that nothing's for definite. They still have to look at my written exam results and talk it over. I asked him when the results would be released. He didn't give me an exact date but he said that selected students will begin studying in the middle of May. That's next month so I'm guessing it will be very soon after this. Maybe a week or two.

And just like that the interview ended. It was very quick. I didn't look at the watch before I went in but I don't think it was even 30 minutes.

This Japanese Associate Degree program is a full scholarship unlike MARA's pinjaman boleh ubah. I'm trying to put myself in their perspectives to evaluate my own potential but it's difficult. I had ups and downs in that interview. The Medicine thing. They're going to think that I'm going to reject their offer if I get offered by MARA. The Japanese thing. I made it obvious that I'm very interested in learning the language. The school representative thing. Was he joking?

I can only be hopeful. The program consists of 3 years doing matriculation and Diploma in Malaysia and 2 years doing a Degree in Japan. Two years in Japan. I might be able to go to an Arashi concert~