Hush
28-02-2004, 12:10 AM
Hi, there! I am Hush. Do you guys still remember that I was the one who posted a forum on "Need advice on scholarship interview"? Thank God, I have now been admitted to NUS and I got the ASEAN scholarship. I am offered Engineering course, which is my first choice.
Before I share my experience (as I have promised Chen Chow), I would like to thank those who gave me their precious opinions and advices. They are chenchow, jiinjoo, Thirdshifter, silverblue, 1st_Spirit, kijal4, littlebigone, Schye, Guest, huilinchin, wwhong, wawa, and taufiq. Thanks a bunch, guys!!!
Ok, it all started with the nomination that I got. Very few institutions in Malaysia were selected by NUS to nominate their best five students to attend the ASEAN scholarship interview. Taylor's College (the college that I attended) was one of those. I was so glad and honoured to be nominated by my college to be one of the five students. For bright students out there, work hard if your dream university is NUS. Who knows, you would be the next nominee? Academic results are important if you wish to be nominated (in case your institution is approached by NUS), but they are not the only thing taken into consideration. You have to be outstanding in your ECA. In short, you have got to be an all-rounder.
I was given more than enough time to prepare for the interview. One of the things that I did was posting the forum to seek advices from Recom members who went through such an interview before. Besides JPA interview ( not really an interview though, more like a discussion), ASEAN interview was the second one that I attended. I was still nervous, but at least, I was more prepared when I got so many ideas that you guys posted.
First of all, I think honesty is really crucial. Be yourself and don't lie to the interviewer. The one-to-one interview lasted about 5-10 minutes. I can't really recall because it was about 2 months ago. Some of the questions that he asked were:
1) What do you wish to study in NUS?
2) What is your aim in life, besides the fact that you want to be an engineer?
I also remember that I told him that I was from Sabah. So, I told him that I would be able to adapt to my new life in Singapore since I had been in KL for two years on my own during my college life. I wanted to show him my self-indepence. Perhaps, I got a bonus there. Hehe. Besides that, I said that the scholarship would help reduce the burden of my parents since my elder brother would further his study again.
Besides academic achievement, I believe that NUS wants to award this scholarship to people who have good personalities. Oh, yah, by the way, attire is important too. Wear as if you are going for a job interview. I looked like an office lady at that time.
After the interview, I flied back to Sabah the next day. Chen Chow strongly encouraged me to send a thank-you note to the interview. Guess what? Actually, I did not know who the interviewer was. He did not introduce himself and when I tried asking for his name card with the reason that I might need to ask him questions regarding the interview, he did not have his name card at that time. Guess how I got his name? In fact, before I entered the room, I was talking to a lady outside. I suppose she is one of the managers in that hotel(venue of the interview). She told me his name in our conversation. I took her words seriously. So, when I reached home, I e-mailed to thank him. I acquired his e-mail address through the staff directory on NUS website. Cool, right? I am not sure if the e-mail helped, but I just tried my luck. It does no harm, so why not give it a try? I told myself. Thanks, Chen Chow.
So, before it's your turn, just talk to anyone outside. It may help.
That's what I can recall at the moment. If you guys have any question, just feel free to ask me in case I left out anything important.
Once again, thank you very much for those who helped.
Before I share my experience (as I have promised Chen Chow), I would like to thank those who gave me their precious opinions and advices. They are chenchow, jiinjoo, Thirdshifter, silverblue, 1st_Spirit, kijal4, littlebigone, Schye, Guest, huilinchin, wwhong, wawa, and taufiq. Thanks a bunch, guys!!!
Ok, it all started with the nomination that I got. Very few institutions in Malaysia were selected by NUS to nominate their best five students to attend the ASEAN scholarship interview. Taylor's College (the college that I attended) was one of those. I was so glad and honoured to be nominated by my college to be one of the five students. For bright students out there, work hard if your dream university is NUS. Who knows, you would be the next nominee? Academic results are important if you wish to be nominated (in case your institution is approached by NUS), but they are not the only thing taken into consideration. You have to be outstanding in your ECA. In short, you have got to be an all-rounder.
I was given more than enough time to prepare for the interview. One of the things that I did was posting the forum to seek advices from Recom members who went through such an interview before. Besides JPA interview ( not really an interview though, more like a discussion), ASEAN interview was the second one that I attended. I was still nervous, but at least, I was more prepared when I got so many ideas that you guys posted.
First of all, I think honesty is really crucial. Be yourself and don't lie to the interviewer. The one-to-one interview lasted about 5-10 minutes. I can't really recall because it was about 2 months ago. Some of the questions that he asked were:
1) What do you wish to study in NUS?
2) What is your aim in life, besides the fact that you want to be an engineer?
I also remember that I told him that I was from Sabah. So, I told him that I would be able to adapt to my new life in Singapore since I had been in KL for two years on my own during my college life. I wanted to show him my self-indepence. Perhaps, I got a bonus there. Hehe. Besides that, I said that the scholarship would help reduce the burden of my parents since my elder brother would further his study again.
Besides academic achievement, I believe that NUS wants to award this scholarship to people who have good personalities. Oh, yah, by the way, attire is important too. Wear as if you are going for a job interview. I looked like an office lady at that time.
After the interview, I flied back to Sabah the next day. Chen Chow strongly encouraged me to send a thank-you note to the interview. Guess what? Actually, I did not know who the interviewer was. He did not introduce himself and when I tried asking for his name card with the reason that I might need to ask him questions regarding the interview, he did not have his name card at that time. Guess how I got his name? In fact, before I entered the room, I was talking to a lady outside. I suppose she is one of the managers in that hotel(venue of the interview). She told me his name in our conversation. I took her words seriously. So, when I reached home, I e-mailed to thank him. I acquired his e-mail address through the staff directory on NUS website. Cool, right? I am not sure if the e-mail helped, but I just tried my luck. It does no harm, so why not give it a try? I told myself. Thanks, Chen Chow.
So, before it's your turn, just talk to anyone outside. It may help.
That's what I can recall at the moment. If you guys have any question, just feel free to ask me in case I left out anything important.
Once again, thank you very much for those who helped.