JPA Scholarship Appeal

[chankingguan]

You have probably heard that the JPA results are insatisfactory to most and a lot of ppl are now thinking bout appealing. How???? Well for a start, chenchow can u collect all the info from the scholarship thread and compile it and put it here...will be easier to read....thank you. And Who??? Who is appealing...vote if you are appealing and then state the channel u are appealing through...jpa...mic....mca...and when u are successful tell everyone...hope everyone who appeals will be successful....heheheeh

[masterof_none]

How???? Well for a start, chenchow can u collect all the info from the scholarship thread and compile it and put it here...will be easier to read....thank you.

I would be more than happy if you take the initiative to collect the info, rather than asking Chen Chow. In fact,I'm not sure what kind of info do you refer to.

[kevinkhoo1986]

I am going to appeal but wondered how am i going to appeal?? :? I scored straight 10A1 in spm and still did not get the scholarship.

[chenchow]

I think one thing that you need to look at is that not only about the channel to appeal, but what is the "modal" you have to appeal.

1. How is your performance in interview? (Good? Ask for support from your interviewer).

2. What achievement beyond the one that is achieved by other students. (General observation: almost every applicant is president of some society at school level) ( I have heard of students, with national debaters, sports representative for state/national level etc) Only mention the significant one..

3. If your parents are government servant, mention it.

4. Academic. Frankly, I think there is possibility of JPA factoring in actual score, instead of just A1, A2 etc. My personal thought. (If you have Olympiad award, Gold, Silver medal, that will be added point, although quite a number of scholars that get JPA are medalist in Olympiad, especially for US engineering program.

[__earth]

How???? Well for a start, chenchow can u collect all the info from the scholarship thread and compile it and put it here...will be easier to read....thank you.

I would be more than happy if you take the initiative to collect the info, rather than asking Chen Chow. In fact,I'm not sure what kind of info do you refer to.

I agree with masterof_none. If you want the info, work to look for it yourself. Chenchow is not your secretary.

And if that is your attitude, the interviewer probably saw that in the interview.

I am going to appeal but wondered how am i going to appeal?? :? I scored straight 10A1 in spm and still did not get the scholarship.

you could write a letter to JPA.

[ElansarGelmir]

For those who want to know the format of the letter, i think you can refer to the format DecentMerson posted in the Scholarship thread (page 44, i think). The format is something like that. However, if you prefer, i think you guys can post it up here and I am sure there are some who (i'll try my best to help too, if possible) can help to look through the letter. Don't procrastinate.... Do it quick.

[chankingguan]

sorry...if u ppl get my meaning wrong...i never take chenchow as a secretary or anything...he's the one with more experience on matters like this and can compile info better than i can..i'm just asking for his favor to help those who wants to appeal...hehehhehe

[chenchow]

Thanks masterofnone and _earth for your kind note.

kingguan, i understand your intention. It is alright. I would suggest that you could try your best to compile and if you have any question, feel free to ask me or any other ReComers.

To everyone, good luck!!!

[aquila]

Oh wow, straight A1s doesn't guarantee u JPA... oh well, seems like it's tougher to stand out each yr... wonder on what criteria they base their decisions now

advise from me would be to get recommendation letters from your local representatives (read, MCA/MIC rep) and your teachers...

Actually I'm never appealed so I don't know for sure if this will work... but it'll be worth a try... mention that your parents are not able to afford your overseas education.. strong interest to serve the govt and all that... geez hope I'm not encouraging hypocrisy... be sincere when you say u intend to serve the country...

[topdog]

fellas, going overseas is not all that. i know i may sound a little disingenuous, since i myself am lucky enough to be on a full ride overseas, but as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining.

i was in utp before getting jpa and there were many very smart people who remained in utp although they were definitely deserving of an overseas scholarship. yes, bumis too.

unsuccessful applicants should by all means appeal, since it ain't over till it's over, but please, please don't hold your breath. treat it as a lottery (in many ways, that's what it is). if you get it, good. if you don't, it doesn't mean you're not good enough or anything.

[Hush]

I was offered by JPA to read medicine in Russia back in 2002. Since it was not my choice (I applied to do medicine in UK and Aus), I did appeal to JPA. I knew the chance was very slim, but I gave it a try. So, I wrote a letter to JPA. Well, I was not granted a change of country. Ultimately, I did not accept that offer.

I ended up doing A-Levels in Taylor's College. Now, I am going to do engineering in National University of Singapore under the ASEAN scholarship. As the saying goes, when a door closes, another door will open.

Although it seems that medicine and engineering are not really related, I do not mind at all. Besides, maybe because of JPA, I found out that medicine was not for me. Be flexible, guys.

Don't give up. You should try to appeal to JPA.

[kevinkhoo1986]

I would send an appeal letter to JPA as well as a copy to Biro Pemuda MCA. Am i doing the right thing?? Anything else that i forgotten to do?

[phantom]

i know this might sound silly:buy the biggest envelope around,becoz it really stands out from the crowd an attract the readers' attention.

inside the envelope,place your sijil berhenti sekolah,becoz they really summarized e'thing,from your name to how many days you have played truant.

[KobeBryant]

since there are more than 1000 SPM students with straight A1 this year , not all of them would be given a place. in previouse years , less than 500 scored straight A1 , that's why those students were guarenteed of their scholarships

[gal_flower]

DON EVER GIVE UP TILL THE VERY LAST MOMENT

[Europa]

Just asking, should I include being an ASEAN Scholar in da appeal letter?
I'm advised not to but just seeking some input.

That's because I just bagged the Bronze award in the Singapore Youth Science Festival in the science projects competition and was also selected to participate in the NTU Technology and Engineering Programme(TERP). So I was thinking of mentioning these achievements in the appeal letter since I have no national level representation for my sec. school except for the COmquiz in 2001.

FYI, I applied for Engineering in US.

Thanks!

[gal_flower]

Just asking, should I include being an ASEAN Scholar in da appeal letter?
I'm advised not to but just seeking some input.

That's because I just bagged the Bronze award in the Singapore Youth Science Festival in the science projects competition and was also selected to participate in the NTU Technology and Engineering Programme(TERP). So I was thinking of mentioning these achievements in the appeal letter since I have no national level representation for my sec. school except for the COmquiz in 2001.

FYI, I applied for Engineering in US.

Thanks!

oh my goodness!! don ever try includin the fact tad u r an asean scholar!!! don u think tad the moment jpa finds out tad u r under a scholarship already they would give u the scholarship?! think!!! i noe being on terp n syf is like wow so geng, i also from asean... but u think they care?

[chenchow]

europa, it depends on you. There is some risk involved, and I told Ben Lo about it. It is up to you.

For me, many said the same thing about gal_flower, and being a stubborn person, I chose to ignore those advice.

During my interview, I told the interviewer that I got ASEAN Scholarship, being at RJC, my sparring with those Singapore National Debaters, TERP etc... And I told them that I am selected there under ASEAN entering RJC (17 were selected out of 1600 studetns in the placement test) and I believe that I am qualified for the scholarship. I told the officer that if I didn't get JPA, it would most likely means that it is another brain drain for the country. I told them about how I love the country etc... This was during my interview. So, I told them that I want to contribute and I hope to get a scholarship, enter civil service etc...

It is a big risk, so I guess it is up to you... It could sway either way. I did it last time, because getting a scholarship during my time was rare, and I just gave it my best shot.

Europa, weigh it yourself and decide.

[kelvinlym]

During my interview, I told the interviewer that I got ASEAN Scholarship, being at RJC, my sparring with those Singapore National Debaters, TERP etc... And I told them that I am selected there under ASEAN entering RJC (17 were selected out of 1600 studetns in the placement test) and I believe that I am qualified for the scholarship. I told the officer that if I didn't get JPA, it would most likely means that it is another brain drain for the country. I told them about how I love the country etc... This was during my interview. So, I told them that I want to contribute and I hope to get a scholarship, enter civil service etc...


Wow! you did all dat? All they asked me was what my dad did for a living and whether I know any German firms in Malaysia. And that's it!

[chenchow]

In fact, the interview was about 15 to 20 minutes.

I was asked a few other questions too, including the question that would I accept the scholarship if they offered me medicine. I told them I won't because I have no interest in it and I am not good in the field. And the interviewer replied by saying that I got A1 in Biology and my response was that getting A1 is pretty normal for SPM. I cited the exact number of students that get A1 for Biology that year, as it was still fresh in my mind and I convinced the interviewer that for the sake of the country, they should not select me for medicine scholarships. First, getting an A1 doesn't mean I am top. I may just be at the border line of getting A1 and hence JPA should select those top students to get it. They should also select those who have passion and my last argument seems to convince them: I was afraid of blood. So, I told them that I was not suitable.

So, they moved on to my background and hence I told them about my studying in ASEAN and the stuff I posted earlier.

And then the interviewer started to ask about the fact that government servant earned low salary. My reply was as follow: I came from a family, where both my parents are government servants for 20+ years each (at that point) and also many of my relatives work as civil servant too. So, I told them I am aware of the low salary and I told them in fact, salary should not be the main criteria. I told the interviewers that government servant provides job stability and a service to the public. And I told them that even if I am materialistic and I look at monetary aspect, the low salary is not a hindrance. I told them about the governmetn loan for house, car, computer (which I actually did some simple calculation to them on the effect of lower interest rate) and also I told them about the medical benefits, SOCSO, EPF, housing allowance etc. So, I told them that it is not much worse off, and I would still be able to live a comfortable life. and I asked the question back to the interviewer by saying that they should be living a comfortable life too right? or else, they would have quit from civil service.

And another thing my interview talked about was MENSA. Before the interview, I had chats with other students and we talked about Mensa. And coincidentally, the interviewer talked about Mensa to the student before me and he mentioned that he talked to me too and about my IQ score, and I further elaborated about MENSA in the interview with the interviewer on what other students and I have talked. The MENSA part in the interview was not that long.

That was what I remember about my interview.

[KobeBryant]

how come ur interview was so hard ?
that was a personal interview ? 1 on 1 ?

[Europa]

Wow! I'm overawed chechow!!! But the thing is that you've more personal involvement in the interview, wheareas we are placed together in groups of about 10 and the topic of discussion is relatively fixed.

Actually, I've talked about mentioning those achivements in Singapore with BenLo, so that's why both of us are asking similar questions (we're both in AJC!). The whole problem is I haven't got much in representing the school in national level competitions, just some co-curricular achievements. So I was considering the national level achievements I've gotten while being in Singapore. I also gotten a college level IT competition placing but I think it's insignificant.

But I've also called up MCA and they said that I should not under any circumstances divulge that I'm in ASEAN!

[chenchow]

During my time, the interview was like 1 on 1. I don't think the number of candidates they interviewed at that time was much less than now, because I was interviewed at INTEC. There are 5 interview groups there for 4 days. Each day, each group will interview about 24 candidates, so each group will interview about 96 candidates over those 4 days and that interview center at INTEC already interviewed about 480 candidates and there are quite a number of centers in Malaysia. In Klang Valley already got 3 interview centers.

Yeah, during my time, it was kind of personal. I gave those example, in particular about ASEAN to illustrate the point that it could work either way in terms of mentioning that you are ASEAN Scholars. So, guess it is up to you guys. Till today, I am not sure whether my mentioning of myself being at ASEAN helps or not.

[wwhong]

Given the increasing number of full A's SPM scorers every year,i think those top achievers shouldn't have that kind of mindset like "hey look, i got full A's. So, give me the scholarship i want now". Keep in mind that the results is just a key for you to enter the house but not necessary guarantee you the key to that particular room that you want. You should take into account co-curricular activities, other achievements, personality and interview performance. Try to think in JPA's shoes. There are so many students with full A's but there's only a limited number of scholarship available. So, they have to look at other stuff besides SPM to select scholars. If there's 2 candidates with full A's but one of them have a good performance in co-curricular activities but the other one doesn't have any, which one would you choose? I am not trying to degrade or discourage those who wants to appeal but if you do not get anything, think about this. Yes, you are good but could there be someone better than you? Keep in mind that getting good results in an exam doesn't mean you can get whatever you want.

In fact, when I went for interview I feel that I am so much lousier compared to other applicants there. There are simply too many smart people around. But I think my performance during the interview helped me on getting a scholarship from them. Maybe I can share some with you guys.

1) Speak with confidence (polite but not arrogant) and look into the interviewer's eyes.
2) Remember always give the most important thing first be it co-cu achievement or whatever and briefly talk about that (not too lengthy though) If they ask you to talk more then elaborate more but remember stick to what they want to know.
3) Be specific about what you want. For eg, say you wanna do mechanical engineering instead of just engineering and make sure you know your objective clearly.
4) Demonstrate that you are a positve person, willing to learn new stuff, etc. How to do it depends on yourself. No one knows yourself better than you do.
5) DO NOT LIE. Don't think that the interviewers are stupid.

Those are the few things I think maybe will help. Maybe you won't have another interview after you appeal but maybe you can use that in the next scholarship interview. Not getting JPA doesn't mean the end of the world. Keep trying. Good luck

[ElansarGelmir]

wah, i think these days the interviews are more cincai liao. During my interview, there was no personal question asked. We were just asked to make a forum among ourselves and discuss about it. Then that's it, bye bye, happy waiting for your rejection letter.

[chenchow]

In fact, I would not say it is cincai. The group interview, irrespective of how some people think the interviewer is doing, they are monitoring you guys. They are not there to lead the discussion, but to observe for leadership capabilities, knowledge in general knowledge (say in the discussion, you can state some real statistics, that would impress them), communication skills, observant (you care about whether others get to convey their points or not), assertive (but not aggresive), having listening skills (do you just trying to voice your points, or you pay attention to others' point, this is essential), and also not dominate (being dominant, just show your poor side).

There are 2 paragraphs dedicted to this aspect of interview, gathered from the experience of those that get scholarships past year. Check it out at http://remag.recom.org and go to Archive >> Issue 1

[ElansarGelmir]

Hmm... somehow the interviewers gave me such impression that they are cincai-ly carrying out the interview... coz during the forum, they were flipping through our certificates.... maybe they were listening while looking at our certs, i dunno... But maybe because before i enter the room, the officer outside asked me to check properly the subject which i got A2. She said that's very important.

[jiinjoo]

All the best to those appealing. You have my "mental support" :D

Group interviews have a different focus from individual interviews. In groups interviews, you can easily see who are the leaders, who are the followers and who are the one that cannot fit in easily. It's always the case that those who can fit in wins, but whether they are trying to select those that only fit in and kaotao (knock head on floor, i.e. followin orders) only or those that fit in and bring his/her men to do great things is an unknown. Maybe they want people that will just shut-up and do their jobs. On the other hand maybe they want to smart people that will rebel against the current system and make things better.

Such behaviors surfaces pretty naturally during group interviews. You say the interviewer is uninterested? So did you initiate conversation with the interviewer? Did you cut in before the full question was asked? DId you interrupt other applicants? Did you support the answers of the people trying to fight for the same scholarship as you? Did you blink blatantly when you lie? :) The article that chenchow points to is a good read.

The A2 thing is very interesting - i got a similar question twice over two other interviews (they are exactly the same: why your chinese in m'sia b4 but when come to s'pore you get a1?) I don't think they are looking at the result as much as they are looking at how to articulate and defend yourself. Good presentation skills and confidence will definitely come in to play when you're being challenged.

[DecentMerson]

err... jiinjoo
i can answer ur last question....
because Malaysia's Chinese Language is better than Singapore's...

most of us who get A2... or B3 can top the class in Singapore CLAO class....

it's true that in a group discussion, the interviewer can observe one's personality: passive, agressive, or assertive...

but, the interview conducted recently is really becoz of formality...
(that's what i think).... how can a interviewer evaluate 20 students in a 45 minutes-discussion....

[kevinkhoo1986]

Those who got ASEAN pre-u a-level must study their mother tongue language in Singapore??

[chenchow]

I thought the interview was 2 interviewers with about 10 students in about 1 hour.

Generally in any interview or any interaction, the first 30s of your speaking, or even less than that, would form an impression of each person.

Like in career fair, all you have is 30 seconds to sell yourself and basically if you do it well, you have great chance. If you do it decently, you may or may not get a chance for a lengthier interview.

[DecentMerson]

Those who got ASEAN pre-u a-level must study their mother tongue language in Singapore??

YES... but as Malaysians, we have choice.... if u know Mandarin and Malay Language... u can choose either one... if u r a chinese choosing Malay Language as Mother Tongue, u need to fill in a form... and give a lame reason...

[ElansarGelmir]

Those who got ASEAN pre-u a-level must study their mother tongue language in Singapore??

YES... but as Malaysians, we have choice.... if u know Mandarin and Malay Language... u can choose either one... if u r a chinese choosing Malay Language as Mother Tongue, u need to fill in a form... and give a lame reason...

Huh? since when we need to fill forms and give reasons? Hmm... in my JC, among all the directs, only 1 take Mandarin, and the rest take BM ... and the BM standard! Wah lao eh... Because the BM is too poor, what is wrong becomes correct and what is correct becomes wrong. Grr.... First time i heard the word polusi... i think they are using the syllabus from Bahasa Indonesia.

[screw3d]

That's the problem with SPM these days. With so many full A1s awarded, you cannot differentiate between the good As and the bad As. I really doubt that the quality of the students went up that high (what, doubled full A1 scorers??).

In any case, try your best but do not make it too big of a deal. I remembered there was this 13A1 dude who got the offer for medicine in Russia, but he made such a big deal out of it because he wanted to do it in UK instead - made it to the front page (?) of The Star I think, and that's what I call overdoing it.

[ElansarGelmir]

yeah, heard of that b4. But perhaps he's really qualified? We can't tell for sure. But to me, it's kinda ok to be a little picky when it comes to course and country, coz we must make sure that we are ok with the course, and can survive in the country... if i were to be given the scholarship to study medicine in indo, i will surely reject it.... first, i'm blood phobia. second, unstable politics in indonesia... maybe won't affect the students directly, but better dun take risk. 3rdly, why go someplace where the environment and climate is about the same as Malaysia's? My whole idea of studying overseas is to gain experience and new culture.

[lzyee]

here is a letter i sent to jpa officer as cadangan /pandangan/aduan


kami percaya Tuan Yusri dapat mengemukakan hal terdapat dua kumpulan pelajar cemerlang daripada 2 tahun yang berbeza, iaitu pelajar yang dilahirkan pada tahun 1986 dan 1987 (pelajar yang berjaya dalam PTS (Darjah 3) atau tidak perlu belajar di darjah 4) mengambil SPM pada tahun 2003 bersama-sama buat kali pertama. Oleh itu, secara langsungnya bilangan pelajar cemerlang SPM 2003 meningkat hampir satu kali ganda tetapi bilangan bisiswa JPA tidak meningkat mengikut kadar yang sepatutnya dan menyebabkan kami banyak yang tercicir dalam senarai pelajar yang terpilih untuk mendapat biasiswa JPA .
Selain itu, kami juga kurang puas hati dengan cara menilai keputusan SPM kerana menurut Pegawai Bahagian Latihan, cuma mata-mata pelajaran tertentu sahaja yang digunakan untuk memilih calon berjaya tanpa menghirau subjek-subjek tambahan seperti Pendididkan Seni yang diambil pelajar. Sebenarnya saya berpendapat semakin banyak subjek yang diambil ,semakian cemerlang pelajar tersebut kerana mempunyai ilmu pengetahuan yang lebih luas. Sebagai contohnya, walupun seseorang pelajar itu memperolehi 1A dalam Pendidikan Seni dalam SPM dan tetapi subjek itu bukan subjek yang diteraskan dalam bidang perubatan,maka 1A itu tidak diambil kira.Tetapi sebenarnya , seseorang pelajar perubatan memerlukan kemahiran melukis yang baik dalam melukis pemerhatian yang dilakukan sebagaimana dalam subjek biologi yang kami ambil sekarang.Bukankah pel ar dengan keputusan SPM 12A (9A1&3A2) lebih cemerlang daripada pelajar yang cuma memperolehi 9A1 @<hidden> walaupun jumlah itu ialah jumlah kesemua matapelajaran yang diambil.

[lzyee]

hahha..it sounds like i am not scare of death? haaha.

[chenchow]

I think those with PTS could mention in their appeal letter that they are students under PTS.

However, I think the way you write could me more diplomatic, to achieve the desired outcome. This seems to be a letter that merely blames JPA.

[wwhong]

well i guess u just have to be better and better nowadays to get a scholarship given the number of full A's students are exploding...

maybe JPA should have some kind of test like what ASEAN scholarship do? then after the test, maybe they can announce the score and set a limit then those who can't make that will be filtered out? Then there won't be a problem like why I can't get a scholarship even though i got full A's? Like that people will be satisfied even though not happy. If you are smart, you gonna be smart all the times and not just during the SPM period right? Then those who met the limit will proceed to the interview stage and those who can't sorry lah...

just my 2 cents worth of suggestion...

still, this world is not fair anyway....

take it easy dudes

[Daniel]

here is a letter i sent to jpa officer as cadangan /pandangan/aduan


kami percaya Tuan Yusri dapat mengemukakan hal terdapat dua kumpulan pelajar cemerlang daripada 2 tahun yang berbeza, iaitu pelajar yang dilahirkan pada tahun 1986 dan 1987 (pelajar yang berjaya dalam PTS (Darjah 3) atau tidak perlu belajar di darjah 4) mengambil SPM pada tahun 2003 bersama-sama buat kali pertama. Oleh itu, secara langsungnya bilangan pelajar cemerlang SPM 2003 meningkat hampir satu kali ganda tetapi bilangan bisiswa JPA tidak meningkat mengikut kadar yang sepatutnya dan menyebabkan kami banyak yang tercicir dalam senarai pelajar yang terpilih untuk mendapat biasiswa JPA .
Selain itu, kami juga kurang puas hati dengan cara menilai keputusan SPM kerana menurut Pegawai Bahagian Latihan, cuma mata-mata pelajaran tertentu sahaja yang digunakan untuk memilih calon berjaya tanpa menghirau subjek-subjek tambahan seperti Pendididkan Seni yang diambil pelajar. Sebenarnya saya berpendapat semakin banyak subjek yang diambil ,semakian cemerlang pelajar tersebut kerana mempunyai ilmu pengetahuan yang lebih luas. Sebagai contohnya, walupun seseorang pelajar itu memperolehi 1A dalam Pendidikan Seni dalam SPM dan tetapi subjek itu bukan subjek yang diteraskan dalam bidang perubatan,maka 1A itu tidak diambil kira.Tetapi sebenarnya , seseorang pelajar perubatan memerlukan kemahiran melukis yang baik dalam melukis pemerhatian yang dilakukan sebagaimana dalam subjek biologi yang kami ambil sekarang.Bukankah pel ar dengan keputusan SPM 12A (9A1&3A2) lebih cemerlang daripada pelajar yang cuma memperolehi 9A1 @<hidden> walaupun jumlah itu ialah jumlah kesemua matapelajaran yang diambil.

You send via email or what? If you send through email, i am going to tell you it is totally useless. I have actually send letter to all the staff in Bahagian latihan(i got it from JPA website), i think it is about 60++ peoples working in BL. To my surprise i only got 2 email. And the email just said "soalan ini dipanjangkan kepada encik yusri". Panjangkan huh? Finally nobody email to me at all, even the encik yusri.

[chenchow]

Daniel, the way you send this kind of email to all the staffs could backfire. If your letter is not polite enough (I haven't seen your letter, so I can't judge), it may kill your chance of getting the scholarships.

I think whenever we do something, we should do in moderation. When you send emails to 60+ people, is it a mass email? or is it a personalized email? How about the language in it?

[ElansarGelmir]

i think when we are in glass house, don't ever throw stones... You are appealing for JPA... so better be as polite as possible, and make it as formal too... sending email, to me, is like less formal... it's best if you have your letter sent to them... i mean, not much harm done, right? further more, u can also attach your certs to your letter....

[wwhong]

if u really desperately want the scholarship, why dun u go to JPA yourself and talk personally to that particular office? i think u got a bigger chance in that compared to just shooting out bunch of emails. u have to work for what u want.

[knkh_87]

Daniel's letter has some truth in it. The number of straight 1A scorers in the country has doubled, (partially) believed to be the work of the first batch of PTS students. Being an express student myself, I can see that SPM 2003 is a competition between those born in 1986 and some good students born in 1987. Nevertheless, JPA may argue that the PTS examination was an IQ exam, and it can be seen that many PTS students actually fall out....they may have passed the IQ test, but they may not achieve academically. But then again, the PTS issue has never really been brought up in major newspapers. Not many remember the existence of such students.....our names were even left out of the Form 6 lists...

[chenchow]

I don't think this PTS students issues were mentioned in the media for those who are appealing for JPA. May be you could signal those JPA officers and those who are helping you, because if you are PTS students, I think they will look into helping you a bit more.

[Riang]

Regarding the purpose and format of the JPA interview, what Chenchow has explained in detail is I think most likely. I think future scholarship applicants must get used to the idea of group evaluation because that is here to stay.

In fact, group evaluation may well become the trend in future for all employment interviews to enable prospective employers to sift out people with similar qualifications but different levels of adaptability and suitability for the job.

Regarding the appeals, I personally think we should not quibble over the place of study but appeal only if the course is different from your interest (eg if you applied for architecture and are given accounting that is really illogical) or even worse, if you have similar grades but did not get anything at all, then you must certainly appeal.

[Riang]

Please don't get mad at this observation - just trying to look from another perspective - For those who wanted to do medicine but rejected offers only because of the place, perhaps its a good thing the sponsor did not know your reason.

I notice that some students reject offers to do medicine in some places simply because " I don't like the climate"; "I only want to go to Mat Salleh country (does a prejudiced person make a good medical person?)"; "I don't like Asian universities (and what are you?); "I don't like that country its not safe" etc.

Well I feel that perhaps these students need to examine their heart deeply and do some reasearch before deciding to do medicine because being a doctor is going to require a lot of personal sacrifice - remember you are supposed to serve the wounded in war, the poor, the dirty, the beaten up, the people with all kinds of hardship. If you cannot even tolerate a short time in hardship how are you going to face broken people all your life? I come from a family with many medical people including those who have served in armed forces, overseas in Bosnia etc. and the doctor's job is more than sitting in a nice clean clinic.

Maybe the Min of Educ. has a point that for medical applicants, attitude and a true willingness to understand and adapt to the nature of the work are very important.
Again, pls don'tbe upset anyone. Just my 2 cents worth.
Riang.

[lzyee]

helo..sorry of the late reply...
actually the computer in matrik kedah cannot get access to the recom .haha ..it ia true that i was rude in my letter to the En Yusri...but he did reply me!!
he typed: .......sabar bertunggu....that's all..
but i don think he read my mail...maybe he just reply everyone sent him email .

[KobeBryant]

encilk yusri is in charge of JPA scholarship ?

[naoj]

One of the most important virtues a person could have are 1. HUMILITY. 2. APPRECIATIVENESS/GRATEFULNESS.

So while we're on the subject of appeals, i have one appeal to make to some of you (no names , u know who u are i'm sure)...please try to apply those two virtues here. Be more humble. And be appreacitive of that which you are given.

I am not in the least religious. I do not preach virtue nor claim to be a perfect moral embodiments of the abovementioned virtues. But i do know egotism and ungratefulness when i see it.

And i see it. And it horrifies me.

Our generation cannot be allowed grow into one that is so self proud. Perhaps it is the overwhelming number of As that is to blame for the pervasion of overlarge egos and pride that seem to rear its ugly head amongst the SPM 2003 good students. But, no matter what the reason, we must know our capabilities...and we must know that there will always be those better and worse than us.

No one has a right to demand recognition for their successes, academic (ie SPM good results) or otherwise. No one has a right to demand that scholarships be allocated to them because they did well. It is undeniable that they did do well. But the true good student has enough humility to accept that sometimes he cannot get what he wants.

You're not 5 yrs old anymore...getting anything u want from your parents when u screamed and yelled and threw temper tantrums. You are 18/17. Show a little maturity. Don't give the entire generation a bad name.

And that is my appeal. I expect angry flak. But that is what i think.

PS: I agree with Riang.

[lzyee]

actually..i don't know who is En yusri...my interviewer asked me to contact him if i wanna to say something to the jpa..so i just sent him me 2 cents worth of opinion.....i am sorry of being rude in the letter to En yusri...i think i was...but what i wanna to share r true ......naoj: i am not 100% understand wat u want to mention....but i agree with u that ...cannot be rude.....but no ppl in this world can control thier emotion 100% all the time....sorry if i am rude..but i am sincere to say wat i wanna say