Discussion: JPA scholarships 2012 for Pre-U holders- Petition

[Snacky]

Hi, everyone. This thread is for those want to say something about the new JPA scholarship policy 2012 for overseas studies, which starts only from year 2014. If you are one of the pre-U holders who has gained admissions to the top universities in the world for the year 2012 and are hoping to get a financial support from JPA, kindly drop by your conditions here(uni offer, results(optional), and any other special circumstances). You can help spreading this force to your friends who are not recomers.

Example:
Preferred University offer(s):
Course:
Current status:
Special Circumstances: (family prob, financial constraints, etc)
Other comments/ideas:

I am creating this thread so that we can gather the voices from you all and hopefully come out with a sort of a petition letter to the higher authorities to begin the PILN this year. I'd be grateful if you can help out in this meanwhile remain aggressive in grabbing other sponsors as well. Any opinions and ideas are welcomed. PM me their details or list them here. Thanks in advance!

We also have created a facebook group for this purpose!!! Anyone wants to join this group please fill up the survey form below or PM me. The Admin may require your details above before approving you, Please feel no doubt to ask=D

Survey Form: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...R3dzSjBRU2c6MQ

[plawks]

Would like to join this cause but only have a conditional offer from Imperial College London (and actually also from King's, UCL, Edinburgh and Manchester). Not Oxbridge or HYPMS so wouldn't really be a strong applicant for any overseas scholarships. Also my course choice isn't even considered useful to any sponsors (physics). But the catch is my offer can be regarded as a true 'freak accident' considering that I doing the local matrikulasi. Not your 'internationally recognized' A levels, IB, STPM etc. I'm going to receive my matriks results next month so I can only actually 'seal the deal' by that time. Will be busy taking exams until 27/4 but will definitely keep a lookout on this thread.

Do gather more people, at least 20-30, then we can actually organize a trip and drop by the JPA office and we can as well call the press if anyone has any connections. Spread the words to your friends who got offers from top unis but still without a sponsor/still seeking for a sponsor. Perhaps make a list stating who got what offer from where with what results, then send it to the newspapers.

I would surely want to join this petition, so keep posting guys. Our voices can only be heard if there are more of us. Even though the chances are low we should try before giving up,

Add me to the list:
Preferred University offer(s): Imperial College London
Course: Physics with Theoretical Physics
Current status: Conditional
Special Circumstances: Currently a JPA PIDN scholarship holder but applied to UK unis
Other comments/ideas: I guess you read my PM already

[Young]

I'd like to see JPA try to define 'top universities' this time. The last 'Ivy-league dan setaraf' definition was a joke. UMelb, ANU, UCL and American public schools being on par with HYPMS/Oxbridge? No Amherst or Williams on the list? And the inclusion of ETH Zurich despite practising open first-year admissions? Please.

[Snacky]

I'd like to seek to your understanding that what we are doing is just to advance the implementation of the PILN to this year, instead of starting in year 2014. We still hold no rights to ask the JPA to accept every applications even if this petition is a success. It'd be up to JPA to decide to whom the scholarship should be given. Then, any further appeals after the decisions would be on individual's responsibility, though we can still do something about the quota issue on specific groups

I suggested what if we first garner the info here as much as we could, then only consider the best way to present our struggles. It's because any impolite movements would plunge us into troubles unnecessarily, and it could even affect our applications unfavorably in future.

Focus on your other potential sponsors as well yea. Thanks you all

[puishee]

Hihi.Although I am not offer holder for oxbridge(i got rejected) but I did have a conditional offer(AAA in A-level and IELTS of 7.5)from UCL for biomedical sciences and I have met the first condition as I got 2A*2A in A-level(will be taking IELTS by end of april).I did have other offers from edinburgh and cardiff.I really hope that this petition will work out so that the public get to know our situation.All in all,everyone please don't just put everything on JPA,do find other sources of sponsor(although is difficult for those courses which is not in favor of some sponsor preferred list.I am one of them. )

Preferred University offer(s):University College London(UCL)
Course:Biomedical sciences
Current status:conditional
Special Circumstances:family income low,sister is still doing her degree,can't afford to go
UK if there is no full scholarship/financial assistance.
Other comments/ideas:Other informations in my PM

All the best,everyone!

[DropDJuliet]

Second this petition. I am just very glad that someone's trying to do something for pre-u students who wish to pursue their tertiary education abroad. Just like plawks, I have only received a conditional offer of A*A*A from Imperial College London (also, Manchester and Edinburgh). However, I have received an unconditional offer with Chancellor's Scholar designation from UBC. To this day, I still don't understand how SPM leavers are given more priorities for scholarships than pre-u students (STPM, ALevel, Matriculation, IB etc.) So far, I have heard no news from the scholarships that I have applied for- no phone interviews or whatsoever. Getting a bit worried, SEPTEMBER IS ONLY A FEW MONTHS AWAY. I'm now looking to see if I can get any loans or partial funding. I'm living abroad, am I at a disadvantage?

Preferred University offer(s):
University of British Columbia, Canada ;
Imperial College London, UK
Course:
BASc Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for UBC;
MEng Chemical Engineering for Imperial
Current status:
Unconditional offer w/ chancellor's scholar designation ;
Conditional A*A*A offer
Special Circumstances:
Financial constraints - sister's doing her undergraduate degree in fashion as well.
Overseas Malaysian - cannot attend interview sessions, aptitude tests (and such) ; and do not possess any SPM qualification: apparently this is taken into account for some of the scholarships that I'm applying to (Mara, Yayasan Sarawak), so I've tried to email them about my situation (and yet, still no reply.)
Other comments/ideas: What matters most now is just getting our voices across. At least make them aware of the situations that we're in.

[frostbyte13]

Not to be a bubble burster or spoil-sport I support this kind of well-thought of initiative, but to make it successful, please consider real steps to make real progress. My first suggestion is to have someone with connections to JPA or someone with a respectable position; whether a Datuk, Tan Sri or an NGO in your support. From experience and listening to my government scholar friends, they usually pay little attention to students. That brings to suggestion two, speed up the number of supporters. Posting in ReCom will only get you so far as I know many people in our same problem (yes me too) are not on ReCom. Perhaps consider making a thread in lowyat.net, a facebook group and a newspaper article or sort. Hope that helps, but if all fails, seriously consider a local backup. Studying overseas shouldn't be the only choice unless your course is not offered at all locally. There's always a postgrad opportunity to go overseas. Cheers good people.

[wannie]

Originally Posted by DropDJuliet

Second this petition. I am just very glad that someone's trying to do something for pre-u students who wish to pursue their tertiary education abroad. Just like plawks, I have only received a conditional offer of A*A*A from Imperial College London (also, Manchester and Edinburgh). However, I have received an unconditional offer with Chancellor's Scholar designation from UBC. To this day, I still don't understand how SPM leavers are given more priorities for scholarships than pre-u students (STPM, ALevel, Matriculation, IB etc.) So far, I have heard no news from the scholarships that I have applied for- no phone interviews or whatsoever. Getting a bit worried, SEPTEMBER IS ONLY A FEW MONTHS AWAY. I'm now looking to see if I can get any loans or partial funding. I'm living abroad, am I at a disadvantage?

Preferred University offer(s):
University of British Columbia, Canada ;
Imperial College London, UK
Course:
BASc Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for UBC;
MEng Chemical Engineering for Imperial
Current status:
Unconditional offer w/ chancellor's scholar designation ;
Conditional A*A*A offer
Special Circumstances:
Financial constraints - sister's doing her undergraduate degree in fashion as well.
Overseas Malaysian - cannot attend interview sessions, aptitude tests (and such) ; and do not possess any SPM qualification: apparently this is taken into account for some of the scholarships that I'm applying to (Mara, Yayasan Sarawak), so I've tried to email them about my situation (and yet, still no reply.)
Other comments/ideas: What matters most now is just getting our voices across. At least make them aware of the situations that we're in.

What is Chancellor's Scholar designation? sounds like a scholarship to me I think I am at a complete disadvantage too because I took O levels.. So my voice ain't "big" enough.

Originally Posted by Young

I'd like to see JPA try to define 'top universities' this time. The last 'Ivy-league dan setaraf' definition was a joke. UMelb, ANU, UCL and American public schools being on par with HYPMS/Oxbridge? No Amherst or Williams on the list? And the inclusion of ETH Zurich despite practising open first-year admissions? Please.

Coz we're more experienced than they are Come come we become scholarship coordinators

[hypermetal04]

Preferred University offer(s): Imperial College London
Course: MEng Mechanical Engineering
Current status: Unconditional
Special Circumstances: Family low income. My elder brother is in his 2nd year of undergraduate study. My parents are also reaching retirement age.
Other comments/ideas: I obtained 4 A*s in Cambridge A Level. Let's do our best. No harm trying.

[Snacky]

Originally Posted by frostbyte13

Not to be a bubble burster or spoil-sport I support this kind of well-thought of initiative, but to make it successful, please consider real steps to make real progress. My first suggestion is to have someone with connections to JPA or someone with a respectable position; whether a Datuk, Tan Sri or an NGO in your support. From experience and listening to my government scholar friends, they usually pay little attention to students. That brings to suggestion two, speed up the number of supporters. Posting in ReCom will only get you so far as I know many people in our same problem (yes me too) are not on ReCom. Perhaps consider making a thread in lowyat.net, a facebook group and a newspaper article or sort. Hope that helps, but if all fails, seriously consider a local backup. Studying overseas shouldn't be the only choice unless your course is not offered at all locally. There's always a postgrad opportunity to go overseas. Cheers good people.

Yea frostbyte, thank you for enlightening the ideas

The very notion of the reason behind this group forming is that anyone reading this thread could just take up the strategy here and do it on their own, without commenting. Every joining is a new rival for the scholarship. They could even find Dato-dato to support themselves only, realizing that involving others could be threatening to their applications. However one's voice is never heard by the JPA. It's therefore my intention to gather more people here, meanwhile proceed to find Dato-dato or any Tan Sri to support us. Easier to convince them as our group is not small. I have to again agree to your second thought- expanding the group.

So guys please help start new threads or groups elsewhere. And invite your other grieving frens to join this force. Many thanks