Memories of 5 Alpha 2009

-LASKAR PELANGI-

Mimpi adalah kunci

Untuk kita menaklukkan dunia

Berlarilah tanpa lelah

Sampai engkau meraihnya

Laskar pelangi

Takkan terikat waktu

Bebaskan mimpimu di angkasa

Warnai bintang di jiwa

Menarilah dan terus tertawa

Walau dunia tak seindah surga

Bersyukurlah pada yang kuasa

Cinta kita di dunia

Selamanya...

Cinta kepada hidup

Memberikan senyuman abadi

Walau hidup kadang tak adil

Tapi cinta lengkapi kita

Laskar pelangi

Takkan terikat waktu

Jangan berhenti mewarnai

Jutaan mimpi di bumi

Menarilah dan terus tertawa

Walau dunia tak seindah surga

Bersyukurlah pada yang kuasa

Cinta kita di dunia

Menarilah dan terus tertawa

Walau dunia tak seindah surga

Bersukurlah pada yang kuasa

Cinta kita di dunia

Selamanya...

Selamanya...

Laskar pelangi

Takkan terikat waktu...

Happy New Year Farisians!!

The date itself says it all. 01.01.2011 or 1.1.11.This year, this whole new year is gonna be special. Lucky nowadays we have blogs, Facebook, Twitter and so many things else that make our world smaller and I'm using that opportunity to wish you all ;

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 TO ALL!!!

Let's make 2011 a different year than any other year before, make it as best as we can. We Malaysians already got a sweet 2010 end of year present, the Suzuki Cup and hopefully many more wonderful surprise coming in 2011. I guess everyone have their own resolutions for the new year, whatever it is, hopefully the change is for better.


To my buddies, my brothers and sister from batch 0509, damn I miss you all so much. I may sound stupid, but let's have a reunion somewhere in July yeah ( because I will be in Malaysia by that time! =D)


And to the seniors and juniors, I pray that you all are fine right now and doing great wherever you are or whatever you are doing. We Farisians are proud of every single of our family members. To the juniors, I pray that you all finish your school with a high flying achievements. We seniors and ex-farisians are always here to support and help you all...


Just one piece of advice to everyone as I was here celebrating new year's countdown with my friends in Manchester and how I realize, how Malaysia is better in every sense especially how we celebrate new year. Some people doesn't like the concert being held in KLCC, but for, that's a great way how we bring everyone together in one place and have fun. Here in Manchester, people go to clubs and do nothing. Seriously people here is kinda boring. Haha. I miss the time when I watch the top artists performing live in KLCC, when we all will gather and have fun watching the top artists either in TV or live. That's why there is peribahasa Melayu ;

Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, lebih baik negeri sendiri.

Okay, I hope the peribahasa was right. Haha. Sorry Cikgu Paridah! =P

So, Happy New Year again guys!

Cheers~
Izzat Bin Mohamad Salihuddin
facebook : Izzat Ed ( izzatsalihuddin@gmail.com)
blog : budakmanchester.blogspot.com
skype : izzat.salihuddin

 

p/s : Let's make things more interesting yeah. Post a comment for this post and answer this 3 questions : 1. What's your three best moment in 2010?  2. What's your three worst moment in 2010?  3. What's your resolution for 2011?
Looking forward for your comments! =)

When There Is A Will, There Is A Way

Assalamualaikum and good day brothers and sisters.

Well, obviously, it's my first ever post in this blog. I've been following this blog for months and I felt like I wanted to contribute something to help the Farisians. It's just that, I have no idea what should I contribute since I don't even have any scholarships in hand and for sure, I can't speak of any interviews tips or scholarships because I failed to get one.

Anyway, I write this post because I wanna share some of my views and experiences about choices for future education and the decision making moment. I may neither have the best one or the worst one, but I'm pretty sure of myself that I made the right decision so far. I don't have any scholarships, so my spending here is restricted and I have to be careful not to spend my parents money on unnecessary things. But, yeah, still a kid, I foolishly spent on things that I don't really need. Haha. Lesson learned, pandai-pandai lah menabung.

Back to the main topic, I still remember the moment when I finished my SPM, I was so excited of the prospect of finding a job, work, hanging out and sleep anytime I want. The only thing I forgot, is actually the most important thing ; LOOK FOR SCHOLARSHIPS.

At the end, I missed a lot of opportunities to apply for some scholarships. Until now, I regret it but at least I learned a great lesson here.

You can enjoy as much as you want but never drag yourself away from the your path, your focus and your ambition.

Which, in my case, I was having so much fun ( really!) and I totally forgot what I should actually do for my future. ( Tu yang orang kata, enjoy biar ingat Tuhan!). For juniors, especially SPM 2010 leavers, mark my words yeah! Haha

So, after I got my results, JPA, MARA, Bank Negara and few other scholarships were all available for me to apply ( I suggest you apply for more private company's scholarships, you may get better luck with it!). So, I applied for JPA, Bank Negara, UEM and few others to do accounting and probably, my choice of study is one of the contributing factors I didn't get the scholarships because basically, the government are looking for those applying for engineering and medic. But, that's what I thought because anyway, I got rejected by Bank Negara and UEM too. So, I guess Allah wanted to show me something else and I have to work for it.

I went to almost all education fairs that were held around KL and Selangor. I found this education agent company, Studylink in Subang Jaya and that's how I found out about INTO Manchester, a college in Manchester. Currently, I'm studying foundation in Business and Humanities for 3 months already and 6 months more to go. Apparently, this foundation course is like a shortcut for me to start my degree in UK as northern UK universities accepts INTO College foundation certificate and instead of doing two years of A Levels, I actually shorten my period of study ( guess what, I'm happy because I don't really like formal study, haha) to start my degree. And it's actually easy as for me, I'm studying Economics, Politics, Mathematics and of course, English. Basically, this course guarantee you a place in university here even if you get C in your subjects but what's the point studying here if you just aim for a low end right? Some students here change from Maths to Business Studies because they already learned GCSE (SPM) level Maths. As for me, I don't wanna change it so that I can score as high as I can in Maths, it is called counting the advantage or opportunity cost of it. =)

So, with my foundation course, I can choose any university I want to study at based on the requirements and the expectations I get from my teachers for my final exams result. The better the expectations from the teachers, the better choice of university I can apply for. So, I made four choices ;

1. London School of Economics - Only 7 students in my college can apply for this university because we got all A's for our exams and we are expected to score A+ in final exams and I'm proud to say, I'm one of the 7 wonders. =)
2. University of Manchester - INTO Manchester students are given the priority for offers and that's why I don't wanna miss out this chance.
3. Manchester Metropolitan University - I have to make one safe choice, which means, if I fail to meet the requirements from the top universities, at least I'm guaranteed an offer from a weaker choice, a lower-rank university and MMU is my choice.
4. University of Newcastle - I have no idea why I choose Newcastle. Haha

I felt kinda stupid about that 4th choice, but forget it, I already submit my application form ( UCAS). UCAS is the form for students to apply for universities in the UK. UCAS website...

By the way, to tell you all, not only foundation in Business and Humanities is available, foundation in Science and Engineering also is provided here. If you are studying foundation in B&H, you can apply for any business and humanities related courses for degree at your preferred university e.g Law, Accounting, Management, Business, Economics and bla bla bla...
On the other hand, if you are studying foundation in S&E, you can apply for science related course such as pharmacy, medic, engineering and architecture.

The teachers here are so professional, facilities are awesome and one reason I would recommend Manchester to everyone is because Manchester is a student city. Student discounts are everywhere here, even for a haircut. Students here are treated nicely and Manchester itself is a modern metropolitan city with great transport system (the buses and taxis) and there is a lot of international and Muslim people here from all over the world. Moreover, there's a lot of Halal food restaurant and shops and the atmosphere here is great with great football pitch and crazy football fans everywhere. But of course, it's not perfect as the city is quite boring as shops close early, sometimes the weather is too bad and drunk people are everywhere every night. Anyway, it's still one of the best place to study.


So, that's about my college and Manchester. Now, to the main part. Early before, I mention about the course I preferred and actually I applied for scholarships being the reason I didn't get it, it maybe true. But that doesn't mean you have to choose the course that you hate or your least favorite course. There's nothing wrong in choosing any course but one thing  I learn is to observe the demand. As the government demand more science course students, I suggest you apply for it. You may say, I can't stand studying what I hate. Well, to tell you, some of the world successful people outside there, they don't even have a degree and some of them also have a degree which does not relate to their field they currently working. In the working world, what holds you to your job and what actually gets you the job is your personality.

Degree is just a passport to get the interview, to get the job and stay in the job is your personality.

Some business people, successful ones I mean, they have a degree, even a Masters in science or engineering. But they become business people simply because of their interest in business. So, there's nothing wrong in choosing whatever course that give us the edge and advantage to get the scholarship, it's just that, mind the consequences. If you choose to study chemistry but you always hated chemistry, you might face some problems studying it, because remember, university's subject is totally different from the one in high school. Imagine studying the subject you hate for 4 years, and don't blame anyone if you fail the course. But, at another point of view, we actually study subjects we never like in high school and still we passed it, so it's up to you. That's why the title of my post is when there is a will, there is a way. You decide your own future, your own luck.

About studying overseas, don't get upset of not getting it early, because you can always study overseas for your Masters or whatever your decision is, it's better late than never because one great thing about studying here, you can see the color of Malaysia from outside and that will widen your view. Have a plan B, in case you didn't get what you want or expect, and always be positive. Pray to Him and may He show you the path to success.



That's all from me.

Cheers~
Izzat Bin Mohamad Salihuddin

p/s : Adik2, kawan2, time2 cuti lepas SPM nih, try practice English. Malu bila dok kat sini, Melayu cakap English, sebut Coke jadi Cock. Bukan utk kegunaan study overseas je, utk di Malaysia jgk, as what I heard, most courses skrg blaja dalam English dah. Get use to it. Good luck! ;)

Shell Scholarship

Okay, since ramai haprak yang mai tanya aku, and nak explain punya la susah and panjang berjela, eloklah, aku postkan saja ye cara-cara untuk apply shell punya scholarship. sebagai mukadimahnya, ramai gila yang macam malas nak apply shell sebab leceh macam sial. my batch only me and wan amirah balqis je yang apply, we both got the interview, but we didn't get the scholarship.

so, kenapa aku kena susahkan diri dengan benda leceh macam haram ni?

jawapannya, adik-adik sekalian.

sebab, nak dapat opportunity dapat scholarship overseas ni susah! dahla JPA dah nak tak nak bagi, so, you can only hope for corporate bodies punya scholarshipla untuk dapat overseas punya, tapi corporate bodies ni biasala, bagi sikit je scholar dia. let's say sime darby 5 orang, khazanah 5 orang, etc. etc. kalau kau apply khazanah je, your chances nak dapat sikit je kan? sebab ada 5 tempat je. kalau kau apply sime darby and khazanah at least ada 10 tempat kan? so, dah apply dua tu, tambahla shell satu lagi. alah, tak mati pun kalau bersusah sikit. memang proses penapisan scholar badan korporat ni susah gila, tapi tak mustahil and kalau dapat tu memang berbaloi la segala penat lelah sebab scholarship diorang MEWAH siot. tak macam JPA. (tapi aku dah bersyukur dah dengan JPA, alhamdulillah). and disebabkan Shell ni Al-Leceh, tak ramai yang nak apply, bila tak ramai yang nak apply, so, increase your chances nak dapat. tak gitu? satu lagi, rezeki kita ni di tangan Tuhan. janganlah bajet. "oh, aku dah rajin gila apply banyak-banyak, malasla aku nak apply shell." what happens kalau semua yang kau apply tu semua kau tak dapat? tak salah kan jadikan shell sebagai back-up plan? kita hanya mampu merancang, tapi Tuhan yang menentukan. macam aku dulu silap perhitungan. menyesal tau tak. nasib baik Tuhan Maha murah hati nak bagi jugak aku merasa scholarship, kalau tak..sia-sia je result cantik aku. takde tempat nak pergi belajar. nak kahwin, takde orang nak. nak jadi isteri pun, pergh. bangun time matahari terpacak di atas kepala. jangan mimpi la. hahhaha. selingan jap. so, janganlah rasa secure sangat ye, adik-adik. always have a back-up plan.

Okay, punya la berjela mukadimah, saja nak bagi motivasi sikit ye.

STEP ONE!

Gi kat website ni:

http://www.shell.com.my/home/content/mys/aboutshell/careers/students_and_graduates/scholarship/

Okay, seterusnya, click kat arrow merah apply now tuh. Oh ya, and you guys kena register dulu untuk apply benda alah ni. aissyy..sedap je aku ngata.

STEP TWO!

Page ni akan appear:

nampakkan yang arrow merah tu?

click on that link, then you will automatically download soft copy BORANG YANG KENA ISI, PRINT, SCAN AND UPLOAD balik masa nak submit application. kan aku dah kata leceh.

namppakan yang arrow warna hijau tu?

you click on that link, dia akan bawak you ke satu page ni:

nampak tak rectangle warna purple (okayla fuchsia tu?)

Tu kalau korang belum register, click ke situ dan ikut je arahan dia.

yang rectangle warna green tu kalau dah register ya. you click on that it will bring you to BORANG ONLINE yang you all kena isi and submit secara online. Borang dia macam tricky gila and you all kena BACA ELOK-ELOK masa isi. you all tau sebab apa? Sebab Shell ni kan, dia istimewa tau. Borang untuk mintak scholarship dia adalah borang yang SAMA untuk orang local dan international nak apply kerja dengan diorang. So, ada some of the requirements you all tak perlu isi pun. aku dah tak ingat dah amende benda pelik dalam tu specifically, tapi, korang baca elok-elokla, use your brain. tak paham istilah BI, maih, tanya aku kalau aku free. aku boleh tolong setakat mampu. hahah.

anyway, untuk guide korang isi borang online tu, diorang dah tolong sediakan dah yang ni. gua suggest lu baca dulu before isi ya.

nampak itu arrow biru?

yang tu shell punya baik hati bagi guide untuk you all isi borang online kay. baca tau.

and nampak tak yang circle warna purple (okay fuchsia tu)?

yang tu emel diorang, kalau you all tak jelas ke apa, boleh emel diorang. ini adalah salah satu sikap murni yang perlu diamalkan iaitu sentiasa bertanya. malu bertanya sesat jalan ok. ataupun, you all call je shell tu. tapi jangan kacau diorang luar office hours plak k. aku dulu punyala sakit jiwa nak isi application dia berapa kali aku call.

STEP THREE!

Okay, dah isi borang yang kena print tu kan? tandatangan leklok, and then check dia mintak dokumen apa. usually cam biasa la kan IC sijil semua tu. sekali lagi, BACA ELOK-ELOK dia nak apa.

Next step, kau fotostat semua segala sijil dokumen kau tu, then sahkan dengan pengetua skolah atau pegawai kerajaan. Ala, KJ sayang kan ada, jangan malu-malu. Jumpa dia, kirim salam I kat dia tau. eww, gediks.

Selepas certify, THIS IS the tricky bit!!

You kena scan and save dalam jpeg format. And bila scan tu kena dalam resolution PALING KECIL tau. tau sebab apa? Okay, we'll get to that, for now, do as you are told kalau nak hidup you mudah sikit nak apply benda leceh ni. muahahahha.


STEP FOUR!

oh, aku lupa mau cakap. Si Shell ini pun mintak kau orang sediakan CV. apa itu CV? aku pun tak ingat CV stands for what. Tapi CV ni basically RESUME la. RESUME ni macam summary of all our kelayakan akademik dan pencapaian ko semua tu, bagi budak lepas SPM la, kalau yang dah kerja resume tu bukan saja  state what degree you have, but also your working experience, but we'll come to that later. kalau nak contoh CV, boleh je google. kalau nak aku punya, boleh je. drop me a message on FB. oh, and make sure CV is organized and easy to read. do it in point form.

STEP FIVE!

rujuk balik borang online kau orang tu. Dia akan ada bahagian suruh upload file. Dia ada 3 file, dan setiap tiga file ni ada limit dia.

okay, file pertama you all kena upload ialah CV. pastikan dalam file microsoft word ataupun file yang kecik saiznya.

file kedua ialah borang yang you all print, isi, scan balik tu. pastikan scan dalam resolution paling rendah. and kalau dalam jpeg format, masukkan dalam word file and save. tu je cara aku tahu untuk mengecikkan file dia. or kau boleh store sebagai pdf, tapi make sure pdf tu kecik, kalau boleh compress, compress.

file ketiga ialah segala sijil yang kau orang scan tu. HA! ni masalah agungnya, semua image yang scan tu, you all kena jadikan dia word file. letakla semua susun macam gambar kat atas word file tu. and make sure yang wajib ada. kalau file masih besar. pilih-pilih sijil ko-kurikulum mana yang kau nak hantar. kalau ada testimonial, pastikan testimonial tu ada. yang lain takde pun takpe. so, save. make sure saiznya kecil.


dia tak cakap actually in which order kau orang kena upload file tu, tapi tu cara aku buat dulu la. tak tahula kalau korang kreatif lagi boleh shrink kan lagi file tuh. itu atas engkaula. but best of luck, Step 5 ni la yang paling leceh. Aku hantar benda alah ni tepat-tepat jam 12 tengah malam tarikh tutup dia. Aku nangis ingat usaha aku sia-sia upload. banyak masalah tau masa nak upload, page lambatla, page time-outla. Shell ni memang buat aku berdrama ok.

Tapi nasib baik dapat gak ah interview. Interview dia pun cam best ah. Through the phone. Tak payah berdepan pun dengan orang dia. kau nak cakap kat telefon pakai baju tidur pun boleh. haha. dalam 1 jam gitu la duration dia. and dia ada dua bahagian. tak ingatlah pasal apa tajuk dia. tapi lebih kurang macam pengetahuan am and memberi pendapat. something like that. I suggest you read pasal environment, marketing, pasal shell, economy, corporate social responsibilities. diorang akan inform melalui emel atau call selalunya dapat ke tak. kalau lulu phone interview, dia buat group interview plak. tapi aku tak sampai stage tu, jadi aku tak tahula macam mana.

Okay, selamat apply dan selamat berjaya. I wish you all the best! Hope this helps a lot, k.

wassalam.

Tips For Scholarship Hunters

You can just google for it and you'll see results from Malaysia Scholarship and such sites. And while you're browsing kan, the scholarships you can apply are those that say:

1. post-spm
2. undergraduate

programmes. post-graduate is for people yang dah ada bachelor degree nak buat masters degree or phd.

and things to look out for:

1. bila dateline dia. ini penting!
2. apa requirements dia?
3. ada kena tulis esei ke tak?

Requirements:

1. result nak minimum berapa
2. documents: contohnya dia suruh print and post borang application dia dengan fotostat sijil ke apa? r dia suruh submit online je ke?
3. bayaran. dia nak bank draft ke? nombor check ke? online transaction ke apa? bayaran ni macam processing fee la. kalau petronas punya, dia suruh isi nombor check. about RM 30 kena bayar. borang submit online, tapi kena print dua copy untuk bawak masa interview.

Types of documents dia mintak, tapi dependsla kan dia mintak apa. so, di sini pentingnya skill MEMBACA dengan teliti. see? ada guna jugak kan buat exam banyak-banyak, so you guys bukak mata luas-luas and baca soalan elok-elok.

1. salinan IC pemohon yang disahkan.
2. salinan IC mak bapak yang disahkan.
3. kadang-kadang ada yang mintak surat beranak mak bapak and surat beranak kita.
4. slip gaji mak bapak yang juga disahkan.
5. sijil-sijil ko-kurikulum yang disahkan.
6. salinan slip spm yang disahkan.
7. sijil berhenti sekolah dan testimonial yang disahkan
8. dan lain-lain.

kadang-kadang dia ada mintak gambar passport ke apa.

basically, apa-apa maklumat yang you all tulis kena ada bukti dia, yakni documents yang disertakan itu. contohnya dalam ruang pencapaian kokurikulum kau tulis wakil negeri dalam sukan golf (ecececeh), kau kena sertakan salinan sijil yang disahkan berkaitan penglibatan kau tu.

aku alhamdulillah banyak diberi peluang untuk apply scholarships, gi banyak-banyak interview, so, bolehla aku nak kongsi pengalaman dan tips, biarpun satu pun aku tak dapat, *sob, sob* tapi nasib baik JPA baik hati approve rayuan aku, syukur.

oh, a good site would be afterschool.my. they will field your questions about studies after high school.

so, good luck, guys.