JPA Scholarship Interview

Hi everyone, I am going to share my experience for the JPA Scholarship Assessment. This year the JPA scholarship only offer engineering course in Korea, Japan, Germany and France. And this year, a student can only choose one between MARA, JPA and JPA-MARA. Why did I choose JPA even though I'm a bumiputera, easy, I missed the deadline for the other two. It's really devastated at first because my friends insisted that it's hard to get the scholarship as I had to compete with the non-bumiputera but then, I realised this is my destiny from Allah SWT and accepted it with open heart.

So, for the JPA Scholarship, I choose to futher my studies in Korea. Yes, it's because I love Kpop (SS501).

So, I get my invitation to the SAC (they didn't call it a interview) by checking into the website. Note down that you need to check the website yourself, not wait for a call or letter. My SAC is held at Kolej Komuniti Pasir Mas,  an hour away from my home. The SAC started at 10 am and the applicants are required to wear a white t-shirt, a track trouser and sport shoes(just for uniformity, don't worry they didn't told us to do any physical test).

So, I arrived 15 minute early. I register and was given a number card. We need to wear the number all the time. I got the lucky 27. There was about 20 applicants that session (there will be an evening session that day).

We made some little exercise to ease our nerves. Then, we were split into a team of 5 or 4. 2 teams were put in 1 group where the two group will go to either Bahasa Melayu or English session first. 

My group went to the English session first at a classroom. And there was 2 interviewer. So, the group activity is we were given a topic. The topic I got is about 'Excellent Graduates'. The other team got 'Soft-Skill' topic. So we got about 20 minute to discuss. I may say that the interviewer didn't care about the time and waited us to finish. We wrote down our ideas on a 'mahjong' paper and present it. My tips is practice your ideas during the discussion. My presentation was short. There was only one question asked. And if your teammates choked, feel free to explain again to the interviewer but make it sound not too cruel (because you are clearly stealing your teammate's point). After the other team's presentation, the interviewer asked some people to do some exercise where they were asked to act like salesmen, trying to sell their stuff. Feel free to volunteer to try to do that too.

Next, my group went to the Bahasa Melayu session. The activity was the same as the English session. But this session was much more difficult where the time given for discussion is limited. And after the presentation, they asked your team tons of questions (even irrelevant one and their opinions always changed). My tips is the prepare yourself for any questions ( if you create a product or technology for your presentation, think out the cost and time needed to finish your imaginary product) and always be confident on your answer ( don't say "I think/Saya rasa", instead use "I am confident/Saya yakin" or "I would/Saya akan").

2 hours went by so fast. I went home, sleeping at the back of the car, knowing that I did the best as I could.

Since its already 2 months after the SAC, the result would be announced on 24 April at 5 pm. And,,,,, I got the scholarship. I don't know the details on which country did I get or more inportantly which course. The website told me to check e-penawaran on 6 May. I was hoping to get to do A-level at KYUEM. Insyaallah. Hope the best from me.