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Assalamualaikum and hi.
Today's entry is going to be abt the process or my personal experience regarding Yayasan Daya Diri (YDD) Scholarship that includes the application and interview parts.
Now lets get started! Wehuu.
APPLICATION STAGE
To be frank I think the application part for YDD is one of the toughest. First, the applicants are required to fill up the forms with their personal details. That one is okay, it is typical. However, the challenge comes during essay time. Urgh stress stress haha. We are asked to answer quite a few questions in our essay. These are what I got;
1) Why have you chosen this course of study and how will your long term ambitions contribute to the development of Malaysia
2)
What was the toughest challenge that you have faces and how did you overcome it
3) What do you think has been your biggest contribution to the community and why
4) Please provide a URL to your portfolio or sample of your work
For (1), personally I believe that every applicant should know the reasons of choosing that particular course that we are going to pursue. You can just write anything (passion, previous experience, family background, incidents or inspiration from senior/friends/ family) that influenced/ inspired you to choose that course. And for the second one, I hope you can relate between your future career that you are expecting to with Malaysia's development in terms of economic, health etc.
Next, for (2), it is encouraged to think at your best abt the toughest challenge that you'd experience and to consider the solution made to tackle the problem and also the positive attributes that you obtain in encountering it. From this part, you can insert all the good attitudes that you developed or discovered in yourself that help you to be a better individual. So be careful with your choice. Choose the event that can really help to portray the good side of you. *wink*
Thirdly, in part (3), you can write abt your participation in any activities like volunteering or tutoring. As long as you found that your deed did contribute to the society. In answering the 'why', you can share abt how you feel/ what you realize when you are in that situation. What you learned abt it. What touched your heart and make you feel grateful for everything that you have. Or maybe you can mention abt the outcomes that you see from your participation and how significant is that to those community involved.
Here is the essay that I submitted just in case you are still blur/ looking for some ideas. But please, don't plagiarise :)
INTERVIEW STAGE
So for interview part, I experienced two sessions and both are through phone. The first one, there is one lady (if I'm not mistaken her name is Maryam) she is the interviewer. I think this is not the formal and she just asked me some follow up questions regarding my personal details and also abt my uni & course option something like that. It was a casual one I bet and she is very nice and friendly. I enjoyed this session like a lot! ♥♥♥♥
Few days after that, I received an invitation email for a face-to-face interview with their panel of interviewers. However, due to my final exam, I couldnt attend it at the place stated. Therefore I am so sorry for not being able to describe the environment there. Ampun. So for my case, there is an alternative way that they agreed which is also through phone interview. This time no more Miss Maryam. It was Dato and Tan Sri who are responsible to interrogate me haha. This time, the questions asked are quite similar to the first one. Nothing fancy. The tips here is to get ready with the answers for FAQ questions during interview in order to reduce the nervousness or any inconvenience to happen.
So far that I can remember, they did ask why I choose UNSW Foundation Studies, why UNSW, why double degree and what do I see myself in 5 years. Hm.
And fyi, both interviews lasted approximately 25-30 minutes. Dont worry much, just be yourself and enjoy this thrill. Good luck to those who are applying or will be interviewed. Break a leg guys.
I really hope this help. My prayers are with those applicants :D
Love,
Sya ♥
