Hong Leong Scholarship Interview Guide

I also went for the interview for Hong Leong Scholarship 2010. Below are the detailed email they sent me. You might want to have a look.

_________________________

We received over 850 applications this year, and YOU have been selected for the next stage of the Scholarship Programme. Congratulations!

Please make yourself available for the interview on:

Date : Wednesday, 9 June 2010

Time : 10.00am (please be very punctual)

Venue : Level 8, Wisma Hong Leong, 18 Jalan Perak, 50450 Kuala Lumpur. (see attached map)

If you are taking public transport:

- Take a Monorail from KL Sentral or any other Monorail stations

- Alight at Raja Chulan Station (in front of Wisma Genting)

- As you alight from the train, walk down to the side of the street where Wisma Genting is located

- Wisma Genting should be on your right-hand side now. Walk down/along the pavement for about 200 metres

- You'll reach Equatorial Hotel which is also on your right side

- Walk into, and across the hotel's open-air carpark which is located at the side of the building

- As you exit the car park, you will see a brown colour building in front of you along Jalan Perak. This is WismaHong Leong

Please bring along the following documents :

- original copies of examination certificates (e.g.SPM, STPM, Foundation, Matriculation, A-Level, Diploma, Degree, etc.)

- offer letter from University / college (only if available – please show us your original, and also provide us a certified-true-copy for our keep)

- Bus / train / toll receipts to claim travel expenses (for outstation candidates only - we will reimburse you up to RM50)

- Pen / pencil to be used for on-the-spot essay writing

Dressing code:

- Smart casual or formal

- NO t-shirt, singlet, jeans, shorts, slippers and/or sports-shoes

______________________________



The essay writing challenge are something like our exam. Time is given for you to write your essay. A few titles are given and you can choose any one you like. Those topics were mostly current issues. So, if you are one who don't read newspaper, you will be blur there. During that interview, some of the topics I remembered were :

Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2010
Government 's plan to withdraw subsidies
1Malaysia
Facebook, Twitter, no interpersonal skills and social skills
+ a few more .. sorry I forgot

After writing the essays, we have to wait till we are called. Some rooms have 3 panels and some have 2 panels. In my case, I got the 2 panels one. Both doesn't look Malaysian to me.. haha.

Interview Questions
How much do you know about Hong Leong?
How do you know about this scholarship?
If we give you this scholarship, what can you contribute to the community in the future?
Do you prefer scholarship with bond?
What are you currently doing (working)?
What kind of things/drugs you want to create?
Hobbies?
Do you read books? What book?
Which scholarship you prefer to accept since you applied for so many?
+ similar questions from other scholarship interview.

Good luck~

OCBC Scholarship Interview Guide

Hi, I received a call from OCBC saying that I am shortlisted for their interview. I was really happy because this scholarship worth RM10000 per annum, which is the one that offer the highest amount among all the scholarships I applied.

Venue: 4th floor, Wisma Lee Rubber, Masjid Jamek, KL

They did not send any email as with other scholarships and can only be contacted through phone. Hence, please take down the name of the caller and their number in case you need to ask anything later.

The venue is quite easy to reach, you just need to take the LRT to Masjid Jamek and when you alight, it is just in front of you and within a walking distance.

Since I am from Klang Valley, I am not able to claim the allowance.

When I enter the interview room, I saw 6-7 interviewers. Yes! 6-7 humans. This is the most number of interviewers that I have ever encountered in a scholarship interview. I am shock but try remains calm. Is it because they give RM10k per annum that they need 6-7 people to check and examine you?

Questions:

Introduce yourself.

Why you choose this course?

What would you like to do after you graduate?

Are you afraid of the future?

What do you think about the animal testing issues (current issues that are related to your course)?

And other similar questions from other scholarship interviews.

Which Scholarships To Apply?

If you have decided that you would like to apply for a scholarship then you will need to start by finding one. You will also need to apply early because you do not want to be rushed and pressured to get your application in on time. If you have really good grades and you have been able to maintain them for most of your academic career then you will want to look for academic scholarships. But, if you are really good in sports then this is where you may want to focus your attention and you will want to conduct a search for these types of scholarships. Just take your time. You will find a large list of different scholarships online, at your local library or even from yours school counselor. However, they may not know about all of them so it does not hurt for you to do some of the researching on your own. 

Take some time and really think about your positive qualities. What are you good at? What do people like about you? Do you have any experience or hobbies that make you special or help you stand out from others? What makes you the best person for the scholarship that you are looking at? If you are able to write these things down then you will be more prepared for the entire process when you are ready to start applying and completing applications. It is always best to brainstorm anyways because you will not feel stuck the further along you get. 

Once you have your large list of available scholarships you will need to get ready to apply. You should never ever start this process without taking your time and reading through all of the qualifications and directions very carefully. You may also find a large amount of small print on the pages and you must be sure that you are reading that as well. 

Something that you should look for when it comes to reading the application is to search for anything that says if you will be given special consideration for any work that you have completed in the past. For example, if you volunteered you may be able to write an essay about that and it can really improve your chances of getting the scholarship over those individuals that did not volunteer and that do not have any experience. Always look for different ideas like this in the directions. 

Many of the scholarships that you find and that you will be applying for are going to require you to apply in the form of an essay. Always have someone read through what you have prepared to ensure that the questions were answered completely and that your spelling and grammar is correct. You will make a very poor impression if you do not do this and your essays are incomplete. 

As you can see, it can be very easy to apply for scholarships as long as you are taking your time. You may be a little bit concerned about this in the beginning but the more scholarships that you apply for the more you will be learning. It becomes easier the more that you do it and you will find that you will be more relaxed as time goes by. 

You never want to let your nerves get the better of you and you should never give up just because you are unsure about something. What you need to remember is that in many cases you may never meet the individuals that are giving you the grant. So, you should just try to relax and put in your best effort. If you do not succeed then no one needs to know. You can just apply for the next one and try even harder. Always try to find out why you did not get the scholarship because this can really help you determine what you may be able to do differently on the next one that you apply for. You can learn from your mistakes and that can really help you in the future if you are willing to turn a negative into a positive when it comes to your college career and your life goals. 

Copyright (c) 2012 Alex Yew

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/education/article_2538.shtml

JPA Interview Experience

Hello! I just went for the JPA scholarship interview just now at Putrajaya. My interview started at 8.00 am...*yawn*...I do not know which floor or room it is. They only write there Putrajaya. So, when I reach there, I just follow the crowd or other candidates into the lift. And there....I reached my destination.
First, I have to find my panel 12 and then report to the clerk there. Actually, I am the 5th interviewee but the clerk thought that the 4th person didn't come. So, the clerk gave me pin number 4 instead. Since there is a lack of a person, the clerk asked another person from different session to fill in the empty space. Later on, the 4th person came, and took the number 6 pin. So, there was a total of 6 interviewees! (other rooms only got 5 but 3 interviewers)
At 8.10am, we queue up and the 1st person knock the door...Knock..Knock...Then we go inside. I wanted to ask whether we can sit or not, but the Chinese girl beside me, Adlyn already asked. Well, good! This is what you should do for interview! Oh ya! Remember to say "Good morning". There are 2 interviewer (1 Indian woman-A & 1 Malay woman-B....they didn't introduce themself at all). Ok, this is the conversation, I didn't record it, but I can roughly remember it:
A: Baiklah, kita mulakan dengan sesi pengenalan diri dulu. Sila gunakan Bahasa Malaysia kerana kita hendak menguji kemahiran berbahasa anda. Tolong beritahu
1) Nama
2) Sekolah
3) Pekerjaan ibu bapa dan gaji
4) Kursus yang dipilih & Pengkhususan
5) Anak yang keberapa daripada berapa orang adik-beradik
(They got give you paper to jot down anything & please bring your own pen)
And so, after I copied down only the others start to copy also...the 3rd boy beside me..arghhhh...copying what I wrote...some more can ask me, what word is that on my paper?...*sigh*...The 6th boy even asked the interviewer to repeat...

For the 1st boy:
Q: Kursus apa yang awak pilih?
A: Engineering
Q: Khusus dalam?
A: Mechanical engineering
Q: Mengapa pilih kursus ini?
A: Erm...Sebab saya nak buat ...first degree..what do we call first degree in BM?? (he's asking the girl beside him...no answer..). Sorry, can I speak in English??
Q: Tak boleh : ( ....
A: Ok...(Then he speak...mix a lot in English)

That is roughly how it is. Then they will shoot you a lot of tough questions and make you stutter. The introduction part already took more than 1 hour. So, the discussion in English is really short and crisp because it has been passed 9.00 am.

The question for the English discussion is: What is the current thing that affects you and why? (all of the interviewees were copying the question except me..and again someone asked the interviewer to repeat..). All of them were given 1 minute to think, except me! You know why??
I was told by A that I will be given another question...WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY am I so UNLUCKY???? Why didn't she tell me the question first before reading the question to others???? Haih......A even created the question for me herself instead of reading it from the list of questions..........

Well my question was regarding law since I chose law.
Q: I am sure you would have heard of block out cases right? This issue was raised up last year too. So, can you tell me what you think about this issue?
A: ......( I don't know what is that..and I have never heard of it before in my life...) Erm...what is block out cases? (embarassing...)

So, you better be prepared! It is not always that you will be given time to think your answers!
By the way, if you are really interested to know how is the interivew, I would tell you that you will be sitting on the chairs in a row with others closely ( not much space in between, like in cinema). The interviewers will have a table in front of them, around 5 feet from you. The room is really very very cold until I am shivering throughout the interview!! And they cannot make the room less cooler because they said it is a centralised system...So, that is roughly how it is.

How to Prepare for Scholarship Interview

Getting a scholarship is extremely important at this juncture, for your future...Well, let's not waste time. Here are my advise:

1) Prepare all your documents. Check the checklist which are usually provided in the scholarship form. Put them properly into the certificate folder.

2) Get your documents certified (if needed). You can always go back to your secondary school to get the headmaster or Guru Penolong Kanan (GPK) who are eligible to certify. Normally, your teachers will direct you to the right person who are capable to certify..don't worry too much about that.

3) Get your necessary forms printed at least 2 days earlier. You know, whenever we want to print something really important, the printer will be broken down or gives you all kinds of technical problems. The earlier you prepare, the better!

4) This might sounds lame..but, I still got to say it : Just be yourself!
If you want to cry or gossip or anything, just go ahead..I cried during a scholarship interview because I talked about how my dad worked really hard to support the family ( I followed my dad to work and  I know exactly how tiring it was). Plus, I also talked about how I used to laze around and chit chat when I was working as a part time promoter...seriously..thinking back, I wondered how could I talked about such things in front of 4 strangers...but the interviewers are seriously good in digging info from me (they are really nice to me and talked to me like good friends)...but the thing is, I got hold of the scholarship that I really wanted and I'm really satisfied after the interview (probably because I've never been more spontaneous than ever?)

5) I thought this might be common sense but some people might have extraordinary common sense...Please wear appropriately. Usually it'll be formal if the dress code is not mentioned. To be safe, baju kurung is the universal dress in Malaysia!

6) Check for the interview venue. Please back up with some public transport alternatives! Seriously, when my friend went for an interview, the KTM station was down...and her boyfriend had to depend on the GPS to bring her there...I really felt pity for the guy who had to drive all the way to an alien location with just the help of the unreliable small talking device.

7) Please arrive at the office at least 30 minutes earlier! I used to be late for an interview just because the KTM's departure was delayed!!! Luckily, I managed to go for the next session, but I'll have to wait for 2 hour...:(

8) It's perfectly fine to make a copy of a document that you are unsure whether it's needed or not. Some words are quite ambiguous that made you to mistaken that you may not need the document. But, if the document is really important and it doesn't make sense not to bring it, please, by all means, bring a copy of it. Or else, you'll end up like me, spending 50 cent just to photostat my 1 page result slip at that complex!

All my mistakes were made when I went for interviews after my Form 5 (still fresh that time)...After Form 6, I never make such mistakes anymore...:)

GOOD LUCK!!!