MJHEP SCHOLARSHIP INTERVIEW EXPERIENCES AND QUESTIONS 2016

Hi welcome to my blog! I’m pretty sure those who are reading this right now are SPM leavers looking for scholarships,  applying for scholarships, want to apply for scholarships but are unsure of where and how to start.Those of you who have applied for scholarships and landed yourselves an interview, well congratulations! I know it’s not an easy process having gone through the same thing  too, obviously. For those who are still in the murk, unsure of what to do after SPM, here is a website that I think can be quite useful for further references and guidance.  https://eduadvisor.my/

   So, today I feel like doing something productive in conjunction with the 4 days holidays . God bless the Sultan and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad . Not counting the all day long driving class, I know I started late compared to most of my peers and regretting it too, being in the same class with juniors. I was so sleepy and almost nodded off to sleep when the instructor pointed out to me and asked me the sequence of the traffic light and I, confidently answered "GREEN LIGHT AT THE TOP AND RED LIGHT AT BOTTOM SIR! RED LIGHT MEANS STOP! " *cringe* oh god couldn’t have been more embarrassing.

     Anyway, I’m going to share a bit on my experience on applying and attending the interview for MJHEP Scholarship under Yayasan Pelajaran Mara.
Undeniably, results are important to land an interview and scholarships but once you’re in the interview room, those A’s don’t matter anymore. Voicing out your opinion and stance with great confidence and eloquent spoken English are actually the main thing interviewers judge you for. Because that’s what differentiates you and makes you stand out from others. So don’t be too confident with your results and look down on people who might have lower results than you because they might end up being the one chosen for the scholarship.Most of the interviews that I attended were conducted in English, well all of them actually. None of them were in Malay accept for during reception and registering maybe haha so my advice to you adik-adik yg tgh mereput takde nak buat apa skrg ni, baik practice your English with your family, friends, speak in front of the mirror ke, anything that can help you in the interview room later.Seriously, do something today that your future self will thank you for later. Don’t waste your time.

So, the very first interview that I went for was the MJHEP scholarship. What is MJHEP? It’s Malaysia Japan Higher Education Programme under Yayasan Pelajaran Mara for Bumiputera students only. It is a full scholarship for eligible students who are interested in furthering their studies in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering in Japan. You will do preparation for 3 years in Malaysia and 2 years of degree studies in Japan. The scholarship has no bond whatsoever like most other scholarships out there. Which means you can choose to stay in Japan and work there or work at any company you'd like to after you've graduated or if you want to further your studies, MJHEP students can apply scholarships for Masters and PhD under Yayasan Pelajaran Mara. Other students can apply too but we're given the first priority. I repeat it is a FULL  SCHOLARSHIP, books, hostel, classes, lectures, everything is free. And you even get a handsome monthly allowance.The application opened sometime in November after the trial results came out. I didn’t even know the program existed, I’ve never heard of neither MJHEP  nor YPM. I didn’t know anything until sometime on January Mama told me that I was called to an interview at the end of the month. Honestly, I didn’t even know what electrical engineers did at that time and I was like okay I’ll try the interview and maybe gain some valuable experience that I can use if I’m called for other scholarships.
 Hence, a week before that, I did rigorous research on MJHEP,YPM,Japan, electrical engineering and anything related to engineering. Another side note, you need , no, you MUST do a thorough research on the company, scholarship, courses  you’re applying for, the board of committee and current issues. Because you can never guess the questions coming your way. Surely they would want to test your general knowledge not memorised, scripted answers  like memorising answer schemes during our spm days(uhuk uhuk) . I also read seniors’ experiences like you’re doing right now and based on their blogs, the batch before me had to sit for add maths and physics tests. But luckily during my time we didn’t have to, we just went straight into the interview room. So on the day of interview, I was listed for the evening session.I heard from my cousin who went to the morning session that they had to do a debate session on general issues and I was like oh nooo I’ve never tried debating before. My jitters started to get the better of me and I felt like throwing up. But knowing that my parents believed and relied on me , and I’ve done more than enough research on almost anything so I calmed down a bit. But when I arrived at the hotel, I felt discouraged looking at the other applicants who were mostly from SBP and MRSM, most of them talking in fluent English with each other. Some of them looked down on me when I told them I was from a daily school .I went to a daily school by the way. JESSIANS all the way! If you’re from SMK Jalan Empat,  hi :)  I was in 5 Ibnu Sina  . Good luck and go kick ass! Proof those  MRSM and SBP kids that daily school peeps can do equally or even better than most of them! I'm not being  school-cist okay. Haha chill. Most of my best friends are from SBP and MRSM so yeah , no hard feelings. 
Okay, back to main topic, remember to wear something formal and COMFORTABLE hahah mashaAllah I wore shawl for the first time on that day and I didn’t  know how to lilit the shawl. Sekali time interview, tak habis2 kena selak blkg bahu as it kept getting into my face , so unfortunate. Nasib the judges tak perasan sgt. But as a whole,for girls,  it's okay if you wear baju kurung instead of suits and blazers and for boys, obviously you have no other choice than the usual shirt,tie and blazers( optional). Just try not to wear any striking or intimidating colours.
So, we were divided into groups of 6 according to our names(alphabetical order) , so you’re unfortunate if your name starts with an A, like me .There were 3 boys and 3 girls. We first had to introduce ourselves for 1 and a half minute. Maybe you can prepare a script or something so you can fully maximise the time and hopefully impress the judges. Just tell them your background, school involvements, achievements, hobby, ambitions, why you want to go to Japan, why engineering and maybe add a little Japanese greetings like ohayou gozaimasu , watashiwa (name) desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, if you’re in the morning session and konnichiwa! If you’re in the evening  session. The judge was impressed when I did that, he even asked me if I knew Japanese. Padahal time tu hentam je.  Anyway, our topic was Nuclear in Malaysia, something like that.  And alhamdulillah I knew a little bit about the development of nuclear energy in Malaysia but was unluckily chosen as the 3^rd debater urgh so much for first time. We were given 10 minutes to discuss with our team mates. During this session, try to show your leadership and teamwork skills because the judges will be watching you.  After the debate was done, the interview ended. It took about 40 minutes.  I thought that if we passed the interview then we are accepted into MJHEP like the previous batch, but this year, we had to go for a second interview. Usually, after 1^st interview they’ll call for successful students untuk pergi SLKJ , an intensive Japanese language program. 
Fortunately, on the second interview, we didn’t have to do a debate. But it was tougher. We were put into groups of four. And all of my group mates were either head boy, head prefect, head something, prefects, and then there’s me. The judges were even tougher, there was someone from the ministry, YPM , and Azraai Sensei! My chemistry lecturer now!  They asked us to introduce ourselves ,questions on engineering, my thoughts on Japan and finally Azraai Sensei asked about complete combustion. It was so unexpected. Tiba2 blur and lupa apa yg belajar time chem dulu. I know, I know.You might be thinking "laaa senang je tu " 🙄 tapi honestly ,time tu dgn nervous nya, mmg blur habis cuba ingat balik what I learnt time spm dulu. Then the guy next to me jawab and his answer was right so I quickly quoted his answer and tambah2 sikit.  Another important note, for the upcoming years' interviews I was informed that the panels will be from the YPM board so of course some of the questions will be politic-related. So I suggest for you to be ready with these kinds of questions:
1)  1MDB, TN50 and recent  issues in our country( in this case, obviously jgn jawab ikut perasaan, they just want to make sure  that you're aware of the political issues in Malaysia. What is 1MDB etc.) 
2)  Who is the pengarah of MARA, and MARA is under what kementerian.
3) What will be your contribution to the country after you graduate?
4) Why do you want to be an engineer?
5) Why should we choose you?
6) Recent technological development ( hybrid cars, nuclear , robot , shinkansen and trains etc.)
7) Apakah perbezaan antara adil dan sama rata?
8) Bekerja di luar negara atau di dalam negara? Bahaskan. 
9) Kereta buatan Malaysia atau kereta buatan Jepun? Bahaskan 
10) Physics and chemistry questions.
I forgot to mention lepas masuk bilik and bagi your file of certs to the judges, jangan duduk selagi they haven’t given you permission to sit! Hahahah I completely forgot the manner and dgn selambanya duduk while the other 3 students remained standing. Nasib judges mcm tak perasan sgt or maybe they did huh , apa2 pun mind your manners when you’re in the interview room tak kisah any interviews pun. After the interview , for Muslims, redha and banyak berdoa to Allah supaya lembutkan hati judges because they’re humans too ya know. If you’re accepted Alhamdulillah , if not, worry not, there are many other scholarships and opportunities out there! A friend of mine didn't get MJHEP but instead he landed himself the prestigious Petronas Scholarship. He’s doing Alevels at KYUEM right now. Seriously, he’s a prime example of never giving up.Sugoii Anas san!

 As you can guess , I got accepted for the scholarship after battling the 2 interviews. According to the director of MJHEP,  around 8000+ people applied for the scholarship and only 300+ were called for the 2^nd interview and 150 people were finalised for the scholarship. All praise to Allah. Truly, nothing worth comes easy. I hope to see you guys in the upcoming years or maybe in Japan later as your senpai, inshaAllah. Good luck :)