a mini guide to choose university

p.s: this is only my opinion based on the experience that i had, the rest of the decision is up to you, i m only trying to help you to make your decision. a lot of ppl asked me why i want to make this, it is mainly because i dont want you to make the same mistakes that i did. to be honest, joining monash is something that i regret and i'll tell you why later. i know its a long and probably a boring post, but it is very important for u guys to read it, so just spend some times to read it and i think its worth it rather than u spend 4 years in a miserable uni life.

so a lot of my juniors from high school and some are just my friends asked me about how do we choose a good university or college or post graduate overseas - probably weeks ago. it's not that i i dun wanna help you, i was busy with my assignment back then, so i hope this will help you guys to figure yourselves out.

here are some factors to help you to choose a university, with some few examples from my experience:

1. know what you want
today, there are a lot of major and wide areas of study that you can choose, almost are all available. from mechanical engineering (if you like to modify and create a new design of car), fashion design, and even service industry entrepreneurship. it is best if you can be specific about the major that you want to take.
for example: instead of marketing, try entertainment marketing. instead of tourism, try tourism entrepreneurship. instead of engineering, try mechanical engineering. tell your education agency about your specific wants. search it yourself on the internet to double check!!
this is something that i regretted a lot because i never know that entertainment marketing is a major, instead i only said business and they got me monash. so dont make the same mistake!
sometimes people think on how do i know what i want to study. well.. it is easy for me, what do you like to do the most? what is your talent according to you? if you think you are good at speaking, u might want to consider something in communication area. if you think you re good at writing, u might want to try journalism. if you think you re a hardcore gamer, you can try gaming design. as i said, there are a lot of major to choose.



2. know where u wanna go
one of your major decisions that u have to make. think about the geographical area that you are about to go, and how different the culture might impact you and your lifestyle. here's some examples:

case 1.
i chose malaysia because i always thought malaysia offer me with a lot of benefits, there's not much cultural difference, but it is far more open to foreign culture than indonesia. it is also really good coz i met a lot of great friends there and i really miss it there. another stuff is that malaysia is not really expensive compared to singapore, US and australia - 3 of the most countries chosen by my friends to study. the food are most likely the same with indonesian food and its vary more.

case 2.
i moved to melbourne because i want to see how does it feel to study in australia, and i never regretted it. i met a lot of smart people who always aim high and inspire me to do the same, i can show you how my grades are different in malaysia and in melbourne. other things are that in melbourne, i find that the culture is a lot different and i really like open culture because i am skeptical and free thinker. and lastly, the standard of marking is totally different. in malaysia, definition is very important, while in australia, examples and application will guarantee high marks. in melbourne, u'll feel that it is very indonesian. there are a lot of indonesian students and there are a lot of indonesian food so u wont miss home a lot, BUT its not the same if you go to brisbane or perth

case 3.
some of my friends are studying in singapore and i will not recommend you to go there if you re the type of person who cant stand competition. besides, its not my fav country in terms of culture. but i do believe that singapore is a good place to study just that sometimes stress can be very tough to handle.

now from 3 cases above, i hope u can think of the country that u want to go.. anywhere is possible, my advise: try to go to the country that has less indonesian to practice better on how to start a living.. it is really cool.


3. desired major or big names?
here's some mistakes that a lot of people always make. we always choose big names over desired major. and frankly i always think thats wrong. i hate it when people said "i heard monash is good" or "i never heard of QUT before" or stuff. and i do feel the pressure that sometimes parents (or friends of parents) want their children to get a good degree. but here's what i think, i think what matters most is that u can get the degree that you want rather than unwanted degree under big names. hell with big names. hell with what people think of a university. if you can get what you want, why not? you choose what you want. not them!! and u deserve something special! and here's my case with monash. people think monash is good and some people think that everythin in monash is good. for example, i know that monash is good with engineering, but i dunno about art. so dont just choose monash because of their big names! try other uni! and in my opinion, i do think sometimes big name is not equals to good teaching program. big names equals to high standard of marking.
example: i have this lecturer, lets call her mrs.black (no, its not racist at all =p). she is a lecturer for my third year unit. and to be honest, i dont think she is a good lecturer. i mean.. she doesnt even know how to teach. but hell, her marking is very strict. i failed my final exam because when i look at my exam she said "ok u lose marks on this this and this" and i was like.. "wtf black, u cant teach properly and yet u give this high standard of marking? i think i can even teach u how to teach"
and thats my case with some lecturers and it happens a lot! so really consider this: is big name really important? is big name equal to high standard of teaching?


4. dont let agents tell you what to do. you tell em what to do!!
now this is really important: agent!! i know how agents work, so dont let em fool you, i said this as a guy who dont trust agents a lot. sometimes agents will come and say this: what major do you want, and when u say "business in australia" and they'll simply say monash, rmit, bla bla bla. why dont they say something about QUT or Griffiths? coz they got higher fee from certain universities. and they usually say this: we know that monash is excellent in this area bla bla bla. now ask them this: "are you saying this as a marketing agent or are you saying this as a former student?"
here's my case with agency:
so when i chose to study in malaysia to study business, the agent only said "ok we'll handle it" now that sentence is really good to hear, coz u dont have to handle anything. and frankly i really didnt handle anythin. all i knew is that im going to malaysia, sunway to study business. i didnt even know which uni until i got there. i thought that was nice, i didnt do any works, they did all the works and we didnt pay anything. and i realized it now that agents are evil, they didnt care about us actually. they only care about getting u to an education, they didnt ask u what you really want, but me, i care a lot about what you wanna do. and thats why i made this blog to let you know what i want you guys to know. so remember, dont let em tell u what to do, you tell em what u want!! and let em do it good!!


5. know your limit
here's the mini cherry on the top of sundae. know your limit. as i said before, big name sometimes equals to higher standard of marking not teaching. so know your limit. if you dont think that u can join monash, then join other uni. dont force yourself or u'll ended up struggling not to get good marks, but struggling to pass. remember that u can get higher education not only in a good uni like monash, mel-u, or unsw. u can also get good education in deakin or rmit. trust me there are a lot of decent uni out there. the level of education is high now.


now thats all the factors that i can think about as in for now. u know i really appreciate it if you guys can spread this to all your friends looking for higher education now. i hope it really helps u guys and i appreciate feedbacks and comments. and i always like to say this:

we deserve more, so we need to know more.



hope it helps u guys and ur frens.. cheers!!

live your life to the fullest!!

now here's a topic that bothers me all week... a friend of me asked me this during a conversation on facebook:

mr.h: hey u know what, i ve been thinking. i want to bet very successful by studying engineering, i want to be a very famous engineer someday
w: yea? how r u gonna do that?
mr.h: well.. i'll concentrate on my study. i'll stop playing around. i'm 20 now. time to get serious.
w: wow.. yea? and u like it like that?
mr. h: no.. but i think i can focus on my goal by doin that
w: live your life buddy.
mr.h: what do u mean live ur life? i want to contribute sumthin to the world here. i want to be known for somethin when i died. and thats life is all about to live for.
w: do u have any frens other than me?
mr.h: well no.. i mean.. i came here (Vancouver) to study. i dun need friends as in for now.
w: uh uh.. i dont think thats a good idea about how u "live ur life"
mr.h: and i suppose u have a point?
w: well yea.. i have my own point on how i live my life... and here's how

u see.. live is about something.. being famous, getting ur goals achieved, fulfill your dreams. but u do have to remember. there's so much that life has to offer. i'll tell u a story and i heard this from someone that has been an inspiration for me. but its my version tho. this story came from turkey.

a man is in seek for the meaning of life, and one day he asked to the wiseman about how do u live ur life. and the wiseman simply said "okay.. meet me tomoro at the bar and bring a spoon and a bottle of honey". and this man thinks "wow this guy is a freak.. honey and spoon..? god i hope not what im thinkin".
and the next day, he meets the wiseman at the bar with a spoon and a bottle of honey. and the wiseman said "now fill the spoon with honey and bring this to my place as fast as u can without dropping any of the honey". and fyi, the wiseman lives really far away, but the man thinks he can do it fast.. lets do it fast! so the man brings the spoon to the wiseman REALLY FAST without dropping any of the honey. and he asked "hey wiseman. i did it really fast right? and i suppose i get my reward?" and the wiseman replied "ok.. now.. did u see the statute of liberty during ur way here? did u see the amazing magician performing right at the corner of the street? did u see the cute dogs when u passed the park? and did u see the hot girls opened the door to my house for u?" the man said no and said "i was focusing on the spoon and honey here so they didnt drop"
heres the conclusion, men always race with time, they scared that they wont have enough time on their life to fulfill their dreams (which is why MLM is really popular) and that makes people tend to only focus on what they after as fast as they can. but when u focus on your goals too much, u missed on so many beautiful points of life that happens around u. u live ur life to the fullest when u keep the balance between ur goals to bring the honey to the wiseman, but take some time to look at the statute of liberty, see the amazing magician, adore the cute dogs, and nail the chick in wiseman's house.
the point is, the balance achieving your goals and take whatever the world offers u, is what i meant by living my life. no matter how long it takes to achieve ur dreams, coz thats how long we want to live our life ;)



at least... thats what im doing now.. patience will pay off.. cheers!!

boys are boys

i was having some coffee and cakes in starbucks with the gang feat. sophie (her name is selvia but she wants us to call her sophie??). and we were having this conversation about how girls can so easily get big headed everytime guys act nice to them. so this case happened to my fren here, lets call him mr. x.
so mr.x is a very nice guy and he even acts, well... nicer to girls, which i considered as gentleman! and girls are like.. "wow this guy likes me.." and their head get bigger..
so we asked sophie about this and she said:

w: so we think, girls are ridiculous if they think so, it is reasonable but still.. their sensitivity drives me crazy sometimes. they started to think i like em.

s: well yea.. but i dont think so.. i think its normal for a guy to act nice.. maybe u guys re the one who get the wrong perception

w: really?

s: yea.. for sure.. i feel normal

w: uh-huh.. so when a guy acts really nice.. u will be like.. nothing at all?

s: yeap

w: well are you really a girl?

s: wtf?? of course i am... well its really normal.. say if u are the one who.. lets say a girl act really nice with you.. what do you think?

w: well...

s: you think she likes you?

w: no

s: see.. its actually...

w: i think it's because i'm cool

s: ....
(the gang laughs with thumbs up)

s: i find it really dificult to communicate with you guys..


--

i miss my malaysian club life

so i m sitting here listening to some songs that i want to prepare for tomorrow as me and my friends are going to lake entrance. i open my ipod and there's a playlist named "my fav club songs" and i sort it by my rating.. as i listen to this, my memory goes back to the time when i used to go club in malaysia. it was really happening, really fun, really hot n sexy, really ME!!
alcohol, great musics, friends and some random hotties and cinko around.. i really miss it.. dont even try to compare it with the clubs here. i went to club here like 3 times and only 1 club so far that i will rate as "decent". the rest... omg kill me now...