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!!