JPA MARA Scholarship

First things first, before you want to make any scholarship applications you really have to know yourself. What does it mean to know yourself? Well, knowing yourself means you have to decide on what you love to do, what do you want to be in the future, what is your planning for your studies and career 5 to 10 years from now. Because by deciding the answers all of the questions stated above, it will ease the whole process for you.

I applied for JPA-MARA Sponsorship when it was first opened which was on 9th of March 2020 because you do not want to miss any of the opportunities since the application period is only until 18th of March. I applied using my SPM Results. As a heads up, this is not a scholarship where you will be fully funded by the company. This is a convertible loan that will assist you financially throughout your studies. To make it simple, the more excellent your final result is, the less you need to pay back to the company. Under JPA-MARA Scholarship, there are 7 different types of programmes for you to choose. Hence, in my case I chose to further my studies at New Zealand in the field of economics.

Few weeks or so after I sent my application, I received an email from the company stating that I am qualified to go through an interview session or also known as Student Assessment Centre (SAC). You will have to complete and fulfil 3 major things required including Psychometric Test, a 2 minutes video of you talking basically about your personal and education background. And the last thing is to undergo the online interview session individually as well as in groups.

As for my experience regarding the interview session, my advice is to always read about what is going on in the world. The world does not only revolve around academics and stuff. Because the interviewer might ask you about the current global issues and also issues that are happening in your own country, Malaysia. Also, if the session requires you to speak either in Bahasa Melayu or English. Do speak only using the language stated formally and try not to mix the languages up because your marks may be deducted by doing so.

During the individual session, please speak up as much as you want but not too long nor too short. Use all your knowledges to answer the question given and state pure facts while explaining it. It will attract other people's attention and leave a great impression. While during the grouping session, bear in mind that you have to be considerate about other people too. Do not be selfish and never interrupt other candidates while they are talking. It will only leaves you a bad impression since you have to show the value of working in teams.

I know this may sounds hard or impossible, but try to reduce your nervousness when doing the assessment. You do not want all your preparations before the assessment go into waste just because you are nervous during that particular session. Again, do some research about why you chose that field, the country you want to go, you ambition, especially about the company that you are applying for.

Overall, If you are reading this and are still in high school, do your utter best in academic and most importantly, in gaining extraordinary inspiring experiences. Always strive for the best wherever life put you into. Wish you all the best! :)