Jardine Scholarship Interview 2009 Con’t

I went for a second round of interview in Mandarin Oriental, KL today at 10.05am. Yesterday, I stayed over in Joshua’s because we had some discussion about IYLC and a whole range of other issues. Thank you Joshua for dropping me at Bukit Jalil LRT station. I shall fill your petrol tank full should I make it to the third round in Hong Kong.

Arriving in Mandarin Oriental at 9.30am, I was half an hour early. I thought I would be late because I left Joshua’s slightly late, at around 8.30am.

The public transportation is reliable for once – I got there using the Ampang Line (previously known as STAR Link) and the Kelana Jaya Line (previously known as PUTRA LRT). After a short walk from KLCC Main Entrance, tada I am in Mandarin Oriental.

Commercials: Mandarin Oriental has great service.

(To Mandarin Oriental, just a tip to improve your customer service: Please help a small gentleman like me with a height of 165cm, weight 52kg, to open the large entrance door in future.)

Back to the story, I met a few others who were waiting for their turns. I met Angeline again. During the first round of interview, I met her but I didn’t manage to get her contact.  Everyone was really friendly and I found myself comfortable the very first minute I conversed with them. Hi Shi Yu, Angeline, Jonathan, Jun Kit, Teoh, Ruben, and Vanessa.

Vanessa came all the way from KDU Penang; Jonathan and Teoh came all the way from Singapore – they are ASEAN scholars; and the rest are KL boys and girls.

Fun Facts
A majority of Jardine applicants are applying to Cambridge. In my batch of interviewees, only 3/4 out of 12 are applying to Oxford. (And yes, for the second round of interview, there were only 12 of us from all over Malaysia.)

The interview:

The interview was a one-on-three interview. There were three interviewers on the panel. One is the Chairman of Jardine Malaysia, one is the Secretary of Jardine Foundation, and one is from Hong Kong – a manager I presume.

The Challenge:

I was slightly caught off guard because I forgot to review my personal statement to Jardine the night before. Most of the questions were asked from my personal statement. In future, please read your personal statement or whatever documents you submitted before going into the interview!

I found of one of the questions slightly bizarre. One of the interviewers actually found my English oratory skills to be really good.

The question was: How did you improve your English up to such a level?

I was puzzled at first because personally, I think Jonathan Mah and friends have better English than mine. As a product of the Malaysian education system, I find it really painful to improve my English up to this level.

So I mentioned how I read articles and news, and converse with other English-speaking friends. Thanks for the compliment, Jardine. For that, I am giving you some free advertorial space here.

***Jardine – bringing you forward……… ***

Back to the interview, I got some questions about my family background, my plans after university, and my involvement with the NGOs and clubs I mentioned in my personal statement. (I am currently a member of Omega Leo Club of PJ Integrity.)

One of the interviewers asked me about my cross-country events. (Yes, I did complete a 10km and a 15km run.)  They seemed to enjoy my explanation about my running strategies.

The strategy: Young runners have high recovery rates. If you feel tired, do take a short walk to help your heart and body recover. After about 10 seconds or so, continue running and jogging. This is far more beneficial than jogging at constant pace throughout the entire journey. In short, walk and run rather than jog all the way.

One of the interviewers asked: “How long did you take to complete a 15km run?” I answered, “1 hour 52 minutes”. Then he asked again, “Did you walk all the way?” *you should be able by now to decipher the reason of me mentioning the walk-and-run strategy.*

The KLCC View:

It was exciting being interviewed with the Petronas Twin Towers as the backdrop. I was interviewed in one of the boardrooms on the 24TH FLOOR, facing the Twin Towers!

The Water:

Unlike my Oxford interview in PJ Hilton, where I bought a mineral bottle for RM11, water here in Mandarin Oriental is FREE! Free water after a long interview is good customer service. Another commercial ad for Mandarin Oriental.

The Rest:

I will know during the end of December to see whether I am shortlisted for the final and third round of interview in Hong Kong. By this time, according to a very reliable source Miss K, all shortlisted candidates will already have a conditional offer from their respective colleges.

The interview ended with a really trivial question from me. I was really out of questions when they asked, “Do you have any other questions?”

Dada always say, “Always ask a question when they say,’Do you have any other questions?’ to show that you can ask something sensible. “

So, I asked:

“Will Jardine pay for my airfare to Hong Kong?”

“Yes, Winson. We shall pay your airfare to Hong Kong.” (Dad, am I making you proud?)

And there it was. The interview ended on a funny note. I am not sure whether this will work out well, but all glory goes to God for helping me to make it thus far. Thank you, God.

This post is partially and indirectly brought to you by Jardine:

***Jardine – bringing you forward….. ***

Diari-Diari Motosikal

*Diari-Diari Motosikal is the Malay translation of The Motorcycles Diaries. The movie is generally about Che Guevara’s younger days before he became the prominent Cuban rebel. Similarly, this post is about Winson Lee’s younger days before he becomes a Malaysian r****.

1) Young Writers Camp 2008

By Winson Low (inside joke. No words are mispelled.)

I just came back from Scripture Union’s Young Writers Camp 2008 and it was fabulous!!! Roarrrrrrrrr…… (sorry Jonny, have to copy some style). It was held in Harvest Haven, Gopeng from Nov 29 – Dec 2. Personally, this was one of the best camps I have been to. I went in without any expectations and the camp completely blew me away.

In essence, the campers runs a “media publishing” company, producing newspaper copy every day. Through that, the campers (and writers) are exposed to the real pressures and environment behind a REAL MEDIA PUBLISHING COMPANY.

We had Emily Tan, from financial daily The Edge (she’s my favourite facilitator… Emily, if you are reading this, please give me a job at The Edge due to the massive publicity on this blog – 10 hits per day); Tan May Lee, from MPH Publications (she’s getting married in a month); Yam Phui Yee, from The Star (her parents run a successful wantan mee stall in Penang), and Alvin Ung, an author (also passionately known as The GodFather).

I love the people – Michelle Chun, Natalie Tan, Ron Pererra, and the entire Papyrus team. Apart from Papyrus, there are other newspapers companies such as ToiletPaper (no joke), The Eleventh Hour, and NewsForest (pun for News-For-Us). I am sorry for not leaving my email to everyone. You are encouraged to spam this blog with your addresses and contact numbers, with pleasure.

It is impossible to list all the stuff that we did in this small space. If there is one thing that I would like to remember from this camp for life, that would be genuine friendship. Gosh, this sounds emo but well, the camp was just amazing. It was so amazing to the point that I am willing to be a journalist someday, probably after my university. It changed how I see journalism as a whole. No, guys and girls, journalists are not second-class workers who have nothing better to do! They are a bunch of wackos who has so much fun chasing deadlines and meeting new people.

Imagine flying on a Cathay Pacific for two hours (Emily Tan’s experience) for FREE just for you to write about their first class service. Imagine interviewing a fish breeder (our outdoor assignment) and finding out he is actually breeding on illegal grounds! So fun!!!!

2) Jardine Scholarship 2008/09 Update

I will be attending a second round interview at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, KL on 5th December 2008, Friday for a second-round interview with Jardine Matteson, a company that sponsors dudes to Oxford and Cambridge. (No, this is not a geek’s blog, it is the blog of someone who is truly blessed by God in many ways.)

If I make it through, I will be flown (or flying, depending on who is paying) to Hong Kong for a final interview with the Jardine directors and so on. So, let us just pray that this is what God wants me to pursue.

Else, I shall go and work with The Sun!!! Super fun!

3) International Youth Leadership Conference (IYLC) 2008

I was accepted as a youth delegate for the aforementioned conference in Prague, Czech Republic. This is the acceptance email:

—————————————————————————–

01.12.2008

Dear Winson Weng Hoe,

Congratulations, you have been accepted to attend the 17^th International Youth Leadership Conference in Prague, January 4^th – 9^th, 2009.

As you know, the conference will consist of a number of inter-related activities focusing on leadership skills, including simulations of international organizations that promote peace and broadening social interaction. It is an unparalleled learning cross-cultural experience that you will share with approximately 100 university students from an average of 35 countries. “

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Pretty cool huh?

Conference cost: 980 Euros (exclusive of air tickets and accomodation)

Total cost in RM: RM 10 000 (plus airfare)

How to get the money in one month: I have completely no idea. God help me.

Excitement level: Super fun!

Random Personality of the Day

Michelle Chun, 17, editor of Papyrus – it was really ‘chun’ (pun intended) working with Michelle Chun. The inside joke: In one of my assignments, my byline was ‘Winson Low’ instead of ‘Winson Lee’. The editor has acknowledged her mistake and the issue is considered settled.

Fact of the Day

Chun is an ancient word for measurement. Imagine doing a thumbs-up, one chun is basically the length from the pinky to the top of the thumb. This thumbs-up connotation eventually contributed to the contemporary meaning of ‘chun’ – good/excellent/superb.

Chun-ted!