Are You Open?

I went for the EMA scholarship interview yesterday and it was a complete disaster.

So, I woke up early in the morning, 7.30 to be exact (I usually wake up at around 10, and so to me 7.30 is extremely early), to prepare myself for the interview. Had breakfast with my parent before they fetch me to the custom. There were not a lot of people at the custom, thank god, and I was able to pass the custom and Singapore immigration swiftly, without having to wait.

The place of the interview is at Somerset. Originally, I intended to take a Taxi, but after some google search, I realised that the building is just right next to the Somerset MRT station, and in an attempt to save precious money, I decided to take MRT instead. The journey from Kranji to Somerset took around 40 minutes, and I manage to arrive at the place just on time, 11am, which is SUPPOSEDLY the time for my interview. While I was sitting on the MRT, I realised from the MRT map hung on the wall that there is now a new yellow line added to the map. I did not manage to get a closer look at the picture, but I guess that it is the line that would pass through our school. Correct me if I am wrong.

Back to the interview, it turned up that the interviews before me started late and there were still 2 more person in front of me in the waiting area, waiting for their turns to be interviewed. After a routine check of my IC and academic certificates, I was told by a lady to wait at the waiting area for my turn. I waited, waited and waited, guess what time was my interview, 12.30pm. I was starving at that time, for I only ate a little bit before I came to Singapore.

Inside the room, there were two ladies, one Indian and one Chinese. I stumbled quite a lot during the interview and sometimes I just cannot find the exact word to express myself. The interviewer even said that I speak English very well, as I just told her that I have never speak English before I came to Singapore and that I came from a Mandarin-speaking family, but I believe that she was just trying to make me feel better, how nice of her, I must say. Anyway, the main reason I think that I screwed up the interview was not due to my inability to speak fluently, but the fact that they are NOT looking for a Chemistry graduate. Why the hell would they shortlist me in the first place if they do not want a Chemistry graduate? I applied for the scholarship because the website clearly stated that they accept ALL courses, except Medicine, Dentistry and Law. And so, I have prepared certain answers, especially to those like how can you contribute to the organisation, with the basic idea that my scientific knowledge and passion for research would benefit the organisation. What a waste of my time, waking up so early and waiting for so long for the stupid interview. They even asked me if I am open to the other courses like Engineering and Economics. Engineering? Did they even look at my application form that I did not take H2 physics? Economics? Please, it would be a surprise of a century if I choose to study a non-science degree.

Well, with all that in mind, I have list down there reasons why I would definitely fail the interview.

1. I am not Singapore Citizen and PR.
2. I was nervous during the interview and I stumbled a lot.
3. I applied for a course in Chemistry.

I was quite pissed after the interview and I decided to go back Malaysia straight away, without filling my empty stomach.

And so that was my first experience of a scholarship interview. It went pretty bad, in my opinion, and I am quite confident that they will not call me down for a second round of interview.

I hope that my subsequent interviews, if there are any, will be better.