Wednesday 18 January 2012

The MARA Interview

When my life course changed

Adapted from ReCom.
A few days before interview [on Fri, 6 May 2005]. Thanks to mediator and bittersweetheart.

For MARA interview:
  • No group interview (unlike JPA).
  • No specific group debate/discussion on a current social/economic issue. May have a general question on a social issue.
  • Find info related to the course; e.g. Minister of Health Malaysia
  • Prepare to answer honestly why MARA instead of JPA, why overseas/local, why Medicine. May need to unveil some personal life principles.
  • Be myself.
  • Relax! Just have a healthy, but not excessive dose of anxiety.
My personal thought: JPA and MARA interviews are very different in terms of time, place, format, and process (MARA questions were also scarcer on ReCom).


On the day of interview:
Just went to MARA in Kota Kinabalu.
Each applicant is interviewed by 2-3 panel members.
I applied for Medicine; 7/38 Sabahan applicants went for this course (18%). Others applied for TESL, Engineering, German Engineering.
Some of the questions:
  1. What course are you applying for?
  2. Where do you want to study?
  3. Tell us about yourself and your family.
  4. Why do you want to be a medical doctor?
  5. Situational question: I am in medical school, I have 3 assignments and 1 week to complete them. What will I do?
  6. Tell us about your co-curricular activities.
  7. Do you have any questions for us?
It took 20-25 minutes.

In my next post, I'll tell you how I responded to those questions.
Meanwhile, let's contemplate God's unforeseen blessing in the form of ReCom - that forum revealed the questions way before the actual interview. Thank God for such a useful tool.

1 comment:

Farzan said...

that was a long time ago...somehow things seems a bit different nowadays