exaggeration and tall tales galore

Thursday, January 10, 2008

tranquil state

ok. baiklah.

i received my notification of rejection from cambridge the day before yesterday. and of course, it sucked. but in a way, it's been good because it's pushed me to make my decision.

it would perhaps be unwise to put down all the stupid things i've felt these past couple days. i am writing this with renewed vigour and enthusiasm, with a tiny bit of reluctance and pasrah-ness thrown in. this post may seem to be an act of trying to regain some sort of composure, or maybe i'm just blowing my own horn, and perhaps it will seem very conceited and ungrateful. but whatever. i'm writing it down with the hopes of easing off the last vestiges of doubt and potential regret.

and nani!you said to make sure i tell you all my offers, yea? this one's for you :)

i applied to Cambridge, LSE, Warwick, Bristol and Bath for the UK. and for Australia, i applied to Melbourne, RMIT, and UNSW. I was rejected by Cambridge and Bath. I have gotten conditional offers from LSE and Bristol. And i've gotten unconditional offers from RMIT and Melbourne. USNW no cerita. and no reply yet from Warwick.

truthfully, aside from cambridge, lse, and melbourne, all the others were to isi tempat on the borang. backup options, however you choose to call it. now that cambridge is out, the toss up is between lse and melbourne. so how goes it?

when i started my a-levels, the plan was for lse. lse all the way,baby. i was going to extract some level revenge on all those places that rejected my scholarship application by getting into lse anyway. isn't it funny?ironic,even? technically, i'm still on the path that can take me to what i vowed to achieve one and a half years ago. if i can get the required grades, i'll be halfway there! but there you have it. i'm taking the other fork in the road and going to melbourne.

trust me, it's not easy giving the idea of lse up. even as i think i've made my decision, second-thoughts intrude on a daily basis. it's lse!for God's sake. i wrote a personal statement for it! i payed bloody application fees! it's freakin' lse!

i know. i know. but i'm sticking by my decision. i tried writing lists of pros and cons for both universities, and for lse, i came up with exactly 2 pros. the first being that i'd be able to get the required UK degree to do my chartered with ICAEW, and the second being that it's somewhat prestigious, which may relate to future employability. how do you place a value on prestige, anyway? i don't know! i don't bloody know.

and melbourne?pros:starts early, cheaper, closer to home, friends going there, somewhat renowned-more so for commerce. is that enough to outweigh it's cons as well as the pros of lse?sometimes i don't think so. sometimes i do.

since i'm going to melbourne, i'll have to rewrite the plans. i won't be able to join the icaew. i'll have to do my CPA. if not maybe i can do my masters first. but hey. maybe i'm not supposed to plan much at the moment. maybe i should just take things as they come. three years from now, maybe i won't even want to do accounting anymore.

remember the part where you're supposed to look for the hikmah whenever God deals you a hand you can't quite comprehend? i'm not looking. i'm just taking a leap of faith with the thought that if this was what God meant me to do, i'm doing it.

so. i will call the lady from the idp centre tomorrow and ask her what to do. and, i'll look up a map of the university. and i'll finish up my mara loan application.

isn't it funny how things always deviate from what you imagined them to be?

my sister gave me the most kickass pep-talk through email. so i'm going to end this post by paraphrasing her words to give myself another pep-talk.

i would have loved cambridge. and i would've loved lse. but i know i'm going to love melbourne too.

haha, i'm being bloody emo, i know. but it's true, ya know. i'm going to embrace every inch of melbourne that i can. and that's the closest thing to a resolution i'm going to make this year. so cheers to that.

12 comments:

Aki said...

If you ask me, I'd jump at LSE. Congrats for the conditional offer =p

But you know yourself better. Good luck.

whilewhiting said...

salam ateqs,

well, its been a while since ive visited your blog, maybe not just yours, everyones else. there're not so much reason left since i am supposed not to be that buzy since im on holiday but yeah,sorry for that :)

but, i dont know why, today i just felt like reading this post.

whatever decisions you're making, He knows best. but on my side, i'm just really really happy on the thought you'll be coming here. you know what, i thought that probably no one i know would come to melbourne, since sal got into curtin, and mai go into monash (but thats one hour from the city).

but there's you then. and thats just great.

and yeah, you'll love melbourne too. :):):)

A said...

aki:grazias, amigo :D

anna:yeah! it will be fantastic to see u nanti,anna!and then we can buat road trip go all the way to curtin to see sal,haha.

it's such a comfort to think i already have a friend there. i will see you in approximately a month and 2 weeks :D tibe2 tak sabar plak :P

aman23 said...

you probably know this already, but I was deciding between a UK or an Australian uni. Although UK unis seem more 'prestigious' by name and nature, but fact of the matter is, it's how you carry yourself when you graduate that will determine your employability, not the degree. Plus, the 10 months of waiting, I think my brain will probably be that of a retard by then. I did the same thing, weighed out the pros and cons, and I figured (in my case) that waiting 10 months just to go away from ain't worth it.

hence, the Australian uni was my choice. InsyaAllah, can get in, and hopefully, my dad terbuka hati nak kasi I buat twinning :p

A said...

very nicely put,aman. uv obviously weighed out ur options thoroughly, good on u. so, if u get to do ur twinning, will u be doing it in monash? because monash means u'll come melbourne,yay!tho, as anna puts it, it's an hour from the city :p

best of luck :)

Anonymous said...

it's tough kan? i mean, making decision. yeah, who on earth tak nak masuk lse? talking abt accountant wannabees.

lse used to be in my dreams since the day i decided to take up accounting.
my inspiration. my education getaway.
the only reason why i bear with financial statements. haha.

well, ur buddy's right. belajar mane2 pun sama. the way u carry urself that matters in the end.

have faith and good luck.

Anonymous said...

ah. another more reason for me to go to australia any coming holiday.
really, i cant wait, the whole 5 bakti/amal is there i think.


if you ask me, melbourne is very neat,especially in their reputation. azrieals going there too.besides, its cheaper, in a sense that you wouldnt have to kais pagi makan pagi and kais petang makan petang. limited funds can really, really spoil your motivation. so, yeah, it wouldnt interfere with your studies, that stress of not being able to buy stuff where once you can afford to
. folks are also happier.and its nearer to home and this for me is a big plus point. it gave reasons for THEM to come over, and bukannye kite yang balik.


you'll love melbourne. hip city, sexy slang, kangaroos. personally i think you made the right decision.
and you, coming from a levels, you'll kick everyone's asses there. :)

A said...

fifa:eh!eh!u take accounting as well is it?i didn't know that!!high five,girl! we aspiring accountants must stick together, haha. but yes, thank u, and good luck with financial statements, lol.

nani:naniiiiiii!!!saya sayang awak, God bless you and your rational comments, i could just HUG you right now. in a time of trepidation and doubt over my decision(plus a lot of people may see me a fool to give up lse), you've been a huge boost in spirit and decisiveness.DO come to melbourne,buddy. i mean, just the idea of meeting up with you somewhere outside of malaysia is already exciting. mane main jumpe kat midvalley :p hahahaha

Anonymous said...

hey gurl..i'm not as nani or anna yg way too ahead of me dlm bab2 rational thinking nih. coz aku kan cm tak matang n crazy ngeh3... but bgs la ko g melb. u x haf to worry much bout accom. u can meet azrieal n anna ble bosan2. n yeah...i like the part yg ko and anna nk wat road trip to perth visiting me. (sanggup ke?jauh gle k!!!!) haisy....i guess the 1st place im going to visit kat aus is melb la..so..prepare urself!! lets rock the down under together2 ngan semashurian peeps yg laen! =D

A said...

hahahaha, sal, ko kan dah plan nak datang melbourne bulan 6 nanti, right? and in december, i'll meet up with you in sydney to watch fireworks kat the harbor bridge, yea?;D

Afiqah said...

ateqs!!!
it's really up to you
you know what
before this i have to decidde between Alberta where i have all my friends there(6 of them) or Acadia where i'll be the only malay girl there and the only one for my batch
And i choose Acadia
and it was not easy considering i lost all my bags when i reached there the 1st time(true story)
but i know everything ader "hikmah"
and I'm going there next summer sbb my bro pun kat sana
so it will be fun to meet everyone there

A said...

fiqaaaaaaaah!thanx very much for the comforting words. it really IS up to me.

i can't belive you lost ur bags mase mule2 sampai!that sounds scary. but hey, now uv wisened up due to the experience, yea? :)

so ur going alberta for the summer, is it? sounds like fun! it's cool sbb u have ur brother and so many friends there to see nanti.