As a prestige whore1 ,going to prestigous university is one of my goals during the ib2. Why? I’m not really sure but I’ve come to regret many decisions that came with it.

After getting a sponsorship, my dream of studying overseas came true. But I didn’t want to settle there, I tried my best to get into dream universities. I did many things that I’m proud of, but one aspect that I’ve left out was my academic. I wasn’t really studying throughout my ib, I spent most of my time doing “extracurricular” which ended up contributing nothing to my application because my sponsor decided to restrict countries to go including U.S. (I saw someone with the same sponsorship as me but going to U.S. lol).

Finally after 2 semesters, universities application was open, I applied to UC Bekerley, UCLA, University of Manchester, University of Edinburgh, University of Cambridge (im still proud of my 6.2 tmua3), University College London and University of Warwick. I ended up getting rejected from all except from Warwick. Well, I guess I’m going to Warwick, but no.

Warwick requires 39 with 6,6,6 in HL but my dumbass got 37 with 6,6,6 :skull: (of course I was upset, I scored under personal excpectation of 41), and in the effort of reassurancing myself I told myself, “my 6 in math and physics are very close to 7, maybe they will accept me”. Little did I know, on 17th August, it was 3 p.m. when ucas told me my application were unsuccessful. All hope was gone, and there was I (infront of a laptop), a disappointment.

Today, on this very date, 25th August 2023, I’ve decided to fully move on and seriously consider other country options. Initially the U.S. to the U.K. and now surveying Australian universities and among many of them the Australian National University (ANU) attracted me the most. Despite many people says that there are not many Malaysians there and UNSW and Melbourne are better choice for Computer Science anyway, I believe that the opportunies that lies within ANU is beneficial for me that many people dismissed.

Looking back, ib was an utter chaos (atleast for me), I’d rather take A-levels, then I would have more time to spend on my interests (and score better). I cant turn the time back can I? However, writing my EE allowed me to discover and learn mathematical research formal writings and write it myself! Oh gosh, I can’t describe the duality of tiredness and excitement as I wrote my proofs :smiles:. IB also help me to explore more perspective mainly culture and language (even though, I didn’t score well in literature). Welp, I cant vouch much about the ib hahaha but I’d say that its very ‘niche’, I aint doing it again.

So what now? I have another 5 months of staying here and this is where the website comes to place. I had mostly shared my opinion on Whatsapp and Instagram, I acknowledge that these aren’t the proper medium for I to share my thoughts therefore I made this website. We will see how it goes. Within the 5 months period, I may write one to two post(s) every week mainly to sharpen my writing skills.

Thanks for reading everyone!

    [1] prestige whore - This person is an elitist who cares only about how prestigious their jobs and/or college degrees are. They consider people who attend top notch schools that aren't quite "elite" - such as Rice, Northwestern, and Duke - to be pretty dumb. If anyone isn't a doctor, lawyer, investment banker, or prominent politician, then a prestige whore is simply too "elite" to talk to this TTT. [Source]
    [2] ib - The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) is an assessed programme for students aged 16 to 19. It is respected by leading universities across the globe. [Source]
    [3] tmua - The Test of Mathematics for University Admission is designed to give you the opportunity to demonstrate that you have the essential mathematical thinking and reasoning skills needed for a demanding undergraduate Mathematics or Mathematics-related course, such as Computer Science or Economics. [Source]