{"id":310,"date":"2014-10-29T16:01:49","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T08:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theplantcloner.com\/?p=310"},"modified":"2014-10-29T16:01:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T08:01:49","slug":"studying-in-america-a-young-malaysians-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slc4u.org\/wp-new\/2014\/10\/29\/studying-in-america-a-young-malaysians-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Studying in America: a young Malaysian’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although I am very \u201cBritish\u201d in my academic \u201cpedigree\u201d, having spent nearly twelve years studying in the United Kingdom, the most enjoyable teaching experience I encountered as an academic was when I taught American Degree Program (ADP) in different colleges in Malaysia. The breadth of knowledge, relatively flexible learning paths and the communication skills of ADP students were the key influencing factors for me to advise my son, Leland to choose to study in the USA.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leland started to prepare for his Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) when he started his Form 4, at the age of 16. We went to major bookstores in town to buy four SAT preparatory books which formed Leland\u2019s main learning sources. He studied diligently on his own and by December 2011 he was ready to take his SAT. He managed to achieve a respectable SAT score which was well above the cut off point of many reputable US state universities.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he was in Form 5 (the last year of senior high school), Leland and I started to plan his studies with various alternatives in accordance to our modest budget. We knew that our budget would not be able to fund him for a full four-years studies in the US despite the fact that many top ranking US universities give variable amount of financial aids to international students based on merits. Even if one could secure a full tuition fees waiver, the living expenses for full four years in the US would still be a substantial sum. We decided that Leland should enroll in a ADP at a local private college in Malaysia and we opted for the credit transfer route.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a reasonably satisfactory Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination performance (a public examination all high school students in Malaysia will take at their graduation year), Leland was fortunate enough to be granted a full scholarship by SEGi University to enroll in its ADP. Right into his second semester in ADP, we started our search for universities that were high enough in the various rankings but with total fees that we could afford. However when Leland wanted to apply to some of the \u201cshortlisted\u201d universities, we encountered our first hurdle. Our SPM certificate being written fully in Bahasa Malaysia would be required to be translated by officials in the Ministry of Education (MoE). Off we went to Putrajaya, (the Malaysian Government’s administrative city where the MoE is located) to get this done, a simple enough process especially if there have been many requests over the years for this translation service, but it took the MoE about 1 month to complete. Because of this, Leland had missed the deadline to complete his application to one of the universities he had applied to and forfeited the US$60 (RM194) application fee. Luckily we still managed to beat the deadline of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). However, UNL\u2019s total fees was above our budget and we decided that if he was not successful in securing a scholarship, Leland would apply to another US university with a lower expenditure. In late May 2013 Leland received his official acceptance by UNL with a Global Laureate Scholarship that would cover about 60% of his tuition fees and our budget is just enough to cover the rest of the cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next step was for Leland to secure his US student visa. A very important document called \u201cI20\u201d would have to be issued by UNL and couriered to us. But before this could happen, I as the sponsor would need to show UNL the evidence that I had the fund which could cover Leland\u2019s entire first year cost of US$39,343 (RM127,078). \u00a0He also needed to register to pay for the visa application fees of US$200 (RM646) as well as visa processing fees of RM528 (US$160, to be deposited in Standard Chartered Bank in Malaysia). It was another two weeks before an appointment with the US Embassy in Malaysia\u2019s capital, Kuala Lumpur could be secured. In the mean time, we had decided on the choice and booked Leland\u2019s accommodation at UNL. Leland had to fill in the bulk of the information for his student visa application online which was a good thing as it took him just a couple of hours (including waiting time) to secure his student visa. Only then did we contemplate sorting out his flights to Lincoln, Nebraska.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although as a former deputy principal of a private college in Malaysia I had been personally involved in sending many of my students to the US, little of that prepared me to the kind of complicated processes, procedures and decisions which parents of US-bound students have to make with their children.<\/span><\/p>\n

My advice to all students (and their parents) who are planning to study in the USA is to:<\/span><\/p>\n