The Edge last week featured some interesting articles related to business. Here I’ll share a few which I think is interesting.

What do these people all have in common?

• Convicted felon Jeffrey Skilling (Enron Corp’s former chief, who is serving a 24-year prison term for fraud)
• Deposed CEO Stan O’Neal (Ousted by Merrill Lynch & Co after failing to know about mortgage risks)
• Struggling CEO Jeffrey Peek (He is seeking to sell CIT Group Inc’s assets after the lending company’s shares dropped 73% in the past one year)
• Unpopular American President George W. Bush

The answer: They all went to Harvard Business School.

But of course, make no doubt about it: Harvard Business School undoubtedly helped put them there in the hot seats in the first place. The article questions the role that Harvard plays in shaping leaders who succeed or fail. Circumstances that occur in life such as a bad marriage, death of family members, or a bad accident can affect executives. Basically it goes on to say that when students come to HBS they all carry with themselves their own set personality which cannot be changed by simply taking more courses in interpersonal relations etc.

A study on 50 HBS students before they enrolled until they graduated in 2006 found that one-third were still stuck in adolescence and had problems emphathising with people. Another third were found inclined to define right or wrong in terms of what everybody else was doing. This might explain why even well educated executives have fallen prey to the subprime-mortgage debacle. The subprime-lending spree shows that Harvard and other elite schools fail to mould managers who look beyond self-interest, the article says.

But of course, HBS has its share of corporate icons as well: US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, formerly head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc; Louis Gerstner, IBM; and Meg Whitman of eBay. Not to mention also New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

Many tech companies do not have MBA students as their CEOs or founders. My impression is that an MBA sort of encourages group-thinking and execution using conventional methods. But I don’t know much and don’t want to pretend that I know much either.

On a side note, I don’t think that I would be pursuing an MBA after graduating from Berkeley. I do intend, however, to pursue a Masters in Engineering and work at the same time, God-willing, through Stanford’s Honors Cooperative Program. 3 years at Berkeley, then off I go to work for 2-3 years in US while doing a part-time Master’s Degree Program@Stanford and also save up money to start a company. Then I would return home to Malaysia and do just that.

Haha… It’s so easy to dream

Sorry this post is going to be boring as I am uninspired to write at the moment… but just one piece of news:

ERN SHEONG WILL BE GETTING BAPTIZED TOMORROW!!!!

I remember many years ago seeing people get baptized in church and I wondered whether I would ever come to that stage in my walk with Christ. Fast forward years later and now I am getting baptized tomorrow! It means that I will be dedicating my life to living for Christ.

I want to thank many people, especially the City Harvest members in Singapore and KL who have helped me through so far, as well as a few close friends who have helped me get back on track in this Christian walk, and provided me with so much care and guidance to make me feel supported and encouraged. Not to mention my mum who whole-heartedly approved my decision to get baptized.

Just a quick sharing on an interesting forwarded slide show which I received from my aunt in Singapore about Warren Buffet:

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. The following are some very interesting aspects of his life:

• He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
• He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
• He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha , that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
• He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
• He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world’s largest private jet company.
• His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
• He has given his CEO’s only two rules. Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder’s money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
• He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
• Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk. (!!!!!!!)
• Bill Gates, the world’s richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
• His advice to young people: “Stay away from credit cards (bank loans) and invest in yourself and Remember:
  o Money doesn’t create man but it is the man who created money.
  o Live your life as simple as you are.
  o Don’t do what others say, just listen them, but do what you feel good.
  o Don’t go on brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
  o Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on them who really in need rather.
  o After all it’s your life then why give chance to others to rule our life.”

“The HAPPIEST people DO NOT necessarily have the BEST of all.
They simply APPRECIATE what they find on their way”

Well I am sure we all know many many many people, including ourselves, who live super or over-luxurious lives but are not even a thousandth fraction as rich as Warren Buffet. Perhaps we can all learn a thing or two from arguably the world’s most financially responsible man himself. Being able to buy and own anything in the world that he sees, but living as normal as normal can be. If I were God, I would even want to give him loads of money because I know that he will not squander it. He would take it and invest for greater gains! (Remember the Parable of the Talent?)

Are you the type who can be as financially responsible as Warren Buffet? I think I will have to do lots of catching up myself. I’m already 19 and haven’t bought a single property or share in my life. =S

Maybe it’s still too early to say or the applications are still in process, but I applied to 7 scholarships (TNB, Tenaga, SC, Khazanah, National Infocomm Scholarship (Singapore), Sime Darby, and Shell) and got no reply from any of them as yet. (BNM deadline passed but I couldn’t be bothered applying…And I can’t see myself working for Astro so maybe not…)

Kudos for Malaysian meritocracy. I expected some to respond. Looks like none did, or ever will.

So hard for a Malaysian with dreams to fulfil it. If one has no money, those dreams can go down the bloody Malaysian drain. Thank God for my parent’s EPF. At least I can fulfil part of that dream.

And then I read this article in The Star about PSD Medic Scholars failing to return home to serve and felt better that I did not get JPA or some other Govenment Scholarship. Scholarship holders mentioned in the article have proven themselves to be an ungrateful and self-serving bunch.

But the Government has a lot to be blamed too. Lousy pay with long hours, no wonder no one wants to come back. But its main fault is not being strict with the defaulters. The article lists the years and number of scholars who failed to return each of those years, and then after data collecting for years later the PSD publicizes it and says, “Oh, we think something needs to be done about this. This cannot continue.” This is what I call a lagging Government.

What a bunch of idiots running a country teeming with opportunity.

And no wonder so many of my friends are already thinking about staying overseas beyond graduation. They say, “You should stay on at the country (where you studied) beyond graduation and earn big money.” After my response, they go, “Why?!!! Come back for what??” I also know of one who already has plans not to return. Oh yeah, and many want to return, to Singapore that is.

Buck up, Malaysia. Or you’ll lose me too.

However I am reminded that no matter what goes on around us, the attitude has to be kept right. So let’s put on a good attitude and hope for the best, and strive for the best that is possible within out realm and means. If you are doing business for instance, you can demonstrate the way things should be done, by setting up a great company which can bring Malaysia to greater heights in the international arena. Do things your way. Show the bunch of jokers in the Cabinet how great Malaysia can actually be.

I realized that I didn’t care anymore whether I was from whatever-name university. After all, in business, I realize that people come from everywhere, not just HYPSM. If you came up to me and introduced yourself as from Harvard or MIT or Stanford, I don’t think that I would really care. So why do people want to go to all those big prestigious places for? Study so hard, work like mad, be passionate in some areas, most of the time for the sake of it, all to be an alum of Princeton/Penn/Cambridge/Oxford etc.? Then get a prestigious job and earn tons of money? What is the end goal?(Help others? Maybe) Self-empowerment and fame boost? Be in a higher standing? Be looked at with awe and amazement? Be famous? Be a “role model” that people look up to? Achieve your career goals? What does all these mean anyway? It’s all temporary. Fleeting.

I don’t care about all that anymore. At least I think I don’t. But I think that’s lying.

And many people work work work to earn money money and more money. What is the point of it all in the end? Yes of course no money no talk. We all need money to survive, enjoy and also do God’s work. But what is the bigger picture? I don’t have the bigger picture at the moment. All I am doing is follow the motions, do what everyone is doing, follow what everybody is pursuing. You go to university? Therefore I have to go to. You trying to enter Big Name University? Hence I try to do so too. You earn big bucks? So my mum tells me that I should too, be prosperous and help others in return, i.e. get money to give money. (Sounds like a cover up and a good excuse for wanting to be wealthy, but it’s not a bad motive) But I really think that there should be something bigger. A bigger purpose. What’s the point of going through the motions, getting along life, striving and striving and losing ourselves?

How can I live my life such that I have absolutely no regrets following the path that I am treading now when I look back in the distant future? I don’t know. I really don’t know. But I know one thing: I really want to start my own company somewhere in the next few years after I graduate. Hopefully in Malaysia.

Why? I am just fascinated by large companies and how they function, especially tech companies. But is it also because I am some power hungry freak who wants to be at the helm of a tech conglomerate? Or because I want to be in control and have a recognizable name? So many possible wrong motives. Is it because I want to make big money? That’s another possible hidden motive. Do I have the hidden motives in me? Maybe. If I answered ‘No’ you wouldn’t believe me either.

But my other reason is that it is just plain fun (and hard work of course). Results are directly proportional to the amount of effort and wisdom that you employ in the business, wisdom in applying the right technology, systems, and in recruiting the right people. And of course, it would be outright exhilarating to see your enterprise lift off the ground and profitably grow. I get to meet and work with people everywhere. Hopefully I get to travel too. Maybe I can provide a great employment opportunity to thousands of people, and motivate them to join the company and embrace its vision instead of treating it like a job. Oh, then it would be a ‘we’ thing too. So many opportunities.

Well, talk is cheap. Let’s go back to the above question? Why bother doing all this? My answer would be that because it would be worse trying to do nothing at all and wonder what your goals are and end up not doing anything. You dream it, go for it. Why and what am I striving for? Do I even have the option to not strive? Really, do I? Can I just stop striving? Would that mean just be complacent? Complacent is a bad word, isn’t it?

I don’t have a choice, do I?

OK so Ern Sheong has gotten himself rid of that sales job with iZZi Wireless Broadband which required him to work all weekend and practically 9 hours a day in a shopping center trying to sell people one thousand ringgit broadband packages. (I actually got a promotion to booth supervisor, but when I realised that the basic pay did not change and the working hours were still that gruelling, I quit anyway =P)

Well I was enjoying my days off after 31st of March (the day I quit) and spent my days hanging out or sleeping late and getting up even later. Nothing in store for me. No plans to do anything. But then before the week was up my mum obtained for me an internship with her friend’s company, i.e. a telco company in Malaysia (no not Telekom, much smaller private company called Telshine Telecommunication) (Somehow it’s weird how things are always planned nicely before me. It just comes. I did not even have to search for both of the jobs I landed since coming back from Singapore. I have to thank God for that.)

I started my job on the 7th of April, and for the past week I have been following an engineer around the entire Klang Valley changing the gateway number for the dialer used to connect to the call server at Telshine (discounted call service). I went to the semiconductor factory StatsChipPac in Shah Alam, Gardenia in Shah Alam, Transwater Api in Bandar Sri Damansara, Aker Solutions at Wisma Hong Leong … bla bla bla so so many companies and so so many factories that I cannot remember anymore. But of course, the pay is lousy. But I can claim petrol and make money out of the petrol allowance! XD

This week I expect to be be driving out on my own to meet clients and do the required maintainance since I have learnt how to deal with most of the troubleshooting needed to fix faulty dialers and how to reprogramme the gateway via plugging in a handset.

Saturday went to the PIKOM PC Fair at KL Convention Centre and got myself a pair of SonicGear earphones for RM 45 (bad publicity for this company, but sorry have to announce it: Your earphones are lousy!!!). Got home and realised that the sound quality was way inferior to that of the original iPod’s =.=

Then I went to church later part of my Saturday and found out that there was some audition for dancers to perform in a special church musical production.

The weird thing about this was that I signed up for the audition:

ES: Hi, I would like to try out for the dance production.
Girl:  Sure, just fill in your particulars here on this form.

While I was filling up the form…

Girl: So, what kind of dance are you currently in? Hip hop?
ES: er…. uh…. ar…. no experience
Girl: It’s okay just come for the try-outs…

Thanks. Phew.

Sweat.

Sunday I was paid to go to a volunteer training session for the World Congress of IT happening this May. I was even given free lunch and three complimentary tea breaks. (There is such thing as a free lunch!) Well I signed up to volunteer for the event months ago (I blogged about it before) so here I was at the training session for one entire day along with 300 other people. Not bad, rather fun. (Paid RM 80 a day for volunteering, training days included) I was allocated to Sales (aka PR) and was posted at the KL Convention Center IT Exhibition during the conference (May 18-22, 2008). Maybe you guys can visit me there! And owh I was also very fortunate to make some great new friends there at the training… hi Aaron from Monash and Peng from APIIT!

Yeah so came back home, had dinner… and decided to drag my father to the DVD shop (whoops! shhhh. hope the police do not read my blog XD). Bought 6 DVDs and watched Step Up (yeah I know I am slow…) at night. Great movie. Makes me feel like dancing too! =) And the girl’s hot =P

So that sums up my week. Not to mention Cell Group, 2 birthday outings, and well, the sad part earlier in the week at Andrew’s wake. Rest in peace, bro.

OK now back to my “How Dell Does It” book before I retire to bed. I really respect and admire Dell.

Good night people. God Bless.

This is true for me. Maybe it has to do with the lack of sleep and all that staying up at night but this has more to do with my level of positiveness rather than my physical tiredness after waking up in the morning.

Simply put, my energy level is at my peak at night, and I feel most positive later in the day, i.e. from afternoon onwards. Sometimes the energy drive turns on during late mornings. During this later part of the day, I am energized and gung-ho, and the energy cycle climbs until I go to bed thinking yeah, “I can do this! (whatever that seems daunting to me) I am game! I WILL do this!”

On the contrary, during many mornings I go “Here we go again; so tough task; so unachievable; how I wish I could run away from all this responsibilities; how tough life is; going to work is such a chore; it’s dreadful; why am I doing this in the first place; I want to stay in bed” and all those degenerating thoughts. I often find myself having to psyche myself out of these slumps and climb that mountain of energy once again (not always, but happens often enough to cause me to notice it). Like now at night I feel so upbeat, which is opposite to what I always feel after I wake up. My spirit often needs lifting after I wake up. This is not a recent thing. Has been happening since secondary, when I am older to notice I guess, especially with all that Head Prefect responsibilities which used to be going on.

Is this some common thing? I respect people who can be so confident day in and day out. They manage to find a way to unfailingly trek up those downward thought slumps daily or even better, stay up there on the high energy plateau all the time. Maybe it is peculiar to me, or maybe it happens to people who perhaps dream too big but do not have the apparent means to achieve it…

But there are always thoughts like that isn’t it? Maybe the key is to just push them aside. But I realized today that it may not be that hard anymore. I ask God to lift me up. Heard a Christian song in the morning today and instantly those morning blues went away. I mean, instantly. Yeah, instantly. Instantly, really. The thoughts just went away and were replaced with my gung-ho ones. WOW.

Hilarious group in Facebook with the following description:

This group is for Berkeley students coming together to recognize the ‘rivalry,’ and then make sure Stanford students realize that they are simply inferior to us.

The term rivalry implies that there is some aspect of the relationship between the two parties that is competitive. What we have here is merely petty jealousy. Hence, its less of a rivalry and more of childhood envy found in both Stanford students and graduates.

Many people spell Stanford as Stanfurd. The first thing you ask is: Why spell Stanfurd with a ‘u’ instead of an ‘o’. Well, my answer is ‘that’s the way it should be spelled’; ‘Stanfraud’ is fine as well. As you can guess, all the people there are superficial, arrogant, back-stabbing, spoiled brats. Next, you may ask why I hate Stanfurd so much, my answer to that is ‘because they suck, that’s the bottom line’. But, this name is not used in the group title so as to not give the appearance of any bias.

Stanford is the sort of place you want to see bulldozed to make room for a manure storage facility. It contains the type of people who drive BMWs and take mortal offense if anyone satirically pokes fun at them. It is a place where you learn how to reconcile giving lip-service to populist philosophy while employing an illegal Guatemalan maid.

And then comes the jokes on that Facebook Page… LOL:

Q: How many Stanford students does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: One — he just holds onto the bulb and expects
the world to revolve around him.
_______________________________________________
A Stanford football player was almost killed in a tragic horseback riding accident. He fell from the horse and was nearly trampled to death. Thank God the manager of the K-Mart came out and unplugged it.
_______________________________________________
Stanford’s football team is so bad more people come to watch their band blow than their team play.
_______________________________________________
Stanford’s mascot is a color. Our’s is a Bear. Enough said.
Stanford’s band’s mascot is a tree.
Bears eat, maul, and piss on trees.
_______________________________________________
How many Stanford professors does it take to change a light bulb?

Eleven. One to change the light bulb and ten to co-author the paper.
_______________________________________________
Everyone can tell a Stanford man by the way he walks down the street; a Stanford man walks down the street like he owns it.
Eveyone can tell a Cal man by the way he walks down the street; a Cal man walks down the street like he doesn’t give a damn who owns it.
_______________________________________________
A Cal student and a Stanford student are both using the men’s room.
When they finish their business, the Cal student heads for the door, while the
Stanford student heads for the sink. The Stanford students calls to the Cal student, “At
Stanford, they teach us to wash our hands after using the bathroom”
The Cal student replies nonchalantly, “At Cal, they teach us not to pee on our hands.”
_______________________________________________
Leland Stanfurd Had a Farm (to the tune of Old McDonald)

Leland Stanfurd had a farm, e-i-e-i-o,
And on this farm he built a school, e-i-e-i-o,
With a snob, snob here,
And a snob, snob there,
Here a snob, there a snob, everywhere a snob, snob,
Leland Stanfurd built a school, e-i-e-i-o.

At this school there was a tower, e-i-e-i-o,
But not as big as Berkeley’s tower, e-i-e-i-o,
With a tower here,
And a tower there,
Here a tower, there a tower, everywhere a tower, tower,
Leland Stanfurd built a school, e-i-e-i-o.

And this school had a band, e-i-e-i-o,
That lost them the big game, e-i-e-i-o,
With a tuba here,
And a tuba there,
Here a tuba, there a tuba, everywhere a tuba tuba,
Leland Stanfurd built a school, e-i-e-i-o.
_______________________________________________
Stanfurd is so bad at football that last year they were punting on 3rd down to catch the defense off-guard. they’d have the quarterback line up in the shotgun and he’d kick the ball past the unsuspecting safeties.

OMG farnee…

Poll is closed. Thanks for voting!

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I want to thank all of you for voting between Berkeley and Cornell on where I should continue my studies. The poll is now closed. Of course, I did not choose based on your votes, but rather because of my own preferences. But your votes did give some support to me in my decision. XD

I despise scholarships because of their bonds (5-8 years), hence I intend to go to Berkeley and graduate within 3 years instead of 4 due to budget constraints (Saves me a total of RM160000 based on the current exchange rate). After discussing long and hard with my parents, they agreed to sponsor 3 years of study– 4 years would be over the budget. Hence unless I get a grant or bond-free scholarship, I’ll finish in three years, something I think should be quite achievable. Hopefully, I can obtain additional funding support there in Berkeley as well during my years there. With additional funding, I can allocate more funds to graduate study instead.

CONs: I have to spend more thriftily as I do not get special allowances or monthly pocket money to lavish on myself in the States. There will not be any settling-in allowance, transportation or computer allowances. Have to be more financially prudent in that sense. I’ll have to work on campus to earn some luxury. Also I can kiss my intention to buy my Macbook Pro or acoustic guitar bye bye. My aging but faithful Dell Inspiron 630m laptop would have to suffice for at least another 1-2 years (hence I’m gonna upgrade the RAM of my Dell to the max now! 2GB!)

PROs: It is my parents money anyway, and perhaps that would be motivation enough to excel there and do well. They didn’t pay for nothing, so I’ll have to make their money’s worth. The biggest advantage would be that I am not bound in any way to a scholarship provider and I am able to do pursue wherever I am being led to after graduation. That, I think, is PRICELESS.

That said, Berkeley Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) is a notoriously difficult course.  The EECS in Berkeley is in the league of the same course in MIT and Stanford– tough, demanding and pressurizing. Go to Berkeley and mention that you are EECS and you are bound to be thought as some geek.

Also, it might be tough to secure great GPAs given the grade deflation going on. According to a EECS major there who corresponded with me through e-mail, “The department GPA target (at Berkeley) is 2.7 (meaning that each class instructor adjusts so that the mean GPA is around 2.7), which is much lower than comparable courses in MIT and Stanford, as far as I know. The implication is that one has to be very much above average to get a satisfying grade.” (4.0 is the ‘perfect’ GPA at Berkeley and most institutions)

He goes on to mention that “There are 43% Asians, including Indians, a large percentage of whom are in COE. This spells terrible news for grade competition, especially in classes which are “curved”, i.e. relative rather than absolute grading.”

Oh my God, why am I going to such a place! I am not a genius or super smart student. NJC wasn’t a breeze for me, and now here comes Berkeley. It would be a challenge, but I think I’ll survive, given many late nights and hard work. =(

Alright. I am going to submit my Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) to Berkeley and pay the USD 100 registration fee now. All the best to me =)

P.S. I would like to take this opportunity to tell the pro-Cornell people that I am not against Cornell, just that I have to make a decision eventually and thus I am choosing Berkeley due to a number of reasons. (Sorry Chen Chow! I know this will disappoint you! Hope you understand!)

*Andrew Yap passed away on 6 April 2008, leaving behind his beloved family and his whole lot of friends. Thank you to all for the prayers, but God is the Boss and He makes all decisions. Andrew has been called to be with the Lord. I bet Andrew is in a much better place right now. See ya, Andrew.*

Through MSN, Kevin Chan and a few other DJ friends related to me the message they received through SMS on Monday:

Andrew Yap, SMKDJ Class of 2005:

“Andrew Yap from DJ is in ICU. He fell and hit his head and his brain shifted. He’s still unconscious even after the surgery. Docs say he’s not recovering, please pray for him.” -Ee Fei

He added that this was not an April Fool’s joke.

Indeed it wasn’t.

So please pray for him for a speedy recovery. We need a miracle here. He is still unconscious.

Stefanie Lip wrote a prayer so please pray it or pray your own prayer:

In the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit

Dear Lord,

Omnipotent and eternal God, the everlasting Salvation of those who believe, hear us on behalf of Thy sick servant, AndrewYap, for whom we beg the aid of Thy pitying mercy, that, with his bodily health restored, May he be healed by the Holy Spirit and May You Shower Him with your utmost love and mercy. May he wake up from his surgery as he has not waken up since then.

Jesus, Your array of miracles, A true manifestation of Your Divinity, Draws the admiration of searching souls. Never let it be said, “Miracles do not exist!”. You are the living example of such actions. Bless us with the faith to always believe, To affirm the Supreme Power of Your miracles, Be they of a physical or spiritual nature. We believe that our friend Andrew will wake up and be healed by your healing hand.

In your most precious name, Christ Our Lord 

Amen.

Even if you do not know Andrew, God hears your prayer. Praying for him is the least we can do.

BERKELEY vs. CORNELL

*NEWLY ADDED POLL! Vote now! (Note: I intend to major in Electrical and Computer Engineering)

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If possible, kindly state why in the comments section. Thank you!

- Public vs. Private

- Non-Ivy (but nonetheless very good if not better) vs. Ivy

- Big vs. Small(er) (in terms of cohort size and campus size)

- Berkeley (near San Francisco, West Coast) vs. Ithaca, New York (East Coast)

- Nice California weather (omg it is California man) vs. Harsh New York weather

- Near Silicon Valley vs. Far from Silicon Valley

- Top Three Engineering Uni vs. Top Ten Engineering Uni (US News)

- USD 47,194 per year vs. USD 50384 per year (for FOUR years) (UPDATE: Berkeley figure edited)

- Less recognizable in Malaysia vs. More recognizable in Malaysia (can heck this but I’ll just list)

- Lower cost of living in Berkeley vs. Higher cost of living in NY (i suppose)

Both Berkeley and Cornell have bears as their mascots =.=

For me, it seems that the scales are tipped in the direction of Berkeley.

I think I’m going to Berkeley. Please advise or convince me otherwise. =)

Ern Sheong Lin
No 21 Jalan BU 7/2 Bandar Utama
Petaling Jaya, 47800
MYS

Doris Davis
Associate Provost
Admissions and Enrollment
Cornell University

Whoops… so it is Berkeley vs Cornell now… what a big headache…

Give me advice people!!!

OMG Berkeley vs Cornell???!!! Very hard to choose!!! Help!!!

Ern Sheong Lin
December 20, 1988
National Junior College

March 31, 2008

I am sorry to inform you that we were not able to admit you to Princeton this year. We received a record pool of over 21,000 applications, and we were able to admit only a small percentage of that group. We realize that you are likely to be disappointed with this decision. Our choices reflected the strength and size of our applicant pool. As we do every year, we made every effort to weigh each student’s achievements, talents, and skills in the context of her or his secondary school setting. We took into consideration the vast differences among the 7,436 high schools from 137 countries represented in the pool. The admissions committee made each decision in the context of all the other applications; therefore, we cannot provide specific reasons why certain students were not offered admission.

A detailed letter was mailed to you earlier today by postal service.

Thank you for your interest in Princeton and for giving us the opportunity to consider your application.

Janet Lavin Rapelye
Dean of Admission

Expected this anyway =.=

No financial aid for me this year…