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Before I begin, I want to tell of my amazing journey yesterday at about 2 pm on the LDP highway from Bandar Utama to Subang and back. There were a few flyovers along the entire stretch of the LDP highway, and there were bottlenecks (read: traffic jam) on 3 of these flyovers:- Flyover 1: Two motorcyclists in an accident, settling their dispute on the road (major jam, everyone slowed down to watch) Flyover 2: Car engine died on and someone was pushing the car (minor jam, not interesting to watch) Flyover 3: A Honda Civic stalled on the fast lane (very annoying jam, nothing to watch but with fast lane clogged, a jam was inevitable) All happened along the same LDP highway at the same time.

So I tolerate. And then on the way back from Subang later on the other side of the LDP on there was another accident involving three vehicles on yet another LDP flyover. Enough said. It’s Saturday, why the need to rush and bang people??? AND STOP WATCHING accidents! (OK maybe I did look too )

OK I’m done complaining.

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These are the frequently asked questions asked by my friends over MSN chat windows, Facebook walls and face to face conversations. The answers reflect my current train of thought which is obviously subject to change as I walk the path of time.

Read before asking me further stuff.

1) Where are you going to study?
I will be studying in University of California, Berkeley in US soon.

2) Study what?
Electrical and Computer Engineering.

3) What’s that?
No idea, I don’t even know why I chose this type of engineering.

4) How long will be there?
Typically the degree course lasts 4 years, but I intend to do it in 3 years or 2.5 years if I can juggle well enough.

5) Are you crazy? Why do you want to do that?
Financial constraint. A year in Berkeley costs USD 50K, i.e. approx. RM 160,000. So doing half a year less also saves up a lot of money too.

The other answer is that I think I am quite old already to be stuck in my degree. So the faster the better.

6) What do you want to do after that?
Well of course this is a big question mark at the moment.

Plans can vary depending on the large variable of circumstances. They include coming home, work, doing a Masters, etc. But the rough plan is to work first and then do masters full-time or part time.

Only God knows.

7) How long will all that expect to take you?
5-6 years.

8 ) Do you intend to come back to Malaysia in the future?
Yes, I certainly want to return home after my years in the States. I don’t want to be there for too long.

9) Why in the world do you want to do that? Most Malaysian kids would dream of running away from this country and stay somewhere else.
I dunno. Home is home. Elsewhere, I am but a foreigner. I like Malaysia.

10) Did you manage to get a Scholarship?
Yes, I secured a FaMa Scholarship (Father/Mother Scholarship)

No, I did not. Shell responded and asked me to go for an interview, but I did not go for some reason.

11) Why not study in Singapore? So much cheaper and NUS ranks high in the rankings.
I don’t really like Singapore. (you can read an earlier post for more details)

12) How many siblings do you have?
I am the only child.

13) Why study in the US and not elsewhere?
I prefer the US system, which is more flexible and provides more breadth, with wide opportunities for its students. And also the best universities on earth are in the United States, so naturally I was drawn to them.

Did not apply to UK at all, not even Oxbridge. Initially my back up plan was NUS and NTU should all US University Applications be rejected.

Australia? Hmmm don’t like. Almost all my cousins studied there. So I don’t want to go there.

Local? Nah, not to my liking.

14) Where did you apply to in the States?
MIT Stanford Princeton Cornell UCBerkeley.
1, 2 and 3 rejected me
4 and 5 accepted me

Chose Berkeley over Cornell due to vicinity to Silicon Valley, the place with the most innovative entrepreneurial activity in the world. And Berkeley is great for Electrical Engineering.

15) Got girlfriend ar?
No. But I have some basic requirements. Malaysian Chinese Christian girl. Younger. Haha

16) What is UC Berkeley? I haven’t heard of that uni before.
The best public university in the world.

17) Why did you “suddenly” become “so religious”?
Well, let’s just say I was encouraged by the church I attended in Singapore during my studies there and grew immensely in my walk with the Lord.

18) Why are you “so confident”?
I don’t think that I am confident. Maybe physically on the outside I look the part as I was a scout and was trained to be poised that way. And maybe my words portray some message of confidence. I don’t know. I am very optimistic and idealistic, some would say.

19) When will you be leaving for Berkeley?
1.15 am, August 15, KLIA, Delta Airlines
Transit in Seoul 8 hours, total flight duration 17 hours, total traveling time 25 hours
Land in San Francisco International Airport 11.15 am Berkeley time

20) Are there other Malaysians going this year?
Yeah, a few others. Many many more Singaporeans. But I only managed to keep be in contact with one other Malaysian who is also taking the exact same flight as I am. Also got to know another Malaysian who was supposed to go but well, Singapore offered her a place in SMU and then she don’t wanna go Berkeley anymore.

21) What activities do you plan to join there?
I plan to go there and look around. But one of them should be a Christian group.

22) Coming back during summer/winter holidays?
Don’t know. No intention to unless I am unable to land any job or internship for the summer. In fact, I bought a one way ticket there. Planning to come home during 2009 winter though.

More FAQ to be added if available.