The Pursuit of Education: My story [Young Professionals]

Growing up in a developing nation, I always had a dream since I was young to study overseas one day. However, I lacked the opportunity, just as many others did. Hence I pursued my first degree at a local university in Malaysia: Multimedia University. Upon graduation, I was hoping to get a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree overseas, and yet, despite receiving several offers from various U.K. universities, none of them came with a full scholarship. Undeterred, I opted to take a research office’s offer from my alma mater after spending a few months in industry (Sony), where I realized afresh that my passion was really in academia. In 2005, I was selected as a participant to join the sixth China Synergy Program for Outstanding Youth, to tour around Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Xian, Beijing, and Shanghai for two weeks. That was an eye-opening trip for me as I interacted with so many outstanding young people from across the globe in enchanting ways. It also deepened my desire to really pursue a postgraduate degree beyond my home country. Upon returning from the trip, I started making actual preparations to do my Ph.D. studies in the United States. To do so, I took the relevant prerequisite exams, such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the Graduate Record Examinations, and I scored reasonable results in both. In 2006, I was selected as an alternate for the East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowship for the academic year 2006–2007. I was thrilled. Regrettably, despite staying optimistic about this slight opportunity to finally fulfill my childhood dream to study overseas, I had to accept the hard reality that there was no pull-out from the delegates; hence, I was not selected after all.