The results of the application for MOE Matriculation 2013 program was out on 25 April 2013. Before the results was out, I was very worried, and I kept praying. I was not worried of not getting the offer for Matriculation, instead I was worried of getting it. Why is this the case?
When I was in secondary school, I had always wanted to study Matriculation, mainly because at that time I only wanted to enter local universities, and I did not want to go overseas. At that time, I also heard of A Level, but I did not like A Level, because A Level is not accepted by local public universities. In fact, I once said "I will rather study STPM instead of A Level".
After completing SPM, I initially wanted to wait until the results of the application for Matriculation to be out, but my family wanted me to study A Level at Taylor's college first, in case I do not get the offer to study Matriculation. I reluctantly agreed, but I told them that if later I got the Matriculation offer, I will definitely switch to it.
However, it turned out that life in Taylor's College is very interesting. Soon, I began to enjoy it, and I no longer wanted to switch to Matriculation. However, I did not want to tell my parents about that, as I felt that it was like an "admission of defeat", because earlier I was so sure that I wanted to study Matriculation. Therefore, I pretended that I still wanted to switch to Matriculation.
Later, the SPM 2012 results was out. I got 9A+ 1A and was offered the MOE Bursary. At that time, my family advised me to continue with A Level. They said that since I did not get A+ for SPM English, studying A Level would be a good way to improve my English. Although I wanted to continue with A Level, I could not agree with them that my English "needs improvement". So, I refused to listen to their advice.
As a result, my family thought that I really wanted to study Matriculation. Later, they heard rumours from someone that Matriculation students can get into Medicine course at local universities easily. Because of that, my family began to prefer that I study Matriculation. In fact, they advised me to switch to Matriculation if I got the offer. At that time, I still did not want to tell my family that I preferred A Level over Matriculation, because I still consider that as an "Admission of defeat".
Therefore, I began to feel worried that my family would force me to switch to Matriculation. As a "safety measure", I quickly confirmed my acceptance of the MOE Bursary and I chose Taylor's College A Level as the program of choice. After confirming it, the program of choice can no longer be changed unless I give up the Bursary. So, I can use that as an excuse in case my family wants me to switch.
One day before the results of the application for Matriculation was out, I told my family that I would switch to Matriculation only if I am given Kolej MARA Kulim. However, my family said that they wanted me to go for Matriculation no matter which college I am given. They also warned me not to lie to them about the results.
Because of that, on 25 April 2013, I was very worried. If I got the Matriculation, my family might really force me to switch. I really enjoyed life in Taylor's College and I did not want to leave my friends. I could not lie to my family about the results because they were able to check the results. Worst of all, on that day both the Matriculation website and the SMS checking system were down for some time due to too many students checking the results.
Finally, later in that afternoon I was able to check the results. I was very happy and relieved to know that I did not get the offer to study Matriculation. I told my family about that and I showed them the results so that they would believe me. I pretended to feel disappointed about that and they advised me not to feel sad.
In this incident, I do not blame my family. It is my fault because from the beginning I did not make it clear to them that I wanted to study A Level. Most importantly, this incident taught me an important lesson: I should treasure my life in Taylor's college and make the most out of it. In this incident, I nearly had to leave Taylor's college, and that made me realised that I should treasure my college life.
Since then, I always treasured my college life. In fact, this incident became a precursor to the 31 July 2013 incident later. I really enjoyed studying A level in Taylor's college. I can say, choosing Taylor's college A level over Matriculation is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Actually, I had to thank my family who initially forced me to study in Taylor's college.
You can read about the 31 July 2013 incident here:
http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2014/06/31-july-2013-important-day-for-me.html
