Oct 04
18
Study Abroad Guide
Lots of people asked me about studying abroad. Most of them asked that personally to me because I was an underachiever student when I was taking my bachelor degree, more than 7 years, low GPA and not to mention being labelled “graduated by compassion not by prudence” by one of my teacher (I will remember those words for the rest of my life, Mr. Purwono…). So it was an unbelievable moment when I went abroad to get my Master degree (with partial scholarship) in Germany (right now I am doing my Master thesis research in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada until the end of January) and even right now considering on taking a doctorate degree (hopefully in Canada and with full scholarship too).
So yeah, what is my recipe then? I’ll tell you a couple of thing;
First, have a strong will. Strong will is more important than any other factor because if I lost my will to going back to school I would not have any guts to applying in the first place. So strengthen your will and your path will be less tricky.
Second, go get some work experiences. Unless you are a bright student with high GPA there is no chance in the world that you will have additional financial support without a good working resume. Not to mention that you can save some money to add your financial status while working.
Third, know what you want to study. It is annoying when somebody asked me how to study abroad but doesn’t know what they want to study… Especially on the Master or Doctorate level, I believe that you must at least know what knowledge that you want to advance. If you don’t know it yet, maybe you should find it out first.
Fourth, use the web to search for the appropriate school. I guess I don’t have to explain this right?
Fifth, make contact with the administration of the school that you are interested in, it will be better if you can make a correspondence with one of the faculty especially if you are into researching stuff and not just taking classes (This is validate my point about knowing what you want to study, because without knowing it what will you say to them?). This step is additional but it could be important too. You never know so why not give this step a special consideration?
Sixth… Read Mr. Budi Rahardjo’s Studying Abroad: a Guide. It’s in Indonesian language. It is a really good and helpful guide. It will explain the rest of the steps that you can take. Thanks Pak Budi.
That’s all for now. I probably forgot a couple of steps. Consider this entry is version 1.0 and I will make some revision if necessary.
5 Comments
dreams… ah, I forgot that one. have DREAMS will help although I don’t know about the girlfriend/boyfriend thing ;). (ayu: I thought you don’t believe in that gf/bf craps?)
yaaa… baru point nomer satu aja gue udah gagal :D
anyway, what about bright student with low GPA. i mean, knp GPA hrs diliat dr absen?
yupe..pak budi rahardjo emang canggih dalam hal memandu kaya begini :)..sukses ya vi
At the moment, I don’t belive in such thing. But considering your experience, didn’t you get the inspiration somewhere? ;) hehehe…
ayu @ October 19, 2004 12:56 AM
Seventh… Have a girlfriend/boyfriend who stand by you and who has a strong will & belief that everything can be achieved if you have dreams.