My Journey to Berkeley - part 1

I know not when this story started, nor how it shall end. Perhaps it began with my learning the story of my Uncle Harry – he who went from some Singaporean JC to Yale and then to Berkeley. All I know, my youth wasn’t filled with dreams of Oxbridge, it was sprinkled with dreams of MIT, haven of geeks (no offense reader, should you be a tecker). and finally to Harvard, where he currently lectures. My mother never failed to regale me with his tale of fund-raising, backpacking alone in KL; knocking upon the doors of corporations seeking sponsorship. Or perhaps it was from knowing Uncle Kok Chin, Matt’s dad who transferred to MIT

I guess I knew, by the end of Form 4, that I wanted to apply for entrance into my dream American universities the next year. I know not why I did not go into overdrive then. There were always so many hindrances – my wanting to complete a winning streak at IIUM, studying to graduate as school valedictorian, memorizing facts for SAT II World History or just waiting for the new SAT I to be rolled out. I blame indolence. I ended up sitting for my SAT 1, SAT 2 and TOEFL in the midst of SPM.

I started on my applications proper in the middle of the year. Those American’s surely could learn a thing or two from the UK. Sure they’ve got some common application (which is NOT applicable at every university), but every college has a distinct supplement to the common application. Like, what’s the point, dude? Of course, in the big picture, filling in those forms were really nothing. Everybody will tell you that the essays are the defining parts of your application, the part that will make or break it. Its so big, there are companies staffed by the likes of Harvard graduates who will edit your essays for > USD100. Then again, everybody will bombard you with so much disparate advice and information that you soon have to close your eyes and ears and discover your own style.

The risk is that your own style sucks. ;-p

I’d be very much inclined to say the same for myself, but then Astro might suddenly concur and strip me of my scholarship. In short, those essays really took a long time, what with the countless amendments and improvements needed. I even gave them to Uncle Kok Chin to analyze, God bless him. Among the universities I applied to were the higher Ivies but in truth, I only wanted the top 3 of engineering – MIT, Stanford and Berkeley. I got so sick of applying that after SPM was over and my mother asked me to make a final application – this one to Cornell – I rejected her outright. That’s why I really admire those who can prepare 20-odd applications.

I was pretty devastated when the admissions lists came out. Actually, that’s really an understatement. Strings of rejections do little for your self-esteem and ego. Ouch. But I did get Berkeley. Go Bears! I kinda thought US News ranked it third for engineering until I re-checked and found that its actually tied with Stanford for 2^nd place. Yay!