Guide to JPA Scholarship Interview

I bet all of us have gone through post-SPM life, and application for scholarship is among one of the checklist in your  education planning. 


Well, now it's the season for those post-SPM students to hunt for financial aids. I believe the only reason why a student strive so hard to excellence is because of the scholarship. I was shortlisted for 3 interviews, and i got 2 of them. The other one that i was not selected? JPA. Why? I guess i did not perform well during the interview. So, here's something for you to ponder onto if you are attending a JPA Scholarship Interview. 


I sort of copied and paste from other people's blog, but it's really informative and useful. Do grab some useful notes from this.




How will you be assessed?

For the Foreign Degree Programme (PILN), the criteria for selection are:

1. Academic excellence (70%)
2. Interview (10%) - Its only 10%, so don't worry too much 
3. Socio-economic background of parents (10%)
4. Co-curriculum (10%)

About the interview

- Who will be conducting the interview: Three government officers selected by JPA. They represent the three main races in Malaysia.
- Duration: 30 minutes
- Language: If you are asked in English, answer in English, and if you asked in Bahasa Malaysia, you MUST answer in Bahasa Malaysia. A previous interviewee told us that an interviewer got angry when a student answered in English when he was questioned in Bahasa Malaysia. He was told to answer in Bahasa Malaysia.

How is the interview done?

Three students are interviewed at one go. These students do not have to be from the same course. They can be students who have applied for medical, dentistry and pharmacy. The interview is done in two sessions; Round 1: General Information and Round 2: Group Discussion.

Round 1: General Information

1. Introduce yourself
2. Explain why you chose the program
3. Talk a little bit about your achievements in school

Round 2: Group Discussion

This is a group discussion and you will be asked to discuss with the same group from round one. You will be given a few questions to prepare and the interviewers will see how you work as a team. You will be asked for your opinion on the topics. Be constructive and don’t try to ‘goreng’ too much. A student once said government doctors earn a lot of money and the officers were shocked and argued with him and said he didn’t do his research well. Try not to say things that you are not sure of.

These were some of the questions posed to JPA scholars last year.

1. Please tell us a little bit about the smoking habit among Malaysians.
2. What can we do to reduce the number of smokers?
3. Should we allocate a huge budget for the public health system to give equal treatment to the smokers?
4. What is your personal view about smokers who are still smoking even though the government has done a lot of anti-smoking campaigns?

What topics can be expected this year? (my suggestions only)

1. National unity - 1Malaysia - How to improve unity?
2. Why scholars don't want to return to Malaysia and how to ensure they serve the nation after graduating
3. Environmental issues - in line with Malaysia's commitment to reduce carbon emission to 40% by 2020 as announced by PM in COP-15
4. H1N1
5. Anti drug campaign effectiveness
6. Privatisation of public healthcare in Malaysia
7. Increasing number of medical graduates. More information

More tips on scholarship interview

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