Hi guys! Welcome back to my (supposedly) weekly blog :D I know, I missed out on last week's post, because I was...busy (a truer word would be: distracted) and I'm sorry! But I'm back to publishing a new post for the week, a continuation of last week's post. Happy reading!
Season 3: Blood, Sweat, and Tears (cue BTS music)
The main event for this semester was all about university applications. Naturally, this semester was going to be tough. But with the ongoing pandemic, and added stress that I got myself into, it was much worse than I expected.
By this point, I already started my personal statement (PS) writing process. I'd done a lot of things out of my comfort zone to write out my final draft. Before the semester started, I already started to build my own website/organization called AcadStrive (www.acadstrive.com, if you wanna check it out), as a side project to be included in my PS. But the problem with being the founder of my organization was, I had zero experience on how to lead. I just had a vision of creating this website in hopes of bringing value to SPM students at the time and recruited some of my friends to make this work. I had no idea how stressful it was to maintain it and guide my team members, but I was really passionate about making AcadStrive big and wasn't gonna give up back then.
Moreover, I was applying to Cambridge, which meant my PS really needed to be impressive, and I had to submit my PS way earlier than my peers. I had to do a lot of self-study as well because I didn't take Psychology as my A-level subject. Fortunately, I did manage to churn out a decent enough PS that helped me land a Cambridge interview!
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| A sneak peek at my final draft, which I will share more in my future post. |
Preparing for my Cambridge interview meant doing a lot of self-study, asking around seniors for some tips, and watching/doing a lot of mock interviews. Simultaneously I had to keep up with my A-Level studies, AND manage AcadStrive. It. Was. So. Much. To. Handle. I (regretfully) started to let my academic performance slip because I devoted more time doing the other 2 things at that moment. Also, I noticed my mental health was getting worse because I had a lot going on, and I was struggling with personal issues as well.
However, by the end of the semester when I was done with all of my applications, things slowed down a bit and I finally got to catch my breath. I was supposed to go back home for the end-of-sem break (where we had a month of days off), but because the cases were spiking in my hometown, I was afraid to go back, and since the college provide shelter for students that want to stay in college during the 1-month break, I decided to just stay back. I ended up spending almost 2 months alone in my apartment, with no friends around. I'll write a blog about that topic because oh boy was it an interesting experience.
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| I was SO relieved and happy once I was done with my Cambridge application T_T |
Season 4: The Rocky Roads
Turns out, living alone for 2 months with little human interaction does some damaging effects on your mental health. But hey, I survived! It was in the middle of February where all the other students started to come back to college for physical classes, and also to prepare all of us for our most important exam: A2 exams.
Earlier in this semester, I had heard back from Cambridge regarding my application, and I got rejected :( But I got over it pretty quickly because that meant I could go to UCL (yes I got a conditional offer by then, Alhamdulillah) and I was pretty excited over it. But that posed another major problem: I didn't have enough funding to fly.
Immediately I got myself into another stressful situation which I shouldn't have, if I legit thought through everything rationally. But I was obsessed with a dream (sighs). On top of preparing for my A2 exams (mind you, since our batch didn't have AS exams, our entire A-Level depended only on the A2 exams. Thus this is the exam that determines whether you make it or break it. It's THAT important), I was applying and preparing for 4 different scholarships. I had to put managing AcadStrive on a hiatus to focus on those 2 things.
I went into the A2 exam without a clear headspace. I was still stressed about all the funding things and I started to think it was impossible for me to fly at that point. Consequently, I screwed up some of my papers. But that was the best I could do given the circumstances. After I was finished with all my papers (it only took 2 weeks), I wasn't as relieved as I thought I'd be, because I was still stressing out about my funding!
Once my KY life was done, I got back to Sabah, back with my family after such a long time. My mental health started to improve, as I was taking more time to take care of myself. I'm in a much better place now. I got my A-Level results a few weeks ago, and I scored A*AA, Alhamdulillah. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but given everything that was going on, that was good enough :)
So, there you go! It was a lot to write about because so much was happening. I even left out some key details and events (which I will write more about in another post) as it was getting quite long already. I hope anyone that is reading this will get a bit of insight into what it was like being an A-Level student in KY, though I would say my situation is quite different than my peers haha. One huge lesson that I learnt from it all is that, good things will come to an end, bad things will too. Everything is temporary, so if you're struggling with any kind of problems in life, please hang in there! It will for sure get better, once you give it enough time. Thank you for reading, and see you in the next post!
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