The Road to Menara Gading and Back

By Joshua Chay

I would have wanted to start with an inspirational quote from a famous figure about how education is the cornerstone of any great man. Then move on to share my personal experiences from the 3 years that I was in university, explaining to you how I am now better prepared for the challenges of the real world and that you too are on your own glorious path to fulfillment and success.

Well, if only I was that cheesy.

I’m gonna cut straight to the chase – there are a number of things you need to know about uni life:

1. It’s never like what you see in the ads or the billboards – You won’t be lying on the grass with a bunch of friends, staring up into the blue sky, with text books in your hands and A’s in your pockets – which severely mislead marketeer thought about that anyway?

2. You will end up hating your course, even if it has subjects you think you would love.

3. Students are terribly competitive these days. We have enough of that when we start working, why start in uni?

4. Lecturers are not Gods, you need to work hard on your own. (This isn’t like the overpriced tuition centers you went to when you were in high school where you just had to wait for exam leaks)

5. You will think you are in love, but going overseas / graduating does increase the likelihood of you love birds breaking up. Just so you know.

6. You would hate your lecturers during the semester. But the moment you’re done, you would realize how their “terrible teaching methods” actually made you a better person.

7. Working part-time / freelancing while studying isn’t a sin. Just sitting at home studying for 3 years is.

8. Students will read from slides all the time. So learn how to present well and you will stand out from the crowd.

9. You will skip classes, but please don’t get yourself barred in the process.

10. Good friends are hard to come by. So when you do find the right bunch of people, hold a gun to your head, look at yourself in the mirror and scream at the top of your lungs, “I WILL NOT BE EMO!”

There you go! 10 things you need to know about uni life. Is it autobiographical? Maybe.

But the point is, being a university student is more than just bringing home A’s or being a class rep or being student body president or being a lecturer’s pet or being the prom queen or driving a sports car to university to impress god knows who or having the most outrageous hairstyles or even getting student prices wherever you go.

It’s really about growing as a person, making good friends, helping the less fortunate, getting to know your strengths / weaknesses and of course, having loads of fun along the way.