disturbia

And so I went jogging yesterday early in the morning and the whole time, I just could not take my mind off the interview that I had several days ago.

When I got back to my room, I got several messages on my phone:

"Adlan, Nottingham dah keluar."

Firstly, if there was such an award, the University of Nottingham would easily win the university with the Most Anticipated Interview as the period between the time when the interview invitations were released and the interview session was so long; it extended to almost two months. After several weeks of waiting, I've finally managed to successfully go to all my interviews (with the same attire successively =P).

However, there were several hindrances that I've encountered before that day arrives. It's more like a dilemma. Some of my friends were advising me of not going to this interview as some applicants are currently not holding any conditional offers. At that point, I was actually facing with one of the most difficult decisions that I have to make in life. Should I abandon my dream? Should I give opportunity to those who are still waiting? In the end, I just keep telling myself that there is a possibility for all of us to get the offers. I mean, it's not impossible.

And so I asked my friends to send this message to these people:

"See you in Nottingham"

But after attending the interview, I doubt that getting the offer would be easy...for me that is...

The third. The last.

photo by Bellerus

24th March 09
The University of Nottingham, Chulan Tower
Nottingham

Truthfully, Nottingham interview really made me nervous. I guess the last interview that I had was in the month of January, so somehow, I might have lost my touch.

And for the last time, here are my questions:

1. Why doctor? (This question never loses its popularity)
2. Why doctor instead of other healthcare professions? (And it started to become hard)
3. Why not a pharmacist? (And it got harder)
4. Doctors have to work in a team. How do you find that different than other healthcare professions? (And even harder)

Okay, so you might say to yourself that these questions are not hard. I guess my definition of hard here is that I have difficulty in making my answers unique and interesting.

5. So, why Nottingham?

This is the question which I really looked forward to answering. And I talked a lot about it. And the interviewers didn't ask more about Nottingham which made me feel slightly demotivated. I was hoping that this question would be the one which can really make me stand out. It played a minor role...probably =(

And then, I realized that there was a question which I answered passionately. I told the interviewers about the two degrees which can be obtained in Nottingham the other one being the Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree.

6. Students will undergo an independent research project in the 3rd year which would lead to the attainment of the BMedSci degree. What do you think is the benefit of doing a research project independently?

And I told them about my EE. I chose English for my EE as it is my favourite subject (and also the only subject that I managed to score a hat trick) and it was definitely interesting to learn about linguistics despite the fact that it may not have anything to do with medicine. And I felt much better when I remembered I've said this to them...;)

Then, we move on to the part which made me feel a bit better (please note that I used "a bit" in the sentence).

7. You've taken part in several community service. Would you like to tell us more about that?

I got some hope and I told them about all of these:
A. Sehati Serumpun, Cambodia. They were interested to hear about my journey there.
B. Permai Hospital. I got to tell them about meeting mentally-challenged individuals.
C. Rumah Aman. I talked about the kids at the orphanage and the trip to Aquaria KLCC.

8. IB can be very stressful. So, how do you cope with that? (I strongly believe this question is gaining its popularity)

I talked about jogging with my mp3 player and also Frisbee. Somehow, they were intrigued to hear about Frisbee. Basically, it's almost everything that I wrote in clocks.

And finally, the time came for me to ask them if I have any questions. And I asked the question which I think is really neutral and doesn't sound desperate at all despite the opinions of many...

Adlan: May I know when the result will be out? (See, it's not THAT desperate. After all, I asked this same question for all my interviews. It's really safe.)

And I asked a question which made me feel bad for the rest of the day and hence, the reason why the title of this post is as stated and the reason why I'm not really in the mood.

Adlan: Did you have fun? (Awkward) in Malaysia? (Much more awkward)

Wafi : Shut up Adlan! Shut up! (My inner monologue)

Honestly, I was absolutely upset for asking that question. I should have just kept quiet. In a nutshell, I have to say the interview was awkward and depressing. I didn't have the capacity to use my creativity in answering the questions this time around.

One of the problems in this interview is that I kept using the same words repetitively. I just noticed that this is the problem that I faced in all three interviews. I guess that's why I didn't score high for my Speaking in IELTS.

In both of my previous interviews, I do have the feeling that I'm going to get the offer. But now, I just don't seem to have that much confidence in me. Quite frustrating though, I really hope I get it.

I think I need to remind myself of something much more important than interviews.

"...Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest."

"...Ingatlah, hanya dengan mengingati Allah hati menjadi tenteram."

(Ar-Ra'd (13): 28)

And I would like to thank all my moral boosters. You made me feel better in so many ways...