Question was: How did you come to choose Pennstate?
*berpura2 nak melintas haha :P*
Truth be told, I had never actually envisioned myself to be at Pennstate when I was doing my foundation degree back in my home country. During that one and a half year, we were given the opportunity to choose universities that we were interested to apply at, depending on our majors. Only certain universities were available to us, as we were under scholarships.
So we could only choose 3 out of the many many different universities to choose from, to actually submit our application for. I had chosen Rochester Institute of Technology, UC Davis and Pennstate. Out of the 3, my housemate and I were aiming for UC Davis as it was one of the best Biotechnology universities available in the US. And it also required us to take an additional examination to even get into the university!
SAT 2 was not all that bad, but it wasn't easy either. And the standards that the university was looking for were definitely much higher than our scores.
In the end, I was accepted in both RIT and Pennstate. Even though I was not able to get an offer from UC Davis, I was very thankful that I had two other choices to choose from.
Only then, that I started to seriously consider Pennstate as the university that I will go to get my degree from, as well as RIT. After a lot of pondering, asking my friends and parents opinions, most of them were encouraging me to go to Pennstate. My parents reason was that Pennstate is not as cold as RIT during the winter (my country does not have four seasons, it's summer all year long XD) while most of my friends told me that they were going to Pennstate because their close friends were going there too.
But ultimately, I made my decision to go to Pennstate final was when I seeked guidance and help from Him, and all Praises goes to Him, I received a clear and heart-warming guidance. :)
So there I was, accepting Pennstate. And I am now in my senior year. I certainly have no regrets choosing Pennstate, as I know there are so many things that had happened over the past three years that I cherish that I would not have received have I not chosen to go to Pennstate. I was able to travel a lot with my friends, explore a different part of the world, get to know my religion at a much deeper level as well, and make new and great great friends. And yes, my friends and I didn't know that Pennstate was a 'party school' until we got here XD
*on the way to pennstate in the plane :)*
*late night in the HUB! :)*
*photo for merdeka in front of old main :)*
All in all, I am grateful to have chosen Pennstate, and I am grateful to my family, friends and Him for all the love and support, and I am definitely looking forward to graduating in the Spring of 2012. I will surely miss Pennstate, and the US as a whole :) It is true that there are many factors and forces that influenced my decision to choose Pennstate. But in everything that happens to us, regardless of whether we choose it to be in our lives or not, has a blessing in disguise. :)
"Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not." (Qur’an 2:216)
*biscuits and I are INSEPERABLE :P*
:)
