31/10/2019...and a year after (2.0) -How to apply to Oxford University?

 Part 2.

I had only about 3 weeks, from the time of the last interview to the due date for submission of the postgrad application, which was on the 10th of January 2020. I had to work on few crucial things all at the same time: (please browse here if you are interested https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate)

 IELTS  a must pass mission with one attempt and ensuring a minimal band of 7.5 for total band and minimum 7 for each component which was writing, reading, listening and communication. Please choose Academic IELTS, not UKVI. The latter is for different schemes.

 Completing the Personal Statement  need to write my best PS that do justice in reflecting my own self since it will be used as the medium for evaluating my justification to pursue DPhil.

 Study Research Proposal 

 Tracing, and certified all the required documents which included

o Own Passport

o Birth Certificate 

o Undergraduate transcript

o Postgraduate/ Specialist degree transcript

o Undergraduate Cert

o Postgraduate/Specialist degree cert

o Awards Certificate

o 4 referees 

o Curricular Vitae

o Research Proposal

o Other relevant certs on accomplishments

To complete all these within 3 weeks was a daunting and stressful task. For a few reasons, one was due to the time factor. When you work against the ticking clock, it was always stressful. Secondly, it was so close hence I did not want to miss the golden opportunity or get knocked out merely for technical reasons. Thirdly, the personal statement(PS) and the proposal. It took me 3 weeks to complete a PS and going through draft after draft as I wanted to make it reflective of my pure intentions and solid enough to be considered for the final process. Fortunately, I had my wife to check on the content and my  English teacher since my time in SMAPK, Teacher Dr. Husna Khadir to proofread my English. And I was glad I did 😊. Thank you, teacher Husna, for your help. Going to remember that for a lifetime. 

Developing the proposal was another story. It was honestly embarrassing at the initial stage. The initial 22 pages proposal was submitted to my potential SVs and it required major corrections. They wanted it to be only in 6 pages. I was like, phew…from 22 to 6 pages. How do I do that…But that was part of the learning process. Summarising and simplifying things which were redundant and unnecessary, making complicated things simple and concise were the key in this process. I truly learned a lot just from the process of applying alone.

I had registered to sit for the IELTS exam in December,  and it cost me around RM 800. All bookings can be done online: https://ieltsregistration.britishcouncil.org/test-chooser. You can visit the link if you are planning to sit for it.

I did my last minute revision particularly on tips on how to score each component. These last-minute steps were crucial since I had not been able to do much practice or revisions on the format and etc. Most of the revisions were guided by online teachers via youtube channels. One of them which I found very useful was FASTtrack IELTS. For the first-timers, the format can be quite confusing but the British council and IELTS website provide sufficient materials for you to be familiar with the format. 

As for me, the previous experience of sitting for  IELTS  during A levels, prior to the undergraduate studies was very helpful at this stage. It did alleviate some anxiety knowing the Dos and Don'ts. Alhamdulillah, I achieved the required band of 7.5. Reading: 7, Writing:7, Communication: 7.5, listening 8.5, hence the overall band: 7.5. So IELTS ✅. And please bear in mind that different universities may set a different IELTS requirement, so it is advisable that you check on all beforehand.

I had overwhelming support from my superiors. I am eternally grateful for that. The application required 4 referees so I managed to get 2 from my current workplace; Senior Professor and Consultant of Emergency Medicine; Prof Dr. Ismail Saiboon and my head of dept than, Assoc Prof Dr. Johar Jaafar and another 2 referees from the Ministry of Health which were the current national head of service Datuk Dr. Mahathar Abd Wahab and my sifu in emergency ultrasound Dr Adi Osman. I can't thank all of them enough for helping me on this journey. May God bless all of them. 

On the new year's eve 1st Jan 2020, once all the checklist had been ticked,  I submitted the application via the online portal and continued to pray hard....... 

31.10.2019…and a year after. (Part 1.0)

Today is 31.10.2020…..I am writing this on my plane MH 0004 heading from Kuala Lumpur to London Heathrow. Against all odds, despite all the obstacles and difficulties of the current pandemic situation, Allah has made it a reality today.

 This happened exactly a year after me, my wife, and kids flew to Manchester, United Kingdom. Just that this time around it is for a completely different purpose.

We came last year to Manchester along with the whole batch of final year Quantity Surveying (QS) students of University of Malaya, who came for a week of an outbound program with Manchester Metropolitan University; which my wife Dr. Nurshuhada supervised.

 I was back then accompanying my wife for her duty calls and basically to look after the kids while mommy was at work. It was an awesome time with the kids, I guess.  Brought them to many interesting sites throughout Manchester while mom was at work, such as the Manchester Uni museum, Football Museum, Science Museum and of course to the Old Trafford stadium. Here are the links to video clips: snapshots of those trips: www…..

 

Interestingly, it was during this period as well that things get really serious. Although me and wife have always talked about my intention to pursue my studies and by that time,  I have already started sending emails to University of Edinburgh months prior to that UK trip, it never reached to the point like, “ok, I-am-definitely-going-to-pursue-this-year” kind of tone. I just went with the flow. However, one day perhaps after 2-3 days being in Manchester (we stayed at Travelodge for a week by the way), my wife came back from work and started saying,

 “Yang, why don’t you try to ask the potential supervisors again, since now we are here.”

 Partially interested, I responded, “Yeah, ok I’ll try and see…, maybe ill survey a few more potential  universities first”

 So, the next day, I started doing my online hunting for potential SVs. The interest kept on growing and the thoughts keep coming, telling me that I

must do the online search, like seriously doing it. So I spent a good few hours online searching while my wife was away with her students. I managed to shortlist 5 universities that have cardio-related Ph.D. projects which included the University of Edinburgh, University College London, King’s College London, University of Cambridge, and The University of Oxford.

Feeling hopeful and thrilled at the same time, I drafted the email stating my intention and interest in these potential SVs and eventually clicked send to all other Unis except for Cambridge and Oxford.

I was not confident that those Universities will even care to look and read at my emails to be completely honest. Later, when my wife came back to our hotel, we discussed the progress, and she uttered a statement which I will never forget.

 “Why don’t you just click send to Oxford and Cambridge, you can do this trust me. I believe in you more than you do believe in yourself, and you will never know what lies ahead,”

 That left me speechless for a few seconds, and made me reflected on how in life you just need a great support from the individuals around you and how words can transform people’s view on life and on your own self.

 Without hesitation henceforth, I clicked send……….

 LoI and behold…

12-24 hours later, only 2 potential SVs from 2 universities had responded and the most promising one was The University of Oxford.

 I was like ‘Wow, is this for real?’. They asked me to come down to Oxford to meet up on Friday if I am interested. That email came on Wednesday. Thursday was the last day of my wife’s formal function. Saturday was our flight back to Kuala Lumpur. So it was more like a crazy ad-hoc kind of decision if we were to take that trip down to Oxford. So I and wife decided to go on with the crazy idea. Thus we booked a one-night stay at Travelodge Oxford and prolonged our car rental duration and to Oxford, we went.

 Alhamdulillah, it turned out to be a great last-minute decision in fact. For a few reasons. First, the kids got to taste and experience Oxford, firsthand. Let them smell the air, witness the greeneries and the tranquility of the historical university. So, when I fight for my place in Oxford, they will be fighting for me too. ( ill tell you why I said this ). Secondly, having the opportunity to enter the university, talked to the team there, and being considered a potential candidate alone was already a Win for me. I rather died trying. To the very least, I can tell my children later that I tried to apply, but perhaps not meant to be there😉. In fact, since it was a Cardiology Unit at John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, during the initial meet they have made it quite clear that they never had a fellow from the Emergency background attached with them. It was always Internal Medicine and Cardiology background all these while. For obvious reasons, I did not put much hope ever since.

 However, days after reaching Malaysia, I received an email from the same department, asking me to submit my CV and ideas in a simple proposal format. I was surprised, thrilled, and more importantly grateful. I took that opportunity as a huge ‘sign’ from God that my prayers may be answered.

 A week after that, I received feedback from the team offering an online interview. This was when it got really interesting and nervy, the interview will be via skype with the presence of the whole research team and in particular the head of the unit, Prof Stefan; a world-renowned Consultant Cardiologist and a distinct professor of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and an editor of the European Heart Journal. Yes, that was exactly my reaction..” wow, omg I am nervous now”. The seconds I received this thrilling news, there was a strong sense of adrenaline rushing in my body. My neurons began synapsing all over the brain cortices figuring out what should I prepare for the interview? What should I read? How should I dress? What if I don’t get it and not able to impress them during the interviews? Well to be fair, you would be nervous also wouldn’t ya?

 So on the 11^th December 2019, roughly about a month after my visit to John Radcliffe University Hospital Oxford, I had the interview done. Via skype, 11000km apart, 7 hours difference in time zone, 2200 Hours Malaysia time, 3pm UK time, just me and the team in Oxford who consisted of Prof Dr Stefan, Dr Masliza and Dr Betty Raman. It went on about half an hour covering a range of issues including my previous achievements, my research credible and experience, my writing and publications, family and dependants, possible funding sources for the DPhil, and more profoundly was exploring the deep question on what doing and getting the DPhil means to me. And I must say that time passed really swiftly that night. But I was extremely satisfied albeit some of my weaknesses were pointed out particularly on the publication and research aspects, which I had no choice but to agree. In fact, afterward, when talking to my wife about the experience, we realized how Oxford screened their potential candidates. They were able to point to the ‘Achilles tendon’ straight away…

 

At this stage, only a few persons in the department knew about the interview; my head of department at that time Assoc Prof Dr Johar, my partner in crime Dr Hisham Isa, Dr Kusyairi Harun Al Rashid and Pn Saadah from Crem. I kept it low because I thought it was too premature to announce since nothing was secured, or certain yet at that point. My biggest blessings had been my family; my beloved parents Mama and Bapak, my wonderful wife Dr. Nurshuhada Zainon and kids Tisyia, Aqeel, Hamza, and Ahmed, my beloved parents-in-laws Mama and Ayah, my siblings Liana and her husband Azizul, Fendy and wife Misya, 4g, Adik,  and all the family members who practically prayed for me throughout the interview. In fact, the hilarious part was when I was told that, my kids refrained from having any of their usual verbal arguments and boy fights and prayed on time, as they believed that will increase my chance of getting the spot. MasyaAllah, really, I owed them this experience. 😊

 

Waiting for the feedback email was also another nervy period. But alhamdulillah, a few days after that, I received an email from the department stating the outcome of the interview.

 

“The interview went well and the teams were impressed and happy to accept me as a team and be part of the the research team in RDM, Oxford”………😊😊😊😊 Alhamdulillah.

 

It further states “with this, you are allowed and advised to proceed with the official application via the Graduate Admission website of Oxford University for DPhil  admission for term 2020/21.”

To be continued...