Here's to the most hectic interview I've attended yet. And by hectic I mean problems lead by own carelessness. As you probably already know, some of the courses that you apply through UPU requires you to attend an interview in order to be accepted. And lucky for me, I was offered to attend an interview for my first choice, which is UiTM's Sarjana Muda Sains Senibina. The interview I was assigned to was held at Fakulti Senibina, Perancangan dan Ukur (FSPU) in UiTM Shah Alam. The dress code was formal, and we were told to bring along our design portfolios as well 2B pencil and an eraser.
Temuduga Sarjana Muda Sains Senibina - 18th April 2015
So, since my dad is currently doing his masters in UiTM's FSPU, he drove me there without having problem with directions or getting lost. Before we entered UiTM, we had breakfast at a nearby mamak restaurant. My interview was scheduled to be at 8.30am, but obviously it wasn't possible for me to actually be interviewed at that time. After breakfast, my dad dropped me off while he waited at the parking lot incase anything happens. Before entering the FSPU buliding, all candidates had to line up according to their courses to register for the interview. And oh man, the line for Sarjana Muda Sains Senibina was so freaking long that by the time all of the other courses are done with registering, our line still had around 25+ people left to register. I even bumped into Ali from the TWCS interview, Faisal my Muse friend, and I also saw that Myra Mustaffa girl from CBN. Fortunately for me, I was there on time and I didn't have to line up for too long. Here comes the hectic part. As I was lining up, I realised that my IC was missing, and then I remembered that I had left it in a folder I brought to get my documents "disahkan" at the police station the day before. I called my dad and he was like its fine, they don't really wanna see it etc, and I went to inform one of the officers and he said that its cool. Then, 10 minutes into lining up, the officer announced that we have to take out our offer letter that we had printed out. Here's what happened when I tried to print this thing the night before. My printer was being a complete arse and decided to print the first time horribly, making it seem like I was running out of ink. I completely freaked out, its was 10pm, none of the printing shops were opened and my dad was having class and there was no way for him to help me. Then I just tried my luck again, and the second time I printed it it was completely fine. Back to the interview day, when I took out the offer letter, I realised that it was different from everybody else's. My computer printed out 2 out of 3 of the pages and I was missing out the paper where my name was supposed to be. I called my dad again, he was being completely unhelpful, and I managed to convince him to get it printed as I might not be able to enter if I don't have that. By the time I got to the registration booth, my dad was not done, but fortunately for me, the lady officer was being extremely kind and let me in anyway. Then I waited for my dad just in case I need the documents during the actual interview, and then he passed to me around 15 copies of that one page. How generous, right?
Moving on to the next step, after registration, we were ushered into the building to sit under a booth where we had to wait for our turns. While I was sitting down, I found out that all the other candidates have brought along copies of their certificates, which I obviously didn't prepare as it wasn't stated in the instructions in the offer letter, and one of the girls was like omg you need to have the copies to submit to the interviewers etc etc. Even though I was determined that I have followed the instructions and the copies are not needed, I went to the photocopy department on the second floor anyway just in case. By the time I got there, the officer told me that only the important documents needed to be copied, and I have all of that and I was not required to photocopy the rest of my certs. I went back down, out of breath and getting a little bit annoyed at that point. As we waited downstairs, the officer gave out our numbers and mine was 237. Not long after that, around 100+ of us were ushered into a hall where we had to undergo a drawing test. The test was pretty simple, they had arranged a few geometry blocks on a table, and all you gotta do is sketch out what you're seeing from your seat only by using a 2B pencil. I was kinda freaking out during this session, because I was absolutely intimidated by how the girl next to me was sketching so loudly with her pencil, like a pro. I got pretty distracted by the noise, and I think I re-sketched out the shapes around 3 times because I wasn't feeling very confident about me. But I think I did a decent job, and I was impressed at how most of them sitting around me did pretty good as well.
After the drawing session comes the scary part, the interview. I was the first to leave the hall so I was kinda leading the group of 100+ people following an officer to the waiting area for the interview. I sat on the first chair and of course I was the first one to be called in. The lady who called us in spoke really good English, and from there I understood that this whole interview will be in English. The interview was one-to-one, and my interviewer was a lady. I showed her my SPM art portfolio, she asked me a few questions and the interview didn't last very long. She asked me very few questions regarding architecture, like why did I pick architecture, whats your favourite building and etc. The questions weren't really about facts regarding architecture, and she also asked me what my favourite band was. I wasn't really happy about that because I was expecting to be able to express to her my passion in architecture, not my passion in music! I just felt like the interview was a tad unprofessional. Anyway, after I was done with that I was allowed to leave and I had to wait an hour before my dad came to pick me up. The whole thing ended at like 12pm, so I guess if you're there early it wouldn't take very long to finish.
Just like all the other interviews, I found out that what the interviewers really want to see is your proficiency in English. I believe thats why the interviewer asked me really random questions about my personal interest, completely neglecting the fact that I was there for an architecture interview. Anyway, things that you should prepare for this interview is a decent portfolio, practice on your sketching skills, learn about perspective drawing and again, work on your English. Make sure to reach there on time or be early, unless if you'd like to spend the rest of your day waiting for your turn. Don't forget your important documents like I did, and most importantly, enjoy the interview! There's really nothing much to it other than these common reminders.
I have to say that this interview was the most emotionally-draining interview I've attended, but I did enjoy the whole experience altogether. I've yet to receive the results for this interview, but I'll be sure to give an update when I do. I hope this post has been helpful, and if you were there for the interview too, let me know how it went! :)
If you'd like to read about the final round of the TWCS interview, click here!
// TWCS Interview // JPA-MARA SAC Interview //
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