This Course Was Not One of My Choices [guest post]

There is a chance where students received offer for a course which is not in their priority list when applying for public universities due to competition among so many pre-university graduates. Some of them might get courses that are not that well-known such as material science, forestry, instrumental science and also environmental science. Basically students who did not put these courses as one of their choices will react in either of these ways:

1) Oh my goodness what is this??? Why do I get this course??? *overcast sky*

2) Ok... Well, since I don't know what I want to study I will just go for it. *positive aura*

It is not surprising to see juniors asking around on Facebook about this course, looking for guidance from seniors. And probably there are some who do not ask at all because they are shy or they just lose hope and want to change the course as soon as possible. I can't help to have empathy towards juniors as there are not much information regarding this course in Malaysia, at least, not yet. They could be lost and worried about what is coming ahead and how do their futures look like. There are less than two weeks left until the orientation week of universities. While doing the final preparation, mental preparation is also important so that you will not get stressed out even before you enter the university. Having a light and excited mood throughout the orientation week is always a good start, you know.

One of my coursemates has written a short article of her experience when she enrolled in this course and she did not know much about this course either. Hope that it can give you some inspirations and motivations to keep going. Cheers!

Arina (center) and fellow coursemates during our site visit to a farm in UPM.
(photo contributed by Arina)

At the beginning, I had never thought of taking this course during my undergraduate study. This course was absolutely not in my priority list when I applied for UPU. When I got the result it was surprising that I was placed into this course. After some deep thinkings, I decided to accept the offer to continue my study despite of the fact that I did not know what I can be in the future with this degree. It was like taking a risk but I did it willingly because I believe that there must be something ahead for me that I did not know about. Some people might think that this course is easy (the requirement of enrolment is quite low) but you need to understand that nothing is easy in terms of gaining knowledge.

The first semester of my study was like an introduction about this course to me. My friends had helped me a lot in understanding what's going on in this course. After the semester ended, I found that I do enjoy it as I learn to work with Nature and become more concerned about our precious environment. I get to know the information about our environment and also challenges occur on our Earth today, too. Besides, we are exposed to environmental issues happening not only in Malaysia but also in global scale. 

My coursemates and lecturers have inspired me so much that I fell in love with this environmental science. This course is recommended to people who love Nature very much and want to live in a green sustainable environment. Who knows, one day we can create something that the Earth will thank us for doing so?


Author: Arina Farhana (second year student of Bachelor of Environmental Science and Technology)
Edited by Xiwen Wendy