Now, non-Malaysians might think that this post is irrelevant to them. But, it will at least provide you some understanding of the hmmm… unique scholarship process in Malaysia.

Well, I am probably exaggerating when I said “surefire”, but Malaysians who do manage to fulfill the steps I will outline will actually stand a chance of garnering one of these highly coveted Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (a.k.a. Public Service Department) Scholarships to overseas universities.

Of course, there are always exceptions and I welcome comments (constructive or otherwise…).

Here it is:

1) Score Straight ‘A1’s
- This one is probably the most important (now, there ARE exceptions depending on CERTAIN factors which I will not outline here)
- Now, no matter how many subjects you take, whether 9 or 14 (and even more), it is necessary to ace every one of them. So, there is little use taking too many subjects if you cannot cope.

- Note: It is a bonus to score ‘A1’s in more than the base 9 subjects for the science stream of course. As it goes, the more the merrier, especially when you compete against the multitude of other straight A1 students.

2) At Least Have Some Co-Curricular Activities
- I am not asking you to be a National Sportsperson in anything, but it will always help to have a strong extracurricular background. Now, having a strong co-curricular background at the expense of your results will be disastrous. Exception: Very strong co-curricular achivements. Well, let’s see: At least State, but National representation is recommended.

3) You Can Speak English
- Since there is an interview for the scholarship after all, you will have to show that you can speak English. Truthfully, I am not very sure how much the interview matters. I sincerely doubt that it matters very much. This means that I feel that you must be able to converse in English, but I doubt you must be extremely proficient in it.

That’s it for now. There are actually quite a few more factors, which I might post later. But these 3 factors are of utmost importance and any aspiring scholar clearly must fulfill them.