I need serious advice wrt finances and education

teh tarik satu — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:04:35 +0800

Dear all, I'm in dire need of professional advice as to what I can do to finance my future education. Just to warn you though, this thread is a request thread, but also a somewhat personal thread. So if you're up to the task of really helping me, please read on. If you're not up to reading long texts or whatever, then just skip this. I need professional help, or at least, help from someone knowledgeable.

Dear reader,

I am 22 years old (turning 23 in Dec) and I'm stuck in a very precarious situation whereby I only possess a Diploma in Biotechnology (with a pathetic GPA of 2.07, if I may add) from a Singapore Poly as my highest qualification and 1 year's work experience (full time, non-science related). I quit my last job last year due to several personal reasons and am currently still unemployed (I worked in Singapore). I do not have savings in the bank either. I am also a Singaporean intending to become a Malaysian (I have already applied, ETA 6-8 years) and aiming to obtain my PhD before I'm 35. Give and take 3 years. I intend to eventually be either a: research psychologist (40%), a clinical psychologist (20%), a forensic psychologist (20%), or a counselling psychologist (20%).

(Why my GPA is 2.07- only for kaypohs)

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Many people who look at my plan would immediately brand me a fool for wanting to aim so unrealistically high. The kinder of our lot would probably say that the PhD is obtainable- but not at age 35. I don't care. I have a goal right now and I want to reach it and I want to do whatever is within my means and power to reach it.

(The reason why I'm setting my goal at 35- again, for kaypohs)

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Since my diploma's GPA is relatively low, it might be a little difficult to gain entry into direct bachelor's courses, although the unis I've called up have requested me to send my transcripts to them to see if they can gauge how suitable I am for the direct bachelors courses. However, I have not sent any yet because I have another huge problem- lack of money. Assuming I have money and they accept my qualifications, they would expect me to enrol immediately. But without money, how am I to enrol?

I also can't discount the fact that I may have to take a foundation course to secure a place in Uni studies, but if that were the case, then I would have to pay more. Which is not something I'm really looking forward to.

I have a younger brother who is intending to do his Pre-U, and well, my mother only has enough money for one child.

Why I think my brother should have the money:

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I'm wondering if there are ANY institutions in Malaysia (financial or otherwise) that can offer me the financial help for my studies, taking into account my nationality. As I've previously mentioned, I intend to become a Malaysian- and my future plans would be to emigrate here fully. I want to live here and retire here. I will work hard to achieve a high GPA. I'm even willing to be bonded or accept terms and conditions.

A few of my psychological interests revolves around promoting mental health amongst Malaysians- more so amongst Malaysian youths, as well as playing a part in shaping Malaysia's future, such as helping to work towards a globalized, first class nation by contributing psychological research breakthroughs and implementation of public policies for the wellbeing of the masses. It took me many years to realise it, but my passion is really, truly, in Psychology. I want to study everything there is to it (actually, I am studying it on my own with internet resources and textbooks) and I want to excel and be a reputable academic in it.

I'm finding a place to live, not just to stay. I am a human, not a robot, and I am rather fed up of SG's capitalist, money-first attitude (sorry singaporeans); their ridiculous policies and lack of freedom. I find that Malaysia is a better environment for me in terms of potential for excellence, freedom of practicing my religion (Islam) as well as liberty and freedom of speech.

I must probably mention that I have a rich, somewhat estranged uncle (my family is very broken) who has the monetary capabilities of financing, but I'd put the success rate of getting a loan from him to be less than 5%. He's an actuary, and probably will calculate that I will not amount to much in life, and probably would laugh at me for trying to even ask. I don't really have a thick skin, so I don't dare to ask anyway. I haven't YET amounted to much, but I am willing to prove my mettle this time. It took me 2 years to come to terms with the mistake I made when I was younger, but now, I do want to change. *shows determined look in eyes*

I have considered writing in to financial institutions as well as universities to speak about my plight, but I don't know where to even start or who to even approach. Bank loans require someone to have a certain fixed monthly income, but the only breadwinner in my family is my dad, who earns about SGD$1k each month, which is about RM2300. After calculating all the living and degree costs, it would come up to almost RM 150K- and not all the unis have financial scholarships that cover more than 50% of the cost (yes, I've thought of working towards a scholarship). Assuming one bank can loan up to 5x the amount, then my dad can loan 13800K from one bank. Hardly enough to cover ONE year, let alone accomodation.

How else am I going to get an education? Singapore education is out of the question. Cost of living is too high and I would have to take A levels to gain entry (because my poly dip is not good). I would have to stay in Singapore (again), and NUS and NTU only offer Psychology as a BA degree instead of a BSc (via taking a major in psych). I need a BSc because the programme is more psychology-structured instead of loosely structured like a liberal arts degree. Besides, it's a waste of time to take 2 years to study 5 subjects that are just going to be used as entry qualifications into a university.

I'm so confused and stressed out and I would appreciate any honest and constructive advice. And yes, I'm still looking for a job in the mean time as well.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of this nonsense! >.<

Laptop sound died

teh tarik satu — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:33:45 +0800

Hi guys, I need help with my laptop- of late it's been giving me sound-related problems, like being screwy with the pitching and making any sound that comes out sound like the bass has been completely removed.

So yesterday for some reason the sound was okay (my laptop is always in an unstable PMS mode- sometimes fine, sometimes excellent, sometimes annoying and sometimes useless) and I cranked the volume up on my gom player by boosting the bass and everything else. Then I opened another video on another flv player so I was running two videos concurrently.

Things seemed fine for a while, until sometime later in the day, I realised that I had completely lost all sound on my laptop.

I have done the usual troubleshooting steps:
- updating drivers (which didn't need any updates)
- uninstalled my IDE drivers and reinstalled them
- rebooted like, 1218237193718731983812391023981931 times

and still, nothing.

Im guessing it's a hardware problem and i feel like unscrewing the whole damn thing to see what's wrong. i have nooby computer technical skills (cause all i do is just read but have hardly ever placed my hands on computer parts save for ram and hd), so i would like to seek the esteemed opinions of the people here on whether there are any other viable alternatives to opening up and having a look. i am not very keen to send it to a computer repair shop and i cannot afford to buy a new laptop.

PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME TO BUY A NEW LAPTOP. THAT IS BEYOND THE POINT. THANK YOU.

PS: My laptop is 5 years old- an acer travelmate 4050, so, uhm, please don't tell me that such things are natural either. I need a solution, mmkays?

kk thx in advance!

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I need serious advice wrt finances and education

Laptop sound died