In search of Authentic Students (Part 1)

It is never easy these days to really know whether a choice of study or programme is decided by parents or the students themselves. It is always annoying when students are lackadaisical with their own application. In MPEC, students may occasionally be required to answer written questions, and some students were very literal in the answers, which of course can irritate people like me by such cryptic answer.

Although it may seem mysterious, the admission process is actually straightforward. It is about finding relationship that will work. In this case, the Admission Officer i.e. Director of Studies, will have to look for prospecting partners before committing for something long term. As true be it, perfect behaviour on the 1st date (interviews or application papers) may lead to a 2nd chance, but ultimately ultimately the real person is revealed and that revealation indicates whether a happily-ever-after experience lies ahead.

Students giving me cryptic answer are not actually being judged by me, many students have talents blossoming but not yet ripened. In others, talents are present and shown clearly. Therefore, I generally know that all the Universities are not expecting and fundamentally do not - exist for the sole purpose of educating already knowledgeable people.

Although a student academic records may not be 'that' impressive, however, I do look into references, and if the references are specific in their praise, that is honesty and transparency to me. Each and every application is a mystery and a puzzle to solve. Therefore, I am duty bound to transmit correct messages about what I hope to see in candidates. Students and Counsellors do struggle to read between the trend lines. I always hope that students are doing the right thing for the right reason. Only yesterday, I responded a to 15 year old, wishing to study abroad, and the hilarious part is, when the reason of the select country has nothing to do with the place of study. Now, that is really an ambigous objective. Therefore, I always have this quandary; how to distinguish a commitment to study from the simple desire to travel / work abroad.

Most of the time, I have to become Personality Detectives, because so far, most of the students, tend to have hidden agenda, and some tend to have ulterior motives. I even have a student who ask for refund for his application, after the University has issued him, the acceptance letter and the very same student was complaining to the Embassy saying that, he does not plan to continue his education, but again, he wanted to keep his Acceptance Letter.

How do Director of Studies like me, sort out genuine students from the image essentially manufactured for admissions purposes? It is a process that is part critical reading, part common sense and part intuition. Perhaps, I do overlook this 'dodgy' applicant, for when I was entrusted with this responsbility, my aim was to ensure, education for everyone. However, this noble objective of mine, eventually abused by students. I have to look for subplots, and the obvious unexpected twists. Stories in applications told from multiple points of view (which made it all the more harder for me to believe) are woven together in big picture.

As with any story, I will look into credibility and ultimately, genuineness. I want to understand the context of a student's life as I read and work hard to level the field for those who do not have any help in writing their application. Those who have had 'helpers', I personally see that as a misconstrued of facts, or plain 'cheating'.