WHIRLWIND OF EVENTS

Good evening everyone,

It has been a hectic week since the results have come out! From happiness to tears, it has been interesting to say the least. It is very interesting to see changes in some students after reality of the results have settled in. (It's NOT easy now is it??)

Especially making decisions for your futures: studying overseas, UBD, ITB, etc.

Our fave question has got to be: 'Tchr, I have XXX points, what should I do?'

Wellllllll...it seems we are not only teachers but are also able to tell your futures based on your results...NOT!! We are not robots who are able to analyse your points and tell you what you should do. It's amazing that we only knew some students after they miraculously come out to see us and say 'Tchr, we want to apply for a scholarship.' 

With that being said, the week has also gone by with a LOT of rumours such as 'Hecas is open tchr! what should we do?'...Thank you for telling us even though we actually went for HECAS training and was told it's NOT even open yet. As of today, it has NOT OPEN so don't panic and make up ridiculous deadlines like 3 days. 

We know a lot of you have gone to Education fairs in the past week as well and have been coming to see us and telling us that Unis have been strict, kind and able to consider your grades. But please, don't even consider applying directly to the unis as it goes against the MOE policy and that is all students MUST apply through UCAS to get offers from UK universities. 

Soooo, what should YOU DO the next few weeks?? Here are some predictions (since we are able to read your futures!)

1. When HECAS finally opens: REGISTER yourself via DST(go to the website and READ all terms and requirements for each institution including scholarship: grades maybe higher!!). If you haven't sent in your relevant docs to be stamped now is the time to do so and NO we are not the clerk's office.

2. Those who believe you are eligible for scholarship and want to apply to UK universities: make sure you have the SMSA reference form and start the UCAS application already. If you don't know how to, ASK us! Reminder UCAS deadline for SMSA students are: Sunday, 23rd March 2014. 

3. Students who wish to apply for scholarships, as I mentioned before: Yayasan, TOTAL are Mindef by recommendation (by me) and invitation only. For BSP: you must tell me if you are interested by Tuesday, 18/2/2014 (personally or via email) so I can recommend you as well BUT in the meantime pls apply through BSP website as well. For other scholarships like DANA, BAS and MOE: applications are through HECAS. 

4. Education fairs and open days: please check for daily announcements on such events so you can visit the institutions like UBD and ITB so you know more about the courses and such. We can only know and inform you of what we were given at the time. 

Busy with forms :D

Hmmmm what else?? We will be organising mock interviews for potential scholars so keep posted! 

Have a good Sunday!

Miss UK & Careers Team

Pre-U Registration 2014/2015

Good morning All..

Just to inform you and to share with your families and friends who are considering to study in SM Sayyidina Ali's Sixth Form Center, we are open for registration on the following dates:

Hope to see you all there..

To Ex-PreU students who are coming to SMSA to collect your slips, register for resit of the June exams or to apply for leaving certs, make sure you go to the right counters and teachers in charge. 

The Pre U Careers and Higher Learning Dept office will be closed throughout the registration days as we will be setting up a booth at the School Hall.

So if you have any questions regarding Scholarships or entrance to local universities, don't hesitate to see us.

Cheers.

Miss UK

SMSA PRE-U OPEN DAY 2014

Good evening everyone!

Just a quick shout out to an upcoming event in SMSA that PreU students may have attended before. We would like your cooperation to inform your younger siblings, cousins or friends who you think will be coming to SMSA Sixth Form in the future to attend. Details are as follows:

The Pre-U Careers Department will be there for consultation and advice so if you would like to meet us (students awaiting results including former batch 2012/2013) you are welcome to do so..Just look for Table 3. 

See you there!

Miss UK

UCAS and such: very important info!

Good morning SMSAnians, 

Just to officially announce that we do not accept anymore UCAS applications and is officially closed. However, we will announce another deadline after the A level exams results are out in March (not long now!)

Below is an excerpt of information posted on UCAS:

International applicants
If your applicants are applying from outside the UK or EU, many universities and colleges will consider their application as long as it is received at UCAS by 30 June 2014. This does not apply to applications for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, courses in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or veterinary science. For all of these, applicants must apply by 15 October 2013.

Universities and colleges do not guarantee to consider applications they receive after 15 January 2014, and some popular courses may not have vacancies after that date. Advise your applicants to check with individual universities and colleges. They are advised to apply as early as possible.

We hope this is crystal clear to everyone who have applied to UCAS and are waiting for results to be released to apply. Since we encounter several difficulties and 'challenges' from students in the last few weeks, we hope that you have prepared your personal statements early, willing to come to school to meet us or GP tutors and not make demands as if you're a big shot.

This is also to announce that ALL students who wish to apply to HECAS (Scholarship, UBD, ITB and Brunei Politeknik) should prepare ALL your academic and ECA certificates (at least 4 sets) to be sent to the school's clerks; office to be stamped and signed, you will need all this when you apply. For a sample of documents, it is pasted at the clerks office. Again, don't leave this to the last minute and expect it to be ready immediately. Once the PreU1 students come into SMSA, your previous tutors will not have time to entertain to you. Don't be lazy and make up excuses that you're not able to spend 5-10 minutes to school to prepare your documents.

There will be several events coming up that may interest you especially higher education so stay tuned and for any queries do contact us: smsacareers@hotmail.com

Miss UK

UCAS DEADLINE

Good morning all,

Here is the FIRST reminder to all students who wish to apply to UK universities via UCAS. Please be informed that we only process complete applications (reference forms must be complete too) and forecast grades meet the requirements of the universities.

Some of you may already receive emails from me stating status of your applications so please check your emails. Below is a notice from UCAS:

Please be aware of the UCAS deadline of 18:00 (UK time) on 15 January 2014. This is the deadline for equal consideration for most courses. Applications received after this deadline may be considered at the discretion of each university or college.

Please take note that SMSA deadline is NEXT WEEK, Monday 13^th January 2014. If you submit after the deadline, it will be forwarded to the next deadline (after results are out)

Also, you should consider the following before making decisions:

1. If you are definitely applying to UCAS, please confirm with me via email so I can check your application and process it if it meets the requirements (esp your forecast grades)

2. Do NOT send me your personal statements without your GP tutors checking them first (unless you’re my GP students)

3. DO NOT submit your UCAS application and make the payment without letting me know first (students have done this). This may cause a delay (what if your forecast grades won’t meet the requirements; we won’t process them)

4. Don’t expect to only start your applications now (including reference forms) and expect them to be completed in a day (We have lives too!)

5. If you need to see me or other Careers officers, do come by to the office and ask for any queries (emails may be replied later)

6. Remember if you are asking your subject tutors for references, ask nicely! They have other work to do like teaching (including me).

** Only a week left so make your decision to apply now…

Email: smsacareers@hotmail.com

Miss Uk

UCAS APPLICATIONS 2014

Hello everyone,
I will be sending emails to selected students who have registered for UCAS and that your forecast grades have met requirements of more than 260 tariff points. The email reads:

 

I have checked each application thoroughly and your forecast grades meet the requirements so if you can please CONFIRM that you wish to complete and send your applications by January 15th then please email me directly from now and dont wait til next year when school reopens. It will not be sufficient time for me and other career officers to process your applications.

remember the January deadline covers most top UK universities and if you wait til when results are out in March you may lose your chance to be offered a place from university of your choice.

We hope that you will cooperate with us. Just a reminder all queries will be entertained during working hours only NOT during holidays/ weekends and after 4pm.

Thank you,
Miss Ummi K.
(Head of SMSA Pre U Career Dept)

HECAS & others

Hello SMSAnians...

Time flies and today marks the end of school holidays...:(

I've just received notice regarding HECAS so to all former SMSA Pre0U students listen up!

Firstly, UCAS applications through SMSA is officially closed because personally, for those applying for govt scholarships, there is no way UK universities have any more places for you if you apply this late. Remember, scholarship requires you to apply to top 20 - 50 universities. Unless you have a valid reason and tell me personally why you're applying late then I will consider processing your UCAs applications. 

Next, those who are applying for scholarships *including DANA, MOE and BSP please make sure you've already taken the scholarship forms from SMSA careers office personally (at the moment, most of you have taken them). If you haven't please do so by next week as I won't be giving them out again when HECAS opens. Also, please return the forms back to me so I can write your references and get the principal's approval. Again, deadline is next week and latest is HECAS's deadline.

Finally, HECAS will be open for registration on Wednesday, 27th March 2013. You can go to: http://www.hecas.edu.bn/hecasportal/ for more information. But make sure you have enough credit on your DST lines to register and apply for the programmes. The requirements are also there for your reference and are specific so make sure you are qualified to apply for the programmes otherwise you'll be wasting your money. remember HECAS is computerised so if you're not qualified you'll be rejected immediately and you can only apply once. 

** To BSP scholars, you also need to apply to HECAS because it is also considered as MOE scholarship.

If you have no internet connection at home or unable to get any internet, you are welcome to apply for HECAS at SMSA Careers office but please make an appointment cos there may be others who are using the computer.

One more thing, after you've successfully applied to HECAS, please submit 1 hard copy of your HECAS application to SMSA careers for our reference. For more information, you can attend HECAS open days:

Dates: 27th and 28th March 2013

Venue: Dewan Muhibbah Airport Lama, BSB

I hope that's enough information for everyone so please prepare everything as soon as possible and don't wait til its the deadline to do so.

Cheers! 

Miss UK