OUTSTANDING SCHOLARSHIP TO CAMBRIDGE FOR KEEN
‘I am very excited. The offer from the university and the scholarship has offered a sort of peace of mind in terms of the next three-ish years of my education’.
This week, Keen K13, received an offer from Cambridge University! He will read Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at Downing College. Alongside this fantastic achievement, Keen has received a highly competitive Jardine Scholarship. Only a very few outstanding students in SE Asia receive this award every year.
The Cambridge Interview
I had two Cambridge interviews around 25 minutes each. One was very biological in terms of talking around synapses and neurons and very much trying to understand how I came to conclusions according to information they gradually presented to me. The other interview was more about the social side of psychology.
THE JARDINE SCHOLARSHIP INTERVIEW
Jardine look for individuals who show leadership ability and the potential to come back to their communities to help serve them. This is a separate process to the Cambridge application and it required me to write an additional statement discussing my involvement with leadership and community extracurriculars. The first interview was an automated online interview then there was a ‘live’ online interview with six distinguished interviewers from Hong Kong and the UK with backgrounds in education and business. It was a challenging conversation where I was asked to reflect about the current state of the world and why I believe studying my subject will go on to benefit others. They also asked about my view and attitude towards my education and what I want to do with my career.
PREPARATION FOR CAMBRIDGE
Throughout Harrow Bangkok, the teachers and head of departments, really know each student and understand their personal interests, their strengths and weaknesses, so they are able to offer a customized and personalized form of help and education".
For my Cambridge and Jardine application, I was supported by Mrs Prout, Head of Sixth Form. She is very experienced and has great knowledge of how the application process works and of me, where I am and what I’m capable of. Those two really combined together so she could guide me in a very personalized, supportive way.
LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE
I think it will be an interesting, exciting experience to meet new people with similar levels of interest and passion in their subjects and seeing what they have to say about the issues around the world and how they put their own spin into them as well. What I think I’ll miss about Harrow Bangkok is the community more than anything else. I'm very fortunate to be around people who are very compassionate, very empathetic.
LIFE AFTER CAMBRIDGE
I intend to complete a doctorate and be qualified as clinical psychologists and work with children and teenagers so that's my career goal educationally but along that path, I’m very much open to anything that comes.
