LETTERS: Come January next year, there will be some students who will face disappointment for being denied entry to public universities due to various reasons.
This is the harsh reality experienced by many students.
Nevertheless, it should not dampen the aspiration and spirits of those who intend to pursue tertiary education in our public universities, where the fees are subsidised by the government to cater to the needs of students from the B40 and M40 income groups.
The wealthy ones can enrol in private colleges or universities either locally or overseas.
Understandably, the failure to gain admission into public universities is daunting and heartbreaking to the unfortunate students, especially if their families have placed high hopes on their chances to get selected.
It would be tough for them to accept the rejection and find an alternative route to achieve what they want.
But, like it or not, they have to be resilient enough to move on and seek other avenues instead of wallowing in bitterness, despair and self-pity.
I know of a young man who initially aspired to become a doctor. Coming from a poor family, he understood that the only way to achieve his ambition was to study medicine in a public university under a scholarship.
So, he studied hard and managed to score 10As in his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia.
But when he sat for his Science stream Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination, he only obtained 2A and 2A minus, with a CGPA of 3.84.
As a consequence, his applications to do medicine, coupled with optional choices of accounting and law as a safety net, to all public universities were rejected.
Since his family could not afford to support him to study medicine in a local private university, he was left with the option of choosing one of the cheapest courses available in private institutions of higher learning, ie. the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) programme.
So, he enrolled in the programme with two tuition providers, taking evening classes with part-timers and working people as the fees were cheaper than doing it in private colleges and universities.
He searched on Google and followed experienced lecturers who taught evening classes in the two tuition provider centres. The sacrifice he made was that he had to forgo college life and did his best to pass the ACCA.
Eventually, he managed to complete the programme in 2.5 years after his STPM at a cost of RM25,000.
After seven years, he is now a Chartered Accountant working as a senior analyst in a multinational company. He is happy with his job and never looks back at the lost opportunity to fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor.
The moral of this story is, we have to be realistic with whatever we want to achieve in life, especially when odds are stacked against us, and humbly accept our limitations.
To those students who are studying hard with the hope of getting the chance to be admitted into public universities, do your very best. But if you get rejected, do not despair and think that it's the end of the world.
Be strong and try to look for other avenues to explore. You will find a way out, perhaps on a different, but equally meaningful path of life.
JAMES NGUI
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times