Minerva KGI: Most Selective School in the World?

Good evening from Indonesia, everyone!!

First of all, today we have holidays because of the Islamic New Year, so yay!! Happy New Year for those who celebrate!

This afternoon, when I'm browsing Quora about education (Yep I like to browse stuffs about it) I found out a post that compares Minerva students with those from Ivy League (https://www.quora.com/How-smart-are-Minerva-students-compared-to-students-at-Ivy-League-schools). Previously, I don't know what Minerva is (It's not the Minerva (Bustier) from Final Fantasy, haha), but since the question compares that university to the top universities in the world, I feel that the question is worth checking out, and I'm astounded when the people in Quora said that they are REALLY SMART!

So, based from the answers from the Quora Community, Wikipedia, and Minerva website (https://www.minerva.kgi.edu/), I found out that:

1. The university has only around 2 - 2.8% acceptance rate!  For reference, Yale-NUS has an acceptance rate of around 4% , Stanford is 5.1% Harvard is 5.9 %. These are the most selective universities that I know before I know Minerva. Theoretically, this would mean that it would be twice or thrice as hard to go in, but I heard that those aforementioned universities also consider races and country of origin, as well as legacy. Minerva claims that these factors won't affect the chances of admissions. And the website claims that 78% of students come from outside USA, although in terms of numbers, they are still quite low compared to other elite universities like MIT.  Moreover, I also heard that Minerva also uses the IQ and EQ tests, and designed them such that the applicants can't actually prepare for them. 
2. It doesn't use the traditional lecture method. Instead, students are first redirected to MOOC websites like Coursera, Edx, and KhanAcademy to learn and teach themselves, and then they discuss (or debate? ) various things with the professors, in which they use Active Learning Forums, which imo is similar to Skype, after which they would receive detailed feedbacks from their professors about their performance. Classes are not held in the classrooms, but on some public places like cafe.
3. I also heard that the students there have 50 weeks of active learning, and in "classes" there are assignments, pop quizzes, etc to keep them engaged.
4. In the first year, students need to learn four cornerstone courses, which is Formal Analyses, Complex Systems, Multimodal Communications, and Empirical Analyses, which serves to improve our intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. One of the answers in quora said they're insane, so much that rarely those geniuses got a 4 out of 5. On second year, they can now finally choose their major, which thankfully there's Computer Science there!
5. The school didn't actually have a campus, although it has a residence hall at San Fransisco (where first-year students will spend their life there), but students will travel to different countries each year and live and study there.

First of all, yes the school is relatively new, as it was founded at 2012, hence I don't see it in the QS University rankings and stuffs, similar to the case of SUTD. However, given how unique the school is, I think that it will rise up in the rankings, maybe even give universities like Harvard, Stanford, Brown a fierce competition. I really like the concept of the school that actually focuses on building interpersonal skills, at least since knowledge alone won't make you survive in this cruel world, like my mom often said : "If you're smart but your behaviour is bad, it's useless." Also, travelling around the world makes you realize that the world is much bigger than you actually know. In the future, I hope that universities encourages more engagement between professors and students, and not simply the professors spoon-fed the students through lectures.

PS: For Minerva Students, if there is anything wrong in this post (mainly facts about the school), or simply want to give your own opinion, just tell me in comments.

So thanks all for reading!

Swiss German University: Why and How

Good afternoon from Indonesia, everyone!!!

As you have read the title, I am now studying at Swiss German University (Contrary to its name, SGU is located neither in Swiss or German, instead it's located in Tangerang, Indonesia also, it's not to be confused with Saint Georges University, which is also abbreviated as SGU), with IT as the major. Now if you have read my previous blog post, you know that I was rejected from NUS, NTU, and more recently SUTD. So having been rejected from all those universities and not allowed by my parents to study overseas, why don't I study at UI (Universitas Indonesia), ITB, and some other top Indonesian Universities?

First of all, I know it's especially true for UI, that if you're accepted via invitation, you need to accept to offer, otherwise your school will be blacklisted, which means that your talented juniors won't be invited anymore. Personally, I don't like its approach, as if we're accepted to several top universities in Indonesia (or maybe in the world), then sometimes we need time to reconsider which university will you study at. Secondly, since I already studied like crazy in Wardaya College for the preparations of NUS and NTU's entrance exam, I have already worn out, and don't have spirit to prepare for SBMPTN anymore, especially after seeing SBMPTN questions for our Ujian National preparation in my course. (Note: I didn't intend to offend UI at all, so I'm sorry for those who might feel offended.)

Now you know why I don't choose UI and others, so why Swiss German University? Why choosing a university that, when I tell my friends that I'll study there, my friends will either ask "Where's SGU?", or assuming that the university is located in Germany / Singapore (IIRC I had somebody assumed that SGU is located in Singapore!)? First of all, my cousin studied Hotel and Tourism Management there, so I partially want to follow her footsteps. Second, SGU offers internships to other countries, especially to Germany, and in case I'm not accepted in Singapore, it can partially replicate my desire to go international by working in companies in another country, and hence get completely different experience, culture from working in Indonesia. And because of that, I can learn a new language! :D

Now, I have only studied there for like 2 months, but I can infer what are my first impressions in studying there. The most noticeable thing is how down-to-earth the seniors and the lecturers are (one of my lecturers said that we haven't had a professors yet). I had  instances where the seniors were refused to be called "Ci" or "Ko", and even one of them told me not to call him/her by "Kak". They said that this is because seniors in SGU doesn't want to enforce seniority. The lecturers are also really care about the students' progress, like in the algorithm course, if we don't understand something, he will be glad to approach him / her for helpla. I do feel that the lateness policy isn't enforced strong enough, though. None of the lecturers (except one) actually lock the door, and since SGU's seminars advertise this, I feel this is a bit disappointing. The food is also a bit lacking, IMO there aren't any really many foods that are affordable and taste good. Also, my classmates are generally welcoming; they're glad to accept me if I want to join their conversations / just for gather.

For conclusion, I feel that SGU has provided a right place for me to learn, despite the fact that it is one of my backup (or only?) universities. I hope that Swiss German University will be known to more people in Indonesia, and become one of the top private universities in Indonesia. Hope SGU can recruit the first professor...

Ice Climbers!!

Heyy everyone!! TimBluesWin here again!!

First of all, I'm having holiday till August, so that means I'm free to do whatever things that I think it's good for me... Studying "Machine Learning" at Coursera, trying out new foods, usually at Central Park Mall or Taman Anggrek Mall, and so on....

Back to the topic....

Cute Couple...  (Credits goes to Nintendo)

Okay, so I have played "Ice Climbers" (The NES game, but I played it on GBA via the compilation cartridge thing) back when I was still in about primary 6 or so, but just played it for maybe five minutes, since I thought it was boring. Then recently, I browse stuffs about the Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and just realized that the artwork of
Popo and Nana are REALLY CUTE!!! Just look at the pic on the left!! :D That cuteness just encourage me to look back at the game again...




Okay for the game itself... I have seen several playthrough of the game, and really, these people make it really easy. Okay, warning everyone, but the game is REALLY HARD!! I can only manage to the mountain 4 without spending all of my lifes... You will often fall down due to the fact that in higher parts of the mountain and levels, the ground is really slippery, so Popo found himself keep moving really fast and then.. he died... Also all those moving cloud platform makes going up really hard... Frustrated? Of course... Regardless, I really have fun in playing the game, despite the difficulty... (Running out of things to say.. Again)

Lenna Loves Candy Crush Saga!!

Note: This is my second fanfic, and I haven't made any fanfics for a while, so I apologize if it turned out to be bad for you all... :( Also I do not make Final Fantasy V and Candy Crush Saga; credits goes to Square and King for making Final Fantasy V and Candy Crush Saga, respectively.

Today is January, 18th 2014, and the warriors of light seems to be really bored, because there is nothing worthwhile to do while they're preparing to destroy Exdeath. so they're decided to travel around the Interdimensional Raft just for fun. While doing that, suddenly there's a usual random encounter! However, it wasn't a regular random encounter with the monsters. Instead, there's a 8*5 board, each filled with candies, appears from nowhere from the sky.

- Galuf: "Enter Warriors of Dawn! We, as well as the employees from King Company, have made a game specifically for you to cure your boredom! Candy Crush Saga! The rule is really simple! Just make a match of 3 of the same candies, be it vertically or horizontally!"

The warriors of light just sighed. For them, match 3 genre games aren't that fun. What they want is an action or adventure game, just like what they did in their real life! However, Lenna seems to be really excited for that game!

-Lenna: "Oh woww so many candies!!" Too bad I can't eat them at all.... :D

She then begin to swap the candies around, making matches, and without Galuf telling her to do, she begin to experiment making 4 candies in a row, which creates striped candies, and also makes the candies in L shape, which creates wrapped candy. Six moves have passed...

-Lenna: "Sigh... It's over..." :(

The game then said "Sugar Crush!", and all special candies on the board are detonated. At the end of the game, she got 5k points, far reaching the 3 stars limit of 500 points. Level one completed, and Tiffi is shown to be really excited after she completed the level.

-Lenna: "Victory!" :D

Galuf then suddenly appears....

-Galuf: "Hmm... She seems to be really talented in this game...."

After finishing the level, she begin to try out level 2. At this point, she don't know that many of the later levels have been already made... by Exdeath.

-Bartz: "Sigh... How long will you play that stupid game?"

-Lenna: "Until I run out all of my lifes hahaha"

How will be Lenna's candy crushing experience then?

Thanks All!!! :D

Hi world! This is TimBluesWin a.k.a Timmy speaking!

So Saturday, 31 January 2015 was our graduation day for those who have completed our IGCSE and A levels exams, as well as GAC programme. I know this is a rather late post, but I just want to express my thanks to everyone who has involved for our studies....

Congratulations all!!!

First of all, I would want to say big thanks to all teachers who have willingly taught us for our A levels. Thank you also for all the additional classes that I had with you, even if it means that you need to sacrifice your time with your family, friends, etc. We're really sorry if we sometimes made you angry and/or upset, either due to us not paying attention to our lessons, or sometimes we didn't do our homeworks. We might think that some of you might be too strict, but that's because you all want us to succeed.

I would also give thanks to all of my friends who truly want to accept me whatever I am, even though I'm a really socially awkward person, and often freaks out about my grades when my grades are low... (Yes, I admit I'm kind of a kiasu person). Also thank you all for all of the fun that you have shared with me!! We might not be on the same school anymore, but we're still friends... :'( So, for all my friends who see this, wish you all succeed in your uni life and meet new friends there, and don't forget me!

I would also give thanks to my parents who have raised me, so I can still survive until this day. Even though sometimes your advices can be very tiring at times, these advices help me to become a better person. You have fulfilled all of our needs, like buying me foods from the mall, going out places, etc, sometimes to the point of spoiling me... So thanks again mama and papa!!

Last but not least, I give all of my thanks to God; without you, I won't be exist and also I can't breathe, enjoy the morning, and give me friends and parents for my life. You also have played a part in our life, only with Your Grace I can study in Penabur International School, meet with my amazing friends, and finally graduate.

So once again THANKS ALL!!!!

Rejected for NUS and NTU

Good evening everyone! This is TimBluesWin speaking! It's such a long time that I haven't posted anything in this blog....

Anyway, I just really want to express my sadness and to some extent, depression right now, as I just got rejected at both NUS and NTU after appealed TWICE (First was using my AS level, and second was using A level Cambridge). Now, I know that most of you would say that it is difficult to be accepted there (My report scores aren't spectacular; in fact, my Bio at semester 4 got 72), but I have courses at Wardaya College to prepare me for the NUS and NTU UEE, and all students there are at least invited for NTU UEE. I feel really that I'm one of the stupidest student there. Also, after I met my school counsellor today, I got scolded for not sending the school the copy for my admission, and that the school counsellor will need to send a letter to NUS and NTU for clarification, as my school, SMAK 8 Penabur International, is  affiliated with NUS.

Mr Anton, the head of Wardaya College, has suggested me to apply again with my Cambridge A Level results, but my school counsellor said otherwise, as she said that I will need to compete with students around the world....

Oh btw I want to take Computer Science and Information Technology at NUS, and for NTU I want to take Computer Science, IEM, and Math Science.

Logos aren't made by me; Credits goes to NUS and NTU for creating the logo.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light Fanfic Part 0: They Finally Came...

Game: Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light for DS.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT create Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. Square Enix was the one who created the game, characters, etc. I also DO NOT OWN the picture, it's the official artwork by Square Enix.

My note: So I really loved Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light and really bored in my trip in Italy,  so I wondered, how if, the 4 Heroes of Light from the game goes into the real world and study in there. (Note: I saw the wiki and their age is at least the same with the author, so I think it's appropriate enough). Anyway, for those who doesn't play the game, let me introduce you with the characters. You see the picture on the upper left side, right? Well their names are: (From left to right) Aire (A French word, meaning Area), Jusqua (Not Joshua! It also comes from French word Jusqu'a, meaning 'until'), Brandt (Old English word, meaning sword) and Yunita (just a common name, I guess). 

After defeating Chaos and returned the weapons of light to the original places, they lived happily in one house in Horne. They sleep together, share their happy and sad stories together, etc. But suddenly, Brandt and the 3 other heroes were called by the crystal....

"Warriors of Light.... You have succeeded in defeated Chaos  and return peace to the world. But your job hasn't done yet. I will send you to SMAK 22 in the land of Jakarta, and you will study in that school. That class has a shortage of students, so you'll be making friends with them. Now go forth, Warriors of Light! I will teleport you to SMAK 22! Good Luck! The crystal will always watch you from the distance!"

Aire then grumbled as she listened to the crystal's request.

"Hey! What I need is an adventure, not some boring studying!", Aire yelled in a princess-like fashion.

"At least we can make friends, right Aire?" Yunita said while patting Aire. "Beside that, I'm already fed up from killing all those monsters!! My hands already cramped!!"

Brandt then nodded as he listened to Yunita's comment. However, Jusqua shooks his head as he was somewhat irritated with Aire's comment.

"Hey Princess, remember our job! We're the 4 Heroes of Light! We need to help people! Such a bratty princess....", insult Jusqua.

"STOP CALLING ME BRATTY, JUSQUA!!",  tons of anger steamed from Aire.

"Don't you realize what you said just now?!?!", Jusqua retaliates with his own rage.

"Yeah but why can't you stop commenting while everytime I grumble?!?! Because I HATE STUDYING!!!"

The words fight between Jusqua and Aire ensued! As they did the word fight, Brandt and Yunita felt the heat that was expelled from the gray haired boy and the blonde.

"Ckckckck.... Jusqua... Jusqua.... U seem to care a lot to Aire while she was turned into a cat, but now you make your love angry....", Yunita giggled.

Brandt, on the other hand tries to soften up the situation.

"Hey stop! Stop!!! We need to do what the crystal asked!!! Aire!! Jusqua!! Say sorry to each other!!

"Aire, I'm sorry I called you 'bratty'... I don't mean to offend you...", Jusqua apologized to the princess.

"Yeah, me too for being so high tempered.... ", Aire apologized back to Jusqua.

"Good!! Now let's do what the crystal asked and make new friends!! C'mon!!", order Brandt, acting like the leader.

Meanwhile, in the principal room of SMAK 22, the crystal spoke to Ma'am Din while she was seriously counting the money from the school fee. As the crystal spoke, the teacher's room become darker and darker!

"Principal of the SMAK 22..."

Ma'am Din became very frightened as she heard that mysterious voice that echoed from the blue, shiny thing that suddenly appeared from nowhere.

"Who's speaking?? Who's speaking??", said Ma'am Din with a scared voice.

"Do not fear, the principal. This is crystal speaking. Now, there will be four new students that will study in your school. They have defeated the evil and return  the peace to the world.  The Year 11 class is lacking in students, and they will help other students in making the class more lively."

"O... Okay!!! I will accept them immediately!", replied Ma'am Din, still in fear with the crystal that mysteriously appeared.

"Good luck, Principal of SMAK 22... The crystal will always watch you from the distance.", the crystal said.

After the crystal has talked to both the 4 Heroes of Darkness and Mam Din, the heroes then suddenly appeared outside the main door of the school.

"Wooooow!!! What a beautiful school, isn't it??", Yunita said with a surprised expression.

 However, as soon as they appeared, the shiny diamond appeared again!

"Wait, I forget to do something!", The crystal said in a hurry.

Then all of a sudden, the sparkles around their bag appeared. As they opened their own bags, they found out that their Gils in the form of coins has turned into red paper form with an handsome face on one side of the paper, and a fabulous  building on the other side of the paper. It was also written "Rupiah" instead of the "Gil" on the surface of the money.

"Woooooow!! It looks AMAZING!!!", Aire amazed with that Rupiah money.

"Yeah, AGREE!! Gil looks super ugly in comparison!!", Yunita said in a mocking tone.

"Btw what is the meaning of 'Seratus Ribu Rupiah'? I don't understand the money at all... ", Brandt looked confused.

"Can't you read the numbers on the upper left corner of the money, Brandt?! Ur so idiot sometimes... ", Jusqua replied with a sarcastic tone.

"Oooops, so 'Seratus Ribu ' means 'One Hundred Thousand' in English.... Yeah Jusqua, I know I'm the least intelligent hero, but please stop insult me.... I still have a brain! Okay Jusqua?"

"Sorry Brandt, I tend to insult others... Hehehe my bad....", Jusqua apologized.

The 4 Heroes of Light, all  with their own clothes then went inside SMAK 22, where Ma'am Din welcomed them.

What will be the fate of The 4 Heroes of Light? Will they have lots of new friends and teachers? Find out on the next part! Anyway, leave a comment on my Fanfic, so I know what I'm doing wrong. Thanks!