Victor Meets Victor: From SMKDU to Harvard's Class of 2028

ladies and gentlemen welcome back to Pathways to Excellence we are most honored today to have with us yet another Victor brother you have no idea how strange it is to be speaking to someone who has the exact same name as me this is the Smart Victor by the way I I'm not the smart Victor this is a smart Victor who is joining Hart's class of 2028 congratulations on your incredible achievements well well thank thank you very much but I I think you have understated yourself very much there I think I've been watching vide for the

last throughout my application cycle and for one thing I can say you obviously a very very well educated and smart individual oh thank you wow wow thank you so much for um watching Pathways I'm so glad that it's been beneficial um to you as well and right now you're basically in well an alternate position you're basically one of the in spiring individuals who is basically yeah on the screen today thank you so much for coming on the show absolutely no reason all thank you for having me indeed all right cool so we have so much

to dive into but at the same time so many parallels and similarities um exist right here so of course we're both named Victor which of course uh means what you would find in the dictionary did you ever by the way like find out from your parents why you were called Victor I have two siblings two older sisters right and we all have names that start with V and there was first sister Victoria second sister Valerie and when it came to me they were about to name me Vincent but my sister stepped in I was like

how about Victor so when people meet the three of us they go Victoria Valerie Victor the two similarities is Victoria and Victor very easily Valerie kind of gets left in between for a bit that's unfortunate I'm sorry I mean like honestly like what was the choice there though I mean like would she have been called like victorina I mean like okay fair yeah and that being said another similarity is that we come from the same high school so then that is uh smk Damansara Utama and um by any chance do you know the school song

still okay I remembered it for when we had our prefect like interviews where we had to sing it to the like the board to for for them to give us a placement in the board of directors next year type of thing right but every other time like I remember going for a school competition and they made us sing the school song it was like [Music] K well all right okay cool and um while you were there and while I was basically kind of like reading your profile right there basically the sort of conclusion that I

initially came to was this guy is like a World Conqueror what kind of person joins okay like it's a very normal thing for a person to join one Club maybe and then become president of that particular Club to become like the president of The Debate Club this house believes that we should not use ma'am you are a Karen um you know that sort of thing right there as um you had shown an Instagram story it's very normal uh for that like some might even call it a distinguished achievement but my friend um your people they

love you and Undisputed you are not just president um of essentially The Debate Club um in fact like um interact Club of damara Utama president editorial board hit editor Debate Club president and Coach taond Club president instructor batminton Club president Coral speaking team founder and Captain PR fact talk about okay this was interesting I don't know what to make of this right here but like okay that's right um but the long story short right here was like how do you have multiple forms of Consciousness does your thought just like stream out into an infinitude of

different Pathways as you manage different things does your brain perhaps work in parallel processing while us mere mortals work in simple linear time like how Victor how well I mean it's nothing that none of the things that you said out there I think it helped me a lot that the time when I was from five was Peak Co era so everything we did all the club sessions and everything were kind of online uh and I was a bad student so during classes for example my teacher teaching BM on a Google meet I'll be on another

screen typing out the session plan for the next cup meeting so I had that privilege where I could manage my studies while doing all these c activities because I think it was online uh but I would say another thing that really helped a lot was just having this really tight group of friends that all became B members in the club that I were in anyway right I see I say uh um try to think of an example here okay I can't think of an immediate example but let's just say for example I had to do

a very important task for the internet club uh at the same time maybe I had something to do for the editorial Club it was very easy for me my friends were all in a very understanding situation where I would obiously prioritize the one that had their earlier deadline ah I see and my friends if they were free they were amazing they were just like uh okay V what's what what help do you need uh just send it over to me and once you're done you can help me out that ah wow okay so yeah like

you had an incredible uh supportive Network for sure and I can uh definitely see that as well I mean like just look at like these uh little messages right here one and then basically yeah two uh right there yeah it's a thing congratulation yeah like it's a thing and um I'd also incidentally um mention that uh one thing that I found was really really cool was um the way almost that you kind of document your past it's basically you know on a level that I think not many people do and um you document memories one

after another from 24 leading up to years back so like 18 so you were you've been doing this for maybe like a total of like six years so far from like that Story Journey basically in high school during which you had this incredible support network um up to the president um so I'd like to take the opportunity to then kind of ask what led you to begin documenting the years like in this fashion okay so I'm not too sure when the when Instagram had that highlights I think it's called highlights yeah yeah yeah so before

this it was just like posting things with friends doing stupid activities or just like having fun with my friends generally I I think I kind of had the idea uh when highlights came about because it seemed like a cool way of separating my life into parts right and kind to see a a flow rather I kind of prefer the yearly chronological way rather than just say uh interet Club being one or just examples such as football being one thing sorry uh because it kind of shows or at least when I watch it back because there

times I'm bought I was like what did I do in 2018 it's kind to see it's kind of fun to see like oh yeah oh yeah in this month I did this in this month I did so it's like it's more for me to look back and reminisce rather than just to look nice type of thing ah wow okay that's really cool in line with that theme of reminiscing maybe let's start with the question of I guess what was your educational background like like what kinds of schools did you um go to in the past

as you kind of went along this journey right here for K Garden I attended Methodist K Garden in patala all right so it's you know where Catholic High School is it's like opposite the roof there ah okay okay somewhere in the housing and that was a great place where I've made friends where that I've actually reconnected with in the last two to three weeks because we found each other Instagram like oh cool okay uh and then my sisters are much older than me they about 10 10 and 11 years older than me right so when

I was in kindergarten they were already in secondary school about to graduate and they both went to all girls school so I couldn't attend their school that's where their friend suggested SK supering also in the PJ area and it's there where one memory I remember is then one I absolutely hated to going going to school every single morning when I get dropped off the gate I'll start crying I hated going to school but it it kind of changed over time where I'll say the best years there was S four S five and s six so

s four five I did like activities I was barely in class I was just having fun um and that's where I make a lot of memories and bonds with my friends that again I'm still close with to to this day uh after S6 upsa I did kind of badly for my upsa uh I got four A's and two BS so I I was aiming for the the top uh boarding schools for example as say K and MH I applied to like SAS and TK type of thing unknowingly because it was just like oh yeah let's

go to schools with the names uh I didn't get the scholarship of K I entered I I got into SP science Lango instead which was like my parents didn't really want me to go so I ended up in smk D my last my last Tri to school but it turned out to be again a very great experience three I just spent my time there my activities but in form four I left for M IMC uh but it only lasted for about three weeks when I came back to Du because one IMC was actually like pretty

difficult much more difficult than I expected but also I felt like my academic performance would have dropped like tremendously if I if I stayed there a bit a bit difficult to continue studying while doing all the military activi so I salute all my friends that managed to stay there and get good results wow okay was for the best because in Du I really found MH found it to be my place and thankfully after SPM I appli for scholarships pet and here now I am in D ah I see wonderful okay cool and um great so

I'm sure that your same friends right now are saluting you as well for uh eventually going to Harvard University and uh a bunch of different things as well but how did people like begin reacting when you essentially got into Harvard and uh into the various other schools that you got into as well right so uh I open most of my applications like the results uh in my dorm room so it was surrounded by my housemates or sometimes visitors for example my my my girlfriend will come over and we just open them together thing uh and

I I say the immediate reaction is just everybody starts screaming okay everybody everybody just starts screaming their lungs then when it all set us down it's like very nice to get the heartwarming words from everybody even though I would say not all of us got the universi that we were hoping to get but even in uh let's just say like joy and also sadness we all supported each other congratulated each other or uh told them that it's okay there'll be other opportunities for everybody so that that's like immediately around me like for example my friends

from Secondary School they one of my best friends the name is Zara I'm not sure if she's okay with it but uh Zar she called me because like results for har for example came out at 7 a.m. in the morning I think and she didn't wake up yet she woke up heard the news caught me crying like that was like one of the most the greatest feelings ever there's two best friends I have from Secondary School like really really close righta uh even the day of SPM results I couldn't wait for the teachers to give

me so I just checked on my phone they were on the other side of the hall I raised my hands they came running over to help me so I was like they are some of the best friends I could have like really great great memory wow hash bless okay and I'm sure that your parents also were kind of like over the moon as well uh yeah again I kind of set expectations that our fly so expecting they weren't expecting me they they were not expecting this yeah it's not something um that any reasonable human being

I think would expect but you did it buddy how I guess like did it feel cuz like that's a very recent memory right I think it happened maybe about like a week ago thereabouts um that you got the har it's obviously a very very surreal feeling because um on the day honestly my dream school was UCLA right uh UCLA has been my dream school since I was like 12 and that was all I was targeting for in this uh in this application cycle and you got your dream school I saw that Instagram story so I

got my dream school so I was kind of in the position I was like okay I'm chill I don't have to worry too much um and on the day of I IV day I opened Berkeley okay I got into Berkeley so like oh cool y uh I opened NYU I got weight listed I got rejected from Yale and then I got rejected from brown brown was the school I put the most effort into so I was like okay mind I'm not getting into any of these I open uh upen got weight listed weight listed was

already a surpris to me and then the last thing I clicked that day that morning was H saw the video popped up I went running around my house like really surreal feeling sorry if I might add for a second that you say uh hopefully I will be HB but my my sponsor Patron are still deciding between harv and another University that I got at Stanford so it's still up in the air ah I see I see oh well congratulations okay so like um is there still a chance that you might uh essentially go um back

to your old dream and then be all like oh okay I will go to UCLA like no matter what is that is that a possibility um if you if Will up to me it'll be between H and U but my sponsors they they have the final so as my current conversation with them they are Cur between H and s ah congratulations wow so like basically it's um yeah a possibility that you could become classmates with like sarion um or you could be part of the Harvard Community I guess um great so I guess like right

now knowing that immediate possibility right of um either going to Harvard or Stanford both incredible schools um in their own right so then I guess well you I guess be edging um towards Harvard then in that case yeah I'll be eding towards har because I feel I'm more of a liberal arts kid rather than the Tey Tey of stand for ah I see well of course like you know in Stanford there's also the fzy as well like you know like the the fzy that sort of thing right there will you I guess share a little

bit um with me right about what let you to want to apply to the US um in the first place and in particular also to I guess like Harvard and UCLA like what parts of I guess like your dream do you feel that these schools um could potentially fulfill at the time right so I I'll start with let's compare the UK and the US which was the two countries I applied to uh I'll be very honest with you I did not put much effort into my UK application and that's kind of because I didn't like

the UK mainstream that's kind of what you're going to do you apply for chemical engineering you're going to do chemical engineering type of thing right I feel like that's kind of what Malaysia has been doing I have done SPM now doing a levels I feel all I do is absorb information and vomit it onto a page when the time comes right so I I kind of got bored with that and that's where I started looking into the US education where maybe for example schools have general education requirements uh you don't really for example HRI you

don't select the concentration until your second year and those type of things really intrigued me and it felt like a opportunity to like broaden my horizons so not like get stuck with one thing that um I probably won't like in the future well I I I have to do this for four years some sort of academic freedom in that sense I see cool cool so let's start with why UCLA why UCLA it's Los Angeles bro I think it's a lot of it is pop culture you say it with like a pop culture application that I

just wanted to go through because it's school that has the culture it has but it's also one of the top academic schools in in the world right can you think of like any specific pop culture things that like you really enjoy or that you like I think my favorite pop culture thing like something I want to experience uh my favorite TV show of all time is How I Met Your Mother right I've watched the entire series season one to season 9 probably about 20 times uh it I literally put it on to fall asleep it's

that like ingrained it my head I think um I think one thing I really want to experience is going to the McLaren pop like the real pup in New York and like just being in I know it's like a cliche but being in New York walking around experiencing things that's something what I know probably will not reach expectations is still something I would exp explore wow that that's great if I could uh jump in here for a moment there's another interesting parallel um to be made right here between yourself and one Nicholas K who is

Kid of kazana research and the other kid uh who got to Harvard from smk Damansara Utama who also went to the US for pop culture reasons and pop culture reasons primarily have you met him before uh incidentally uh Nicholas yes uh yes he was my H interviewer but okay um before we get into that um so tell me so like why Harvard like how does that I guess fulfill part of your dream okay why Harvard um I'll tell you how I went through the application cycle I I talked about having this academic freedom and that's

why I think I was attracted to Brown mostly for it uh open curriculum and stuff and while doing these applications I looked at the brown essays and then I was like let's up Harvard profile looked at Harvard s they like oh they're actually pretty similar so I I just sent an application I had I had a fee waiver so I I sent in an application and only after sending the application did I actually do more research about har and that's where it kind of intrigued me as well like let's putside all the name brands things

about HD and just look at from a like educational academic and also extracurricular standpoint from the academic it the liberal arts really treed me because again it's maybe not as much Freedom as for example brown but it's still a lot more freedom than a lot of universities that you will be attending especially if you would take compared with the UK uh and from extracurricular standpoint it just there seem to be a lot of things I felt interested in for example the debating Club I'll probably continue debating if uh however it and from a sport standpoint

it's seemed like a there's a school with school spirit but it's not too over the top type of thing inging environment where uh you meet people from all walks of life and it's something I again I never thought I would get it so I wasn't considering it but now that I had the opportunity of getting in it's one in a lifetime one in a lifetime opportunity that I don't think I can give up I see definitely one other aspect um of I guess getting into Harvard is naturally The Prestige it's kind of like a hack

in a sense right like if you go up to somebody and basically they know off you um kind of thing right there and it is known to them that you are a Harvard uh student or graduate it's basically like a heck like they would immediately think oh my God like this guy is a genius but I guess like how are you kind of like handling um that I guess like at the moment um at the moment I think I'm just grateful I got it because let's talk about a levels uh my academic performance in a

levels has not been the best my first semester first semester exams I got two A's and then two D's like donkeys and from there I just wanted to meet my pet requirements and fly that was like the goal right so I don't feel that level of prestige where people just quickly assume that you're really smart because I I think I am not I am not the smartest person in the room I never have been since secondary school and I don't think I ever will be but uh I take this opportunity as maybe I still have

the perception that everybody at hyd is obviously insanely smart like the top de class 4 a Stars 45 IB that was thing and opportunity to go and meet people to go and learn from study technique and how they manage their time from studying and also having fun and doing extracurricular so I go into this with kind of open mind and I try not to set any but I feel like a certain pressure that comes with oh The Prestige of being a h student I try to forget all of that because I don't really want that

pressure on me right right right yeah and of course you know thank you so much for um sharing that I think that's like a very understated aspect of um I guess College admissions like a lot of people they would think that you know like you would have to um basically Pioneer a mission to the International Space Station or basically you know like uh spearhead and underwater cave rescue um invent a minimum of 15 new medicines that will save the entire world or maybe um yeah sell $15 million worth of a JD shoes as I was

telling you earlier so these shoes that I was wearing this morning are from JD Sports so it's um yeah uh just one one of the various roles that you've uh essentially occupied but I'd like to move into then a question of I guess what do you feel was the thing that was driving you uh or essentially pushing you in a bunch of different ways because like even if you um try to soften the blow right of like saying oh I was only President because I had many people uh essentially supporting me oh I'm not the

smartest person in the room never have been never will be the fact remains essentially that there was something about you right there a Jour Qua we should say um that isn't always clear maybe um I'm not sure maybe you have like some thoughts on that but I guess maybe let's start with motivation for a quick bit like what do you feel is I guess pushing you on U pushing me on that's a really good question I I think um okay let's start from Secondary School what was pushing me on was to get a scholarship right

I just I did all those activities uh this is something I learned later on especially throughout the application cycle I did all those activities because I wanted a scholarship a lot of them were for fun I had a lot of fun in them but lot of them were just like to boost my CD I studied and it's also because I knew I wasn't the smartest K in the road I was never going to get the 9A Plus for HPM type of thing and I was just trying to do my best there um and then let's

lead on into T list where surprise surprise I'm put into a room with the top top 200 people in Malaysia for my batch right I could been wise that thing and from being above average where I could get good results were not the best to being in in the bottom half I would say what kept me going at this point was still I just want to meet my Patron requirements and fly overseas I see okay I just studying but when after as it came time to apply I think the motivational shift changed the motivational shift

changed to what do I want to do right so it became what are the activities that actually mean the most to me because fing out the activity list is not the 10 most wow things that you can put it's the 10 things that mean the most to you right uh it kind of made me think like what 10 things actually mean the most to me writing the essay is like what 10 example what 10 things is the most important to me to write into essays that was sent off to the top universities in the world

it became this thing where I actually had to think about my actions rather than just just go go go type of thing and I think that pushes me now into my A2 and also University A2 obviously I'm still hoping for the best trying to get the best results uh but what pushes me is like this is what I want to do I'm interested in this so I'll try to do my best and even in University I will try to do my best experience all that I can do the activities I enjoy and not try to

satisfy any anybody just oh because oh it looks cool that was thing but I guess like when you went into that sort of well reflection process did you feel maybe that there was some sort of pattern in the sense that like sometimes right we undertake certain things that seem well unconsciously motivated so to speak when you started reflecting on some of these things things then I guess how did they start shall we say playing into the narrative that you decided to start telling about well your life or like the different things that you decided to

present when you were applying for colleges or like the different things that you decided to present when you were applying for colleges I tend to be attracted to the ideas for example community building so let's take for example my three top com up activities I think I put was my interet club U project ID which was like a social NGO and my third was being an MC starting from secondary school until now right so in all three of those experiences I realized like oh through inter club we made the school uh School let's just say

for example we had this for teachers say celebration we went around school giving flowers and cupcakes to the teachers it gave them a smile right I I feel like that was one of the more heartwarming things uh through project ID uh one of my internship tasks was like to build this this online platform for students across Malaysia to communicate and just like share educational thoughts share um recipes if they wanted to type of thing and that also seemed like oh it's actually really cool C where me and my friend who I intered with uh we

were testing it out typing messages to each other was like yeah this is like really really fun and I can see the possible exploration for it and the last thing will probably be as a MC right as a MC uh on the stage I'm guiding a narrative making people laugh having fun going the emotions but I think the best part is after the events right after I finish mcing I step on stage I go meet people and from there I've met for example uh a teacher that's been teaching in rural areas of Bah um not

really the primarily from mcing but I also met a refugee from Afghanistan thing so these are just stories that you wouldn't get anywhere else like it's the most manto man interaction where I I feel it guided my application not only from my activity list but from my essay standpoint as well for example like diversity I always talk about the community building or how would you help the community at set and so and so University I got all these ideas because of past experiences that I unknowingly got myself into I see okay then wonderful well when

you wrote I guess like those essays that you wrote for let's say Harvard Stanford UCLA I guess like do you have any immediate favorites I think um you mentioned in a message to me earlier that like you wrote what about being a banana amongst other things perhaps that could be something that um you could share yeah so I think there's two favorites the first would be the one about me being a banana and the second would be about like an mcing Journey right so I start with the banana uh yellow on the outside and white

on the inside sorry to jump in there right sorry uh yes if you could it talks about me not understanding my grandparents because my grandparents speak in Chinese right the English is like my canones really really broken and has a low bar Ty of thing right but uh I talk about from there I kind of learned communication be Beyond oral language right so for example my grandmother has taught me how to cook kones Cuisine literally she point at stuff and she like okay I go take I follow right this hand just uh and my grandfather

again can't talk to him but he taught me how to drive a manual car time he would lift his foot he would make gestures that the car is shaking thumbs up and he let go he everybody else is like completely stupid and like how do you understand that but to us it's kind of this dance you can say that we kind of understand each other to a certain extent I I was say it's perfect it's definitely not perfect at all but it just from listening to that as um you know a first time listener to

that story that actually sounds like legit dangerous it's like that like you that like for all you know that you start like pressing down the accelerator as fast as possible well thinking about it yeah it could be that okay um all right then I guess like what was the um message I guess that you were trying to communicate there about I guess like not understanding your I guess like grandparents at the time yeah so the message it started with that like that story and kind of L into my activities of trying to build a connection

so for example inter the interet club I'll skip it in school for example we had we hosted serotonin day which was just like this way for our friends to send messages to one another like hardw messages it could be anonymous it could be by sending them a gift type of thing through the interet club and that tradition is kind of carried on in the school now doing it uh so I talked about how I can it's mostly for the contribute to the university thing I talk about how I can contribute to University like being this

middle man to uh Foster either academic relationships or just like relationships in the dorm room that was thing and it became one of my favorites because it's like the funiest and the ones that probably has stuck with me one of the for the longest life I see incredible cool cool cool the other favorite would be about me uh this is for the uc's so you is one of the question like uh talk about a talent that you have and how you build it over time I talked about MC so uh as MC I talked about

the first time I absolutely fled I had a script my senior gave it to me I flopped but uh I followed in his footsteps he took me on events and stuff and also uh just in school he would give me the opportunities to go in MC for example thing uh and that's where I kind of built the confidence to MC where now I don't really need a script I can just go upstage and figure things out on the along the way uh so that that's like one of my favorite things to do and about it

earlier how I it's the after event things that lead to the great experiences being people so I again kind of tied it back into how from learning from all these experiences I understand the world view better people better that I thing and how it can I'll be a better fit at this University that okay wonderful I guess if you were to think about your personality right you know like some people like you know they like mbti I'm not sure if like you've um done that uh test before Oh you have okay um just curious but

like do you what is your abti type uh I kind of forgot it because it was like a long time ago but I know it's like it's extrovert definitely an e 100% an e e but then like the rest I kind of forgot could you be and um entj I wonder um the entj basically is like the CEO personel you type like this is what I would um say right there but at the same time like I feel maybe maybe I'm not sure okay what I remember is like the characters I got the end I

think I did test once or twice I got debat and politician ah the debator your personality type is the same as mine you are the entp I think oh okay yeah yeah oh okay okay okay interesting wow I I think the politician is the the latest test the latest test wow interesting are you well this is an interesting transition is politician one of your uh future maybe like career aspirations I feel more Cy to the debat rather than the politician right okay so debate actually has been a huge part of uh your high school and

also Taylor um life as well may I ask you like well what Drew you towards um debate um in the first place and yeah maybe we can like go ahead and start with that yeah so I I think also it's part of my application I think it's slightly into my personal statement I prefer not to go too deep into it but it kind of started because uh my sisters did the bate when they were in secondary school so I joined I was like yeah it's thing I'll do right and I I like speaking you know

the E and du has a pretty strong debate scene mhm so when they made an announcement on stage like the first few weeks of school like yeah let's go do it and it kind of stuck with me until from five uh but it kind of became this thing where I just continuously did rather than enjoying it until a certain realization hit in my head and then only I Chang to remain competitive in debate not only just like wi competitions and stuff but also to like explore a more assertive person in me that I think M

explore a more assertive person inside you okay um I'm not sure when the last time you actually read the description of mbti types uh was right here and so I'm going to go right ahead and put something on the screen and then you can see if this agrees and if it does agree then to what extent it agrees with I guess like how you view or otherwise see the world maybe let's go what do you think yeah I I think from what like this short blur it it does hit pretty high with me right I

feel like I do do resonate with the Not Afraid just like uh stand up and talk to somebody right but I think that's also been become a skill that I've improved on over time uh not just like arguing for the sake of arguing but actually arguing to get to a conclusion type of thing I see okay to the simple they have offbeat contrary idea of fun I don't really think that is true I I think a lot of the fun that I do is pretty generic like going up with friends football of thing I see

got you got you all right that is um interesting to see right there entp yeah um as I mentioned earlier I technically have the same uh personality type right there I actually do remember taking this test um a while ago but it changed actually from ENFP and stuff but who knows how your um personality type is going to change um in the future when you think then about what you feel your um not to say like what got you selected for Harvard but if you were to speculate what you would consider like some strengths Maybe

that were articulated or that well seem evident to the people around you what what would you say that like some of those strengths might be okay so talking about specifically the H application I think uh I didn't have like the specific Spike again reading through uh application videos like learning how to do them some people are malan swimmers type of thing or the world class in a certain thing I don't think I had that certain activity I had definitely a more round well-rounded activity make sure of community service Sports debate etc etc um and I

feel like my essays while strong I don't think they are crazy exceptional type of thing I'm not sure how much the interview plays in the admissions process but I feel like my interview was relatively strong it started off basic and then I just went with the yeah this is not went to the hard truth with them and I think after that that's where we had like a proper deep conversation if possible I prefer not to go into it but it was like very interesting from there then on there I see okay um so s stepping

the content uh part um feel free to tell me later if you're interested um or willing in the first place but I guess you spoke to Nicholas car right yeah and Nadia nichas call Nadia oh interesting wow incidentally did you watch that video featuring Nicholas car on this channel um a while ago I see okay Eliza Was preparing for her interview um with that so it's yeah I did that as well you did that as well okay all right okay well I guess when you kind of move forward then beyond I guess like the immediate

thought really about um personality or a bunch of different things right here given this rare opportunity that you do have U to pursue an education at some of the world's top universities it seems like the world is like kind of like an interesting Blank Slate ahead how do you feel about um well the chance at the moment to uh go forward into some of these like Universities at the moment and do you have a thought on like what some things you might might want to study there might be I guess um Victor so like well

of course like your major might be something well decided upon at a later point but as you go into either Harvard or Stanford uh both incredible universities in um their own right so like are there any particular things that you feel like you'd like to explore that maybe might have been hard for you to explore back home inia we kind of like streamlined into C fields so secondary school I entered s stream uh but sof up bio for accounts and yeah you're kind of stuck in that that line and when you're applying for scholarships you

also have a quite limited array of scholarships and what majors you can apply for uh but personally speaking I like the intersection between engineering economics policy sociology type of thing while it might seem like a really mixed bag um I I kind of look at these as different parts of helping Society so engineering will probably be like the glue holding things together uh creating and creating the actual technical product econs like a measuring tape all sorts uh like how can we make sure the resources are allocated properly how can we make sure that this is

the it's equitable distribution to everybody think uh po policy and so such sociology I would say is like the pencils guiding and in incentivizing real world application right so as a combination of all these things as I look forward to studying University I think I would want to go down the energy environment route but not so much on the technical side of things so on the technical side of things I don't think I have the mental capacity for it but uh I do want to explore the other three things I me possible uh again when

I come back to Malaysia I'll be bonded with vas for at least 5 years so it seems like a great opportunity to look into this energy environment thing where patas is taking the next step forward away from and stuff I see cool well that's going to be a while away and of course that is going to be a talking point um for sure I guess like when you get to either uh Harvard or Stanford uh depending on what happens along the way right there I guess like do you have like any immediate goals um for

your time there immediate goal things that things that you want to do like straight away I mean like Eliza is like oh I want to eat fried chicken but yeah like it can be anything you know like uh that you can immediately think about okay I think as think SP would probably be to just travel around America wow obviously America is a massive massive massive country so many different things to do I have friends that are spread across the entire nation it would just be fun to go and meet up over there and explore new

new things compared to like I cool I'm interested explo winter because Malaysia it's just hot it's just hot right it's just hot yeah five minutes walking five minutes too long oh yeah SC and then the second most immediate thing is probably to understand Fahrenheit inches and ounces and gallons that is like one thing I want to understand finally moving I guess like towards um the Malaysia thing okay so a very common question that is asked um to students who essentially uh go on to like essentially any top university like for example it could be like

uh Harvard for example um or Stanford in your case right here uh or it could be like say Yale Princeton uh MIT darkmouth blah blah blah blah blah right there in the comment sections you will inevitably see stuff like come back to Malaysia and contribute your talents to our country or something off that nature as a bonded student of course well you do have an obligation um to uh come back right there um but I guess like um how do you feel about I guess like that part of the future in the sense of like

do you feel that um there will be in time right the chance to fully Express shall we say um the skills the talents the capabilities the different things that you are going to be learning at school right in a Malayan context uh in your opinion or what would need to happen in order to make it possible so that those the very best that you can get in America which is what you're going to be getting right can be most fully expressed in our nation yeah so I think that's speaking about Malaysia I definitely no matter

how much we talk talk bad about it sometimes oh my God it's so hot right it's still home I feel like when I'm experiencing Co I'll still say oh Malaysia Miss hot and things like that but talking from like a standpoint of where willever Malia ever be at the Forefront of things I again I I can't say positive but I think some things that can be done is steps that Malia are already taking for example I think SP scholarships uh in general in Malaysia are very widely um let say talked about right and it's they

sponsor many many students to go overseas so and having them bonded bringing that to back bringing them back to Malaysia all the credible credible individuals it's already something you can notice that's helping the country let's talk about Patron board of directors uh my friends and I were going through it and from mistaken it was only one person that was not a patron sponsored student right so it shows that the people that they look for at a young age uh sponsor them do go on to help the country and the company in tremendous ways so I

think Mia's greatest assets is is people right so MIA yes we used to be this thin Farm type of thing those are things things to look in the past now the people of Malaysia are all incredibly talented our education system well might have some some of it L sometimes is actually very uh competitive you could say it's like a very in detail uh education system at least until a secondary level and universities in Malaysia are also really good for example University mayaya depending on these individuals in the future I think it's like it just best

course of action right now I I can't say for example infrastructure wise or anything I'm not too well educated on that but having met the people that I know uh that will be continuing their studies overseas or even like adults that have continue their studies overseas and in Malaysia they're all very impressive individuals and given the opportunity in this country they would definitely want to help it I I think that that's the problem where some people tend to leave the country and work uh because of a lack opportunities in Malaysia if that one thing can

be changed I think it'll be amazing and Malaysia can reach to that level I see okay cool kind of moving um towards the end uh of this conversation and thank you so much for your time uh thus far so if you were to give some Maybe words of advice to people who would be interested in Walking the same path that maybe you are walking right now although in a slightly different context because obviously they can't be you uh like they'll be themselves maybe um but what kind of advice would you want to give to them

I think the one advice I would give them is do things for you instead of because for example you want a validation from somebody or you want the uh like the flaws that comes with for example getting good results and stuff that's not really doing it for you try to find things that you enjoy doing uh whether it be both academic and also extra extracurricular wise and if see if it's a viable option for you to explore um obviously I can't say that for everybody maybe some people uh have certain obligations they have to follow

but there one thing I believe is you can try to be yourself as much as you want but when you need the helping hand just reach out to anybody reach out to your friends your family or just like random people and I I feel most humans uh have it in their heart to just help somebody when they in need and things so just get better all right well I would quote um from guren Lagan in saying um if ever you cannot believe in yourself then believe in the me who believes in you or something of

that nature all right then cool so do you have any well projects uh thoughts ideas or things that you want to share with the audience as well um whoa oh I was not expecting that it's deliberately quite broad I guess like so it could be anything right like um it could be oh um I uh what was that like um yeah I want to become um Prime Minister of Japan in the future or something of that nature or um yeah in in 20 years time um Petronas will be selling nuclear energy no of course that's

obviously a joke um but yeah like it can be anything like any Endeavor cost that you want um you know people to be aware of idea thought off the hit no but I just want to wish everybody some and obviously take everything I say with a grain of salt because that's my experiences and you all have your own so uh I want to say thank you Victor so we saying my name in the third person thank you Victor for this opportunity to be interviewed thank you Victor for being on this interview and best of luck

at Harvard Stanford whatever it is right there Habibi you are going to conquer it all right thank you so much