Taylor's and HELP University

Today my uncle brought me around to look at universities. But we spent too much time at Taylor's and HELP, we didn't really get to look at the others, which wouldn't be neccessary, according to my uncle, as the top universities for A levels are generally these two. And even between them, the A levels are completely different. Taylors are doing Cambridge A levels (CAL) and HELP is doing London Board of Examinations A levels, or EDUXEL.

At any rate, in the morning, I got up and got ready, our first stop was Taylor's. When I reached there, I was planning on meeting Carol (she said she had a break in 20 minutes). I went to the Enquiry and Admissions office, and was introduced to a certain Mr. Koh. He was very helpful, explaining to me and advising me on what subjects would be preferable to take for A levels, and to which universities I may further my studies in later on. Basically, his suggestion was, to take Maths, Further Maths, Physics, and Economics. That way, I could st ill do engineering if I so feel like it, and I could also do Economics( and try to be rich), and maybe go to LSE (London School of Economics). The problem was, Taylor's didn't offer those subjects in the March intake, meaning I had to give up Further Maths in lieu of Chemistry. So, according to his suggestion, I should enroll this Wednesday, and join the classes of the January intake. His reasoning was these: You would only be behind them for 15 days, in which, if you put in extra effort, could catch up easily. And, your classes would be only from 8-3.30pm, instead of going for a March intake ( and have classes until 5 or 6pm everyday for 6 months). We spoke for roughly 2 hours, albeit less.

When we were done, I messaged Carol again, but she said she already had classes. Oh well, I thought that I would like to see at least a friend in Taylor's, since many of them went there. However, (and much to my delight), on my way out, someone called me.

"Terence! !" she shouted from across the building (literally), looking flustered and carrying a myriad of things. There was Jasmine, smiling(?) and on her way to her next class, I presumed. I spoke with her for a while, maybe a minute or so, but I didn't want to bother her (were those her friends waiting for her a little bit up the stairs? I didn't really pay attention). After a few minutes (maybe it wasn't even a minute), I bade her farewell, to which she replied, "See you soon."

"See you soon", eh?


After that, my uncle and I went to have lunch. The food in KL isn't that much more expensive than in Melaka, but I think it taste better. Or at least, the food I ate tasted better.

Then we went to HELP University College. I was informed that HELP is the biggest A levels centre in the world for the EDUXEL A levels programme. Halfway through, another counsellor came and started talking to me. He shared my interests in books and literature, and gave me a lot of questions to ponder on. He said that, education isn't about knowledge. It's about character building, it's about the process that leads to the knowledge (why does this seem so familiar?) His name was Mr. Lee. He spoke with an accent, that was, at first, hard to understand. However, he and I were very much alike, in many ways. In the end, we talked alot about books and the wonders that they brought. However, he also advised me on what I should do, which is to make an imformed decision, that is, to do a lot of research on the various choices that I might make, and be able to say confidently, "Yes, I choose this path," and be able to say why I didn't choose the other. Critical thinking.

All in all, today has been a very insightful day. I learnt a lot, and met a great person. Today would be the second day that I am staying at my uncle's house. There really isn't much to do here, so I bury myself in books. Lately, I've been reading quite a number of Mitch Albom's books. They really are great, and I really should have picked them up when Jasmine recommended them to me about a year ago. Another author that has caught my interest is Nicholas Sparks. And thankfully, since my cousins are all big readers, my uncle has a collection of such books all in his house.